L7 Feeling and Communicating Emotions

Question 1

What is the argument against emotion theories?

Answer 1

That they focus on describing the causes and consequences of emotion rather than the experience of it

Question 2

What are appraisals?

Answer 2

An evaluation of an event or object. They are thought to be relatively stable across cultures and individuals even though the events that elicit these appraisals may differ

Question 3

What did Arnold (1954) say about emotions?

Answer 3

That they’re relational, they connect us to the environment, they are ABOUT something

Question 4

What are the two approaches appraisals are split into?

Answer 4

1. Discrete approach - focus on appraisals that give rise to distinct emotions
2. Dimensional approach - focus on components of appraisals that can relate to several emotions

Question 5

What is Lazarus’ Two-Stage Approach (1991)?

Answer 5

A discrete approach
Individuals will first focus on the event, if they require an emotional response, and whether this is a positive or negative response
The second stage involves a more precise labelling of emotions in response to the object/situation

Question 6

What are problems with a discrete approach?

Answer 6

Can’t explain similarities between emotions and the events that cause them e.g. pride and shame
Can’t explain why people’s emotions change so quickly e.g. anger to guilt
To answer these weakness we turn to the dimensional approach

Question 7

What did Ellsworth and Smith (1985) propose for the dimensional approach?

Answer 7

That there are 8 dimensions of appraisals:
1. Attention 2. Certainty 3. Control/Coping 4. Pleasantness 5. Perceived obstacles 6. Responsibility 7. Legitimacy 8. Anticipated Effort

Argued that we evaluate events around us under these dimensions and it depends on the value we assign to these dimensions

Question 8

What do these dimensions allow us to do?

Answer 8

Differentiate between emotions but also highlight similarities between pairs of emotions
Also explain how we shift rapidly from one emotion to another
e.g. your appraisal of responsibility might shift in light of new information so changes your emotion from anger to guilt

BUT do they adequately capture subjective experience?

Question 9

What is the prototype approach?

Answer 9

Used to identify distinct characteristics of each emotion.
A narrative methodology is used to produce a ‘script’ or ‘paradigm scenario’ for a typical emotion
Highlights fuzzy boundaries between emotions and also suggests different ways of experiencing the same core emotion so helps to explain variations within emotion

Question 10

Can we feel emotions in the body?

Answer 10

Some emotions are consistently associated with certain bodily sensations e.g. fear in chest and stomach

Question 11

What role do individual differences play in experiencing emotions?

Answer 11

Not everyone experiences emotion in the same way
Some people may respond in a more intense way (neuroticism)
Optimism vs. Pessimism

Question 12

What did Ekman argue in relation to facial expressions?

Answer 12

That the 6 basic emotions are each associated with distinct muscle configurations that produce obvious facial expressions
Recognition of these is universal
These facial expressions tend to be very brief and also involve involuntary muscle actions that people can’t produce on demand or easily suppress

Question 13

What are criticisms of Ekman’s methods?

Answer 13

Lacks ecological validity as the actors used weren’t spontaneous
Forced choice response format
Facial expressions in real life are not always still pictures like they were in this study

Question 14

Do facial expressions represent basic emotions?

Answer 14

Surprise and disgust aren’t generally accompanied by their expected facial expressions
A high coherence has been found for amusement and smiling though

Question 15

Are basic emotional experiences hardwired?

Answer 15

Blind people may also spontaneously form the same facial expressions as sighted people

Question 16

Are facial expressions actually universal?

Answer 16

Jacks et al. (2009) found that East Asian people find it hard to tell fear from surprise and anger from disgust - perhaps because they focus on the eyes when evaluation emotional expression

Question 17

Are facial expressions enough to communicate effectively?

Answer 17

The disgust expression accompanied by different body positions and props are interpreted differently
Can also express emotions through touch, posture and vocalisations

Question 18

What aspects of the voice can express emotion?

Answer 18

The tone, speed, loudness, interjections (ugh, yuck), non-verbal vocalisations (sighs, laughter), language

Question 19

What is the valence-specific Expressivity model?

Answer 19

Some people are better at expressing positive emotions (positive expressivity) and others at expressing negative emotions (negative expressivity)
But a unidimensional model has also been suggested that if someone is prone to expressing emotions they will do this for every emotion

Question 20

What are gender differences in communicating emotion?

Answer 20

Adult women tend to be more emotionally expressive but not more emotional
Women cry and smile more in general
But this can be explained by stereotypes, social roles (men not wanting to cry), emotion intensity