Lecture 10 Flashcards
What are emotions?
Organised psychological and physiological reactions. Partly inner, or subjective experience (e.g fearful, happy). Partly measurable patterns of behaviour (shouting, crying, smiling) and physiological arousal (sweaty palms, blushing).
List the main characteristics of subjective emotions
Emotions are temporary.
Vary in intensity, both positive or negative. Perhaps even a mixture of both.
Emotional experiences can alter thought processes (and vice versa).
Emotional experiences direct behaviour and action.
Are passions that you feel, usually whether you want to or not.
Describe the taxonomy of emotions
For example: Anger
Positive effect (pleasant emotions) - e.g revenge
Negative effect
(unpleasant emotions) e.g aggression.
Discovered through factor analysis (anger is more likely to be approach oriented behaviour i.e attacking.
Emotionality and effect: commonality between feelings (e.g guilt and anxiety). - angry people tend to have greater left lobe (EEG) activity, as found with individuals experience a positive emotion.
Differentiate between the taxonomies of basic and complex emotions
Basic emotions (i.e fear, anger , happiness, disgust, sadness) are common to all cultures; consistent physiology, expression and subjective experience. Complex emotions are a combination of basic emotions, usually involve some cognitive component (shame/embarrassment, excitement, jealousy).
What are the three main aspects of how emotion is processed in the brain?
Activity in the limbic system (amygdala, thalamus) - ability to learn emotional associations, recognise emotional expressions, and perceive emotionally charged words.
Pyramidal motor systems (voluntary facial expressions) and controlled by the extrapyramidal motor system (involuntary movements)
James-Lange: Perception of peripheral responses theory
Elicit physiological response (fear) as a result of seeing something and thus, voluntary behaviour (running away)
What is the cannon- Bard theory of emotion?
Neither emotional or physiological response precedes the other, nor does it depend on one another (e.g if you see a snake you will feel scared and run away all at the same time).
What is the Schachter-singer theory?
Two factors involved in arousal - physiological and cognitive interpretation. Your interpretation of the event and your peripheral response.
Provide an example of the James-Lange theory: perception of peripheral responses if the activating event is a dog barking
Activating event: Dog barking
Physiological reaction: Increased heart rate; sweating
Emotional response; fear
- Brain interprets a situation automatically and directs a particular set of physiological changes.
What is the notion behind the polygraph?
Based on the James-Lange theory. Most people anxiety or guilt when they lie, specific patterns of physiological activity accompany these emotions and are detectable - records autonomic responses.
- Not 100% accurate, can be fooled, and innocent people ca be mislabelled as guilty.
Cannon- Bard updated theory to perspective
Old theory: Emotion starts at thalamus, with concurrently sends signals to the ANS and cerebral cortex, where it becomes conscious, and induces arousal.
Updated = The thalamus is not the central experience of emotion, but that activity in specific brain areas produce feelings associated with various emotions,. E.g the amygdala and the dopamine systems) may be activated for different emotions and for different aspects of the total emotional experience.
What is excitation transfer theory?
Physiological arousal from one experience can carry over to affect emotion in an independent emotional situation. People sometimes attribute prior arousal to the new situation at hand, thereby intensifying their present feelings
How can emotions be communicated?
Through words or non verbal cues, such as body movement, posture, tone of voice, facial movements and expressions
What are innate expressions of emotion?
The facial expressions that are universal are innate. Expressions of newborns appropriate to their current state, similar to facial expressions across cultures responding to similar environmental stimuli.
What is the cultural influence of emotional expression?
Innate expressions are flexible and modifiable, cultural variations in recognising some emotions, operant conditioning and social referencing. e.g 17 types of smiles people can learn to communicate. Or as children grow learn emotional expressions through operant shaping and also learn an emotion culture, rules that govern hwhat emotions are appropriate. Crying is for boys e.g.
