Lecture 15: emotion and emotional regulation Flashcards
What do emotions represent?
A signalling system of phenomenal sophistication:
E.g. Children and adults play considerable attention to the expression of others.
We raise our children to express and not express certain emotions
What does the absence of appropriate emotion index?
Often, it indexes dysfunction
What are emotions reflected in?
Our thoughts, physiology and behaviour
What do emotions inspire?
Our most important decisions
They form the core of our experience of ourselves in this world
Ultimately emotions act as an interface between personal and interpersonal and social and biological spheres of functioning
What is the (brief) history of emotions research?
Emotion = latin for “to move”
Research only systematic since 1970s
Emotions research Was subordinate to behaviour and cognition in the history of psychology
Attempts to characterise, understand and control emotions have occurred throughout history (plato, aristotle, descartes, spinota, hume)
What are historical western thoughts on emotion?
It has historically contrasted emotions with reason:
the degree of ones emotions varies inversely with ones knowledge of the facts
What does modern emotions theory suggest.
Thinking and feeling are less separable, and has become increasingly functionalist
Why is there no concrete definition for emotions?
Emotions are complex and include many components
We also have experiences which may be emotional, but may not actually be emotions per se e.g. Moods are emotional but are not emotions.
There are also other things which are emotional like anxiety disorders or depression, but these are also not emotions
What are the 5 key components of emotions?
Physiology Phenomenology (experiences) Expression/signalling Cognitive change Ovet behaviour
Why are moods distinguished from emotions?
They do not have to reflect responses to a particular event
They are typically less intense
They may last a long time
What is a working definition of emotion?
A heritable set of adaptive mechanisms that function systematically to inform, motivate and organise an organisms responses to the perception of a change in goal- environmental relationships
Why do we get emotional?
From observation, we know that people don’t have the same emotional responses to a particular event
Feelings are elicited by perceived changes in the status of the tjings that matter to the person
What idea is central to modern theory?
The idea that specific ways of thinking about events (appraisal) are the proximate cause of emotions
In this view different patterns of evaluation/appraisal lead to the experience of different emotions
What is the evaluation (appraisal) process?
The stimulus or event occurs,
This event is then evaluated for meaning
An emotional response is generated
Why do we have emotions?
They are a biological phenomena that have analogues in other species
Evidence for emotions in other species was a key influence on evolutionary theory
What are some similarities between modern theory and darwins theory?
Like darwin, modern theory views human emotion as less evolved than bipedalism and opposable thumbs
Emotions exist and were shaped as they facilitated adaptation to events
As a result, the human repertoire is larger. This is due to our capacities and the specific ways in which we live
What is the relationship between emotions and cultures?
A biological view of emotions does suggest a likely similarity across cultures.
Early evidence suggested similarity in expression/recognition across cultures
However there are variations in other aspects of the emotions systems
We assume people just want to be happy, but different cultures have preference for different states e.g. Asians prefer lower arousal states like contentment
Other cultures appear to have emotion experiences that have no clear analogues in western culture
What is the relationship between emotion and development.
Development is an area of evidence which confirms the evolved view of emotions
Infants show patterns of response which appear to be analogous to adult emotions e,g, restraint produces frustration, startling produces fear
Infants are highly attuned to emotions in the social environment. They gain information from other peoples expressions.
Infants are competent with emotions - can discrimminate from the age of 4 months
How do emotions change across the lifespan?
Basic emotions are seen early in life
People come from a particular place developmentally,
There is often a gaining of a Larger emotional repertoire with development
There is evidence of decoupling among the components of emotions with age
There is also a great ability to regulate emotions across the lifespan.
What is emotion regulation?
The ability to regulate emotions.
The processes by which individuals influence which emotions they have, when they have them and how they are experienced and express them.
This is one of the most important and sophisticated abilities we possess (among adults, emotions are rarely evident in a non regulated state.)
What is emotion regulation like in infants and small children?
Infants and small children show poor regulatory ability so much that most regulation is conducted by someone else, usually the mother
Why is emotion regulation so hard for infants and small children?
It is a complicated skill which depends on the acquisition of considerable knowledge/ability
What are some emotion regulation strategies?
Re-appraisal Distraction Suppression Dissociation Avoidance Enhancement Disclosure Use of drugs,Smoking Studying Sex Masturbation
What are the two broad classes of emotion regulation?
Antecedent focused emotion regulation
Response focused emotion regulation
