lecture 3

Question 1

Why Study Emotions/Feelings
and Mood?

Answer 1

• Emotions have a huge impact on cognition
  
  • Memory, Attention, Decision making, ….
• Important for survival and social skills
  
  • Actions and reactions (safe city)
• Emotions have a huge impact on our lives
  
  • Well-being (healthy city/ sustainable city)
  • Not a day without an emotion
  • Entertainment: want to be happy/thrilled
• Some mental disorders are extremes of emotional states
  
  • E.g., fear > anxiety disorder (healthy city)

Question 2

Arousal:

Answer 2

intensity stimuli, pollution, noise

Question 3

Pleasantness:

Answer 3

satisfaction, comfort

Question 4

Dominance:

Answer 4

crowding

Question 5

Characteristics of Emotions

Answer 5

• Consist of physiological, behavioral and subjective components
• Triggered by immediate circumstances
• Directed upon and about things
• Come and go very quickly
• Affect our behavior (and cognition)

Question 6

what are emotions?

Answer 6

phenomenal experience, physiological experience, verban + nonverbal experience

Question 7

what are feelings?

Answer 7

phenomenal experience

Question 8

Characteristics of Feelings

Answer 8

• Subjective (conscious) experience of an emotion
• Happens as we begin to think about the emotion: cognitive appraisal
• Longer duration than emotion
• Something we sense, a sensation
• Affects our cognition

Question 9

what is the james lange theory?

Question 10

what is the Theory of Constructed Emotions?

Answer 10

• Emotions are not universal
• Emotions are social constructs
• We construct our emotions in a similar manner as the way we perceive

Question 11

when Feeling Safe and Urban Design?

Answer 11

• small shop fronts with lots of variety
• clear line of sight
• clear mental map
• connectivity – infrastructure and activities
• Activity is the key!
  
  • through the number of people
  • hours of operation
  • the sound generated by the activity

Question 12

Characteristics of Moods

Answer 12

• Diffuse affective/emotional state
• Low intensity
• Long-lasting
• General appraisal of our well-being
• No specific or single cause, but may be trigged by
  
  • Circumstances
  • Environment
  • Physiology

Question 13

how does stress work?

Answer 13

alarm> stress hormones>body-wide changes

Question 14

what is stress?

Answer 14

An imbalance between environmental demands and human response capabilities

Question 15

Stress and the body/brain

Answer 15

interaction between the brain/mind and body through the nervous
system

Question 16

Central Nervous System

Answer 16

brain and spinal cord

Question 17

Peripheral Nervous System

Question 18

Sensory (Afferent)

Answer 18

Sensory input (bottom-up) from the senses and the body
* muscles
* skin
* tendons
* organs

Question 19

Motor (Efferent)

Answer 19

Motor output (top-down) to
* muscles
* organs
* glands

Question 20

what two types do motor have?

Answer 20

somatic
* Skeletal muscles
* To initiate activity
automatic
* Visceral (smooth) muscles and glands
* To modulate activity

Question 21

Autonomic nervous system (ANS)

Answer 21

Sympathetic (prepares the body to fight or flight)
Parasympathetic (promotes energy conservation, digestion and growth)

Question 22

what is the stress hormone?

Answer 22

Cortisol

Question 23

Effects of environmental stress

Answer 23

• Key mechanisms: Arousal and stimulus overload
  
  • Stimulus overload: co-presence of multiple stressors
  • Continuous cognitive efforts are needed to cope with stressors
• ‘tunnel vision’

Question 24

what is tunnel vision?

Answer 24

one’s tendency to focus on a single goal or point of view

Question 25

effects of stress

Answer 25

• Social withdrawal
  
  • reduced eye contact
  • greater interpersonal distancing
  • more pronounced inhibition in initiating a conversation

Question 26

consequences of stress

Answer 26

• reduction in social interaction
• reduction in social support
• reduction in pro-social behaviour

Question 27

what is a solution of stress in urban environment? and what are the effects?

Answer 27

Well-maintained green spaces and elements
* behavioral effects:
* social interaction
* community control over common spaces
* social inclusion and cohesion
* Psychological effect
* sense safety
* less loneliness
* more social support

Question 28

drive

Answer 28

motivational state

Question 29

incentive

Answer 29

goal/reward

Question 30

Homeostasis

Answer 30

any process that living things use to actively maintain fairly stable conditions necessary for survival.
* Body temperature
* Oxygen
* Minerals
* Water
* Energy (food)
* Sleep

Question 31

regulatory drive

Answer 31

homeostasis

Question 32

Nonregulatory drives

Answer 32

we dont need it, but we do want it
- Safety (based on emotion “flight fight”)
- Reproductive (sexual drive, drive to care for offspring)
- Social drives (friendship, acceptance and approval)
- Educative drives (play and explore)

Question 33

Drive: Hunger

Answer 33

• Essential for survival
  
  • Growth, repair
• Nutrition
  
  • Energy
  • Proteins
  • Vitamins, minerals etc
• Food scarcity
  
  • Robust mechanisms
  • Strong drive

Question 34

Drive: Sleep

Answer 34

• Safety
• Body restauration
• Memory
• Dreams….