Lecture 7 - Introduction to Emotion Flashcards
What is an emotion?
“A STRONG FEELING deriving from one’s circumstances, mood, or relationships with others; INSTINCTIVE or INTUITIVE feeling as distinguished from reasoning or knowledge”
–> Triggered by stimuli
–> Role of the body/physiological feelings are very important
–> Linked to mood, temperament, personality, disposition and motivation
What are the stages of emotional processing (4)? (Phillips et al. 2003)
- Stimulus Presentation
- Appraisal –> of the stimulus VALUE (is it positive/negative/useful - identification of the emotion)
- Affective State –> Changes in bodily feelings, pulse, physiological arousal etc.
- Regulation –> Of the affective state
Theories of Emotion: Key Historical Points
- Darwin (1872)
- Paul Ekman (1971-1972)
- Oatley and Johnson-Laird (1987)
Darwin: (1872)
–> Noticed emotions seemed to be WELL-PRESERVED across cultures/ages etc.
–> Cross-Species similarities in emotional expression (emotions evolved) - emotions can suggest what an animal is about to do
–> Led to the theory of highly conserved - BASIC EMOTIONS
Paul Ekman (1971-1972)
–> BASIC EMOTIONS
–> Anger, fear, happiness, sadness, surprise, disgust
–> Basic emotion testing in Papa New Guinea Tribesmen - first tested for emotion understanding, then got the tribesmen to pose as emotions using prompts (and got American undergrads to correctly identify the emotions)
Oatley & Johnson-Laird (1987)
–> There are INDIVIDUAL FUNCTIONS OF EMOTIONS
–> Expressions CHANGE based on the information we take in
–> Eg. Widening of eyes in fear helps us to detect a threat
–> Emotions have EVOLVED for SPECIFIC PURPOSES
What are culture specific “display rules” –> and give an example (gender)
There are culture-specific “display rules” –> we learn what is and isn’t appropriate to do in our culture
Example: Gender Display Rules
–> There are differences in emotional expression in girls and boys
–> Girls = be cooperative, nice, friendly, smile
–> Boys = be ‘manly’, strong, express anger, suppress other emotions
Nature v Nurture - Are emotions innate?
Found in Babies (newborns) - have very recognisable facial expressions (smiling/crying) in the first six weeks of life
–> 4D sonographies have suggested emergence 25-36 weeks development: facial expressions begin to be shown when mother eats carrots (smile) and kale (disgust)
–> Animals can perform emotion
–> Basic emotions exist across all cultures
–> Blind people use the same emotional expressions - they are NOT learnt (study has shown high correlation between sighted and blind athletes after winning/losing)
What are the three ways of classifying emotions? (How many emotions actually are there?)
- Basic Emotion Classification
- Dual-Classification
- Multi-Dimensional
- Basic Emotion Classification
As above. Basic Emotions (see Paul Ekman)
- Duel-Classification of Emotions
Simple Duel-System (1959)
–> Categorises emotions in terms of APPROACH and WITHDRAWAL (all emotions can be seen as an approach emotion or a withdrawal emotion)
–> EG: Behavioural - approach (reward) and inhibition (punishment) systems –> distinct brain circuits
–> Davidson’s ‘Valence Asymmetry Hypothesis’
o Left Prefrontal Cortex (approach-related positive emotion goals)
o Right Prefrontal Cortex (inhibition and withdrawal negative emotion goals)
- Dimensional Models of Emotions
Circumplex Model (Russell - 1980)
—> More complex models (there are different SPECTRA of emotions)
All emotions are on the valence and arousal spectra
o Valence (direction of emotion - negative-neutral-positive)
o Arousal (strength of the emotion - dull-neutral-intense)
The Role of Emotional Expression: Ekman et al. (1980)
Ekman et al. (1980) got participants to watch positive and negative movies and self-report their subjective experience
–> Their facial expressions while watching were videotaped
–> Coded using the FACS
–> FOUND: participants who showed a particular smile movement reported more happiness
AND
participants who showed more ‘negative’ facial movements reported more negative emotion
Measuring Emotion - What is the Facial Action Coding System (FACS)
FACS
–> Developed by Eiman and Friesen
–> All of the 40+ muscles in the face are CODED as an ‘action unit’ (key muscle movements)
Usefulness?
–> Can distinguish between fake and genuine emotions
–> “Pan Am” smile - only using mouth muscles
–> “Duchenne” smile - using mouth and forehead and eye muscles
Can also be used as a training tool for people who struggle to read emotions etc. (like Autism)
Measuring Emotion - What is Facial EMG
Facial EMG measures subtle activity in the corrugator (frown) and zygomatic (smile) muscles
–> EMG positively correlated with emotion perception ability AND shows gender differences (fem > male) in identifying more subtle emotions
–> People that were showing more of a facial response when identifying negative emotions were MORE accurate
Social Functions of Emotions: Are expressions shaped by social context?
Emotions can elicit behaviours in OTHERS as well as ourselves
Eg. Wide eyes in fear = can alert others to a signal of threat
Eg. Sadness = elicits caregiving
Eg. Happy/angry faces = reinforces good/bad behaviour
Fridlund (1991)
o Participants viewed ‘pleasant’ video either
- alone, - alone but believing friend was nearby doing another task, - alone but believing friend was nearby doing same tape, - watching with friend
o Smiling INCREASED as settings became more social - BUT NOT as a function of self-reported emotion
o Smiling affected by context more than by actual felt emotion –> argues facial expressions communicate MOTIVES rather than emotion state
Hess et al. –> similar paradigm but also varied INTENSITY of stimuli and RELATIONSHIP to other participant
–> Found: smiling intensity is also affected by FUNNINESS of film (social context AND internal emotion play a role) –> BUT these effects only emerge with friends not strangers
