Module 6: Emotion Regulation Flashcards
Emotions have three components, what are they:
(A) Feeling:
the subjective experience
of emotion, the feeling that
only we can experience
inside our own awareness,
it’s personal to you (+/- or
Mild/Intense).
(B) Behavior:
emotions lead us to act,
approach or avoidance.
Faces are the most
emotional parts of our body
and is a good example of
emotion behaviour i.e.,
smile/frown to
communicate.
(C) Physiological:
heart rate, respiration,
arousal levels are
examples of physiological
systems which are
triggered by emotions to
deal with threats etc. in our
environment.
Emotions can be triggered by….
Emotions are a response to a particular stimulus or event:
> External or internal stimuli
(present or not present-
thoughts)
e.g. spider, gift, thoughts
What is the difference between emotions and mood?
A mood is a long-sustained state of emotion that is not triggered by anything in particular.
How is each of the (3) components of emotion measured?
(A) Feelings:
using self-report surveys, a
subjective measure that
relies on introspection.
(B) Behaviour:
using video cameras etc.
and merely observe
peoples behaviour e.g.
facial expressions.
(C) Physiological:
measuring physiological
responses is an objective
measure.
e.g. eye blink, muscle
movement, pupil dilation,
galvanic skin response,
heart rate, respiration rate
etc.Are facial expressions a good reflection of peoples subjective emotional experience?
Yes. Facial expressions are generally an honest cue for what emotion they’re experiencing, it can be suppressed but not in spontaneous situations.
Are facial expressions universal?
> what are (6) basic emotions
Yes. there are 6 basic emotions which are characterised by facial movements that are recognisable cross-culturally.
(A) Anger (B) Sadness (C) Fear (D) Happiness (E) Surprise (F) Disgust
What is the most objective measure of emotion?
physiological response.
How is emotion regulation measured in the lab?
(3) measures during emotion induction and the period following to see how quick people bounce back.
What are (4) brain regions involved in emotion and emotion regulation?
(A) Amygdala:
is an alerting system that
responds to the presence
of emotional cue in our
environment. The stronger
the amygdala response the
more intense the cue.
(B) Ventral Stratium:
a series of brain structures
that respond to rewarding
stimuli.
(C) Insula:
inner brain region which
receives physical signals
from the body and is
important in generating
emotional feelings.
(D) Prefrontal Cortex:
a control centre that can
alter brain function in other
areas to regulate behaviour
so we can achieve our
goals.
*there is no one region responsible for emotion. Emotion is due to coordinated effort form a network of brain structures.
which two subcortical brain structures coordinate to alert us to emotional stimuli in our environment?
amygdala and ventral stratium
what is the process of emotion regulation in the (4) brain structures?
subcortical brain regions such as the amygdala and the ventral striatum (reward) coordinate their efforts and alert us to emotional cues in our environment. The insula monitors physiological changes in the body and translates it into emotional feelings. Finally, the prefrontal cortex integrates this information and uses it to guide behaviour and control the emotional response.
The Gross Emotion Regulation Model is used as….
a framework to help us think about all the different tools we have at our disposal to help us process and control our emotions.
Five steps in the emotion regulation model?
- Situation Selection: deciding what situations I put myself in, can avoid situations which elicit unwanted emotional response. If you cannot avoid the situation itself, you can instead avoid thinking certain thoughts e.g., avoidance.
- Situation Modification: altering how I can control aspects of our environment to avoid triggering an emotional response e.g., where I sit at a dinner party. Includes problem solving ER strategies that can be basic or more complex.
- Attentional Deployment: what I choose to focus on in my environment instead of my emotions e.g., choose to focus on an interesting convocation I’m having instead of my ex. Includes, rumination as a maladaptive ER in which we focus and attend to the emotion itself.
- Cognitive Reappraisal: reframe or reappraise the situation into a more positive light in order to reduce its emotional impact e.g., “it’s just a test”.
• Emotional Suppression: when we try to suppress our emotional expression of our experience, we still feel it, but we try to make sure we don’t communicate it through our body language. Often used to protect other people’s feelings or avoid an undesirable conversation or situation.
*stages in emotion generation in which we can intervene with an adaptive or maladaptive emotion regulation stratergy
Emotion regulation strategies that are antecedent or response?
anteecedent: > situation selection > situation modification > attentional deployment > cognitive reappraisal
response:
> emotional suppression
Maladaptive emotion regulation strategies:
1. Avoidance: “I avoid emotional situations and emotional thoughts” i.e., avoid thinking or seeing your ex (distraction).
2. Rumination:
“I obsess about my
emotional thoughts”
(dwelling on experience and
causes).
- Suppression:
“I control my emotions by
not expressing them”.
