Module 8: Emotions Flashcards
emotions
transient neurophysiological reactions to events that have consequences for our welfare, and require immediate behavioural response. they include feelings, physiological reactions, expressive behaviors, behavioral intentions, and cognitive changes
mood
a longer duration and there doesn’t have to be a clear trigger
basic emotions
universal emotions, triggered by biological system
self-conscious emotions
involved in self-reflection, such as shame and quilt
model of emotion elicitation
it starts with a general trigger causes us to scan our environment. when we observe something, we must first determine what it means to us after which we experience emotion which manifests itself in behavior
paul ekman
has a universalist view of emotions. his work is based on the work of darwin
darwin
was convinced that we all have a common ancestor and that emotions are universal because they have an adaptive function. emotions regulate behavior and protect people form danger
ekman’s research
assessed emotions in both WERID and non-WEIRD contexts, including pre-literate societies in papua New Guinea. he showed pictures of facial expression to participants and tested whether they recognized the emotions. to account familiarity of the stimulus, photos were shown of both western and non-western people. in addition, participants were shown scenarios and asked to choose a picture. was criticized for using photos that came off unnatural
six basic emotions (ekman)
anger, fear, disgust, surprise , joy and sadness
antedecents
everyone responds equally to the same stimuli
physiology
corresponding neural pathways are found with emotions
subjective experience
emotional experience is the same in every culture
recognition
recognizing the same emotions is the same in many cultures
coherence in emotional response systems
the components of emotional expression - face, voice and physiological response - are present for everyone
giving meaning
everyone reacted the same, anger at obstruction of a goal, fear at threat to health, disgust at contamination, surprise at new things, joy at achievement of goal and sadness at loss
culture influence on emotions
two ways in which culture regulates basic emotions:
- front-end calibration
- calibration on the back end
front-end calibration
culture regulated what makes people emotional in the first place. this means that the same event can evoke different emotions depending on culture
calibration on the back end
culture regulated emotional displays and behaviors after emotions are triggered. there are cultural norms called cultural display rules that regulate how individuals from different cultures express (or fail to express) their emotions in different situations
cultural display rules
culture-specific norms about whether and how emotions may be expressed, depending on the context
deamplification
i experience emotion and express it less
amplification
i experience emotion and express it more strongly
neutralization
i experience emotion and do not express it
qualification
i experience emotion and attach another emotions label to it
masking/hiding
i experience a emotion and display another emotion
simulation
i do not experience an emotion, but i express one
Friesen
conducted a study in which american and japanese participants were shown a video of open-heart surgery and their reactions were recorded. in one case, the participants were alone in the room and the expressions of disgust were similar for both groups. in another case, an experimenter was in the room with them, after which both groups tries to mask their disgust, but the americans did so for less time. this shows that display rules play an important role in how the same universal emotions are expressed in different situations
Matsumoto
showed participants from 30 different countries, pictures of people expressing emotions. participants were instructed to indicate how appropriate it is to express the emotion in different contexts. when a person is alone, countries display rules are similar. however, when the social context changes, some differences emerge: individualistic cultures are higher in their expression, especially when it comes to positive emotions
Matsomoto, Kasri and Kooken
among american and japanese looked at differences in decoding or recognizing emotions. different emotions were shown for which participants were asked 1) what the emotions was, 2) how intensely the emotion was expressed, 3) how intense the experience associated with the emotion was. it came out that americans consider the expression of emotions to be more intense than the experience itself, with this being the same with japanese. thus, it is the americans who exaggerate the expression accompanying the experience
socially engaging
emotions are based on interdependence and relationship with others such as kindness, respect, sympathy, etc. (more collectivist)
socially disengaging
emotions are based on independence and autonomy such as pride, self-esteem or frustration (more individualistic)
emotional complexity
positive and negative emotions can coexist
dialectical thinking
if you can accept opposite thought, so can emotions
cultural-specific emotions
emotions that are only described within certain culture with a specific word
hyper-cognition
identifying different variation in emotions and assigning words to them
hypo-cognition
fewer variation in recognizing emotions
ideal effect
what is preferably experienced according to the culture
real effect
what everyone actually experiences
