PSY1001 SEMESTER 2 - WEEK 1 Flashcards
what are emotions?
display of feelings that are evoked when important event happens, relatively brief and occur in response to event (little agreement on set definitions
how are emotions distinct from moods
mood is longer lasting, unable to be attributed to specific events or stimulus
what is latin background for emotions
“to move” and “to stir up”
what do many past definitions for emotion include
links perception, bodily responses or change. most recent (Keltner et al, 2013) includes our challenges and opportunities such as social goals
overall, links to internal states and take into account psychological response to specific stimulus
define affect
any mental state involving an evaluate relationship with environment. important categories of emotions and mood
define emotion (as subsection of affect)
usually relatively intense and short-lived affective condition which involves taking an evaluative position with respect to an intentional object (eg: anger, disgust)
define mood (as subsection of affect)
less intense, longer lasting affective state not direction on any specific object, reflecting more diffuse and generalised evaluative processes (eg; calm, tense)
whats affective well-being
generalised evaluative of affect that is more enduring than mood. severely impaired affective wellbeing is feature of affective disorders - depression, anxiety
give 3 emotional components
reaction to stimulus, appraisal, organisation of responsee
explain reaction to stimulus (emotional component)
physiological response attentional orientation
explain appraisal (emotional component)
relevance to goals, evaluation of meaning
explain organisation of response (emotional component)
overt actions, facial expressions
name 2 main models for how emotions relate to one another
discrete/categorical, and dimensional
outline discrete (categorical) model for emotions
sets of basic and fundamental emotions which are innate, universally irreducible (which is why they are basic). correspond to specific neurophysiological systems. facial expression of emotion is universally recognisable, and number of basic emotion vary
what are some basic emotions included in the discrete model, according to Ekman, or Plutchik
Ekman (1973): 6 basic emotions which are now seen as 7
Plutchik (1980): also included acceptance/trust, and expectancy/anticipation
how did Ekman find evidence for basic emotions (discrete models)
South Fore Tribe (New Guinea), never exposed to western culture, asked ppts to imagine specific sutuations and videotaped emotions, 86% accurately identified by US students
recently replicated in UK, US (2010)
give 3 evaluative points against basic emotion (criticisms of discrete theory)
- facial expression doesn’t reflect emotion but is social tools for communication (can smile when sad)
- context where emotion showed important
- universality in facial expression of valence of emotion chosen (positive/negative) but less in individual basic emotion (fear/anger) in Himba tribe
explain Circumplex model of affect (dimension model of emotion)
emotion arises from 2 dimensions = pleasure and arousal (instead of many separate and discrete emotions)
each emotion is linear combination of these 2 dimension
according to circumplex model of affect (dimensional emotional model) what is happiness and anxiety?
happiness = high pleasure and moderate arousal
anxiety = low pleasure and high arousal
define Darwins theory of emotion
emotion is innate, unlearned, biological response consisting of complex set of movements
how did Darwin believe emotion envolved
allows humans and animals to survive, and reproduce
feelings of fear = fight/flight
feelings of love = seek mates & reproduce
In Darwins theory of emotion, why is emotion expression universal, and why is understanding other species emotion important?
emotion expressions are consistent within and across species (universal)
understanding other species emotion allows safety and survival = understand if animal is defensive, if interactions will threaten survival
define James-Lange emotions theory
emotions are experience of sets of bodily changes that occur in response to emotive cues in world
outline how the James-Lange emotion theory works
- emotion producing situation elicits an appropriate set of physiological response (tremble, sweat) and behaviours (clench fist)
- brain receives sensory feedback from muscles and organs producing these responses
- feelings of emotion results from this feedback
apply James-Lange to meeting a bear
meet bear, you run, interpret run as fear
give critical evaluating points of James-Lange, from Cannon (1927; 1931)
-autonomic activity doesn’t differentiate all emotion states
-same bodily changes occur in non-emotional states such as fever, exposure to cold
-separating organs from brain in animals doesn’t impair emotion behaviour
-body changes too slow to be a source of emotive feeling (sweat production takes while)
-artificial activation of body insufficient to generate emotion (increased adrenaline to increase individuals HR)
outline Cannon-Bard thalamic theory of emotion
hypothalamus are involved in emotional response to stimuli
physiological change in body, subjective emotive experience occurs simultaneously
response inhibited by neocortical regions, and removing cortex allow uncontrolled emotive displays (sham rage)
how is decortication, or lesion studies/sham rage support Cannon-Bard thalamic theory of emotion
decorticated cat shows sham rage (an inappropriate anger outburst)
lesions (Phineas Gage) to prefrontal cortexes show problem to emotional processing
given that removing cortex doesn’t eliminate emotion, undermines James-Lange theory
what is Schachter and Singer’s theory of emotion?
physiological arousal alone doesn’t explain all emotional reactions, and can be interpreted as any emotion= requires cognitive assessment to determine whether state of arousal corresponds to anger/fear/etc
emotion is determined from both perception of physiological response, and cognitive appraisals
outline Schachter & Singer research study (1962) with adrenaline injection
ppts told received vitamin (was actually adrenaline/or placebo)
4 conditions:
anger provoking situ, neutral situ, either informed about potential side effects/not
those informed reported less anger due to appraisal of physiological response determined emotion (attributing side effect to jab)
outline how suspension bridge study supports Schachter-Singer
male ppt more likely to contact researcher following suspension bridge, due to attributing arousal to attractions
define appraisal
emotions extracted from our evaluations of event causing specific reaction
name 5 social factors which implicate emotion (Parkinson & Manstead, 2015) - with examples
1.objects which emotion directed to has social directions (anger to someone who insulted us)
2. emotion appraisal depend on social factor (insult taken more seriously if others show shock)
3. emotion affects others (your anger leads to counter angers)
4. emotions elicit social emotional sharing (share with others)
5. regulate emotion due to impacts on others (anger suppressed to maintain a positive relationship)
define emotion contagion
tendency to automatically mimic and synchronise expression, vocalisation, postures and movements with those of another person and, consequently to converge emotionally
name 2 functions for emotion contagions
enable emotional understanding and identification with others
provide proto-organising state that enables or prevents cooperative responses
provide evidence for emotion contagion in the home - Joiner (1994)
living with a depressed individual more likely to become depressed themselves
provide evidence for emotion contagion in the workplace - Totterdell et al (2004)
looked at spread of affect in employee networks in 2 organisations. found employees affect could be predicted from weighted average of everyone else in network
provide evidence for emotion contagion in the community - Fowler and Christakis (2008)
conducted a 20 year community study of 4739 people, found individuals happiness relates to those they connected to (even in indirect connections)
how can emotion contagion also be shown through social networks (not limited to face to face)
Kramer, Guillory & Hancock (2014)- manipulated emotive content on facebook. when positive expression reduced, individual post less positive posts. when negative expression reduced, individual posts less negative posts.
Coviello et al (2014)- seeing rainfall on facebook influenced emotional content of a user status message (direct influence) and emotional content of status message of friends in cities where no rain! (indirect influence)
state the 2 mechanisms of emotion contagion
reactive and inferential
outline the reactive mechanism of emotion contagion
automatic processes that occur without awareness (eg; motor mimicry), also known as primitive emotional contagion
outline inferential mechanism of emotion contagion
conscious processes that occur through social appraisal of other peoples emotions or by social comparison (eg; my friends seem happy, perhaps I am too)
what is motor mimicry (primitive emotion contagion)
perception of behaviour enough to make others behave same, automatic mimic gestures (eg; yawning)
- emotions communicated through unintentional imitaiton of expressive gestures, followed by facial feedback and resulting in emotion contagion
define primitive emotion contagion
mimicry and interoceptive feedback from facial expressions
what is primitive emotion contagion feedback hypothesis
2 mechansism:
1. cognitive: people make inferences about what they are feeling based on their facial expression
2. physiological: physical position of muscle in face can influence emotion
what study led to the primitive emotion contagion feedback hypothesis (Stack, Martin, Stepper - 1988)
ppt grip pen inbetween teeth/lips whilst watching video = rating video funnier when inbetween teeth (smiling)
provide critical evaluations of primitive emotion contagion
- in Stacks study, only one positive emotions measured (difference shown due to relative comfort/pleasantness of specific facial position?)
- recent studies didnt replicate result
- effect sizes for facial feedback too small to explain large contagions
- influenced by individual susceptibility to contagion
explain the influence of social appraisal in emotion contagion
physical expression mimicry isn’t needed, and emotion contagion also occurs via inferential processes (social appraisals) when we understand implications of other peoples emotive expressions which affects our appraisal of same object/event
eg: less amused by potentially offensive joke if others look upset
give resarch into the influence of social appraisals on emotion contagion
ppts who see others expressing regret over decisions of fairness in resource-allocations anticipate regret too
why are social appraisals social processes
appraisals assess relevance of what is happening for social as well as personal identities - events concerning our social group affect us emotionally
explain how emotion can influence our behaviour (emotions as social information model - EASI)
emotional expression provides info to observer which infleunces behaviours via observer inferences and non-inferential affective reactions
these processes either converge/compete, depend on observers info processing and relational factors (eg; cultural norms, expressive method)
what are observer inferences in EASI model
observers infer info about others feelings, attitudes, intentions based on their emotive expressions, use this as evidence of how they should act
what are non-inferential affective reactions in EASI model
emotions may spread directly from expressor to observer via emotion contagion processes=
1. emotion contagion
2. embodied response
3. emotional forms of empathy
in EASI model, how do we decide which route to take
- depth of info processing = more resource demanding process is likely if individual has enough cognitive resource
- perceived appropriateness of others emotion = if appropriate has more direct consistent inferential implications
what is reverse appraisal
drawing on knowledge of appraisal-emotion associations to make inference on others appraisal, in turn influencing own appraisal, emotion, behaviour
explain prisoner dilemma games in reverse appraisal
if others express anger, ppts infer they’re dissatisfied, direct blame externally as believe other play unliklely to cooperate, so ppt less likely to cooperate themselves (imply interpersonal effect of facial expression can also be context dependent)
explain gaze-cued appraisal
someone elses gaze directs attention towards an environmental object
- emotion associated with patterns of gaze toward/away from object has direct effect on others by influencing attention
explain research evidence of gaze-cued appraisal
disgust faces associated with visual stimuli led to less positive evaluations, only if eyes directed toward than away. anger faces gazing at a fear face makes more likely ppt labels target faces as fear (easier to interpret emotive meanings if given in plausible interpersonal context)
explain embodied processes
perception of someone elses expressive behaviour directly activate brain region used for expressions instead of during perception, without needing expression itself to make signal
define social sharing of emotion
when individuals communicate openly with one or more persons about circumstances of emotion eliciting event and about their own feelings and emotional reaction
when does social sharing occur, how often
shortly following an emotive eliciting event, repetitive, is shared with multiple people
what affects frequency of emotion social sharings
valence (positive/negative) or type of basic emotion does not impact, but more intense emotion are shared more
what does social sharing of emotions lead to with other
interpersonal dynamic (similar to self disclosure) and serves to
1. strengthen social bond between individuals (those sharing are liked more)
2. distribute some info on important event in a community (sharing anger to let others know about significant events)
explain social motive of emotion regulating when down-regulating positive emotion
social norms of expressions in social contexts may not be appropriate (parent feels need to show anger when disciplining child)
outline social motive of intrinsic interpersonal emotion regulation
interacting with others in order to improve own emotions, as might happen when sharing emotions or seeking company when feeling anxiety
explain extrinsic formulations of interpersonal emotion regulation
doing things to change others emotion, involving intrapersonal/intrinsic interpersonal emotion regulation as happens when we try to contain our own anxieties to reduce friend anxiety
explain self-report scales for measuring emotion
most common is Basic Emotions Scale
number of item per dimension of effect (increase reliability)
response format- choose timescale, and nature of experience
can also use face (less culture-specific, but more ambigious or restricted like emoji)
give issues of self-report scales for measuring emotion
requires self-awareness, and undersanding of emotion
only captures point in time
social desirability (less reporting negative emotions)
alexithymia
whats alexithymia
deficiency in processing and understanding of emotions
explain diary studies method for measuring emotions
emotion recorded at regular intervals/response to signal sent on a quasi-random schedule, or whenever designated events occur
use phone to send reminders
evaluate diary study method of studying emotions
increased ecological validity (experience recorded in context of daily life) less issues of memory recall, examines change over time
but ppt burden= biased toward high motivation and conscientious ppts so a low response rate
explain affect grid for measuring emotion
based on 2 dimensions - pleasure and arousal continuums
single items scale to measure action
evaluate affect grid method for measuring emotion
better than multiple items questionnaire (time consuming, inappropriate with repeat trial)
but requires training respondents
name 3 non-linguistic alternative measures for measuring emotion
neuroimaging, physiological measures (HR, BP, sweating and skin conductance), recording facial expression
evaluate using neuroimaging as non-linguistic measures of emotion
restrictive environment in scanner to elicit emotion, need validation from self reports
emotion is complex and likely to use network of brain regions
evaluate non-linguistic alternative physiological measures of studying emotions
pleasure and arousal seem to be related to physiological responses, but mapping to particular emotion is imprecise, cannot distinguish all of emotion
evaluate non-linguistic alternative measures of recording facial expression when studying emotion
coding of behaviour to analyse emotion is complex, facial expressions sensitive to persons valence of emotional state
facial expression is not always direct reflection of internal state
name linguistic alternative measures for studying emotion
cognitive measures
qualitative accounts
peer reports
sentiment analysis from text
outline cognitive measures of studying emotion
stroop style task to assess nonconsicous accessibility of emotions
outline qualitative accounts of studying emotion
interview, focus group, diary entries
rich data but idiographic/person centered so it are hard to generalise
evaluate peer report as measure of emotions
no access to persons internal experience, subjective, requires good knowledge of the person
whats a weakness of sentiment analysis from text when studying emotion
contextual ambiguity
how best should emotions be studied
by multi method approach, choice depending on RQ
no gold standard measures and all are relevant, its not possible to capture construct of emotion with single measure alone
outline emotion elicitation in research example
film clips eliciting specific emotion, International Affect Picture System IIAPS (pictures normatively rated on dimensions of pleasure dominance arousal)i
give a research study on effectiveness of affect induction
ppts randomly assigned to pleasant/un affect groups, underwent 4 different affect induction procedures (recall of salient event and music, viewing images and music, guided imagery, posing face/voice/body)
found all4 effective in inducing affective state (image+music was most effective)
define, and give the 3 reasons for Schadenfreude
pleasure taken in anothers misfortune
- envy, feeling other deserves to suffer, feeling inferior
how is Schadenfreude used in emotion research
emotion carry positive or negative social consequences and is selected using political, or moral norms. it has clear social dimension, so experimentally induce an emotion and measure
