Psychology of Emotion Exam 1 Flashcards
Plutchik (1982) Definition of Emotion
“An inferred complex sequence of reactions to a stimulus [including] cognitive evaluations, subjective changes, autonomic and neural arousal, impulses to action, and behavior designed to have an effect upon the stimulus that initiated the complex sequence”
Myers & DeWall (2021) Definition of Emotion
A response of the whole organism involving (1) physiological arousal, (2) expressive behaviors, and, most importantly, (3) conscious experience resulting from one’s interpretations
What are Emotions?
- Responses to stimuli (e.g., environmental or cognitive events)
- Functional in that they have a purpose and facilitate action
- Inferred by others rather than objectively observed.
- Four aspects: physiological, cognitive (appraisal), behavioral (expression), and experiential (felt)
What are the four aspects of emotion?
- Physiological
- Cognitive (appraisal)
- Behavioral (expression)
- Experiential (felt)
Classic Theories of Emotion
Focus on how the four aspects relate to each other
James Lange Theory
View that emotions are the labels we give to the way the body reacts in certain situation
1. Stimulus Eliciting Event
2. Physiological Change & Behavior
3. Feelings
- Feelings = awareness of physiological change and behavior
- Emotions instinctive responses to important events in the environment
- Different emotions may have different physiological profiles
- Criticism – You don’t always run away from a snake. The snake cannot be the cause of the running - you see a snake at the zoo, or in toy shop, you don’t run.
James Lange Theory (REVISED)
- Stimulus Eliciting Event
- Initial Appraisal
- Physiological Change & Behavior
- Feelings
- Support for Speedy appraisals
a. Cells in the prefrontal cortex respond differently to pleasant vs. unpleasant visual
stimuli within 120ms (Kawasaki et al., 2001).
b. People subtly mimic happy and angry expressions within 1⁄2 second of seeing the
photo (Cannon, Hayes, & Tipper, 2009; Dimberg & Thunberg, 1998).
c. Photos of fearful expressions can evoke sweating, trembling, even when presented
too briefly for conscious detection (Kubota et al., 2000; Vuilleumeier, Armony, Driver, & Dolan, 2001).
Cannon -Bard Theory
View that the cognitive/appraisal, feeling, and physiological/behavioral aspects of emotion are independent of each other, although they may all be elicited by the same event
1. Simulus Eliciting Event
2. Cognition appraisal, physiological change & behavior
3. Feelings
Two-Factor (Schacter-Singer) Theory
view that physiological arousal is essential for determining how strong an emotional feeling will be, but does not identify the emotion; you identify with which emotion you feel on the basis of all the information you have about a situation
1. Stimulus Eliciting Event
2. Physiological Arousal (Intensity)
3. Cognitive Appraisal (+/- Label)
4. Feelings, Behavior
William James
Different Feelings may be caused by different patterns of physiological changes
Schachter & Singer
Physiological changes are similar across emotions, not specific enough to differentiate them.
** If arousal occurs without obvious stimulus, people will search the environment for explanation
** Still need an initial appraisal to trigger arousal
The Two Factors
Physiological Arousal: Determines emotion intensity
Cognitive Appraisal: Determines type of emotion experienced
Zajonc & Ledoux Theory
- Some Emotions bypass appraisals, especially fear, likes, and dislikes. “Low road” is speedy. Supported with subliminal presentations.
- Stimulus Eliciting event
- cognition appraisal OR Feeling
** If 2 is cognition appraisal then 3 is feelings
**If 2 is feelings it ends there
Emotion Episodes (Emotion and Time)
State that lasts for a limited time
Final Cause and Emotion
Comparative & cross cultural, functional/evolutionary Models
Mood (emotion and time)
State that may last for a few hours, days, or weeks
Disorders (emotions and time)
Weeks, months, sometimes for years (e.g., depression, anxiety)
Personality (Emotions and time)
Once developed can last a lifetime
Motivation
Internal drives, needs, or incentives that energize goal-directed behavior (e.g., hunger, thirst, sex, sensation seeking, rewards)
**Emotion can serve as motivation to engage in behaviors
Basic Emotions Should be…
a. Universal among humans (possibly other animals)
b. Universal innate nonverbal (facial, vocal) expression c. Evident early in life
d. Physiologically distinct brain/body
Causality and Emotion: Aristotle’s Four Causes
- Material
- Formal
- Efficient
- Final
Cause
Explanation for things in the world
Material Cause
“That out of which” the material composition of an object
Formal Cause
“the form” the shape, organization, or design of the object
Efficient Cause
“sources of change” forces that modify the object (e.g. proximate causes)
Final Cause
“That for the sake of which” the purpose of the object (i.e., ultimate cause)
Material Cause and Emotion
Anatomical structures, personality (person is the cause)
Formal Cause and Emotion
Taxonomies of emotions, structure/organization models
Efficient Cause and Emotion
Physiology of emotion, IVs that effect emotions, process models
Humans share a common set of basic discrete emotions. What are they? How/why did they evolve?
Basic discrete emotion are categories of emotional experience, such as fear, anger, and sadness. thought to have evolved in response to specific kinds of threats and opportunities faced by human ancestors…. come back to
Modern Approaches: Formal & Final Causality/ evolutionary and comparative/ James-Lange legacy
come back to
Modern Approach: Emotions are…
- Categorically distinct entities, each serving a different adaptive function
- Coordinate different aspects of emotional responding into a package
- Some emotion categories should be part of universal human nature
Is Appraisal necessary for emotion: The Mere Exposure Effect
a. People consistently form preferences for novel stimuli, simply because of seeing them many times
b. Mere exposure effect has been replicated with Turkish words, random tone sequences, geometric shapes, people, and even with subliminal presentatio
Modern Approaches: Basic and Discrete Emotion Theories
- Stimulus Eliciting Event
- Initial Appraisal
- Cognitive change, physiology change, feelings, action tendencies
- Behavior
Modern Approaches: Core Affect
model for describing the feeling aspect of emotion, emphasizing dimensions of pleasantness and arousal
1. Focus on aspects of experienced “core” emotions
2. Models “map” emotion – e.g., circumplex and evaluative space models
3. Formal causality / multidimensional scaling models / Two-Factor Theory legacy
Modern Approach: Psychological Construction
- Stimulus Eliciting Event
- Valence (Pleasantness), Physiological Arousal
- (Psychological Construction) - Feelings, appraisals, other cognitive changes, action tendencies, observational behavior
- Construction emphasizes feeling as learned interpretations
- Formal causality / Two-Factor Legacy with strong cultural emphasis
- Different aspects of “emotion” are only loosely correlated
- Emotion categories are learned, not innate, universal, or objectively “real”
The Component Process Model
- Stimulus Eliciting Event
- (Appraisals): Expectedness, pleasantness, goal obstruction, certainty, control
- (Emotion): Cognitive Change, physiology change, feelings, action tendencies & behaviors
- Component appraisals combine to determine physiological, behavioral, and cognitive responses
- Formal and efficient causality / Draws on multiple classic theories
- Continuous environmental interpretation using series of generic appraisals, NOT
categorical appraisals like “danger” - Each appraisal has independent effects on cognition, physiology, etc.
- The combined effects across appraisals produce “emotion.”
Appraisal Processes Defined
Subjective interpretation/cognitive evaluation of what a stimulus means for goals, concerns, well-being
Magda Arnold (1960) definition of appraisal
the defining feature of emotion, and cause of emotional behavior
Richard Lazarus (1991)
Appraisals are the cause of emotions but are not the emotions, which also include physiological, motivational, and behavioral elements
Appraisals as an ongoing relationship with the environment
- Appraisals, and thus emotions, are about “ongoing relationships with the environment” (Lazarus, 1991a, p. 5).
- It’s not always possible to describe an emotion as “right” or “wrong,” as appraisals are inherently subjective.
Content of Appraisal: Core relational Themes (Lazarus, 1991)
a. A basic, prototypical kind of problem or benefit that people can encounter in their transactions with the environment
b. Each core relational theme elicits a specific emotion
c. Closely linked to basic/discrete emotion theory
Content of Appraisal: Appraisal Dimensions (Scherer, 2009)
a. A common set of questions used to evaluate the meaning of every stimulus or situation we encounter
b. Appraisal profiles across dimensions are associated with specific emotions
c. Closely linked to component process model
Evolutionary Psychology
the study of behavior, thought, and feeling as viewed through the lens of evolutionary biology. Evolutionary psychologists presume all human behaviors reflect the influence of physical and psychological predispositions that helped human ancestors survive and reproduce
What do emotions involve from the evolutionary aspect of psychology?
- physical and psychological predispositions that
- at one time were functional in that
- they helped our ancestors adapt to environment to survive and reproduce
**Ultimate causes may increase probability of proximate psychology
**Probabilistic rather than deterministic
Charles Darwin’s Major Books on Evolution
- The Voyage of the Beagle (1839)
- On the Origin of Species (1859)
- The Descent of Man (1871)
- The Expression of the Emotions in Man and Animals (1872)
a. Expressions similar among human adults, children, non-human animals
b. Emotional expressions are part of human evolutionary heritage
What did Dawin’s theory of Evolution involve?
- Hostile Forces of Nature
- Adaptations
- Natural Selection
- Sexual Selection
Hostile Forces of Nature
impede survival/reproduction (e.g., food shortage,
predators, disease)
Adaptations
Inherited solutions to hostile forces of nature
Natural Selection
Characteristics that help organism to survive/reproduce lead
to more descendants and survive in the species
Sexual Selection
Selection based specifically on benefits to mating rather than
generally for survival
** Involves Intrasexual competition and intersexual selection
Intrasexual Competition
Traits provide advantage members of same
sex competing for mates (e.g., males competing for females)
Intersexual Selection
Traits provide advantage by being desirable to
potential mates – increasing probability of being selected to mate
Gene
Gene – strand of deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) provides code for assembling
specific protein used to construct the body and keep it working