S2W1Emot Flashcards
Emotion
Pattern of changes including physiological, feelings, cognition and behaviour, in response to a situation.
Short, intense, cause clear, can make mood
Mood
A pervasive and sustained emotion that when extreme can influence one’s life.
Long, subtle, cause unclear, can causeemotion.
Basic v complex
Basic independent of culture.
Complex dependent on culture.
Robert Plutchik (1980) – bipolar emotions
Anger/Fear
Anticipation/Surprise
Trust/Disgust
Joy/Sadness
Dimensions of emotion
Watson and Tellegen (1985)
High/Low positive effect
High/Low negative effect
Barrett and Russell (1998)
Misery – Pleasure
Arousal – Sleep
History vs. Modern views
Past:
Independent of cognition
Physiological theories
Now:
Increased understanding of neural basis of cognition
Cognition and emotion NOT independent
Emotions and the brain
Brain structures subcortical
Fast and automatic
Relatively unfiltered
Trigger stimulus can be unconscious/conscious
The amygdala
Almond shape
Front of temporal lobe
Part of limbic system
Connection to other regions
Damage:
Impaired recognition of anger and disgust
Inability to match pictures of same person with different expressions.
Hypothalamus
Below thalamus, above brainstem
Part of limbic system
Connected with many levels of nervous system
Role in expression rather than production
Basal Forebrain
Part of subcortical nuclei
Links to cortical and limbic areas
Receives cortical and amygdala inputs
Cognitive-emotional integration via prefrontal loops
Ochsner et al. (2009):
Bottom up vs. top down
Bottom up: aversive photos, respond naturally
Top down: neutral photos, interpret as if aversive
BU condition:
Occipital, temporal and parietal lobes (vision)
Amygdala (negative affect).
TD condition:
Dorsolaterlal prefrontal cortex and medial prefrontal cortex (high-level cognition)
Anterior cingulate and amygdala.
Appraisal theories
Cognitive processes influence when and what emotions are experienced.
Most important processes involve appraisal.
Many different theories.
Conscious top-down processing
Distinction between conscious and automatic processing.
Situation>Appraisal>Emotion>Action
Smith and Kirby (2001) Appraisal
Appraisal can occur:
Automatically (activation of memories)
Consciously (reasoning; slower/more flexible)
Brosch (2013) Appraisal
Emotional responses occur due to evaluation of environmental changes
Schartau (2009) conscious appraisals
Viewed distress or horror films.
Eperienced less distress and horror when told to appraise the situation in both self-report and GSR
Winkielman et al. (2005) non-conscious emotional processing
Participants shown happy, angry or neutral faces subliminally
Those shown happy drank twice as much as angry.
Affective blind sight (affect from stimulus without awareness)
Appraisal theories: strengths
Appraisal determines whether we experience emotion and what it is.
Individual differences can be explained.
Distinction between conscious and automatic processes is valuable
Cognitive manipulations affect emotion
Appraisal theories: weaknesses
Situational appraisal not always crucial
Research focused on passive individuals
Theories focus on emotion due to current situation, not future
Causal structure may not be unidirectional
Emotional regulation and generation
Distinction between regulation and generation blurred:
Overlapping brain regions
Research suggests differences between emotion regulation and generation.
Process model
Gross & Thompson (2007)
Emotion Generation:
Situation>Attention>Appraisal>Response.
Emotional Regulation:
Situation selection – leaving a bad situation
Situation modification – ask a friend to come
Attention deployment – distraction/reappraisal
Cognitive change – trying to think positively
Response modulation
Troy et al. (2013) Emotion regulation
Participants with high appraisal ability had less depression when stress was uncontrollable.
Participants with high appraisal ability had more depression when stress was controllable.
Kohn et al. (2014): Regulation three stages
- Emotion Evaluation:
Ventrolateral prefrontal cortex
Initiates appraisal and signal needed for regulation
- Initiation of Regulation:
Dorsolateral prefrontal cortex
Processing regulation
- Execution of Regulation:
Regulates arousal by changing emotion
Kohn regulation strengths
Brain regions identified
Effectiveness of strategies is understood
Processes can be explicit or implicit
Influencing factors identified