Study unit 8.1 Emotion

Question 1

Emotion

Answer 1

1) subjective conscious experience ( cognitive) accompanied by
2) bodily arousal (physiological)
3) characteristics overt expressions (behavioral)

Question 2

Cognitive component

Answer 2

Depend on individual’s highly subjective report of what they are experiencing.
Cognitive appraisals of events are key determinants of emotions experienced.
Includes evaluative aspect - characterize as pleasant or unpleasant (automatic/subconscious)

Question 3

Affective forecasting

Answer 3

Efforts to predict one’s emotional reactions to future events.
Accurate in antisipating whether events will generate positive/negative emotions, not the intensity or duration.

Inacurate:

1) Do not fully appreciate how effective people rationalize, discount and overlook failures + mistakes
2) Based on memories of the past
3) Anticipating event, focus on aspects that will change, while ignoring those that stay the same

Question 4

Autonomic arousal (physiological)

Answer 4

ANS regulates the activity of glands, smooth muscles and blood vessels, fight or flight (release of adrenal hormones)

Question 5

Polygraph

Answer 5

Device that records autonomic fluctuations while a subject is questioned. Monitors key indicators of autonomic arousal (heart rate, blood pressure, respiration rate)

Question 6

Galvanic skin response (GSR)

Answer 6

An increase in the electrical conductivity of the skin that occurs when sweat glands increase their activity

Question 7

Neural circuits (physiological)

Answer 7

Hypothalumus, amygdala and adjacent structures in limbic system - seat of emotions.

Amygdala - acquisition of conditioned fears
Sensory inputs capable of eliciting emotions arrive in thalamus, simultaneously routes the information along two seperate pathways: to nearby amaygdala and areas in cortex. The amygdala processes the infor very quickly, if it detects a threat it triggers activity in the hypothalamus, leading to autonomic arousal and hormonal responses.

Question 8

Behavioral component

Answer 8

Emotions are expressed through “body language” or nonverbal behavior. Facial expressions can reveal a variety of basic emotions.

Question 9

Paul Ekman & Wallace Friesen

Answer 9

Identify what emotion a person is experiencing on the basis of facial cues in photographs

Question 10

Facial-feedback hypothesis

Answer 10

Facial muscles send signals to the brain and that these signals help the brain recognize the emotion experienced

Question 11

Display rules

Answer 11

Norms that regulate the appropriate expression of emotions

Question 12

William James

Answer 12

Urged psychologists to explore the functions of consciousness. Developed theory of emotion over 130 years, still influential today

Question 13

James-Lane theory

Answer 13

The conscious experience of emotion results from one’s perception of autonomic arousal.

Different patterns of autonomic activation lead to the experience of different emotions.

Question 14

Walter Cannon

Answer 14

Physiological arousal can occur without the experience of emotion

Visceral changes are too slow to precede the conscious experience of emotion.

People experiencing very different emotions, exhibit patterns of autonomic arousal that are too similar to be readily distinguished.

Question 15

Cannon-Bard theory

Answer 15

Emotion occurs when the thalamus sends signals simultaneously to the cortex (creating a conscious experience of emotion) and to the autonomic nervous system (creating visceral arousal)

Question 16

Stanley Schachter

Answer 16

People look at situational cues to differentiate between alternative emotions. The experience of emotion depends on two factors: autonomic arousal and cognitive interpretation

Question 17

Schachter’s two-factor theory

Answer 17

When experiencing physiological arousal, search environment for an explanation.

People look to external rather than internal cues to differentiate and label specific emotions

Question 18

Charles Darwin

evolutionary theories

Answer 18

Emotions developed because of their adaptive value.

Emotions are largely innate reactions to certain stimuli and should be immediately recognizable under most conditions, without much thought.

Emotions evolved before thought. Emotions originate in subcortical brain structures that evolved before the higher brain areas associated with complex thought.

Natural selection has equipped humans with a small number of innate emotions with proven adaptive value.