Unit 11: Emotion Flashcards
Emotions
Emotions are our body’s adaptive response.
Theories of Emotion
Emotions are a mix of
1 physiological activation,
2 expressive behaviors,
3 conscious experience.
Controversy
Does your body go through changes first (heart beat accelerated, breathing, etc) or do you feel the emotion first?
Is thinking involved in emotion? If so, in what part of the process?
Commonsense View
Emotion ————> Physiological Changes
James-Lange Theory
Physiological Changes ——–> Emotion
Cannon-Bard Theory
Physiological Changes
Emotion
(Same Time)
Two-Factor Theory
Physiological Arousal —> Thinking (Cognition) ——> Emotion
come back
Embodied Emotion
Embodied emotions refers to what is happening in your body as an emotion is taking place. (Heart beating, pupil dilation, digestion changes, etc.)
Emotions and Autonomic Nervous System
During an emotional experience, our autonomic nervous system changes the body automatically.
Arousal and Performance (Yerkes Dotson Law)
Being moderately emotional (moderate arousal) is typically best when completing tasks. (Yerkes-Dodson Law)
Physiological Similarities
Your body’s physiological response is almost identical for most emotions. Meaning your body reacts very similarly when it’s happy and when it’s mad (heartbeat accelerates, breathing increases about the same…)
Physiological Differences
Finger temperature and movement of facial muscles differ depending on which emotion you are experiencing.
The Amygdala fires for anger and rage. The left side of the brain (frontal lobe) is usually more active for positive emotions, while the right side of the brain (frontal lobe) is usually more active for negative emotions.
Cognition and Emotion
What is the connection between how we think (cognition) and how we feel (emotion)?
Spillover Effect
An arousal response to one event spills over into our response to the next event.
Summary of Cognition and Emotions
Sometimes emotions are felt without thinking about them first. When this is the case it usually starts in the Amygdala in the brain. (Low road to emotion - Joseph Ledoux)
Sometimes thinking needs to happen before you feel a particular emotion. When this is the case your frontal lobe is typically the first part of your brain to be active. (High Road to emotion)
Expressed Emotion
Expressed emotions refer to facial expressions and body language.
Detecting Emotions
People are better at detecting negative emotions than positive emotions.
Gender, Emotion, and Nonverbal Behavior
Women are better at detecting emotions than men.
Detecting and Computing Emotion
Most people find it difficult to detect when people are deceiving them, or lying about their emotions.
Culture and Emotional Expression
Facial expressions are pretty much the same throughout the world.
Emotions are Adaptive
Darwin said that expressing emotions aided in our survival by being able to detect enemies and being able to easily communicate with others, even before language existed.
Elicitors
Elicitors are events that cause the same facial expressions in people.
Display Rules of Emotion
Display Rules of Emotion are cultural norms of how to express yourself (Ex: some cultures smile more than others.)
Facial Feedback Effect
The face you are making determines the mood that you are in. (Facial Feedback Effect.)
Behavior Feedback Effect
The Behavior Feedback Effect says your body language and behavior can affect your mood.
Experienced Emotions
Izard (1977) isolated 10 emotions. Most of them are present in infancy, except for contempt, shame, and guilt.
Emotions: Joy, Anger, Interest, Disgust, Guilt, Surprise, Shame, Contempt, Sadness, Fear
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Fear
In an evolutionary sense fear was helpful at keeping us out of danger or injury, thus it is a trait that has passed onto future generations.
Learning Fear
We learn fear in two ways, either through conditioning and/or through observation.
The Biology of Fear
Some fears are easier to learn than others. The amygdala in the brain processes fear.
Catharsis Hypothesis
Releasing your anger can actually make you feel better.
Cultural & Gender Differences
Boys respond to anger most often by moving away from the situation, while girls most often talk to friends or deal with the situation.
Anger breeds prejudice.
The expression of anger is more encouraged in cultures that do not promote group behavior and conformity (Ex: United States), than in cultures that do promote group behavior and conformity. (Ex: Japan)
Positive Psychology
Positive Psychology is the study of human flourishing, with the goal of promoting strengths and virtues that foster well-being, resilience and positive emotions. Created by Martin Seligman.
Emotional Ups and Downs
Our positive moods are most likely to occur within 6-7 hours after waking up. Negative moods stay more of less the same throughout the day.
Happiness & Satisfaction
Money does not necessarily determine happiness
6 Categories of Virtues in Positive Psychology
- Wisdom (creativity/love of learning)
- Courage (bravery/honesty)
- Humanity (kindness/love)
- Justice (fairness/teamwork)
- Temperance (forgiveness/humility)
- Transcendence (appreciation of beauty, humor)
Feel-Good Do-Good Phenomenon
When we feel happy we are more willing to help others.
Broaden and Build Theory
The Broaden and Build Theory states that positive emotions increase our awareness which over time helps build new and meaningful skills that improve our well-being.
Subjective Well-Being
Subjective well-being is the self-perceived feeling of happiness or satisfaction with life.
Adaptation-Level Phenomenon
Like the adaptation to brightness, volume, and touch, people adapt to income levels and other positive and negative life events.
Relative Deprivation
Happiness is not only relative to our past, but also to our comparisons with others. Relative Deprivation is the perception that we are relatively worse off than those we compare ourselves with.
resilience
Happiness helps with resilience, which is the personal strength that helps people cope with negative situations or negativity.
Things that help create positivity
Aerobic Exercise
Biofeedback
Mindfulness Meditation
Gratitude
Faith
Any many others!
