week 4 Emotions and Affect Flashcards
What is the underlying physiology of emotions, including the role of the sympathetic nervous system, the parasympathetic nervous system, and the amygdala?
Physiology of emotions involves heart rate, sweating, sense of arousal etc.
The Sympathetic Nervous System is autonomic and prepares the body for flight/fight.
The Parasympathetic Nervous System is also autonomic, and is involved in everyday bodily functions such as resting and digesting.
The Amygdala is part of the Limbic System within the brain and is stimulated in states of fear/stress/aggression. Regulates neurotransmitters relating to stress/aggression. Heightens memory when aroused.
Highly reactive emotions with no higher cognition component, bypass the cerebral cortex and head straight to the limbic system.
We experience the activation of the SNS as arousal—changes in bodily sensations, including increased blood pressure, heart rate, perspiration, and respiration. Arousal is the feeling that accompanies strong emotions.
What is the difference between basic and secondary emotions, and what function does each play?
Basic emotions are considered essential for life’s fundamental tasks. They tend to be universal even amongst different cultures. Some argument re which ones, but usually considered to be: anger, contempt, disgust, fear, happiness, sadness, and surprise. Require little if any, cognitive processing. Ekman et al determined that 97% of the time emotions were recognised correctly with statistical significance from video tapes of those from different cultures.
Secondary emotions are the other emotions, such as shame, guilt, embarrassment, resentment, depression, etc and have cognitive processing. Provides more complex feelings re social world.
How can emotions be induced? What are the consequences of this?
Emotions are induced via arousal alone, or via arousal and cognition. Arousal may be caused by sensory messages of vision, touch, sound, physiology etc. Some of these inputs may come from others’ expressions etc.
The consequences of this are social interactions, manipulations, cognitive ameliorations being possible, individual responses occur etc etc.
What are the known individual differences (especially gender and culture) in the expression of emotion?
Females tend to be more open to discussing or displaying emotions and better at having their emotions read by others.Women are more other-orientated, whereas men are more self-orientated.
Eastern or collectivist cultures tend to focus on others’ emotions, and individualistic cultures tend to focus on how self is feeling.
Japanese cultures tend to disfavour public displays of emotion.
A study found that when viewing how couples interact:
discrete expressions of contempt, especially by the men, and disgust, especially by the women, predicted later marital dissatisfaction and even divorce.
Buying/selling
Endowment effect=the tendency for people to overvalue objects they own.
Also, anger, leads to increased risky behaviour, therefore likely to spend more.
Fear leads to more likely to spend less.
Disgust decreases the price for buyer and seller.
Sadness decreases seller’s price but increases amount buyer prepared to pay.
emotions in relationships
Emotion In Relationships Model says people generally perform sequences of behaviour, and emotions generated when those sequences interrupted. If interruption leads to goal achievement/pursuit, therefore +ve emotion. In close relationships, frequent opportunities for such interruptions. Plus many occasions requiring both parties to participate so each can facilitate or frustrate the other’s goal pursuit.
What relationship does arousal, and misattributing arousal, have with our emotions?
Arousal can be as basic as facial muscle expression. If adopt a more positive expression, can influence our mood or judgement to be more positive too. Can also be influenced by sunny weather etc.
Misattribution of arousal occurs when incorrectly label the source of the arousal. When do not know source of arousal, more likely to attribute to environment or to take on conferate’s emotion. When have knowledge of what is causing arousal, will not experience erroneously labelled emotions.
What role do emotions play in the intrapersonal, interpersonal, and social-cultural context? Provide examples.
Intrapersonal-eg primary emotions occur without thought and allow us to feel disgust and avoid foul foods etc.Emotions linked to memory and so can evoke. Also influence cognition.
At interpersonal level, allows communication, understanding of others.
In social context allows guideline for acceptable expressions, learning, coordination between groups.
What is aggression, how it is measured, and what role does emotion (especially anger and frustration) play in this behaviour?
Aggression may be described as physical or verbal violence towards another or another’s property, with an intention to harm. Measuring aggression varies from punching a doll, to self or other evaluations, etc.
Most believe anger is expressed due to a combination of personal and situational factors (increased risk with heat or overcrowding environmental factors, and personal factors of learnt behaviour, personality, testosterone, pattern of regular behaviour, loss of societal rule recognition etc etc).
The Frustration-Aggression Hypothesis states that all frustrations lead to aggression, and that all aggression is due to some frustration.Possibly a bit too simplistic a view.
Excitation-Transfer Model states heightened state of arousal means once a frustration occurs, more likely to tip into aggression. Fear may slot into the model in similar fashion, as a heightened state of arousal making aggression more of a potential.
Cathartic Hypothesis
The theory that acting aggressively or viewing aggressive material, can help to release pent up aggression such that it will not be expressed in “reality”.
Research has shown that such practice is actually more likely to lead to expressed aggression as becomes more of a “norm” or a heightened state of arousal.
What is prosocial behaviour, and what roles does emotion (especially empathy) play in this behaviour?
Prosocial behaviour is one which helps another. Includes helping and altruism.
Helping=an act intentionally benefiting another.
Altruism=a form of helping which shows concern for another, without expecting personal gain.
Empathy plays a role in engendering prosocial behaviour, although this argues that we are really acting prosocially to reduce our own feelings of anxiety when encountering another’s suffering.
What explanations are offered for helping by evolutionary social psychologists?
- Mutualism= cooperative behaviour that benefits doer and recipient
- Kin selection-particularly evolutionary theory. Biased towards blood because helps one’s general line succeed.
Describe the bystander-calculus model of helping.
Bystander will go through cost-benefit analysis as to whether or not to help. Firstly, aroused by other’s distress, then label the arousal, and thirdly, evaluate the pros and cons.
Define empathy. What role does empathy play in determining altruism?
To imagine how another feels, creates empathy. Thought by some to be crucial for altruism to occur.
But to imagine how oneself would feel, creates empathy, plus self orientated distress, which leads to mix of altruism and egoism.
Describe social learning theory. How do modelling and reinforcement interact to affect the acquisition of helpful behaviour?
Some argue that being prosocial, is learnt. This may be achieved through instruction, reinforcement (more likely to repeat prosocial act if was rewarded), or modelling-model behaviours are thought to be most successful.
