Week 5 - Emotional Experiences

Question 1

Emotional approach

Answer 1

movement toward a stressful encounter

Question 2

Emotional approach
Emotional processing

Answer 2

attempts to understand emotions

Question 3

Emotional approach
Emotional expression

Answer 3

free and intentional displays of feeling
Opposite of suppression - experiencing something and displaying it

Question 4

Emotional avoidance

Answer 4

• movement away from a stressful encounter

Question 5

Two Neurobiological Systems
Behavioral Activation System

Answer 5

Regulates appetitive (approach) behavior

Seek emotional rewards
Seek behavioral rewards

Question 6

Two Neurobiological Systems
Behavioral inhibition System

Answer 6

Regulates avoidance behavior
Avoid negative events
Avoid punishments

Question 7

Emotion-Focused Coping: Discovering the Adaptive Potential of Emotional Approach

Stanton et al., (2000) identified two processes involved in approach‐oriented emotion‐focused coping

Answer 7

Emotional processing - attempts to understand emotions

Emotional expression - free and intentional displays of feeling
Opposite of suppression - experiencing something and displays it

Question 8

Adaptive potential of emotional approach

Answer 8

Minor stressors and real problems

Western groups seem to benefit from a little bit of emotional expression

Emotional processing becomes more adaptive as people learn more about what they are feeling and why

Question 9

Supression of emotions in Asian cultures

Answer 9

Supression allows for preservation of harmony

Traditional - suppression, contemporary - expression

Question 10

Culture affects types of beneficial coping, based on role of emotion

Important to understand the benefits of emotional approach

Answer 10

Better understanding of our experiences
Attention towards central concerns
Habituate to predictable negative experiences
Learn that emotional pain does subside - acute grief does dull over time
Time heals wounds
Take control by coping

Question 11

Behavioral activation system and emotional processing

Answer 11

When we are calm, our hippocampus regulates our thoughts - coping
When we are stressed, amygdala governs our thoughts

Question 12

Cultural differences in neurology

Answer 12

Cultural specificity in ability to down-regulate emotions when suppressing

Question 13

Expanding the repertoir of pleasure
Dr. Alice Isen’s findings - when we are happy

Answer 13

More likely to help
Willing to exhibit self control
We are more likely to be flexible in our thinking
Able to come up with solutions to problem

Question 14

Frederickson’s (2000) Broaden‐ and‐build model of positive emotions

Answer 14

Cognitive vs. physiological correlates
An experience of joy encourages openness ‐ broadening

Joy also induces playfulness
Encourages attachment
Higher creativity
Brain development

Question 15

Positive affect can influence making change
How likely are you to start a new workout program when you’re stressed, angry, or upset?
Positive affect can assist memory

Answer 15

Link words together
Spatial and verbal memory
Working memory
Visual attention

Question 16

Positive emotions can help build resources

Answer 16

Creative problem‐solving abilities ‐ leads to positive emotion – leads to problem solving – leads to more positive emotion…
Upward spiral!

Question 17

Positive Emotions: Expanding the Repertoire of Pleasure

Answer 17

Positive emotions can offset negatives
Cardiovascular recovery after negative emotion

Positive emotions and mental health
Flawed research, but newer work shows some promising results
Broadening attention reduces sadness and depressed mood

Resilience to pain Positive emotions and happiness
The link between satisfaction and positive outcomes might be positive emotion

Question 18

Emotional Intelligence: Learning the Skills That Make a Difference

Answer 18

Daniel Goleman —emotional intelligence
Bar‐On (1997) EQI: Self‐regard, empathy, tolerance, happiness, etc., etc., etc.,
Too many definitions!

Using the four branches: Positive interpersonal functioning
Emotional intelligence helps explain social functioning
Even beyond Big 5 traits

Can teach others to benefit from emotional experiences
Connected to other cognitive abilities
Resilience, mindfulness, leadership, well‐being

Must research neurological processes of emotional intelligence

Question 19

Emotional Storytelling: The Pennebaker Paradigm as a Means of Processing Intense Negative Emotions

Answer 19

Dr. James Pennebaker’s study
Emotional writing can predict health outcomes
Fewer physician visits
Positive‐emotion words help improve health
“happy” or “laugh”

Emotionally expressive writing benefits numerous groups
Breast cancer survivors increased life quality
Assists with feelings surrounding discrimination, especially in members of LGBTQ+ community

Cultural context
Asian participants who wrote about heavy drinking experienced shame, which was linked to increased drinking
American participants who wrote about heavy drinking experienced beneficial effects

Question 20

Beneficial for emotional approach style of coping

Answer 20

Those who prefer to express emotions and who used expressive writing reported fewer doctor visits than those assigned to a goal‐oriented writing condition

Remember to attend to individual differences

Question 21

Pennebaker paradigm

Answer 21

– the name given to the act of written disclosure of emotional upheaval, aka emotional storytelling

Promising long‐term benefits

Especially with people who are hostile; Alexithymia

Theories include disinhibition, cognitive processing, social dynamics

Storytelling useful for children

Parents can show their emotional response to storybook characters

Teach child to identify emotions

Emotional literacy!