What Are Emotions Flashcards
Emotions are… 7 things they do
Essential
Hold people together in relationships and groups
Help determine relationship priorities
Signal the state of someone’s relationship to the environment
An important part of the development of nervous systems, attentional processes, decision making, communication and behavioural regulation
Driving force of motivation
Responses to things
Emotion definition (6)
Episodic,
relatively short term,
biologically-based patterns of perception, experience, physiology, action and communication
occur in response to specific physical and social challenges and opportunities
A pattern of intense changes in physiological arousal, behaviour, cognitive processes and environmental influences described in subjective terms
May be driven from circumstances, mode, or relationships with others
Philosophical understanding of Emotions (Plato, stocks and Descartes)
Emotions, also called passions, were
At odds with process of reason
Reason was uniquely human achievement -a virtue
Emotions- Primitive like animalistic nature
Evolutionary theories (Darwin & Emmanuel) (6)
Challenges philosophical understanding of emotion
Biologically evolved
Functional responses to the environment
Artefacts of evolution - good for survival
They serve an adaptive role & improve chance of success and survival
There are universally recognised facial expressions for emotion (current research debates some of this)
Physiological theories
Responses within the body responsible for emotion
Brain and body as reactive-
Emotion circuit in the body are responsible for the emotions
(These are developing theories that kind of get trumped)
Cognitive Appraisal Theories psychological theory (today’s view)
Emotions are elicited and differentiated by evaluations (appraisals) of the environment with respect to the current goals and interests of the individual experiencing the emotion
Complex sequence of reaction
- Cognitive evaluation or appraisals
- Subjective changes
- Autonomic and nueral arousal (what gets set off in the body)
- Impulses to action and behaviour designed to affect the stimulus that started it all
Psychological Constructionist Theory
Emotions given meaning by categorisation
Not discrete biological entities (people feel them differently)
Developed within one’s culture and environment
Different components of emotion can be seperate
Have separate time courses
An inevitable set of components doesn’t accompany all emotional episodes
Emotions (5)
Responses to people and events
Take place in us
Inferred rather than observed (we assume smile = something like happy)
Functional, facilitating action in order to have an effect on the world around us
Brain is built to sense what another might be feeling and what action they might take
Mirror neurone allow feeling with (to help reflect it without distortion)
Four aspects of emotion (Kalat and Shiota)
Cognitive appraisal
Feelings
Behaviour
Physiological changes
Basic emotions
Fear (indicates danger)
Happiness (things are good)
Anger (change is needed)
Sadness (indicates loss)
Potentially also surprise, disgust and love
Primary emotions (3 things these are)
First response
Unthinking instinctive response
Range of basic emotions the basic four are the key ones here though
Secondary emotions (5)
Come after primary Often directly related to primary Come from complex chains of thinking May be simple or a mix of emotions Like an iceberg
Cognitive Appraisal Process (what is it and what are the steps)
Used in uncertain and ambiguous situations where there’s little evidence of how to respond
2-step process
Primary appraisal- an evaluation of how the event/interaction will affect you personally
Secondary appraisal- conclusions from the primary appraisal will evaluate next steps and how to respond
Empathy (what, how, why 6)
Means feeling into
Feels the emotion of another but not disabled by it/doesnt lose site of the separation
If we lose that ability to seperate the emotion of another and our own we are no longer empathic
Ability to understand another’s perceptions or emotions
Carl Rodgers cites empathy as needed for growth
Talking about emotions to an empathic listener the likelihood of acting irrationally is reduced
Being an empathetic listener
People who help people need to be able to listen and understand
How we listen makes the difference
Listen to understand, not respond
Your felt emotion
Can we reflect and lean into our own emotions?
Self compassion and self kindness (being warm to yourself when encountering pain, personal shortcomings, tanner than ignoring them or applying self criticism, condemnation or judgement)
Super important for psych wellbeing
Greater self-compassion = greater social connectedness, eq, happiness, overall life satisfaction
Self compassion = less anxiety, depression, shame, fear of failure, perceived inadequacy, failure, general suffering
What are the different types of classifications for emotions
Basic emotions
Primary and secondary
