emotions

Emotions

The rest of the story

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EmotionEmotions are our body’s adaptive response.

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Theories of Emotion

Emotions are a mix of 1) physiological activation, 2) expressive behaviors, and

3) conscious experience.

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Controversy1) Does physiological arousal precede or

follow your emotional experience?

2) Does cognition (thinking) precede emotion (feeling)?

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Commonsense ViewWhen you become happy, your heart starts

beating faster. First comes conscious awareness, then comes physiological activity.

Bob Sacha

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James-Lange Theory

William James and Carl Lange proposed

an idea that was diametrically opposed to the common-sense

view. The James-Lange Theory proposes that

physiological activity precedes the

emotional experience.

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Cannon-Bard Theory

Walter Cannon and Phillip Bard

questioned the James-Lange Theory and proposed that

an emotion-triggering stimulus

and the body's arousal take place

simultaneously.

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Two-Factor Theory

Stanley Schachter and Jerome Singer

proposed yet another theory

which suggests our physiology and

cognitions create emotions. Emotions have two factors–physical arousal

and cognitive label.

Life without emotions• On Star Trek, who

is better off: Mr. Spock or Dr. McCoy?

• What do we loose when we loose our ability to feel emotions? Watch the video

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Embodied Emotion

We know that emotions involve bodily responses. Some of these responses are very noticeable (butterflies in our stomach when fear arises), but others are more difficult to

discern (neurons activated in the brain).

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Emotions and Autonomic Nervous System

During an emotional experience, our autonomic nervous system mobilizes energy in the body that arouses us.

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Arousal and Performance

Arousal in short spurts is adaptive. We perform better under moderate arousal,

but optimal performance varies with task difficulty.

How much arousal do you need in your life?

• Take the Sensation Seeking Scale and score it on the next slide

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Scoring the Sensation Seeking Scale

• Score by counting the number of times that you answered True

• Scores can range from 0 to 10 with higher scores reflecting a greater tendency towards sensation-seeking

• 0-3 = low• 4-7 = moderate• 8-10 = high

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Four forms of sensation-seeking

1. Thrill and adventure seeking: use risky, but socially acceptable, activities for excitement

2. Experience-seeking: seek sensation through the mind, the senses, and a non-conforming life style, may use travel and art for experiences

3. Disinhibition: seek escape through social drinking and partying, need people for stimulation

4. Boredom susceptibility: low tolerance for repetitious or constant experiences

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Physiological Similarities

Physiological responses related to the emotions of fear, anger, love, and

boredom are very similar.

Excitement and fear involve a similarphysiological arousal.

M. G

recco/ Stock Boston

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Cognition and EmotionWhat is the connection between how we think

(cognition) and how we feel (emotion)?

Can we change our emotions by changing our thinking?

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Cognition Can Define Emotion

An arousal response to one event spills over into our response to the next event.

Arousal from a soccer match can fuel anger, which may lead to rioting.

AP Photo/ N

ati Harnik

Reuters/ C

orbis

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Cognition Does Not Always Precede Emotion

A subliminally presented happy face can encourage subjects to drink more than when presented with an

angry face (Berridge & Winkeilman, 2003).

Emotions are felt directly through the amygdala (a) or through the cortex (b) for

analysis.

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Cognition Does Not Always Precede Emotion

When fearful eyes were subliminally presented to subjects, fMRI scans revealed

higher levels of activity in the amygdala (Whalen et al. 2004).

Courtesy of Paul J. W

halen, PhD, D

artmouth

College, w

ww

.whalenlab.info

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Two Routes to Emotion

Zajonc and LeDoux (1984) emphasize that some emotions are immediate, without conscious

appraisal. Lazarus, Schachter, and Singer (1998) emphasize that appraisal also determines emotions.

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Expressed Emotion

Emotions are expressed on the face, by the body, and by the intonation of voice. Is this non-verbal language of emotion universal?

How aware are you of your own moods?

• Take the Mood Awareness Scale and score it using the next slide

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Scoring Mood Awareness

• Reverse the numbers that you gave yourself for items 1, 5, 9, and 10

• Add the numbers for items 3, 4, 6, 8, and 10 to assess your level of mood monitoring, which is the tendency to scrutinize and focus on your own moods

• Add the numbers for items 1, 2, 5, 7, and 9 to measure mood labeling, which is the ability to identify and categorize your own moods

What does my score mean?

• High mood monitors show greater self-consciousness, are more neurotic, have lower self-esteem, and experience greater negative affect.

• High mood labelers tend to be less socially anxious, less neurotic, more extraverted, and more nonverbally expressive, and to experience greater positive affect.

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Nonverbal CommunicationMost of us are good at deciphering

emotions through non-verbal communication. In a crowd of faces a

single angry face will “pop out” faster than a single happy face (Fox et al. 2000).

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Gender, Emotion, and Nonverbal Behavior

Women are much better at discerning nonverbal emotions than men. When shown

sad, happy, and scary film clips women expressed more emotions than men.

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Detecting and Computing Emotion

Most people find it difficult to detect deceiving emotions. Even trained professionals like police officers, psychiatrists, judges, and polygraphists

detected deceiving emotions only 54% of the time.

Which of Paul Ekman’s smiles is genuine?

Dr. Paul Elkm

an, University of C

alifornia at San Francisco

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Hindu DanceIn classical Hindu dance, the body is

trained to effectively convey 10 different emotions.

Netw

ork Photographers/ Alam

y

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Emotions are AdaptiveDarwin speculated that our ancestors

communicated with facial expressions in

the absence of language. Nonverbal

facial expressions led to our ancestor’s

survival.

Charles Darwin (1809-1882)

Disgust

• How easily are you disgusted?

• Take the test and find out

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Scoring disgust• Add your false responses to items 2, 9, and 13

and your true responses to the remaining items from 1 to 16

• Add up all your ratings for items 17 – 32 and divide that total by 2

• Add your scores for parts one and two• Scores can range from 0 to 32 with higher

scores reflecting greater disgust sensitivity• Mean scores for American men = 14 and

American women = 1832

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Analyzing Emotion

Analysis of emotions are carried on different levels.

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Dimensions of Emotion

People generally divide emotions intotwo dimensions.

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Fear

Fear can torment us, rob us of sleep, andpreoccupy our thinking. However, fear can

be adaptive – it makes us run away from danger, it brings us closer as groups, and it

protects us frominjury and harm.

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Learning Fear

Watson (1878-1958)

We learn fear in two ways, either through conditioning and/or through observation.

By

Mon

ika

Sut

eski

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The Biology of Fear

Some fears are easier to learn than others. The amygdala in the brain associates

emotions like fear with certain situations.

Courtesy of N

ational Geographic M

agazine and Laboratory of Neuro Im

aging (LO

NI) at U

CLA

. Art and brain m

odeling by Am

anda Ham

mond, Jacopo

Annese, and A

uthur Toga, LON

I; spider art by Joon-Hyuck K

im

Take the fear survey

• Compare your scores with your classmates and with intro psych students at Temple University on the next slide

Mean Scores• MF M F• 1. 1.5 1.7 8. 2.6 2.7• 2. 2.4 2.6 9. 2.7 2.4• 3. 2.0 2.1 10. 2.1 2.0• 4. 1.5 1.6 11. 2.2 2.1• 5. 2.0 2.1 12. 2.4 2.7• 6. 1.9 2.1 13. 1.5 2.0• 7. 2.2 3.1 14. 1.8 1.9

More mean scores• M F M F• 15. 2.0 2.8 22. 2.3 2.3• 16. 1.6 1.8 23. 1.5 1.7• 17. 2.5 2.7 24. 1.6 1.7• 18. 1.7 2.1 25. 1.4 1.4• 19. 1.6 1.8 26. 1.3 1.5• 20. 2.0 2.1 27. 1.4 2.1• 21. 2.5 2.6 28. 1.6 1.7

Final mean scores• M F• 29. 1.9 2.7• 30. 1.1 1.1• 31. 1.8 1.9• 32. 1.1 1.4• 33. 2.2 2.4• 34. 2.3 2.3• 35. 2.0 2.1

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Anger

Anger “carries the mind away,” (Virgil, 70-19 B.C.), but “makes any coward

brave,” (Cato 234-149 B.C.).

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Causes of Anger

1. People generally become angry with friends and loved ones who commit wrongdoings, especially if they are willful, unjustified, and avoidable.

2. People are also angered by foul odors, high temperatures, traffic jams, and aches and pains.

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Cultural & Gender Differences

1. Boys respond to anger by moving away from that situation, while girls talk to their friends or listen to music.

2. Anger breeds prejudice. The 9/11 attacks led to an intolerance towards immigrants and Muslims.

3. The expression of anger is more encouraged in cultures that do not promote group behavior than in cultures that do promote group behavior.

Wolfgang K

aehler

How angry are you

• Take the Multidimensional Anger Inventory and score it, using information on the next slide

How to score• Reverse the numbers that you gave youself

for items 2, 15, 23, 24 and 25• Then total all the numbers• Male and female college students scored a

mean of 71.18

Dimensions of Anger• Figure out the dimensions of your anger by

looking at these subgroups:– Frequency: items 1, 6, 9, 14, and 17– Duration: items 22 and 25– Magnitude: items 2, 10, 18 and 26– Range of anger eliciting situations: item 30– Hostile outlook: 5, 8, 13, 16, 21 and 28

Mode of expression• Figure out how you express your anger by

looking at these subgroups:– Anger-in: items 3, 20, 23, 24, 27 and 29– Anger- out: items 4, 7, 12, 15 and 19– Guilt about expressing anger: items 11 and 29– Brooding: items 15, 19, 20 and 23– Anger discuss: item 24

Now that we know how angry you are…

• You can figure out how comfortable you are with your anger by taking the Anger Discomfort Scale and scoring it on the next slide

Scoring• Reverse the numnbers that you gave

yourself for items 5, 10 and 11• Total the numbers for all 15 items• Scores can range from 15 to 60 with higher

scores reflecting greater discomfort with your own anger

• Undergraduates had a mean score of 30.6 with no gender difference

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Happiness

People who are happy perceive the

world as being safer. They are able to make decisions easily, are more

cooperative, rate job applicants more

favorably, and live healthier, energized, and more satisfied

lives.

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Feel-Good, Do-Good Phenomenon

When we feel happy we are more willing to help others.

How happy are you?

• Take the “Emotions Questionnaire” that is on the back of your “Fear Survey” and score it on the next slide

Scoring – how do you compare?• Combination score = (scale score x 10 plus

happy %) divided by 2• Mean scores for community college

students were:– Combination score: 61.7– Scale score: 7– Happy percent: 54– Unhappy percent: 21– Neutral percent: 25

Characteristics of happy people

• Number a paper 1-10• List the initials of 10 people who you know

well• Write an H next to their name if you think

that they are generally happy• Write a N next to their name if you think

that they are generally unhappy• Follow my oral directions for the rest

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Subjective Well-BeingSubjective well-being is the self-perceived feeling

of happiness or satisfaction with life. Research on new positive psychology is on the rise.

http://web.fineliving.com

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Emotional Ups and Downs

Our positive moods rise to a maximum within 6-7 hours after waking up. Negative

moods stay more or less the same throughout the day.

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Emotional Ups and Downs

Over the long run, our emotional ups and downs tend to balance. Although grave

diseases can bring individuals emotionally down, most people adapt.

Courtesy of A

nna Putt

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Values & Life Satisfaction

Students who value love more than money report higher life satisfaction.

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Happiness & Prior Experience

Adaptation-Level Phenomenon: Like the adaptation to brightness, volume, and touch, people adapt to income levels. “Satisfaction

has a short half-life” (Ryan, 1999).

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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.

Happiness & Others’ Attainments