EMOTION

Emotion: positive or negative state of arousal in reaction to a perceived or remembered event or object.

Theories of Emotion

-James-Lange Theory: behavioral response comes first which predetermines the emotion

  • Ex:
  • See bear  shaking  fear
  • Death  cry  sad
  • Criticisms
  • Diff emotions are associated w/identical psychophysiological states. Fear & Excitement  same adrenaline rush
  • Organs of the body not very sensitive; cannot make subtle differentiation between emotions & react slowly
  • Artificial stimulation of body changes in absence of normal provoking stimuli = no feeling of emotion
  • Onions  cry  no sadness

-Cannon-Bard Theory (Thalamic Theory): behavior & emotional response occur at same time.

  • Thalamus sends info to motor cortex & emotional structure at the same time

-Two-Component Theory of Emotion/Two Factor Theory (Schachter): physiological arousal and cognitive labeling result in emotional response. Behavior/Event + Memory of Event = emotion

  • Spillover effect: arousal response carries over into another event
  • Criticism:
  • Theory doesn’t explain how emotional reactions occur faster than interpretation of situation

Temporal-Sequence Theories

-Robert Zajonc: humans often know how they feel long before they know what they think about a situation; cognition not always needed

  • Some neural pathways bypass cortical thinking areas
  • Eye/ear  thalamus  amygdala
  • Amygdala sends more info to cortical areas than vice versa = highly emotional thinking

-Richard Lazarus: some appraisal is required; done in stages; each appraisal determines the experienced emotion

  • Primary appraisal: determine the potential consequences of what is about to happen
  • Secondary appraisal: decide what to do based on primary appraisal
  • Reappraisal: may need to continually reevaluate as events develop

Expressed Emotions

-Nonverbal Communication

  • Body language
  • Faces of Emotion
  • Universally similar expressions: disgust, anger, fear, happiness, sadness, surprise
  • Perhaps innate part of physiological makeup
  • Interpret faces in particular context
  • Some basic survival benefits

Miscellaneous Info.

FACES OF EMOTION:

Ekman & Friesen – six fundamental, pan-cultural facial expression of emotion: fear, happiness, sadness, anger, surprise, disgust

 “facial feedback” effect - change in facial muscles  subtle, but detectable, change in emotion/posture & walking have similar effects on emotion too

UNIVERSAILTY OF EMOTION:

Carol Izard (1977) isolated 10 basic emotions: joy, interest-excitement, surprise, sadness, anger, disgust, contempt, fear, shame, & guilt (love is a combination of happiness & excitement)

FEAR:

adaptive: alarm system for our body (prepare to flee or flight or focus on an immediate problem)

we can learn to fear almost anything – conditioning, observation (monkeys fear snakes by watching their peers & adults refuse interaction with snakes – especially food)

biologically prepared to learn some fears more quickly than others – those that helped our ancestors survive –

fear-learning – amygdala (center of limbic system) – associate various emotions with certain situations – no fear learning if destroyed or paralyzed temporarily – connected to other areas of body that experience fear – even if hippocampus is damaged, still react with fear even if they don’t remember why – amygdala pathways become active

genes influence our temperament/emotional reactivity – shorter gene (recently discovered) = less of a protein that speeds reuptake of serotonin – more serotonin activates amygdala neurons

ANGER:

mildly angry several times a week – response to loved one’s/friends actions – misperceptions or unjustified actions

small blameless annoyances make us angry too

controlled expressions of anger are more adaptive than hostile outbursts or pent-up angry feelings  talking & trying to understand to lessen aggravation

vent our rage – catharsis – “vent our anger” in Western cultures – which gives us a way (like daydreaming) to release it through action/fantasy – violent movies, violent talk, etc. – emotional expression provides emotional release

more often, expressing anger breeds anger – magnify anger or encourage retaliation

reduce anger: #1: wait – emotional arousal will calm if you give it time; #2: deal with anger in a way that involves neither being chronically angry over or holding it in too long b/c then you might overreact – communicate important and most immediate feelings of anger

forgiveness helps heal hurt feelings

HAPPINESS:

happy people are more favorable toward life – job, success, family, relaxation, healthier, energized, cooperative, self-image, relationships, etc.

when we feel happy, we are more willing to help others – feel-good, do-good phenomenon –

rather than focus on negative emotions – psychologists are becoming interested in subjective well-being – satisfaction & happiness w/ life

positive emotion rises over early part of most days and dissipates during the day’s last several hours – stressful events get in the way, but by the next day the mood is often dramatically improved – even the worst situations (blind/paralyzed/major surgery or health concerns) – recover to normal levels of day-to-day happiness

overestimate the duration of emotions – dramatically positive events are often as temporary as negative events –

affluence hardly affects happiness – increasing monetary power does not increase happiness

Adaptation level phenomenon & Relative deprivation principle:

  1. Tendency to judge various stimuli relative to those situations we have most recently experienced – we adjust “neutral” levels – a current condition increases, we feel a surge of satisfaction, but then we want more…more…more – million-dollar lottery winners & paralysis victims report similar levels of happiness
  2. Sense that we are worse off than others with whom we compare ourselves – expectations can soar above attainment and then disappointment is overwhelming – compare ourselves with those less well-off boosts our contentment (self-esteem matters more to individualistic cultures)