CHAPTER 12: EMOTIONJacquelyn Eisen and Maya Strauss
EMOTIONS: HUMANS VS. ANIMALS
Fear Anger Sadness Joy Love
Challenges: Heart races Pace quickens Senses on high alert
PHYSIOLOGICAL RESPONSES
MORE PHYSIOLOGICAL RESPONSES
Getting Good News: Eyes tear up Exuberance Newfound Confidence
DEFINING TERMS:
Emotions: Response of the whole organism involving physical arousal, expressive behaviors, and conscious experience
James-Lange Theory: Experience of emotion is our awareness of our physiological responses to emotion-arousing stimuli
Fear(emotion)
Poundingheart
(arousal)
Sight of oncoming
car(perception of
stimulus)
Cannon-Bard Theory: Emotion-arousing stimulus simultaneously triggers physiological responses and the subjective experience of emotion
Sight of oncoming
car(perception of
stimulus)
Poundingheart
(arousal)
Fear(emotion)
Two-Factor Theory: Experience emotion one must be physically aroused and cognitively label the arousal
Two Factor Theory: Stanley Schacter and Jerome Singer
Cognitivelabel
“I’m afraid”
Fear(emotion)
Sight of oncoming
car(perception of
stimulus)
Poundingheart
(arousal)
MORE ABOUT THEORIES
William James: We don’t cry because we’re sad, we’re sad because we cry because we’re sad.
Walter Cannon: Body’s responses are not distinct enough to evoke different emotions.
THEORIES OF EMOTION
AUTONOMIC NERVOUS SYSTEM
Sympathetic sympathizing with the plight of your body
Parasympathetic decrease in emotional arousal
BARRETT 2006
Fear, anger, and sexual arousal do not have distinct biological signatures.
They feel/look different, but have similar brain patterns.
Autonomic nervous system controlsphysiological arousal
Sympatheticdivision (arousing)
Pupils dilate
Decreases
Perspires
Increases
Accelerates
Inhibits
Secrete stresshormones
Parasympatheticdivision (calming)
Pupils contract
Increases
Dries
Decreases
Slows
Activates
Decreasessecretion of
stress hormones
EYES
SALIVATION
SKIN
RESPIRATION
HEART
DIGESTION
ADRENALGLANDS
When you think happy, you smile. If you think scared, your pulse quickens.
The amygdala is most active when viewing fearful faces.
Emotions in the right hemisphere are disgust. Emotions in the left hemisphere are happy.
People more speedily detect an angry face than a happy one (Ohman, 2001a)
Positive personalities: More activity in left frontal lobe.
Negative personalities: more activity in right frontal lobe.
Dopamine: left frontal lobe, supports happy
DEFINING TERMS
Spillover Effect: puts things on something that it didn’t originate on. Ex: Play tennis bad upset still upset when
doing homework
Polygraph: (lie detector) measures physiological responses accompanying emotion (sweat, breathing changes)
QUESTIONING
Control Question: aim to make you a little nervous
Critical Question: If the response is less than the control’s response, it is inferred to be true.
Critical > Control Lie
POLYGRAPH ISSUES Physiological Arousal is the same from one
emotion to another Tests err about one third of the time.
Control question
Relevantquestion
Control question
Relevantquestion(a) (b)
Respiration
Perspiration
Heart rate
MORE POLYGRAPH ISSUES
Adrich Ames was a Russian spy in the CIA that passed all the polygraph tests.
POLYGRAPH REPLACEMENT
Guilty Knowledge Test is more effective because only someone who knows information would react to details.
LIAR, LIAR BRAINS ON FIRE
Anterior cingulate cortex and left prefrontal cortex light up when lying.
SHORTCUTS
It skips the cortex, and goes from thalamus to the amygdala
Emotional before intellect intervenes. Some emotional responses have no thinking. Thinking occurs after the fact.
READING FACIAL EXPRESSIONS
Possible to tell what mood someone is in. Look at:
Eyebrows Eyes Cheeks
DOWNSIDE OF COMPUTER COMMUNICATION
Downside to computer communication: No tone of voice No gestures No facial expressions
WOMEN’S INTUITION
Nonverbal sensitivity gives them an edge in spotting lies
Greater emotional responses in both negative and positive situations.
Men Women
Sad Happy ScaryFilm Type
Numberof
expressions
“FOR NEWS OF THE HEART, ASK THE FACE”
Faces show feeling.
MOVIES AND EMOTION
Judge feelings/emotions of characters based off the situation.
Soundtracks are used to amplify emotions.
CULTURAL DIFFERENCES
Dominant religion varies between nations.
3 THINGS THAT INFLUENCE EMOTION (PBS)
FEEDBACK
Facial Feedback: Use muscles and enhances mood
Behavior Feedback: Acting silly so you feel better.
TEN DISTINCT EMOTIONS Joy Interest Excitement Surprise Sadness Anger Disgust Contempt Fear Shame Guilt
TWO DIMENSIONS OF EMOTION
Positivevalence
Negativevalence
Higharousal
Lowarousal
pleasantrelaxation joy
sadnessfear
anger
WHAT IS A PHOBIA?
Phobia: intense fear of a specific object to the point where you are unable to cope.
Heritable – there is a gene that influences amygdala’s response
EXPERIENCED EMOTION Catharsis: Emotional release Catharsis Hypothesis: “releasing” aggressive
energy (through action or fantasy) relieves aggressive urges
Feel-good, do-good phenomenon: people’s tendency to be helpful when already in a good mood
EXPERIENCED EMOTION
Moods across the day
TWO ROUTES TO EMOTION
EXPERIENCED EMOTION
Subjective Well-Being: self-perceived happiness or satisfaction with life. used along with measures of objective well-being
physical and economic indicators to evaluate people’s quality of life
EXPERIENCED EMOTION Changing materialism
EXPERIENCED EMOTION Does money buy happiness?
Year
100%
90%
80%
70%
60%
50%
40%
30%
20%
10%
0%
Averageper-person
after-tax incomein 1995 dollars
Percentagedescribingthemselves asvery happy
$20,000$19,000$18,000$17,000$16,000$15,000$14,000$13,000$12,000$11,000$10,000
$9,000$8,000$7,000$6,000$5,000$4,000
1930 1940 1950 1960 1970 1980 1990 2000
Percentage very happy
Personal income
EXPERIENCED EMOTION Values and life satisfaction
MoneyLove
1.00 2.00 3.00 4.00 5.00 6.00 7.00Life satisfaction
0.6
0.4
0.2
0.0
-0.2
-0.4
Importancescores
EXPERIENCED EMOTION Adaptation-Level Phenomenon: tendency to
form judgments relative to a “neutral” level Ex:
brightness of lights volume of sound level of income
defined by our prior experience Relative Deprivation: perception that one is
worse off relative to those with whom one compares oneself
A CANCER PATIENT: (BEFORE & AFTER FINDING OUT CANCER FREE)
Upset Elated Back to Normal
“I CRIED BECAUSE I HAD NO SHOES...UNTIL I MET A MAN WHO HAD NO FEET”
HAPPINESS IS...Researchers Have Found ThatHappy People Tend to
Have high self-esteem (in individualistic countries)
Be optimistic, outgoing, and agreeable
Have close friendships or a satisfyingmarriage
Have work and leisure that engagetheir skills
Have a meaningful religious faith
Sleep well and exercise
However, Happiness Seems Not MuchRelated to Other Factors, Such as
Age
Gender (women are more often depressed, but also more often joyful)
Education levels
Parenthood (having children or not)
Physical attractiveness