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

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 EMOTIONPositivevalence

Negativevalence

Higharousal

Lowarousal

pleasantrelaxation joy

sadness fearanger

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 EMOTIONSubjective 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 Percentage

describingthemselves 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$4,0001930 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