Emotion, p. 394-403A response of the whole

organism, involving • Physiological arousal

by the autonomic nervous system

• Expressive behaviors• Conscious experience

Arousal and Performance

Performance peaks at lower levels of arousal for difficult tasks, and at higher levels for easy or well-learned tasks

Performancelevel

Low

Arousal

High

Difficult tasks Easy tasks

Yerkes-Dodson Law

Expressing emotionNonverbal language

and verbal language helps to express emotion.

Nonverbal communication can be universal

Cultural Emotion and ExpressionGestures are sometimes culturally

determinedFacial expressions for the basic emotions are

universal: Joy, anger, interest, disgust, surprise, sadness, and fear

Ekman universal emotions

If I smile will it make me happy?Paul Ekman found expressions amplify the

felt emotion and signal the body to respond accordingly

Soooooo smile!

Emotion--A Polygraph Examination

Emotion-Lie Detectors

Polygraph machine commonly used in attempts to detect lies

measures several of the physiological responses accompanying emotion perspiration cardiovascular breathing changes

Emotion--Lie Detectors

50 Innocents50 Theives

1/3 of innocent declared guilty

1/4 of guilty declared innocent (from Kleinmuntz & Szucko, 1984)

Percentage

Innocentpeople

Guiltypeople

80

70

60

50

40

30

20

10

0

Judged innocent by polygraphJudged guilty by polygraph

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

Theories of Emotion, p.413-417

Does your heart pound because you are afraid... or are you afraid because you feel your heart pounding?

James-Lange Theory of EmotionExperience of emotion is awareness of

physiological responses to emotion-arousing stimuli

Fear(emotion)

Poundingheart

(arousal)

Sight of oncoming

car(perception of

stimulus)

James-Lange (cont.)Subjects report

feeling more sad when viewing scenes of war, sickness, and starvation if their “sad face” muscles are activation.

They also find comic strips funnier if their “happy face” muscles are activated.

Cannon-BardTheory of Emotion

Emotion-arousing stimuli simultaneously trigger:physiological responses subjective experience

of emotion

Schachter’s Two Factor Theory of Emotion

To experience emotion one must:be physically

aroused cognitively

label the arousal

People who are already physiologically aroused experience more intense emotions than unaroused people when both groups are exposed to the same stimuli.Biology and Cognition interact with each other to increase the experience.

Schachter’s Two-Factor (cont.)

Injection Told Emotion

Group 1 Epinephrine Will increase arousal

Mild

Group 2 Epinephrine Will have no effect

Strong

Epinephrine Study:

Schachter’s Two-Factor (cont.)Swinging Bridge

Study

Would you like my phone number?

Reviewing the three

Emotion follows (lags behind) arousal

Emotion occurs at the same time as arousal

Arousal + Cognitive label Emotion

Opponent Process TheoryFeel one intense emotion, then leads to the

opposite emotion.

→

Quiz questionAfter being physically aroused by his daily 3-mile run, Casper finds that he experiences resentment if his wife asks for an unexpected favor and more intense romantic feelings if she kisses him. Casper’s experience can best be described by the:a. Cannon-Bard theoryb. James-Lange theoryc. Two-factor theoryd. Opponent-process theory