MOTIVATION AND EMOTION

EMOTION

• Emotions are a mix

of

• physiological arousal

• expressive behavior

(ex. facial

expressions)

• conscious

experience (ex.

cognitive appraisal of

the experience)

THE BIOLOGY OF EMOTION

• Brain Mechanisms • Limbic system

• The amygdala appears to have a primary role in emotions

• Amygdala removal in animals produces a lack of fear and rage responses

• Hemispheres • The right hemisphere is

active during many displays of emotion

• Damage to the right hemisphere often leaves individuals emotionally indifferent and unable to read emotions

THE BIOLOGY OF EMOTION

• Autonomic Nervous System • The sympathetic

nervous system releases acetylcholine that prepares the body for vigorous activity

• Examples include • dilated pupils

• increased respiration

• accelerated heartbeat

STRESS

• Most stressors are caused by everyday occurrences

• General Adaptation Syndrome (Selye; Cannon) • Alarm

• Resistance

• Exhaustion

THEORIES OF EMOTION

• James-Lange

• Emotional stimulus

causes physical

reaction

• Physical reaction

causes an emotion

• Ex. “We are afraid

because we run” or

“We feel sorry

because we cry.”

THEORIES OF EMOTION

• Cannon-Bard • An emotional

awareness and an internal physiological response (change) occur at the same time • Thalamus relays

emotional stimuli to cortex and internal organs simultaneously

• One is not the cause of the other

• Both the result of a cognitive appraisal of the situation

THEORIES OF EMOTION

• Cognition and Emotion • how we think about

events affects the experience of the emotion

• Two-Factor Theory (Schachter and Singer) • Emotion results from the

cognitive appraisal of both (1) physical arousal and (2) emotion provoking stimulus

• The labels we use to describe our emotions depend on our immediate environment

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Emotion

fear

Cognitive interpretation

“I feel afraid!”

Physiological arousal

trembling

increased heart rate

James-

Lange

theory

Cannon-

bard

theory

Two-factor

theory

Stimulus

snake

Stimulus

snake

Stimulus

snake

Emotion

fear

Physiological arousal

trembling

increased heart rate

Physiological arousal

trembling

increased heart rate

Emotion

fear

EXPRESSING EMOTION

• How do cultures differ in emotional expression? • The meaning of gestures

varies with the culture

• Display rules • cultural norms that tell us

which emotions we display • learned during childhood

and act to exaggerate, minimize, or mask emotional expressions

• Expression of emotions depends on the situation and who is present

EXPERIENCING EMOTION

• Seven universal

emotions

• anger,

• disgust,

• fear,

• happiness,

• sadness,

• surprise,

• and contempt

EXPERIENCING EMOTION

• Fear • adaptive response

preparing our bodies to flee danger

• Acquired through... • classical conditioning (ex.

those reflecting our past traumas)

• observational learning (ex. those reflecting fears of our parents and friends)

• Biological predispositions • Ex. snakes, cliffs, and

spiders, not cars and electricity

EXPERIENCING EMOTION

• Anger • Causes of anger

• annoyances, foul odors, extreme temperatures, aches and pains

• Catharsis hypothesis • reduction of anger by release

through aggressive actions

• advantage: can be temporarily calming if it does not leave us feeling guilty or anxious

• disadvantage: expressing anger leads to more anger

• Appropriate ways to channel anger • exercising, playing music,

talking to a friend

EXPERIENCING EMOTION

• Happiness • adaptation-level

principle: we adapt to levels of a stimulus and need something even better to make us feel happy

• relative-deprivation principle: the sense that we are worse off than others with whom we compare ourselves

• predictors of happiness • high self-esteem, outgoing,

close relationships, work that engages, religious faith, sleeping well, exercise