Emotion

1. Emotion

2. Defined: relatively brief episode of synchronized evaluative physiological, behavioral, and subjective responses • The term emotion usually is distinguished from feelings, mood, and affect. • 1. Feeling: the subjective experience associated with an emotion. • 2. Mood: an emotional state that is general and extended in time. • 3. Affect: encompasses feelings and mood and categories ofemotion(e.g., positive or negative affect).

3. Emotion functions to: • 1. Increase, decrease, or regulate arousal • 2. Direct perception and attention • 3. Influence learning and memory • 4. Organize and motivate behavior • 5. Communicate with others

4. Fear Surprise Sadness Disgust Anger Anticipation Joy Acceptance Basic Emotions • Plutchik proposed that there are eight basic emotions

5. Basic Emotions • Some have criticized Plutchik’s model as applying only to English-speakers • Primary vs. Secondary Emotions • Be evident in all cultures • Contribute to survival • Distinct facial expression • Evident in Nonhuman primates • Revised model of basic emotions includes: • Happiness • Surprise • Sadness • Fear • Disgust • Anger

6. Biology of Emotion • Autonomic Nervous system • Sympathetic Nervous System Activates • Fight (anger) or Flight (fear) • Love and excitement • Parasymathetic • Contentment • Amygdala • Critical in learning emotions, recognizing emotions, and interpreting emotional stimuli • Pyramidal motor system • Voluntary forming of facial expressions • Extrapyramidal motor system • Involuntary forming of facial expressions • Emotions are linked to physiological responses

7. Emotion Theories • James-Lange Theory • Cannon-Bard Theory • Schachter-Singer Theory • Opponent Process Theory • Cognitive-Appraisal Theory

8. Controversy Surrounding emotional theories • Does physiological arousal precede or follow your emotional experience? • Does cognition (thinking) precede emotion (feeling)?

9. James-Lange Theory William James and Carl Lange proposed an idea that was diametrically opposed to the common-sense view. The James-Lange Theory proposes that physiological activity precedes the emotional experience.

10. James-Lange theory Body = emotion “Without the bodily states following on the perception, the latter would be purely cognitive in form; pale, colorless, destitute of emotional warmth. We might then see the bear, and judge it best to run... But we should not actually feel afraid.” (William James, 1890) James, 1890, v. 2, p. 449 (Gleitman)

11. Example: A person sees a spider and regards it as dangerous. According to the James–Lange theory, the person would begin to shake and then experience the shaking behavior asfear: “I feel afraid because I am shaking”

12. Demo • Left side of the room, you must keep a pen or pencil between your upper lip and nose • Right side of the room, you must have a pen or pencil in between your teeth, do not let the pencil/pen touch your lips

13. Demo • Rate the following 10 cartoons on your scale provided. • At the end, take the mean of your ratings.

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24. Cannon-Bard Theory Walter Cannon and Phillip Bard questioned the James-Lange Theory and proposed that an emotion-triggering stimulus and the body's arousal take place simultaneously.

25. Cannon-Bard Theory • See snake, run and fear simultaneous • Stimulus to thalamus -- sends simultaneous messages to: • Lymbic system (arousal) • Cortex (fear)

26. Schachter-Singer TheoryTwo-Factor Theory Stanley Schachter and Jerome Singer proposed yet another theory which suggests our physiology and cognitions create emotions. Emotions have two factors–physical arousal and cognitive label.

27. FEAR  LOVE 3. The Schachter theory • Situation  bodily reaction  emotion + cognitive appraisal 

28. Cognitive-arousal/Schachter • 1. Physiological arousal and certain behaviors are associated with several emotions and thus lack the specificity needed to account for emotion. • 2. Situational cues and what one is thinking at the moment determine which emotion is experienced (crying at a birth = happy; crying at funeral = sad). • Example: A person sees a spider. According to two-factor theory, the person, who believes spiders are dangerous, begins to shake and appraises the shaking as fear: “I label my shaking as fear because I appraised the situation as dangerous”

29. Opponent Process Theory • Opponent process theory suggests that any given emotion also has an opposed emotion. (Fear/Relief or Pleasure/Pain) • Activation of one member of the pair automatically suppresses the opposite emotion • But the opposing emotion can serve to diminish the intensity of the initial emotion.

30. Opponent-Process Theory • Solomon and Corbit (1974) • The opponent-process theory states that when one emotion is experienced, the other is suppressed. For example, if you are frightened by a mean dog, the emotion of fear is expressed and relief is suppressed. If the fear-causing stimulus continues to be present, after a while the fear decreases and the relief intensifies.

31. Cognitive-Appraisal Theory • Sequence • Stimulus (object, event, or thought) • Appraisal of how this affects your well-being (consciously or unconsciously) • Simultaneous: Emotion (fear, anger, happiness, …) and arousal • Even with the absence of Physiological stimulus • For an emotion to occur, it is necessary to first think about the situation. • Criticized because it does not taken into account the physiological that many believe is essential to emotion

32. Cognition Can Define Emotion An arousal response to one event spills over into our response to the next event. Spill over effect AP Photo/ Nati Harnik Reuters/ Corbis Arousal from a soccer match can fuel anger, which may lead to rioting. Arousal fuels emotion, cognition channels it.

33. Facial Expressions and Emotions • Facial expressions associated with basic emotions show high crosscultural recognition (Ekman, Sorenson, & Friesen, 1969). • Facial Expression Demo http://www.wadsworth.com/psychology_d/templates/student_resources/media_works/social.html