Psychology Chapter 12

How can we rid ourselves of anger?

Boys: walk away, exercise Girls: Talk to a friend

sympathetic division of your autonomic nervous system (ANS)

IN CRISIS -mobilizes your body for action, activates adrenal glands to release the stress hormones epinephrine (adrenaline) and norepinephrine (noradrenaline) -for energy your liver gives your blood more sugar -to burn sugar your respiration increases - Your heart rate and blood pressure increase. -Your digestion slows, diverting blood from your internal organs to your muscles. -With blood sugar driven into the large muscles, running becomes easier -pupils dilate giving more light -blood clots quicker and sweat cools you down

Take away?

We overestimate the duration of our emotions and underestimate our resiliency and capacity to adapt

Emotion

a response of the whole organism, involving (1) physiological arousal, (2) expressive behaviors, and (3) conscious experience

Catharsis

emotional release. In psychology, the catharsis hypothesis maintains that "releasing" aggressive energy (through action or fantasy) relieves aggressive urges

Doing good also promotes good feeling

ie donating a kidney makes you feel good and the person getting a kidney feel good

Adaptation level phenomena

our tendency to form judgments (of sounds, of lights, of income) relative to a neutral level defined by our prior experience -we adjust neutral levels and then notice and react to variations up or down from these -Thus after an initial surge of pleasure, improvements become our "new normal," and we require more to be happy

Two Factor Theory

the Schachter-Singer theory that to experience emotion one must (1) be physically aroused and (2) cognitively label the arousal

Too much money?

-Experiencing luxury diminishes our savoring of life's simpler pleasures i.e. once you've skied the alps the sledding hill seems bland -Economic growth in affluent countries has provided no apparent boost to morale or social well-being -we are not happier with buying more stuff beyond basic needs

Expressions and Emotion?

-Expressions not only communicate emotion, they also amplify and regulate it -if you fake a smile your likely to report being happier -if you fake a scowl your likely to report being angrier

differences within nations?

-Irish and their Irish-American descendants have tended to be more expressive than the Scandinavians and their Scandinavian-American descendants

Left frontal lobe activity

-People with positive personalities—exuberant infants and alert, enthusiastic, energized, and persistently goal-directed adults -positive moods

Does Cognition Always Precede Emotion?

-Robert Zajonc said we have many emotional reactions before interpreting them ie we prefer stimuli that was flashed to briefly for us to interpret -We have an acutely sensitive automatic radar for emotionally significant information so even small stimuli can prime us to feel better or worse

Smiling real vs. fake

-activated muscles under eyes and raised cheeks is a real smile, briefer, take longer to fade -feigned smile is frozen in place and suddenly switched off -

Anger breeding Prejudice?

-after 9/11 the ppl that responded with anger not fear were more racist towards muslims

BUT THE HIGH ROAD STILL EXISTS???

-although much is with he low road... -things like political decisions are also subject to memories, expectations, interpretations -low road functions automatically -high road allows us to take control over our emotional life

Yerkes-Dodson law

-arousal effects performance -moderate arousal leading to optimal performance

Spillover Effect

-arousal spills over from one event to the next i.e. going for a run vs napping then receiving good news would you be more excited after the run?

Anger breeding more anger?

-asked to vent anger on punching bag and later when given chance for revenge they were more aggressive

Evolution Perspective

-before words we communicated with facial expressions ie a sneer resembles an animal bearing its teeth or surprise opens our eyes allowing us to see more

Anger can harm us

-chronic hostility is linked to heart disease -it makes our HR go up, sweat, raises testosterone -triggers blood flow to brains alarm system and makes us ask "why am I angry?"

Neural pathways of emotions

-emotional responses can follow 2 road pathways 1.complex feelings like hatred and love take the high road=travel by thalamus to the brains cortex and would be labeled before the command is sent out via the amygdala 2.emotions like fears likes and dislikes take the low road which is a neural shortcut that bypasses the cortex, travels directly from amygdala enables our greased-lightning emotional response before our intellect intervenes

What do researchers agree on now?

-emotions also involve cognition i.e. fearing the man in the alley depends on what we feel his intentions are

Richard Lazarus

-emotions arise when we appraise an event as harmless or dangerous, whether we truly know it is or not. We appraise the sound of the rustling bushes as the presence of a threat. Later, we realize that it was "just the wind."

2nd pillar of positive psych: Positive character

-focuses on exploring and enhancing creativity, courage, compassion, integrity, self-control, leadership, wisdom, and spirituality

What if someone's behavior really hurts you, and you cannot resolve the conflict?

-forgive without allowing further hurt -forgiveness releases anger and calms the body -brain scans show forgiveness increased blood flow to brain regions that help people understand their own emotions and make socially appropriate decisions

Do gestures and facial expressions mean the same thing in all cultures?

-gestures vary from culture to culture -a ok sign is bad in brazil -facial expressions are more universal a smile is a smile -facial expressions have non verbal accents though and we perform better judging people from our cultures emotions -even blind ppl who haven't seen emotions display them the same

More effective lie detection?

-guilty knowledge test -assess suspects physiological responses to crime scene details only privy to the criminal and cops -only guilty react strongly to those details

Criticism to this?

-if they were right then people with spinal cord injuries wouldn't feel much change in emotions but they do -people with high spinal cord injuries report feelings like anger not having as much heat as they used to, and an increase in head related feelings like lumps in throat or choking up at goodbyes - Our bodily responses seemingly feed our experienced emotions

psychology's positive psych

-in psych attention was on understanding and alleviating negative states—abuse and anxiety, depression and disease -positive psych is study of positive emotions, positive character traits, and enabling institutions

positive psychs goals

-in times of flourishing ppl can focus on bettering their happiness rather than fixing the negative -we can make humane, scientific monument where we make a positive psychology not only about damage but about strength and virtue

Testing the spillover effect

-injected men with epinephrine which increases arousal -youre put in the waiting room with someone acting euphoric or irritated -you start getting racing heart and panicky symptoms -people told to expect this from the drug attribute it to the drug and feel little panic -people told to expect nothing caught the emotion of the irritated or euphoric person - a stirred-up state can be experienced as one emotion or another, depending on how we interpret and label it

Does catharsis cleanse us of anger completely?

-it gives temporary release if we don't end up feeling guilty or anxious -doesnt cleanse our rage, if anything it provokes more confrontation, magnify anger by acting angry we feel angry -may form angry habits like yelling at people -ANGER BREEDS MORE ANGER

Women better than men?

-it showed women surpass men at detecting emotions given thin slices of behaviour -may contribute to their emotional responsiveness: more open with emotions

10 most basic emotions present in infancy?

-joy, interest-excitement, surprise, sadness, anger, disgust, contempt, fear, shame, and guilt

Civility

-keeping quiet about trivial irritations -dealing with big issues assertively NOT hurtfully

Forensic Neuroscience

-liars brains activate in areas non liars brains don't in fMRI -left frontal lobe and anterior cingulate cortex become active when the brain inhibits truth-telling

Hard to control Facial muscles

-may reveal concealed emotions -few ppl can raise the inner parts of eyebrows signals worry -raised and pulled together is fear

Becoming more empathetic

-mimic other facial expressions -acting like others help us feel what they think -emotions are contagious -if we can't mimic others facial expressions we tend to lack emotional connection to others

Wealth and Wellbeing

-most believe they'd be happier if wealthy -being able to pay for basic needs and have control over your life increases happiness -rasing a lower wage does more happiness than raising a higher wage -Those who instead strive for intimacy, personal growth, and community contribution instead of wealth experience a higher quality of life

insula

-neural centre deep in the brain -its activated when we experience negative social emotions ie lust, pride, disgust -activated in brain scans with things like biting into a gross food

Does the cross culture similarities result from tv and stuff?

-nope in new guinea where there isn't they responded the same

Does this happen later in life with females?

-nope it is shown in young girls as well

Cannon-Bard Theory: Arousal and Emotion Occur Simultaneously

-objected that the bodies responses like heart rate are too similar, and they change too slowly, to cause the different emotions -theory that an emotion-arousing stimulus simultaneously triggers (1) physiological responses and (2) the subjective experience of emotion. -they occur separately but simultaneously

Women nonverbal sensitivity and emotional literacy?

-one might explain the other -ie how they feel after graduation saying bye to friends -women say bittersweet -men just say bad

When crisis passes....

-parasympathetic division of your ANS gradually calms your body, as stress hormones slowly leave your bloodstream

ambiguous behaviors

-people perceive ambiguous behaviors differently depending on which finger they move up and down while reading a story -middle finger perceived stories actions as hostile thumbs perceived it as positive -Hostile gestures prime hostile perceptions

Happy People

-perceive world as safer and more confident -more decisive and cooperative -dont dwell on badd times but indulge in good times -live more satisfied and healthier lives -your thinking broadens and becomes more playful and creative -our relationships, self-image, and hopes for the future also seem more promising -happy ppl have longer marriages and better jobs

Ingredients of emotion

-physiology and expressive behaviour and conscious experience

Emotional Experience

-ppl place it along the 2 dimensions= positive-versus-negative valence, and low-versus-high arousal -Any emotion is some combination of feeling good versus bad, and of being aroused and energized or no -on valence arousal dimensions terrified is more frightened than afraid and enraged is angrier than angry -

emotions also differ in their brain circuits

-ppl watching fearful faces showed more amygdala activity than those watching angry faces -emotions activate different areas of the brains cortex

negative emotions such as disgust?

-right prefrontal cortex lights up more than the left

1st pillar of positive psych: Positive wellbeing

-satisfaction with the past, happiness with the present, and optimism about the future -happiness is a by product of a fulfilled life engaging with your skills and meaningful by seeing beyond ones self

Experiences and Emotions

-seeing faces turn angry to fear -abused children are much more likely to spot the anger -if a face is 50/50 anger fear the child with think its anger

3rd pillar of positive psych: positive groups communities and cultures

-seeks to foster a positive social ecology including communal neighbourhoods and close fams

Emotion over the day

-seems to balance out -Positive emotion rises over the early to middle part of most days and then drops off -a negative experience like a flat tire will drop your mood, but by the next day the gloom will lift

Emotion detecting ppl

-some are better at detecting emotions than others -given small clip of an upset women face and can better tell if she's angry or sad

Zajonc and Ledoux

-some emotional responses require no thinking at all ie we fear a spider even though know it is harmless and these responses are hard to change because they require changing our thinking -can influence who we like, our political decisions

Should we vent our rage rather than leave it pent up?

-some say yes some say no -individualist cultures encourage venting -interdependent cultures caring about the group say no they see anger asa threat to group harmony i.e. angry expressions are less common than in western cultures

Amygdala

-speedy thinking -sends more projections up to the cortex than it gets back -this is why it is easier for our feelings to hijack our thinking versus the other way around -amygdala reactions are so fast that we may be unaware of what's transpired ie in a forest we jump when we hear rustling first then leave it up to whether it was a snake or tiger

Does long eye contact initiate good positive feelings?

-strangers were told to do this -the eye gazers reported feeling a tingle of attraction and affection

Weeks happiest days?

-studied facebook and twitter statuses and looked for the words used -friday to sunday are happiest

Behaviour Feedback Effect

-the tendency of behavior to influence our own and others' thoughts, feelings, and actions i.e. walking with a shuffle and head down or long strides and head up do you feel diff??

Facial Feedback Effect

-the tendency of facial muscle states to trigger corresponding feelings such as fear, anger, or happiness i.e. holding pen in mouth uses smile muscles and helps you be calmer in stressful events OR people feel less depressed after Botox injections that paralyze the frowning muscles

James-Lange Theory: Arousal Before Emotion

-the theory that our experience of emotion is our awareness of our physiological responses to emotion-arousing stimuli ie we are afraid because we tremble

Musical expressions of emotion?

-they can cross cultures too -fast paced seems happier and slow is sadder

Emotions look different

-they may have similar bodily reactions but different facial expression ie Fear and joy prompt similar increased heart rate, but they stimulate different facial muscles

Anger

-triggers fight which can be an adaptive behaviour -sometimes response to someone's perceived misdeeds -sometimes small hassles and blameless annoyances

Good Anger?

-used wisely it can communicate strength and competence -helps ppl take action and achieve goals -ppl talk things over with offender cause of anger and lessened aggravation

discerning physiological differences among fear, anger, and sexual arousal?

-very difficult -Different emotions can share common biological signatures

Nonverbal Cues

-we can detect these i.e. if shown speed dating clip we can detect if person is attracted or not -if someone is standing tall and chest out we can tell they are high status or proud

Subtle Expressions

-we can detect these, young and old can -ten second clip and we can tell if the teacher likes her students -we have emotion detecting skill

Non verbal threats

-we detect these -readily sense subliminally presented negative words (snake or bomb -angry faces pop out quicker in a crowd than happy ones -

Amount of emotion we express?

-we differ in this culture to culture -Individualist cultures display most visible emotions -cultures taught to adjust to others like china have less visual display of emotion

Bad times

-we eventually recover from things like breakups which drag us down fro longer periods -tragedies like the death of a child can linger, but even these things won't usually be permanently depressing -things like going blind you will eventually recover day to day happiness

Detecting deceiving expressions?

-we have difficulties with this -behavioural differences in liars and truthers are too subtle to detect -detecting lies is mostly chance even with COPS -unconscious mind may detect better cause distracted individuals tend to detect better -GUT FEELINGS

Facial expressions in diff contexts?

-we judge a fearful face set in a painful situation as pained -movie directors amplify our perceptions of particular emotions with contexts and soundtracks

One exception to emotion being a female thing?

-when imagining an angry face you imagine a male -when shown gender neutral angry face its male and smiling is female -anger is a more male predominant emotion

Gender differences in emotion

-womens emotions are their dispositions and mens are their circumstances ie hes emotional vs. he's having a bad day -women describe more than mean that they are empathetic -fiction readers immersing themselves in another story will be more empathetic...women read more fiction -empathic gender gap measured with heart rate during another distress -express empathy more i.e. sad movies happy clips etc.

How can you release your anger?

1. Wait- physiological arousal will simmer over time 2. Find Distraction or Support- ruminating about why you're angry increases amygdala blood flow, so go for a run or talk to a friend 3. Distance Yourself- this will help lessen your anger

emotions are a mix of:

1. bodily arousal i.e. heart rate 2. expressive behaviours i.e. quickened pace 3. conscious thoughts i.e. is this a kidnapping, and feelings i.e. panic

How does wealth correlate to happiness?

1. individuals with lots of money are typically happier than those who struggle to afford life's basic needs they are healthier too 2. People in rich countries also experience greater well-being than those in poor countries

Positive Psychology Researchers are Exploring:

1. positive emotions- assessing exercises and interventions aimed at increasing happiness 2. positive health- seeing how positive emotions sustain and enhance well being 3. positive neuroscience- examining the biological foundations of positive emotions, resilience, and social behaviour 4. positive education- evaluating educational efforts to increase students' engagement, resilience, character strengths, optimism, and sense of meaning

How does a polygraph work?

1. they ask you a control question aimed at making everyone a bit nervous ie have you taken anything not yours 2. if you lied the polygraph would detect arousal 3. that response establishes a baseline a useful comparison for your responses to critical questions i.e. did you steal anything from your employer 4. If your responses to critical questions are weaker than to control questions you're telling the truth

This catharsis can only be true if?

1.they direct their counterattack toward the provoker. 2.their retaliation seems justifiable. 3.their target is not intimidating.

How do those three fit together?

Answered through 2 questions: 1. A chicken-and-egg debate: Does your bodily arousal come before or after your emotional feelings? 2.How do thinking (cognition) and feeling interact? Does cognition always come before emotion?

Thing to remember

Arousal fuels emotion; cognition channels it.

Hearing vs. Writing

Gestures, facial expressions, and voice tones, which are absent in written communication, convey important information -ppl hearing a convo better detected emotions than those who read it

Combinations?

Izard argues other emotions are a mix of these i.e. Love is a mixture of joy and interest-excitement.

Have spies been caught with polygraphs?

NOPE.

Depression-prone people, and those with generally negative personalities

Right frontal lobe activity

Smiles

Social and emotional events -olympic medal winners don't smile awaiting ceremony but smile with officials -you can have clue to who won with facial expression -even blind athletes show this

Polygraph

a machine, commonly used in attempts to detect lies, that measures several of the physiological responses (such as perspiration and cardiovascular and breathing changes) accompanying emotion

humanistic psychologists

interested in advancing human fulfillment

Feel Good Do Good Phenomenon

people's tendency to be helpful when already in a good mood i.e. after finding money they'll be more likely to volunteer

debated basic emotions?

pride-signaled by a small smile, head slightly tilted back, and an open posture Love as well!

Subjective Well-Being

self-perceived happiness or satisfaction with life. Used along with measures of objective well-being (for example, physical and economic indicators) to evaluate people's quality of life

Message of this

some emotional responses require no thinking

Bad days

usually bounce back from a bad day with a better than usual day the next day

Positive Psychology

xthe scientific study of human flourishing, with the goals of discovering and promoting strengths and virtues that help individuals and communities to thrive