Human Motivation Final Exam Ch. 8

happiness

"Continued pleasures wear off...Pleasure is always contingent upon change and disappears with continuous satisfaction." "Satisfaction has short half-life." •Another important factor in determining happiness is called relative deprivation, or social comparison. Compare oneself with others. Research found that when reminded of the most unfortunate people in the world, most people feel much better about themselves. The reverse is also true.

Answer of a person with spinal cord damage:

"It's sort of cold anger. I yell and cuss, because if you don't do it, people will take advantage of you. But it doesn't have the heat to it that it used to. It's a mental kind of anger. I say I am afraid, like when I am gong into real stiff exam, but I don't really feel afraid, not all tense and shaky, like I used to."

gender diff in emotion

- Women are much more emotionally literate than men. Far superior in social cognition in general (empathetic) they also show more emotion - Ironically, physiological measures did not show a diff between men and women

II. Social learning theory of Aggression

- the great psychologist Bandura believes that aggression is primarily the result of learning from a role model, especially when the model gets rewarded for his/her aggression. When the model gets punished for aggression, the learned aggression gets inhibited.

•What is the coherent (evolutionary) explanation of this gender and developmental pattern in rate of crime?

- the males are the protectors - developmental: late adolescence is the most violent age. During Adolescence the testosterone levels are at its highest -Evolutionary: one has evolved from a child into an adult and he wants to have a territory of its own, and has to act aggressive to protect it. As they get older testosterone levels decrease and territory is established.

The clinical implications of cognitive appraisal: repressed memory

-- Clinicians report that sometimes a patient appears to be experiencing an emotion but is not conscious of it, yet react in a manner consistent with the motion. -E.g., a patient may not feel angry, but he acts in hostile way. - for this people the emotional part is still there but the cognitive part is gone.

Energy and disruption:

-- Emotion can energize and also can disrupt our task performance. --Simple familiar, well-learned routine work can take advantage of higher arousal. --Complex, unfamiliar tasks require attending to multiple sources of info and can be impaired by high arousal (causing tunnel attention) (Yerkes-Dodson principle). Sustained high level of arousal is harmful physically and psychologically.

Generalized anger and aggression:

-- sometimes people experiencing negative emotions attack, not the specific target which is the cause of their negative experience, but any humans or objects the come across. -- This is caused by their lack of cognitive analysis of their own emotion and the source of that emotions

Generalization:

-- we select the substitute target of aggression according to the generalization principle, -- i.e., the substitute target must be similar to the real target. A son may lash out at his father when can't do it to his boss because both are authoritative figures. He will not blast at his girl friend. That is, the aggression generalizes, or spread out to similar targets.

Introverts

--Introverts are better at detecting others' emotions than extraverts -- experiences can enhance sensitivity: abused children detect anger faster than non-abused ones. They also tend to see anger in an emotionally ambiguous face.

Positive correlation between children watching TV violence and behavior violence:

--There is such a correlation. See p 431, fig 11.10, Atkinson. --However, a correlation is not necessarily a causation. It is very possible that these children have an aggressive trait and prefer to watch more violent programs. -- could be due to a third variable: a violent gene

Displacement:

--When the target of anger or frustration can make a very severe retaliation, --we can redirect our aggression to a substitute target which is a safer outlet. --But Freud said that the satisfaction from such an act will always be less than a direct attack at the real target. --Aggression generalization: spreads out to other targets that are similar to the real target.

People with trait aggression have a tendency to act without complete info. Emotional response precedes cognitive analysis. Is this adaptive? Why? Why not?

-Emotion comes before cognition, it can be both adaptive.or maladaptive depending on the environment where you live because sometimes you don't have the time to analyze a situation before you have to fight or flight. --In a more primitive society it is adaptive, and In a more civilized society it is considered maladaptive

People can be taught to use more socially acceptable and effective ways to control other people.

-Great politicians and criminals both want to control others. -One ends up being a great leader, the other in the prison. -See how presidential candidates act aggressively in a democratic society compared with in an authoritarian society.

Aggression Biological factor (impulsive temperament)

-Plays an important role in aggression (at least 50%). -Serotonin can inhibit impulses. - Low levels of serotonin increase aggression. - Testosterone increases aggression. -However, the relation is weaker for humans than for animals. -Other animals are more influenced by testosterone levels than humans because humans have larger cortex than other animals. -Human behavior is more controlled by learning experience

Aggression New concepts

-there are more basic reasons than retaliation for people to act aggressively: needs to adapt, survive, and control. -Aggression has been used as a means to control others. (instrumental aggression) -Smart people use aggression in a more subtle and skillful (psychological) way. -Others lack such skills and commit physically violent acts.

•But for some emotions, e.g., pride, disappointment, jealousy, or contempt, cognition must play a role.

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•The learning is a process of classical conditioning (emotional response to a situation).

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The three components of emotion:

1. Biological: physiological changes accompanying emotion. Some basic types and basic ways communication of emotion is universal 2. Learned: how or whether or not to express it. Cultural difference in expressing it. In Britain the gentlemen is supposed to not show any emotion. He should show that he is in control of his own emotions. 3. Cognitive: the result from analysis of the event giving rise to the emotion can affect emotion very much.

Factor analysis showed that there are 4 factors in human aggression:

1. Physical violence 2. Verbal attack 3. Anger (emotional, physiological arousal) 4. Hostility (cognitive, feeling of ill will, injustice)

Kinds (reasons) of aggression:

1. Predatory: a predator toward its preys, including humans hunting other animals (note that it is no longer necessary today, and yet, the animal instincts keep them hunting for pleasure). 2. Inter-Male Aggression: this is common both in animal kingdom and in human society. Most attacks and killings occur between males. Especially during mating season. 3. Fear-Induced Aggression: this kind of attack usually preceded by an attempt to escape (fight or flight response). Prisoners attacking guards to escape 4. Territorial Aggression: most of wars were started for defending and invading. Lots of aggressions committed for disputes over offices, yards, etc. 5. Maternal Aggression: mothers with babies or young children are very aggressive in defending or protecting the kids. this is an animal instinct and has a good evolutionary basis. 6. Irritable Aggression: caused by frustration, pain, deprivation. Animal exp shows this. that's why traffic jams often cause aggression (road rage) -- they felt you deprived their right to the road. 7. Sex-related Aggression: caused by a sexual partner or a potential one flirting or having sex with a third person-- sexual jealousy. This has an evolutionary basis. 8. Instrumental Aggression: learned from past experience that one can achieve one's goal by being aggressive. It is a calculated rational behavior. Use aggression as a means to coerce others to comply or do something. Also known as Goal-Directed. Not much anger is involved (it is driven by rational thoughts) in this kind of aggression which is very different from someone who jumps into a violent act at the spur of anger--affective aggression.

Two ways to view self-esteem: or our relationship to other people

1.Zero sum game: I win, you lose; you win, I lose. 2.Non zero sum game: both can win (a win-win situation).

Trait aggression:

Amygdala triggers the FFS, activates cardiovascular system, release norepinephrine. When this cluster of neurons is stimulated, animals or people get aggressive. When it is lessioned, they become calm. Which part of brain is associated with BIS? People with trait aggression have low FFS and BAS thresholds, but high threshold for BIS. They can be easily triggered.

nonverbal communication 2

An averted glance signals submission, a stare dominance. -- suppressing a spontaneous emotional expression takes attention and effort. People look strained when they try to suppress anger, for example. --people detect anger and fear (from eyes) faster than other emotions. This is adaptive

Emotions and body temperatures

Anger: heart rate and body temperature increase a lot Fear: body temperature decreases but heart rate increases Sad: body temperature doesn't change much and heart rate increase Happy: body temp and hear rate increase only a little Surprised: body temperature almost doesn't change, it decreased a little. and heart rate increases a little bit. Disgust: the body temperature and heart rate goes down.

3 characteristics of successful expression of anger

Assertiveness, Controlled, and Persistance

Hypothalamus definition

Cluster of neurons in the center of the brain that regulates basic biological motives.

Steps leading to terrorism:the staircase model

Compare the way to terrorism to going up a narrower and narrower stairway. (1) feeling of deprivation or unfairness, (2) if can't find any alternative to address the perceived injustice, then climb up to 2nd floor—stronger feeling of frustration and anger, very receptive to recruitment for suicide mission, (3) the perspective to the solution further narrows down to only one choice.

Why are people in a democratic society more angry than in other societies when they sense inequality?

Democratic societies are taught that they are all equal. Class-fixed societies are more tolerant of inequality because they have been taught that not everyone is equal.

Facial feedback hypothesis:

Facial expression can feedback to contribute to the intensity of the emotion. Research finding support this idea: People who showed an exaggerated facial expression reported more intense emotion (doing is feeling, faking or acting an emotion can become real) - the contraction of certain muscles will affect the flow of the blood to certain areas of the brain, and depending of how the blood is flowed to the brain it makes the emotion

Freud beliefs about aggression

Freud believes that sex and aggression are an integral part of our animal instinct and cannot be eliminated

Aggressive instincts and their inhibition:

Freud said that aggression is based on a death instinct (we have both life and death instincts in us). When this instinct is directed inward, people commit suicide (in fact, some violent killers almost always kill themselves after killing a large number of people). Both human and animals have an destructive instinct that must find some outlet. In animal kingdom, during the mating seasons, fighting between males is very common to ensure that the strongest male fathers the next generation. Ethologists believe that fighting between members of the same animal species is mostly ritualistic, not to kill, to keep the species from going extinct. In other words, animals' aggression is checked and balanced by an inhibtion. To avoid the killing, they •The lower status members display submissive gestures •Keep distance from the dominant ones •Mutual grooming •Engaging in other beh incompatible with aggression (bonobo's using sex to pacify the aggressors). But new research did find that in animal kingdoms, members of the same species do kill each other just like humans, e.g., among chimps, lions.

Two theories of aggression:

Freud's psychoanalytic theory and Social Learning theory

Freud's and Biological theory

Freud's theory seems to be more descriptive of lower animals' aggression which very much follows their biological instincts In higher animals, especially human, such instinctive pattern of aggression is controlled by the cortex (frontal lobe) and more influenced by learning experiences.

non clinical case of emotion without memory or cognition

In an exp, subjects were presented with geometric figures extremely briefly (1 ms). So they couldn't see any one of them. --Later they were given a recog test "which was the one you saw.' the response was of course at the chance level. (two alternative forced choice) after the memory test, they were given a preference choice "which one do you like more". They consistently chose the one that were flashed to them earlier. --interesting point: one can have emotional or affect preference without a cognitive (conscious) experience (appraisal).

Carroll Izard (1977):Ten Emotion universals:

Joy, interest-excitement, surprise, sadness, anger, disgust, contempt, fear, shame, guilt. She held that love is a mixture of joy, interest-excitement rather than a separate emotion. Other researchers disagree: it is a basic separate emotion.

How can facial expression influence emotion?

One theory says that facial muscle movement patterns can affect amount and form of blood flow to the brain. This blood flow pattern in turn affects the secretion of certain neural transmitters which in turn influence the mood or emotion.

The role of empathy:

People who score higher on empathy have a lower tendency toward violence. Why? The role of broadness of life experiences: People with broader experiences are less likely to commit violent acts toward other people.

Physiological bases:

Physiological bases: sympathetic division of the autonomic nervous system becomes activated: energy is expended to cope with a critical situation: flight-flight --blood pressure, heart rate increase --respiration more rapid --pupils dilate --secretion of saliva, mucous decrease (dry mouth) --blood sugar level increases --blood clots more quickly --blood diverted from intestines and stomach to the brain and muscles --hairs erect, goose pimples --trembling of extremities -- When the emotion subsides, the parasympathetic system takes over: the energy conservation process begins to kick in. -Bladder relaxes

Emotion without cognition:

Sometimes people feel emotion without knowing what caused it just as that clinical patient. 2 conditions of emotions without condition: clinical

Factor Analysis

Statistical procedure that identifies what an instrument or scale is measuring. Clusters of questions that are highly correlated with one another, and they are measuring the same thing

Early lab research:

Subjects given undeserved negative evaluation or insulted in the course of experiment. Then they were allowed to "deliver electric shocks" to the RA as a way to evaluate the RA. They deliver more and higher voltage shocks to RAs who evaluated them negatively or insulted them.

Testosterone and aggression

Testosterone increases aggression. However the relation is weaker for humans than for animals. Testosterone influences the way aggression is carried out, but does not cause aggression. Example of people using steroid. An interesting finding: an interaction between physiology and behavior. When a male person is successful in controlling and dominating others, his testosterone level increases, when he loses, its level decreases. Low status males have lower level of this hormones. Testosterone plays an important role in sex and aggression. Male animals in sexual heat are most aggressive and violent. There is an evolutionary basis. -Alpha female hyenas has a much higher level of testosterone than other females. Their clitoris is also much larger due to the influence of the male excessive hormone. In humans, antisocial behaviors (rebelliousness, disobedience, dominating) are fond to be correlated with high level of male hormones

Facial Expression of emotion:

The classic book by Darwin (1872) "The expression of emotion in man and animals" says that the way emotion is expressed is universal across human cultures and nationalities. There is even commonality between human and animal expression of emotion.

Violence between classes:

The oppressed or the have-not classes often feel resentment, frustration or hostility toward the class-in-power or the "have" class, leading to disadvantaged class taking violent action toward the privileged class. This is especially the case in a democratic society than in a class society (such as caste in India). Why?

A rational look at this issue of terrorism

This "us vs them" mentality (in which each one is the mirror image of the other) must be replaced with a more objective perspective. Need to have more international or intercultural communication and understanding. Communication is the first step to understanding. -Problem with US: Culture Centrism

3 Neural Systems in Aggression

Three neural systems are involved in initiating or restraining an aggressive act: 1.Fight-flight system (FFS): involving Amygdala, Hypothalamus, and Midbrain. (primitive parts of the brain) 2.Behavioral activation system: related to dopaminergic (reward) system. Low levels of dopamine increase aggressiveness. 3.Behavioral inhibition system: located in the front lobe. Associated with punishment. Makes one think twice before move --Part 1 is initiating a behavior part 3 is inhibiting, they are both acting against each other in a checks and balance relationship so that we can behave appropriately

Girls watching TV violence?

What about girls: very diff from boys •They are not very much affected by TV violence (unless specifically reinforced for doing so) •Maybe because most of aggressive models are males on TV. People normally model others of the same gender.

Do humans have inhibition beh mechanisms to avoid severe injuries or killings in interaction?

Yes, an example is body language. Humans use Body language of subordination or submission as behavior mechanisms to avoid severe injuries.

Repression

according to Freud this is due to repression: belief about a situation usually give emotion its quality preventing that belief from entering consciousness, prevent one from experiencing quality of emotion. Emotion becomes irrational

Cognitive role:

although emotion is triggered instantaneously by another person's act, cognitive analysis takes a while. If after cognitive analysis, we conclude that the act was not deliberately committed to us, our anger can subside at least a little bit.

implict theories of older people and emotions

as people become older they become more tolerant. as people become older they are less able to regulate emotions the second theory is correct, as people become older they are less able to control emotions because they are losing a lot of brain cells, including cells from the frontal lobe.

How to tell whether an expression of an emotion is genuine or feigned?

feigned ones can turn on and off more abruptly and can continue for a longer time than an authentic one. Detecting condition is important in job interview, negotiating a deal, selling a product, or flirting. same expression can convey diff emotions and diff expressions, same emotions: e.g. fidgeting may signal anxiety, boredom, impatience; a cold stare or avoidance of eye contact can mean hostility; folded arms can signify irritation or relaxation.

Nonverbal communication

gazing: prolonged, mutual, intimate gaze among those passionately in love. Exp. have a male and female gaze for 2 min into one another's hands or eyes. The latter pair indicated a tingle of attraction later.

Hypothalamus

highest commanding center for the sympathetic reaction,

Written communication cannot convey subtle emotions as well as face-to-face communication

in a face to face communication you can see body language and you can hear the tone of their eyes

mirror-image perceptions

is the human tendency to see oneself (especially while in the throes of conflict) as the opposite of the person with whom they are having a conflict. They are mutual and reciprocal views of others.

three most universal emotions

joy, anger, fear

Threshold and aggression

low threshold: easily triggered High threshold: can tolerate more.

Gender Differences in Aggression

males are much higher in both physical and verbal aggression, but especially in physical aggression. Males are less likely to feel guilty after aggressive behaviors.

cognitive appraisal

the interpretation of an event. E.g., "I am happy", "I am mad." etc.

James-Lange theory of emotion

theory proposing that emotions result from our interpretations of our bodily reactions to stimuli

Delay of gratification and violence:

there is a negative correlation between them. Violence is often committed as a result of wanting to get the reward without going thru a lengthy, effortful process to attain it, e.g., sex without courtship, wealth without hard work, absence of planning.

illusory optimism

unrealistic optimism

Is it possible to have unconscious jealousy

yes

Freud's psychoanalytic theory of Aggression

• Aggression is an animal instinct, very much biological, innate, like hunger and sex - Catharsis theory: Aggression is generated by frustration, (i.e., the thwarting of a goal. It is a drive in nature (due to accumulation of energy, a form of energy) and causes a feeling of tension unless vented thru an outlet. •The motive is to injure the obstacle (person or object) causing the frustration. -Freud's theory seems to be more descriptive of lower animals' aggression which very much follows their biological instincts

Learning definitely plays a role:

• people learn that sometime aggression can get them to achieve their goals, to control others. •They (both the actors and reactors) also learn to adopt a criterion (threshold) for triggering aggression. They learn to adopt diff criteria under diff circumstances. •A personal example of showing an aggression threshold as a parent to take an aggressive action toward children

Social Learning theory and frustration

•According to this theory, people do not always display aggression when frustrated. •How they relieve their frustration is determined by learning history -aggress, withdraw, try hard to overcome difficulty, or anesthetize self with drugs and alcohol. The behavior that relieved frustration most successfully in the past will be selected. •Aggressive people are the ones for whom aggression worked successfully in the past. P 428, fig 11.7, Atkinson et al.'s intro book

Alcoholic Miopia

•Alcohol makes people less inhibited, more conceited, less capable of considering multiple sources of info, hence more violence-prone.

emotional expression in cultures

•Although the meaning of a facial expression is universal, the extent to which it is expressed is culturally dependent. Some cultures allow free or even exaggerated expression, others discourage it. e.g., western and Arabic showing of grief. Latin and British styles of expression

Forgiveness

•Another adaptive way to deal with anger is to forgive. The power of forgiving is shown to be very great: when forgiving another's offense, all sympathetic reactions die down quickly.

Conclusions:

•Both factors, autonomic arousal and cognitive appraisal play a part, but the latter plays a greater part in determining what emotion we experience. •As we grow from a child, the sensation caused by an event remains the same, but the cognitive interpretation changes with age.(golden star example) •E.g., what is significant for a child may not be so significant for an adult and vice versa. What makes us joyous as child and as an adult may be very different. •The extent to which a situation elicits an emotion depends on our past experience. People react to the same situation differently because of their diff past experiences.

Differentiation of emotion:

•Can we differentiate emotion from the autonomic arousal pattern? - E.g., is there one pattern of physiological arousal for fear, another for anger, another for joy? • William James, the founder of the Am Psych said that the perception of the bodily arousal is the subjective experience of emotion. --He said "we are afraid because we run", "we are angry because we strike." Carl lange (a Danish) has the same idea. So, this idea is called "James-Lange" theory which is that autonomic arousal differentiates emotions. --However, physiologist Cannon did not agree.

Aggressive expression and catharsis:

•Catharsis is a term in psychoanalysis. What is catharsis? -If aggression is a drive or built-up energy as Freud claims, then catharsis should reduce aggression. -Substitute goal: When you can't express aggression to your boss, you express it to someone else similar to your boss. •Freud believed that satisfaction was not the same with a substitute goal -However, if it is a learned behavior, then the expression of aggression should result in more aggression (if reinforced). Evidence favors the latter more than the former. •Other studies showed that after people acted aggressively (shocked the stupid learners with a high voltage shock) they become even more punitive, or at least maintain it, but not less (if the victim cannot retaliate). •Also, after angry people attack the targets, they become more, not less angry. •These findings do not support the catharsis theory (catharsis theory hypothesizes that when the energy is released, the aggression is reduced or ceased). •In one study, the angry laid-off workers in California (real world study) were let to talk out their anger in an interview, the control group did not do this. -Afterwards, both groups wrote about it. The first group expressed more anger in writing than the controls. •Again, catharsis does not seem to work. People who let out their anger are not less angry, subsequent to their earlier expression of anger. In fact, they are more angry.

Effects of facial expression

•Darwin in his famous The expression of emotions in man and animals: "the free expression by outward signs of an emotion intensifies it....He who gives way to violent gestures will increase his rage." •William James: "I feel sorry because I cry, angry because I strike, afraid because I tremble."

Delay of gratification

•Data show that people from impoverished family tend to be more impulsive (weak in the trait of delay of gratification). •There is a suggestion that the poverty is the result of impulsivity or being unable to delay immediate gratification or lack of self control.

Emotion and motivation:

•Emotion and motivation are closely related. Emotion is a very powerful motivational force. Emotion is the driving force behind the motivation, and can be a source of great joy or sorrow.

Fight or flight initiation

•Emotion starts from the hypothalamus and the limbic system. •The impulses then transmitted to the autonomic nervous system which stimulates the adrenal hormones to produce the bodily changes. •Pituitary gland also gets signal from the hypothalamus to secrete hormone --Some emotions can actually depress or slow down the bodily processes, e. g., sorrow or grief..

Expression of anger

•Expression of anger in a violent way is a common cause of regret and grief. What is a constructive, effective, adaptive way of expressing it? let the offender know that you are angry, but express it ASSERTIVELY rather than hurtfully, in a somewhat restrained or CONTROLLED manner rather than in a hostile outburst.

Expression of emotion can intensify emotion. contradicts freuds theory)

•Expression of emotion can intensify emotion. Or faking of an emotion can cause a real emotion. •E.g., pretending smiling by contracting muscles on face and around the mouth can make one "feel better." Showing an angry face makes one feel angry.

Gestures

•Gestures are more culturally specific: thumbs up can be an insult in another culture. This sign means "Let's have sex" in Brazil (Nixon did that when he visited there) •Context effect: same expression can be seen to signal different emotions in different contexts, see p 173, monster, anger and fear sometime are hard to tell without a context

Physiologist Cannon did not agree

•He showed that injecting epinephrine does not produce the experience of a true emotion. •Autonomic arousal does not seem to differ from one emotional state to another. Heart beats faster whether in anger or in love.

consistency in the developmental pattern of aggression

•If look across individuals, then, there is a consistent pattern. •The more violent individual is more violent as a child, as an adolescent, as a young man, and as an old man. The less violent one is less violent as a child, etc.

spinal cord and emotion

•If the autonomic nervous system response indeed contributes to emotion, then people with their spinal cord severed should feel less emotion. •E.g., the tremor of the limbs cannot be transmitted to the brain. . •E.g., the tremor of the limbs cannot be transmitted to the brain. •If the lesion is at the neck, the whole body's feeling is insulated from the brain. -Question: do these people feel less emotion. Yes. - The higher the lesion point is located, the less emotion the person feels.

Aggression Study with Children

•In a study, children watched an aggressive live model, a film model, no model, or a nonaggressive model. The victim either winced, or cried (reward), counterattacked (punishment), or not responded (neutral). Afterwards, their behavior was observed after this observation of model. Results: p 429, fig 11.9 •The children who watched aggressive behavior being punished behaved the least aggressive •The children who watched the neutral film behaved between the two extremes. •

Intensity and differentiation of emotion:

•In an exp, subjects were injected with epinephrine. One group told the truth (what effect you will experience, tremor, accelerated heart rate, etc.), the other group misinformed (they would experience numbness). •Each group was put in a happy and angry mood (a accomplice created it). - The informed group attributed the effect to the injection (which was their cog appraisal), the 2nd group to the situation they were in.•(they were told the injection would make them feel numb so because they are angry it must be because of the injection)

exercise study

•In another exp, two groups, one aroused by vigorous exercises, the other was not. then they were both placed in an unpleasant situation. The exercise aroused group reported greater anger than the non-exercise aroused group. -this study does suggest that physiology plays some role in emotions

What can stop aggression?

•In general, a threat of massive retaliation can decrease or stop aggression (during the cold war, Soviet and US were restrained by the expectation of mutual annihilation) •However, when one is extremely angry, a severe retaliation will not stop him/her

Higher Animals and Aggression

•In higher animals, especially human, such instinctive pattern of aggression is controlled by the cortex (frontal lobe) and more influenced by learning experiences. •Monkeys have a social status order. -When the dominant one's hypothalamus is stimulated, it attacks a subordinate one, but not the female. -When a subordinate one's hypothalamus is stimulated, it cowers and behaves very submissively. -Thus, in monkeys, aggression is not automatically elicited. Whether it is a fear or aggression response depends on its past experiences.

lab

•In lab: When subjects were made to show a certain facial expression (happy, sad, anger) and later subjected to such a condition, they reported more intense emotions than the group not making the facial expressions. Holding a pencil in the teeth while looking at a happy cartoon movie makes the cartoon seem more amusing.

In one study:

•In one study: taking short, shuffling steps, keeping your eyes downcast vs walking in long strides, with arms swinging and head held high and eyes looking straight ahead makes one feel very differently. See p 392, fig 11.11 •Emotions are contagious. Acting as others do intensifies the emotion (crying with someone).

Control (power) and violence:

•In personal relationship, one side may feel they have the power or right to control the other side. When they sense that their power or control is threatened, they resort to violence. •This happens to parent-child, spouse, government-people relations. • These agents of violence should be made aware that there are ways to influence their children, spouse, or people other than resorting to violence.

•different autonomic arousals were associated with diff emotions.

•In the 1980s, Ekman found that different autonomic arousals were associated with diff emotions. •Researchers measure the subjects' (professional actors who can really act like real) physiological responses while diff emotions were being induced. E.g., heart rate is faster for anger, fear, sadness than for happiness, surprise, disgust. See p 405, fig11.2

Mood Congruence Memory

•Information consistent with our mood during learning is remembered better than mood-inconsistent info -Also, in recall, when the subject is in a neutral mood, they still recall the info more that was consistent with their mood during earlier learning.

expression for survival

•It also says that expression of emotion has survival values: when one member sees the horror expression on another's face it knows the danger and will run. When one sees the anger on another's face, one knows that he may attack.

Frontal Lobe and Aggression

•It is same for humans. The frequencies, forms, situations in which aggression is displayed is very much modulated by experiences. •The brain area exercising the control is cortex (especially frontal lobe). -The frontal lobe is the inhibition center, it stops you from behaving impulsively. •That is why when the brain is injured (e.g., by a stroke or accident), one can suddenly become unusually aggressive.

Terrorism:

•It used to be believed that terrorism originates in economic deprivation, or psychopathology. •However, many cases of terrorism showed that the terrorists are from well-to-do families, and well educated. •Rather, the major motive seems to be a perceived injustice and hopelessness and the fear of Americanization of their traditional values and systems (due to the spread of American and Western values). •When people sense that their cherished value or view about themselves is being challenged or threatened, they typically will resort to aggression to defend it, or experience anxiety, sadness, and dejection.

Happiness

•One consistent finding: happy people are more willing to help (feel-good do-good phenomenon). •Happiness does not last long: the opponent process theory is right. Neither does sadness. See p 396, fig 11.13

brain hemispheres

•Patients suffering from right hemisphere injury are found to have more difficulty recognizing and interpreting emotion expressions than patients suffering a left hemisphere injury. • Some facial perception has a very specific brain location, e.g., prosopagnosia. These patients cannot recognize familiar faces, e.g., his wife's face or his own face. But he may still be able to recognize that this unknown face is showing anger or happiness.

Evaluation and estimation:

•People in a bad mood (in exp, they were manipulated to shift to a bad mood) estimate the negative events as more likely or more frequent, e.g., the probability of diseases, fatalities, accidents, catastrophes. They also tend to judge other people's behavior more harshly. It is as if they view the world from a negative pair of lens which make the world appear more negative. The "negative world" as they see it then feeds back onto their already negative mood, thus, the negative spiraling cycle begins.

Components of emotion:

•Physiological: autonomic arousal occurs for most of emotions, so it cannot differentiate emotions •Cognitive: belief and thoughts •Facial expression •Reaction to the experience

Happiness and economic social status

•Research found: Extreme poverty causes misery. Materialistic abundance (laptop, cell phone, T.V., computer, car, etc.) does not make one too much happier. Wealth makes one a little happier, but not very much happier. Unfortunately people are putting more importance on wealth over the years. See p 397, fig 11.14. •See p 398, fig 11.15. increasing income over the years did not make people happier. •Intimacy, family, love, personal growth, contribution to community seem to be the what really makes people happy. See p 399, fig 11.16

Brain localization:

•Research suggests that processing of emotional info is done by the right hemisphere. • Pictures expressing emotions presented to the left visual field are perceived or recognized (e.g., asked to choose which is a happy face among the faces) faster than presented to the right visual field. •Emotional voices presented to the left ear are recognized faster and more accurately. right: affective left: cognitive

Findings from several studies

•So people need to be provoked to become aggressive •When they know there will be no retaliation (anonymous), they inflict more shocks

missing cognitive component of emotion

•So, anger is hot (blood boiling), but fear (bone-chilling, getting cold feet) is cold. •However, the diff in autonomic arousal is not the whole account of the diff emotional experiences. -1) We often feel an emotion instantaneously before the autonomic system has time to respond. -2) injecting adrenalin does not induce true emotion.

Social learning theory vs Behaviorism

•Social learning theory is different from Behaviorism. -Social Learning theory emphasizes cognition, Behaviorism does not. -Aggression learned primarily through observation and imitation -Expectations: Because people can mentally represent a situation, they can foresee or anticipate the consequences of own behavior and alter their behavior accordingly. • i.e., people do not burst into aggression automatically whenever frustrated. -According to behaviorism, there is no mind, there are no expectations, and we can't think ahead of the current situation

Self-esteem and aggression

•Some high self-esteem people are not aggressive. •People with an inflated or unstable high self-esteem are more likely to be aggressive to maintain their status. This is the so called egotism. Not all high self esteem is egotism. •Traditional belief is that low self-esteem leads to more aggression which is shown wrong. •Egotism (self-assumed, unjustifiable, inflated, invalid favorable appraisal of self) leads to more aggression. •People who have inflated or invalidly gained status or esteem tend to be more aggressive in defending it when they sense a threat to it. •People with earned, valid, legitimate respect will defend their favorable self-concept with knowledge and skills rather than aggression. •In most cases, people refuse to change their evaluation of themselves even when faced with evidence to the contrary. -This is known as overconfidence in themselves. -A certain degree of this positively biased view about oneself is adaptive because you won't quit so easily if you think good about yourself. -When it goes to far, then it is harmful, and maladaptive.

Social Learning theory and Catharsis

•Sometimes, after taking aggressive actions, people do become less aggressive. -This may not be due to catharsis, though. It is more due to their concern that more aggression will bring them a retaliation. (Expectations) •Other times, people feel better after acting aggressively. -This may be because they feel more powerful and in control. So, the social learning theory seems to be a better account of aggression than Freud's drive theory.

Biological bases for aggression

•Stimulation of a diff area of the hypothalamus produces quite diff behavior the cat coldly stalks and kills a rat. The same is observed in a rat (it kills a cage mouse mate). -The stimulation seems to trigger an innate killing response that had previously been dormant. •aggression seems to be based on a neural chemical. -When a neural chemical blocker is injected into the same brain site in rats that killed mice in sight, the rat became peaceful.

Results from Aggression in Children film study

•The results support the social learning theory since the behavior of the model and consequences do play a crucial role in the observer's behavior. •Just because the children did not behave aggressively, does not mean that they did not learn aggressive behaviors. •According to social learning theory, even when the model is punished for behavior you still learn the aggressive behavior •The diff between the group who watched the role model being rewarded vs the group that watched it being punished is that one group copied behavior and the other inhibited the behavior. Both groups learned the behavior.

Pollyanna Principle

•We have an overall bias toward remembering positive info better and longer than negative info .Mood regression faster for negative info. •Normal people remember positive info better than negative info. Vice versa for depressed people.

Vicarious Learning

•What behavior is selected depends on reward and punishment contingencies -Contingencies: dependent relationship •Aggression is primarily acquired through vicarious learning from a model. -The learners pick up both the behavior and emotions associated with it. •vicarious reinforcement: If the model is rewarded, the learner will learn it even more readily. -This may explain why children with aggressive or abusive parents are more likely to be so themselves when they grow up.

Cognition and emotion:

•appraisal of a situation definitely contributes to emotional experiences. •If your best friend insulting you vs a mental patient insulting you, you will feel very differently. •This is the effect of cognitive appraisal. •Also, seeing one making incision in a boy's body as a religious ritual vs torturing him provokes very diff emotions. We get angry because of "unfairness" or "injustice". •These are cognitive not physiological responses in nature.

Emotion universals

•disgust, anger, fear, happiness, sadness, surprise. E.g., there is no culture where people frown when they are happy. Smile is the most universal, anger the second most universal . This is true of even the primitive tribes that never saw a westerner or one from another culture. •Blind people who never saw others' facial expressions show the same emotional expressions. •Darwin: emotional expressions have great adaptive values: see threats, dangers quickly enough. Showing them (e.g., a snarl or a submission expression) also have adaptive values

Gender/age and crime:

•disproportional crimes committed by males. • If look at the life-span development of an individual, crime starts at adolescence and peaks at in late adolescence and declines after early adulthood. •What is the coherent (evolutionary) explanation of this gender and developmental pattern in rate of crime?

Communication of emotional expression:

•e.g., anger is shown by flushed face, lowered and drawn together brows, flared nostrils, clenched jaw, and bared teeth across all cultures. •People around the world have little difficulty identifying emotion from facial expressions (including remote, preliterate tribe people). See p 414. --this supports Darwin's theory that expression of emotion has innate basis and has survival values. -Voice is also a powerful emotional expression vehicle. -e.g., the expression of disgust is associated with spitting around the world: suggesting that it is based on the evolutionary process of ridding something tasting very bad (possibly toxic). So disgust means something offensive to the taste. It is also accompanied by a frown and a pushing away gesture. Extreme disgust is expressed by an act suggesting of vomiting (the mouth is open). Spitting is an universal expression of contempt or disgust. --However there are culturally specific expressions as well, a kind of emotional language recognized by members of the same culture. An example on a later slide.

Research found that catharsis does not happen;

•instead, expressing anger breeds more anger. hitting a punch bag, e.g., makes people more, not less angry or cruel. Expressing anger in an unrestrained manner often escalates a minor conflict into a major one. "Venting to reduce anger is like using gasoline to put out a fire" •Research showed that when people get their ways by acting angrily or aggressively, their aggression gets reinforced (operant learning).

Adaptation theory of happiness, (similar to mood regression)

•same as Reference Point Theory. How happy one is is completely relative to one's reference point (long-term set point or reference point, adaptation level). So, happiness is completely a relative thing. That is why million-dollar lottery winners and people who are paralyzed report roughly similar levels of happiness.

Age and Aggression

••There is a negative correlation between age and violence (criminal activities). •Cognitive Explanation: older people can see the cost (consequences) of the violent behaviors better. •Biological Explanation: testosterone level declines with age •Another factor is the skillfulness of the actor. More socially skillful people can make people to do what they want without resorting to violence.