10. Emotions

two-factor theory of emotion

A label applied to physiological arousal results in the experience of an emotion.

Emotions have a cognitive component

According to the Schachter-Singer two-factor theory of emotion, emotions involve a physiological component and a cognitive component or interpretation. The interpretation determines the emotion that we feel. Misattribution of arousal occurs when people misidentify the source of their arousal. Excitation transfer occurs when residual arousal caused by one event is transferred to a new stimulus

Schachter-Singer two-factor theory

According to this theory, a situation evokes a physiological response, such as arousal, and a cognitive interpretation, or emotion label. The search for this emotional label is usually quick and straight forward, but when the situation is ambiguous, whatever the person believes caused the emotion will determine how the person labels the emotion.

James-Lange theory

According to this theory, bodily perception comes before the feeling of emotion. We perceive specific patterns of bodily responses and, as a result of that perception, we feel emotion

self-determination theory

extrinsic rewards may reduce the intrinsic value of an activity because such rewards undermine our feeling that we are choosing to do something for ourselves

Extinction Transfer

form of missatribution, - you se a love movie - you want to date

How Are Emotions Adaptive?

*Emotions are adaptive because they bring about states of behavioral readiness. * Emotions influence decision making, serving as heuristic guides for quick decisions. They also give rise to somatic markers, bodily reactions, that facilitate self-regulation. ■ The evolutionary basis for emotions is supported by research on cross-cultural agreement in the display and recognition of some emotional expressions. ■ Display rules are learned through socialization and dictate which emotions are suitable to given situations. ■ Across cultures, display rules differ for females and males. ■ Emotions that are interpersonal in nature—for example, guilt and embarrassment—are particularly important for the maintenance and repair of close interpersonal relationships.

The prefrontal cortex

- Left and right affected by different emotions; right associated with negative affect and left associated with positive affect - People can be dominant in one hemisphere and this can bias their emotions

Negative and positive affect

- They are independent of each other - We can experience both simultaneously - Positive seem to be associated with an increase in dopamine - Negative seem to be associated with an increase in norepinephrine

Good goals motivate people to work hard

A good goal one that is challenging, but not overly difficult, and specific. Challenging goals encourage effort, persistence, and concentration. Goals that are too easy or too hard can undermine motivation and therefore lead to failure. Dividing specific goals into concrete steps also leads to success

Drives and incentives

A particular drive encourages behaviours that will satisfy a particular need. For biological states, basic drives help animals maintain equilibrium

Embarrassment and blushing

A person is likely to feel embarrassed after violating a social norm, losing physical poise, being teased, or experiencing s threat to their self-image. Embarrassment rectifies interpersonal awkwardness and restores social bonds after a social error or wrongdoing has been committed. It also represents submission to and affiliation to the social group, and recognition of the unintentional social error. Blushing is a nonverbal way of admitting a mistake

motivation

A process that energizes, guides, and maintains behavior toward a goal.Factors that energise, direct, or sustain behaviours

Drive

A psychological state that, by creating arousal, motivates an organism to satisfy a need

Self-actualisation

A state that is achieved when one's personal dreams and aspirations have been attained

emotion

An immediate, specific negative or positive response to environmental events or internal thoughts.

Somatic marker theory

According to this theory, most self-regulatory actions and decisions are affected by bodily reactions called somatic markers. When you contemplate an action, you experience an emotional reaction based partly on your expectations of the action's outcome

Arousal and performance

All of us function better with some arousal. Too little and we are bored, too much and we are overwhelmed

Anxiety and affiliation

An experiment demonstrated that people in high anxiety situations prefer the company of the other people in hindsight situations. In other words, misery loves miserable company, not just any company

Some behaviours are motivated for their own sake

Behaviours that are extrinsically motivated are directed toward the achievement of an external goal. Behaviours that are intrinsically motivated fulfil no obvious purpose. They are performed simply because they're pleasurable. Extrinsic rewards decrease intrinsic motivation because they decrease our experience of autonomy and competence or because the reward replaces the goal of pleasure

Somatic markers

Bodily reactions that arise from emotional evaluation of an action's consequences

We set goals to achieve

Challenging and specific goals are most likely to lead to success. People who are high in self-efficacy and have a high need to achieve are more likely to set challenging but attainable goals. Moreover, those who are able to delay gratification as they work towards their goals are more likely to be successful. Several strategies facilitate delayed gratification, including distraction and the use of cold cognitions rather than hot cognitions

Distraction

Distraction involves doing something other than the troubling activity or thinking about something other than the troubling thought; thus helping people to stop focusing on their problems. Some distractions can backfire because people distract themselves by thinking about other problems, or can engage in maladaptive behaviours.

Circumplex model

Emotions arranged in a circle. At the centre is the intersection of the two core dimensions of affect: valence and activation

What Are Emotions?

Emotions Vary in Valence and Arousal: Emotions are often classified as primary or secondary. Primary emotions are innate, evolutionarily adaptive, and universal (shared across cultures). These emotions include anger, fear, sadness, disgust, happiness, surprise, and contempt. Secondary emotions are blends of primary emotions. They include remorse, guilt, submission, shame, love, bitterness, and jealousy. Emotions have a valence (positive or negative) and a level of activation (arousal, from low to high). ■ Emotions Have a Physiological Component: The insula and amygdala play important roles in the experience of emotion. The insula receives and integrates somatosensory signals, helping us experience emotion, especially disgust, anger, guilt, and anxiety. The amygdala processes emotional significance of stimuli and generates immediate reactions. It is associated with emotional learning, memory of emotional events, and the interpretation of facial expressions of emotion. ■ There Are Three Major Theories of Emotion: Three main theories of emotion differ in their relative emphases on subjective experience, physiological changes, and cognitive interpretation. The James-Lange theory states that specific patterns of physical changes give rise to the perception of associated emotions. The Cannon-Bard theory proposes that two separate pathways, physical changes and subjective experience, are activated at the same time. The Schachter-Singer two-factor theory emphasizes the combination of generalized physiological arousal and cognitive appraisals in determining specific emotions. Consistent with the Schachter- Singer two-factor theory, research has shown that we often misattribute the causes of our emotions, seeking environmental explanations for our feelings.

Emotions strengthen interpersonal relations

Emotions facilitate the maintenance and repair of social bonds. Guilt serves several functions. For example, it discourages people from engaging in actions that may harm their relationships and encourages people to engaging in actions that will strengthen their relationships. Embarrassment rectifies interpersonal awkwardness and restores social bonds after a social error or wrongdoing has been committed

Primary emotions

Emotions that are evolutionarily adaptive, shared across cultures, and associated with specific physical states . Anger Fear Sadness Disgust Happiness Surprise (possibly) Contempt (possibly)

Self-determination theory and self-perception theory

Extrinsic rewards can undermine intrinsic motivation. According to self-determination theory, people are motivated to satisfy needs for competence, relatedness to others, autonomy (a sense of personal control). This theory argues that extrinsic rewards may reduced intrinsic value because such rewards undermine people's feelings of autonomy and choice. According to self-perception theory, people are seldom aware of their specific motives. When they cannot come up with obvious external explanations for their behaviours, people believe that they do it for pleasure. Rewarding people for engaging in an intrinsic activity, however, gives them an alternative explanation for engaging in it, so the reward has replaced the goal of pure pleasure

Facial feedback hypothesis

Facial expressions can trigger the experience of emotions (gives some support to the James-Lange theory)

Facial expressions communicate emotion

Facial expressions of emotion are adaptive because they communicate how we feel. People interpret facial expressions of emotion to predict other's behaviour. Across cultures, there are some expressions of emotions that are universally recognised. These include happiness, sadness, anger, and pride

Guilt strengthens social bonds

Guilt is a negative emotional state associated with anxiety, tension, and agitation. Typical guilt results from feeling responsible for another's negative affective state, but can also occasionally arise when we do not feel personally responsible for other's negative situation (e.g.: survivors guilt). Socialisation is more important that biology in how children experience guilt. Excessive guilt can be have negative effects, but guilt serves a social function

Maslow's hierarchical needs

His theory is an example of humanistic psychology which views people as striving towards personal fulfilment. From this perspective human beings are unique among animals because we continually try to improve ourselves. For self actualisation to happen: when a man can be, he must be

need to belong

Humans have a fundamental need to belong. Evolutionary theories maintain that this need provided a survival advantage to our ancestors. Our need to belong facilitates the development of friendships, makes us sensitive to social exclusion, and produces feelings of emptiness and despair in the absence of other people. When we are anxious, we seek out similar others. Other people provide information that helps us determine if we are acting appropriately

Humour

Humour increases positive affect, when we find something humorous we enter a state of pleasurable, relaxed excitation. People sometimes laugh in situations that are not perceived as funny, such as a funeral. A theory suggests that this behaviour helps people distance themselves from negative emotions, and it can help strengthen connections between people.

Making and keeping friends

If humans have a fundamental need to belong, they ought to have mechanisms for detecting whether they're included in particular groups. People feel anxious when facing exclusion form their social groups. People who are shy and lonely tend to worry most about social evaluation and pay much more attention to social information. A lack of social contact causes emptiness and despair.

Facial expressions across cultures

In an experiment in five different countries: anger, fear, disgust, happiness, sadness, and surprise were all universally recognised. Support of this research is strongest for happiness and weakest for fear and disgust

Activation

Indicates how arousing emotions are

Valence

Indicates how negative or positive emotions are

Cannon-Bard theory of emotion

Information about emotional stimuli is sent simultaneously to the cortex and the body and results in emotional experience and bodily reactions respectively.

Need hierarchy

Maslow's arrangement of needs, in which basic survival needs must be met before people can satisfy higher needs

We can misattribute the sources of our emotional states

Misattribution of arousal is when people misidentify the source of their arousal. Excitation transfer is a form of misattribution, here residual arousal caused by one event is transferred to a new stimulus

Extrinsic motivation

Motivation to perform an activity because of the external goals towards which that activity is directed (associated with the satisfaction of a biological needs and the performance of adaptive behaviours). An external goal, a reward, or the reduction of a drive (such as a paycheque)

Intrinsic motivation

Motivation to perform an activity because of the value or pleasure associated with activity, rather than for an apparent external goal or purpose (ex: reading a novel or doing a crossword puzzle). They are performed for their own sake

Multiple factors motivate behaviour

Motives activate, direct, and sustain behaviours that'll satisfy a need. We need to create arousal, and the response to being aroused is the drive to satisfy the need. Maslow's hierarchy proposes five needs: physiological, safety, belonging and love, esteem, and self-actualisation needs. Homeostasis refers to the body's attempt to maintain a state of equilibrium. The Yerkes-Dodson law states that a person performs best when when their level of arousal is neither too low nor too high.

Arrange the levels of Maslow's need a. belonging and love b. self-actualization c. physiological needs d. esteem e. safety

Needs: a. belonging and love b. self-actualization c. physiological needs d. esteem e. safety

Social comparison theory

Other people provide information that helps us evaluate whether we are acting appropriately. We are motivated to have accurate information about ourselves and others, so we compare ourselves with those around us to test and validate personal beliefs and emotional responses

affect-as-information theory

People use their current moods to make decisions, judgments, and appraisals, even if they do not know the sources of the moods.

Self-efficacy and the achievement motive

People's personal expectations for success play an important role in motivation. Self-efficacy is the expectancy that your efforts will lead to success, which helps mobilise your energy. If you have low self-efficacy you may be too discouraged to even try. People with high self-efficacy often set challenging goals that lead to success. This achievement motive is the desire to do well relative to standards of excellence

Emotions have a subjective component

Primary emotions are evolutionarily adaptive and are universal across cultures. Secondary emotions are blends of the primary emotions. Emotions may be described using two dimensions: valence and activation. Negative affect and positive affect are independent.

Secondary emotions example

Remorse Guilt Submission Anticipation

Self-regulation

Self-regulation of behavior is the process by which people change their behaviour to attain personal goals

The extremes of emotion

Some overemotional people suffer from mood disorders, such as depression or panic attacks. They experience emotion so strongly that it can be paralysing. At the other extreme, people who are severely underemotional suffer from alexithymia, the inability to experience the subjective components of emotion

Emotions have a physiological component

The James-Lange theory of emotion maintains that we perceive patterns of bodily responses and, as a result of our perceptions, experience emotion. The Cannon-Bard theory of emotion maintains that the mind and body experience emotion independently. Consistent with both theories, studies have demonstrated that emotions are associated with changes in bodily states. Research points to important roles of the amygdala and the prefrontal cortex in the production and experience of emotion

Delayed gratification

The ability to delay gratification is predictive of success in life. One strategy for delayed gratification is ignoring and distracting one self. The most successful strategy is turning hot cognitions into cold cognitions. This strategy involves mentally transforming the desired object into something undesired. Hot cognitions Focus on the rewarding, pleasurable aspect of objects. Cold cognitions focus on conceptual or symbolic meanings

Yerkes-Dodson Law

The psychological principle that performance on challenging tasks increases with arousal up to a moderate level. After that, additional arousal impairs performance.

Yerkes-Dodson law

The psychological principle that performance increases with arousal up to an optimal point, after which it decreases with increasing arousal

Homeostasis

The tendency for bodily functions to maintain equilibrium

Thought suppression and rumination

Through thought suppression, people attempt to not feel or respond to the emotion at all. This is extremely difficult and leads to a rebound effect, in which people think more about something after suppression than before. Rumination involves thinking about, elaborating, and focusing on undesired thoughts or feelings, which prolongs the mood and impedes successful emotion regulation

Emotions serve cognitive functions

We use our emotions as a guide when making decisions. Indeed, emotions often serve as heuristic guides, enabling quick decisions to be made. Somatic marker theory maintains that we use our bodily reactions to emotional events to regulate our behaviours. That is, we interpret our body's responses and use that information to help make decisions

We regulate our emotional states

We use various strategies to regulate or manage our emotional states. Humour and distraction are effective strategies for regulating negative affect, whereas rumination and thought suppression are not effective strategies for regulating negative affect

Example of James-Lange theory

When a bear threatens you, you begin to sweat, experience a pounding heart, and run. These responses generate in you the emotion of fear

Example of Schachter-Singer two-factor theory

When a bear threatens you, you begin to sweat, experience a pounding heart, and run. You then label those bodily actions as responses to the bear. As a result, you know you are experiencing fear

Example of Cannon-Bard theory

When a bear threatens you, you simultaneously feel afraid, begin to sweat, experience a pounding heart, and run

Proportional drives and habits

When an animal is deprived of some need, a drive increases in proportion to the amount of deprivation. At first any behaviour the animal engages in is arbitrary, but if it satisfies the need it'll be reinforced and eventually will become a habi

Decision making

When making a decision, we anticipate our future emotional states, which then serve as a source of information and a guide in decision making . In the face of complex, multifaceted situations, emotions serve as heuristic guides. The drawback is that decisions based on emotional reactions may not take all logical information into account (drear risk)

Missattribution

When people are aroused for one reason such as crossing a scary bridge, they often attribute this arousal to the wrong source-such as attraction to the person they are with.

incentive

a positive or negative environmental stimulus that motivates behavior

need

a state of biological or social deficiency

secondary emotions

blends of primary emotions

Need creates a ________________

drive that directs a behavior to satisfy the need

interpersonal emotions

evolutionary need to belong to social groups

displayed rules

rules learned through socialization and dictate which emotions are suitable.Females express emotions more readily, frequently, easily, and intensely than males, possibly as a consequence of of display rules

Guilt and Remorse

strengthened social bonds Baumeister

Emotion adaptive because

surviving and reproducing

need to belong theory (Baumeister and Leary)

the theory that the need for interpersonal attachments is a fundamental motive that has evolved for adaptive purposes