Emotions and Stress Psych

Physiology of emotion

Intense stimuli activate sympathetic nervous system. The sympathetic nervous system (SNS) is part of the autonomic nervous system (ANS), which also includes the parasympathetic nervous system (PNS). The sympathetic nervous system activates what is often termed the fight or flight response

Issues with these

Mismatch between type of support desired and that provided can backfire

Socioemotional Support

Social Support is the feeling or experience of having others who love and care for you, who you can turn to for help in times of need.

Cognitive Appraisal Theory

Eliciting Stimuli --- Ohysiological Arousal-----Appraisal of arousal and stimulus according to context --- emotional feeling s

Tangible Support

Tangible support is the provision of financial assistance, material goods, or services. Also called instrumental support, this form of social support encompasses the concrete, direct ways people assist others. I

Mood defined

a temporary state of mind or feeling.

Informational Support

nformational support is the provision of advice, guidance, suggestions, or useful information to someone.

Are emotional expressions universal

Basic emotional expressions - laughing and crying.

General Adaption Syndrome

Hans Selye was a young medical doctor who noticed that a lot of people were experiencing similar types of symptoms but did not have any physical cause for the problems. Over time, he came to realize that the problems were caused by stress. He later determined that the body has a natural, adaptive response to stress that is composed of three stages: alarm, resistance, exhaustion. When a person gets to the exhaustion stage, they may experience severe physical problems.

Emotions defined

a natural instinctive state of mind deriving from one's circumstances, mood, or relationships with others

Role of CNS

Come back to this

Mood vs emotions

A mood is an emotional state. Moods differ from emotions, feelings, or affects in that they are less specific, less intense, and less likely to be triggered by a particular stimulus or event. Moods are typically described as having either a positive or negative valence.

Stress defined:

A psychological and physical response of the body that occurs whenever we must adapt to changing conditions, whether those conditions be real or perceived, positive or negative

Challenges to Cognitive Appraisal Theory

ANS activity during different emotions is more distinct than suggested Unexplained arousal typically felt to be negative

Acute Stress

Increased heart rate, blood pressure Nasal passages and throat dilate Smooth muscles function slows Red corpuscles released to improve clotting White corpuscles released to improve immune function Metabolism increased => more energy

Cannon-Bard (Centralist) Theory

Bard theory states that we feel emotions and experience physiological reactions such as sweating, trembling and muscle tension simultaneously. For example: I see a snake --> I am afraid, and I begin to tremble. For example, imagine that you are walking to your car through a darkened parking garage. You hear the sounds of footsteps trailing behind you, and spot a shadowy figure slowly following you as you make your way to your car. According to the Cannon-Bard theory of emotion, you will experience feelings of fear and physical reaction at the same time. You will begin to feel fearful, and your heart will begin to race. You rush to your car, lock the doors behind you and rush out of the parking garage to head home.

Reapprasing Problem (cognitive)

Cognitive reappraisal is an emotion regulation strategy that involves changing the trajectory of an emotional response by reinterpreting the meaning of the emotional stimulus.[1] For example, a person may fail a series of tests and think negatively about his or her performance upon first receiving the results. The person revisits his or her emotional response to the situation and later views the results as a way to challenge and better him or herself. This process involves two parts: a) recognition of one's negative response, and b) reinterpretation of the situation to either reduce the severity of the negative response, or exchange the negative attitude for a more positive attitude.

How does culture constrain emotional expression?

Cultural scripts dictate how positive and negative emotions should be experienced and displayed; they may also guide how people choose to regulate their emotions, ultimately influencing an individual's emotional experience. Cultural contexts also act as cues when people are trying to interpret facial expressions. This means that different cultures may interpret the same social context in very different ways. For example, in many Asian cultures, social harmony is prioritized over individual gain, whereas Westerners in much of Europe and the United States prioritize individual self-promotion. Research has shown that individuals from the United States are more likely to express negative emotions such as fear, anger, and disgust both alone and in the presence of others, while Japanese individuals are more likely to do so only while alone

Cognitive Appraisal Theory -

Dutton & Aron - Males crossing a wobbly bridge misattributed arousal to sexual attraction The reason physiological symptoms may be attributed to incorrect stimuli is because many stimuli have similar physiological symptoms such as increased blood pressure or shortness of breath.

Emotion focused coping

Emotion-focused coping is a type of stress management that attempts to reduce negative emotional responses that occur due to exposure to stressors. Negative emotions such as fear, anxiety, aggression, depression, humiliation are reduced or removed by the individual by various methods of coping. Emotion-focused coping can be positive or negative. Positive examples include talking or writing about their emotions through therapy or journaling, mindful meditation, or distraction with other activities. Negative examples of emotion-focused coping (that typically are not beneficial or helpful in the long term) are suppression of emotions, avoidance, and alcohol or drug use in order to dull or avoid emotions.

Do different emotions should different patterns of ANS activity?

Every emotion is autonomically unique; and (2) every emotion is autonomically the same. ur autonomic nervous system has two branches of activity. The sympathetic (fight/flight) branch which speeds up your heart rate as it signals you to prepare for action, and the parasympathetic (relaxation) branch which slows down heart rate as it signals you for rest and recovery. Different types of emotions send different messages through your nervous system to the heart, brain and body. You can feel your emotions rush through your body like cascading waves of energy. Constant streams of intense emotions like fear, frustration and anger are known to overtax your autonomic nervous system with stress signals, causing its neural networks to jam and is analogous to your driving with one foot on the gas pedal while the other is on the brake. Eventually, a chronic build-up of stress leads to autonomic nervous system imbalance; a state of chaos within your autonomic nervous system which results in your stress response getting stuck and remaining in the "on" position for fight or flight.

Mere Exposure effect:

Have you ever met someone you didn't like very much at first and then over time, even if you didn't really have personal interactions with the person you started liking them (or disliking them less)? This might have been due to the mere exposure effect in which you begin to like something simply because you are exposed to it over and over again. I bet if you think about it you can come up with all sorts of things that you like simply because you are exposed to it repeatedly. There are many advertisers who bombard you with their products for this reason.

Are some emotional responses innate

Humation emotions are either innate (primary) or learned (secondary). Human emotions that appear to be innate or primary are anger, fear, sadness, disgust, surprise, anticipation, trust, and joy. These are innate emotions because they are hardwired into human genes or develop early on due to their survival values. Human facial expressions of emotion are also innate and are hardwired into human genes (ScienceDaily, 2008). Human emotions that appear to be learned or secondary are love, guilt, and shame, embarrassment, helplessness, boredom, distraction, apprehension, acceptance, serenity, interest, and annoyance. These are learned emotions because they are learned through experience, family expressiveness, and over time in the environment, because of certain reactions toward environmental stimuli. Learned emotions seem to be emotion blends of innate emotions.

Cognitive Appraisal Theory - Shacter and Singer (1962)

Imagine that you get called into your boss' office and he tells you that they need to cut your schedule down to part-time for the next few months. Your boss doesn't offer any explanation or further information but does express his apologies before you go back to your desk. After considering his tone of voice, body language, and general demeanor, you decide that it must be a financial issue and is not related to your performance. Furthermore, you feel as though you need to cut back anyway, so having your hours reduced feels like it might be a benefit in the short-term. You've made a cognitive appraisal of the interaction and arrived at a conclusion and emotional response. In simple terms, a cognitive appraisal is an assessment of an emotional situation wherein a person evaluates how the event will affect them, interprets the various aspects of the event, and arrives at a response based on that interpretation. Cognitive appraisals usually occur in situations where there is no physical stimulation or obvious clues as to how the situation should be interpreted. For example, if you wake up in the middle of the night and there's a stranger standing over you with a gun, you won't need a cognitive appraisal because the threat to your safety is clear, and the situation doesn't need interpretation.

Functions of Emotion

Preparation for action Direction of attention Communication of internal states Shift priority of goals Influence cognitive function

Problem Directed Coping

Problem-focused coping targets the causes of stress in practical ways which tackles the problem or stressful situation that is causing stress, consequently directly reducing the stress. Problem focused strategies aim to remove or reduce the cause of the stressor, including: Problem-solving.

Stressors

Stressors: Events that place a demand on us for an adaptive response (create a need for change)

James-Lange (Peripheralist) Theory

suggests emotions are a consequence of our physiological responses to external stimuli followed by identification of the emotion by examining the physical responses. So, some external stimulus produces a physiological response in your body. Then, you examine this physiological response and identify the emotion you are experiencing based on the physiological response. For example, you see a bear in the woods, and you begin to tremble. You then identify the fact that you are trembling and conclude that you are afraid..."I am trembling, therefore I am afraid."