Chapter 6 - Emotion

Emotions and morals

We often base judgements on emotions: Disgust (at incest, homosexuality) Gratitude, awe (at others good deeds) Emotions are essential to moral reasoning as many moral judgements are quick, effortless and based on immediate emotional responses. Other moral judgements are based on more slow, deliberative reasoning: perspective taking, take several; accountability: to whom is judgment accountable; systematically weighing the pros and cons; evaluating RELATIVE morality in light of CULTURES: some things are offensive but now harmful.

Components of emotions

1) Appraisal process How objects and events in the environment are evaluated and interpreted relative to current goals. PRIMARY APPRAISAL: Fast, automatic appraisals - general pleasant/unpleasant feelings. Involves amygdala. SECONDARY APPRAISAL: More deliberate appraisals - transform initial feelings into more specific emotions. Why we feel the way we do and how we would like to respond. Every emotion has it's own appraisal. E.g. "that's unfair" triggers anger and "that's dangerous" triggers fear. 2) Emotions involve distinct physiological responses, 3) Expressive behaviour, 4) Qualities that define what the experience of a particular emotion is like: Subjective feelings, 5) And move us toward specific actions and behaviours: Action tendencies An emotion is the combination of ALL these components.

Emotions and group relations

1) Emotions and status within groups: Displays of emotions like anger can increase social power within a group - Anger is linked to higher perceptions of social status and more power in negotiations. Displays of emotions like embarrassment or shame can lead to decreased social power. 2) Emotions and divisions between groups: INTERGROUP EMOTION THEORY - people feel anger and contempt toward outgroups seen as less powerful, but feel fear toward outgroups seen as more powerful. INFRAHUMANISATION (dehumanisation) - view outgroup members as incapable of complex human emotions (sentiments) like compassion. Dehumanisation occurs in 2 ways: a) Deny uniquely human traits e.g. culture, complex thoughts, secondary emotions (sentiments) - treat outgroups like animals. b) Deny their "human nature" e.g. emotions - treat them like robots/machines. 3) Emotional intelligence quotient (EQ) A person with high EQ: Accurately perceive others' emotions, understands own emotions, uses emotions to make good decisions, manages own emotions to fit into situations.

Emotion v/s mood/emotional disorder

1) Emotions are brief (seconds-minutes) Moods can last for days; disorders can last weeks, months or years. 2) Emotions are responses to specific events e.g. being angry at an insult, fear of a bear. The cause of moods is often unclear; disorders may have specific causes, but they are not a response to particular events.

Darwin's 3 hypotheses

1) Emotions are universal All humans have the same facial muscles and express emotions similarly across cultures: Ekman study. 2) Human displays resemble those of other mammals, including other privates. Facial expressions of anger resemble threat displays and attack posturing used by other mammals e.g. hostility and submission compared with dogs. 3) Human facial expressions aren't learned People blind from birth show the same facial expressions as sighted people, despite never seeing facial expression.

Why are we poor at predicting emotions?

1) IMMUNE NEGLECT We underestimate our resilience ("immunity") Painful difficult experiences often are less upsetting than we expect them to be. When they do happen, we find the silver lining in them. 2) FOCALISM We lose perspective and focus on only one aspect of the event when trying to predict future emotions. We neglect to think about how we'll feel after the initial event, or the importance of other events in determining our feelings.

Oxytocin and trust

1) Oxytocin is a hormone and neurotransmitter involved in care giving and monogamous mating in non-human animals. 2) Oxytocin affects PRIMITIVE BRAIN, parasympathetic. 3) It is released during human childbirth, breastfeeding, orgasm. 4) It is involved in FEELINGS OF LOVE: When women recalled warm feelings about another person, GESTURAL DISPLAYS of love were associate with higher levels of oxytocin in the bloodstream. These displays were smiling, mutual gazes, open hand gestures, open posture. 5) Oxytocin encourages TRUST between strangers: During trust game, a participant is given an amount of money, then asked to share it with a stranger. The amount of money given to the stranger is then tripled. The stranger then chooses how much money to give back to the participant. Participants who inhaled oxytocin v/s inhaling a placebo were twice as likely to give a maximum amount to the stranger, and trust him/her to return the benefit.

Schachter and Singer study problems

1) Results are extremely weak and not as described. 2) Statistical analyses cheated by using a measure that subtracted angry feelings from happy feelings: people in the "angry" condition actually report being about as happy as ore more than people in the "euphoria" condition. 3) One true effect: Informed participants in the happy condition reported the least happiness. They had an explanation for the arousal so they didn't look to the situation for an explanation. 4) BUT, informed people in the angry condition reported more happiness than people in the uninformed happy condition.

Benefits of positive emotions

1) They lead to more creative and flexible thinking: Trivial events used to produce positive moods. People in good moods give more novel word associations and categorise more inclusively. Negotiators in positive moods are also more likely to come to an optimal agreement. 2) Broaden-and-build hypothesis: Positive emotions generate broader and more flexible thinking styles and behaviour and help us develop personal resources like emotional, intellectual and social resources like empathy, emotional resilience and closer friends.

Moral foundations theory

A theory proposing that there are 5 evolved, universal moral domains in which specific emotions guide moral judgements. 1) Care/harm: suffering of others - sympathy 2) Fairness/cheating: concerns that others act in just fashion - anger 3) Loyalty/betrayal: commitments we make to groups - group pride or rage 4) Authority/subversion: finding one's place in social hierarchies - embarrassment, shame, fear, pride, awe 5) Purity/degradation: avoiding physically/socially impure things like diseases, ideas or actions - disgust

Predicting emotions

Affective forecasting: predicting feelings during or after an event. Often INCORRECT. People assume they'll like/dislike a future event more than they actually do when it occurs. Study: Luckies who had never had a break-up v/s leftovers who had and the predicted leftover satisfaction level which was predicted to be much lower than it actually was.

Influences on happiness

Age and gender are relatively unimportant. Money only increases happiness among poor. Standard of living in US has almost tripled since 1950 but happiness has not increased. People are happier in countries where individual rights and economic opportunities are available. Social relationships lead to happiness: Married people are happier than unmarried people; contact with friends leads to more life satisfaction; service to others, community leads to happiness. EXTRINSIC goals (wealth, beauty, fame) lead to ANXIETY, depression, psychosomatic illnesses. INTRINSIC goals (intimacy, personal growth, helping community) lead to MORE WELL-BEING.

Emotion physiology

Autonomic nervous system: the glands, organs, and blood vessels controlled by brain and spinal cord that regulate responses to the environment - 1) The sympathetic branch prepares for action: increased heart rate, breathing and blood pressure in physically demanding action. Or fight-or-flight response. 2) The parasympathetic branch returns the body to its reseting state. It is RESTORATIVE: Decreased heart rate and blood pressure, and increased digestive processes.

Cultural specificity of emotion

Cultures vary in expression of emotions. 1) Cultures develop emotional accents - highly stylized, culturally specific ways of expressing particular emotions. E.g. embarrassment shown by biting tongue in India. 2) Cultures have focal emotions - they seem to be defined by particular emotions and therefore vary in their focal emotions. E.g. Tibet is a compassionate culture and Mexico is a proud one. 3) Culture and ideal emotions - Affect valuation theory: emotions that promote important cultural ideals are valued and will tend to play a more prominent role in the social lives of individuals. 4) Cultures and display rules - cultural rules that govern when and how particular emotions should be expressed. People can de-intensify vs intensify or mask (hide negative with positive) vs neutralise (have no expression) their expression.

Physiological specificity

Does each emotion have a distinct pattern? James - yes Schachter and Singer - no Keltner - It is a complex issue Ekman reimagined the nature of emotions after noting the universality of facial expressions and established links between facial expressions and physiological arousal patterns with directed facial action (DFA) task.

William James' early theory of emotion

Emotions are the perception of bodily changes in response to the environment. He assumed each emotion generates a distinct physiological response.

Emotions and social relationships

Emotions help coordinate social relations. They're a kind of "social language." Those with Asperger's syndrome are handicapped in reading emotions, partly because they DON'T ATTEND to EYES. Emotions are communicated by TOUCH.

Emotions and social cognition

Emotions influence how we process information, make judgements, take risks, value outcomes etc. They're essential. Historically in the West, emotions were regarded as disrupting "rational" thought, but without them, life has little meaning. Emotions can influence judgements by being taken as informative about the judgement: FEELINGS-AS-INFORMATION approach. Emotions can influence judgement by changing how information is process: PROCESSING STYLE approach. Both approaches are useful, predictive.

Emotions motivate behaviour

Emotions motivate behaviour for goals. They help us achieve our social goals, in terms or responding to specific challenges and opportunities involving interactions with other people. E.g. Guilt prompts us to make amends when we have harmed someone. Psychological effects of emotions drive behaviour. E.g. Strong urges to run, hide or fight. Physiological effects of emotions help body with goals. E.g. "fight or flight" responses increase heart rate, respiration, blood flow to muscles.

Evolutionary and cultural influences on emotion

Evolutionary approaches: emotions are biologically based behavioural adaptations meant to promote survival and reproduction. This implies that physiological, emotional responses should be cross-culturally universal. Cultural approaches: emotions are influenced by views of self, social values, and social roles, which vary from culture to culture. This implies that emotions should be expressed in different ways in different cultures. Both approaches are correct! Cultures accent and modify universal behaviours.

Complex emotion: Sympathy

Expressed in voice, touch. Experience of sympathy accompanied by an urge to help: May disrupt actions and inspire us to reduce the suffering of others. Reduces us-them distinction. Orbitofrontal cortex, periaqueductal grey matter show activation.

Universality of facial expression

Facial expressions are recognised cross-culturally. Study by Ekman: Cultures never exposed to the West or Western media (the Fore of Papua New Guinea) accurately identify "basic" expressions of happiness, surprise, sadness, anger, disgust and fear shown by Westerners. US college students also accurately identify facial expressions shown by the Fore.

Paul Ekman's 6 basic emotions

Fear, surprise, happiness, anger, disgust, sadness

Feelings-as-information

For complex, difficult judgements, people may rely on current feelings or emotions to provide rapid, easily available information. The way questions are framed can influence whether or not such feelings are relied on. Happiness, anger and fear show this effect. Mood and life satisfaction study: People rated their life satisfaction "these days." But higher ratings occurred on sunny days; it was difficult for them to analyse information from an entire lifetime, so current mood may influence judgement. But when asked about the weather first, the participants were made aware of the weather and so did not affect judgements as they realised (at some level) that it might have an impact so they can make corrections.

Materialism and happiness

Materialism decreases happiness. Materialistic: Those who define their self-concepts and success in life by the quantity and quality of extrinsic possessions. They use possessions to judge success, see possessions as central in life, and believe more possessions lead to greater happiness and satisfaction.

Advantages of happiness (well-being)

More successful marriages. More creative and productive work. Better health. More satisfying relationships. Longer lives.

Directed facial action (DFA) task

Paul Eckman Participants pose facial expression by being instructed to activate specific facial muscles. Pose was held for 10 secs while autonomic activity was measured. Cross-cultural research found that posed facial expressions lead to specific patterns of physiological arousal. Posing anger increases body temp compared to fear, sadness, disgust. Posing disgust slows heart rates compared to fear, anger, sadness. Posing fear leads to faster heart rates and more skin conductance (sweat gland activity) than fear, anger, sadness. Embarrassment also produces distinct ANS pattern, including blushing.

Remembering emotional experience

Peak and ending moments: Assessing past emotional experiences, we are most influenced by the PEAK moment of emotion and the ENDING emotion. E.g. judging a movie's funniness is most affected by the funniest moment and the end. Duration neglect: The length (duration) of emotional experience has little effect on overall evaluation.

Emotional mimicry

People often unconsciously imitate others. Behavioural mimicry increases liking. We especially mimic the EMOTIONS of others: laugh when others laugh, blush when others blush. Flirting involves complex coordinated non-verbal behaviours.

Cultivating happiness

Predictors of individual level of happiness: About 50% is due to genetic factors. Only about 10% is due to the environment. About 40% is due to personal lifestyle choices. Putting emotions into words makes you happier: writing about negative emotional events provides insight and reduces distress; writing about positive goals may improve performance. Expressing positive social emotions like gratitude leads to more happiness and health, expressing compassion/forgiveness leads to less stress.

Darwin and emotion

Principle of serviceable habits: maintains that the expressions of human emotions we observe today derive from actions that proved useful in our evolutionary past. This challenged the belief that unique human sentiments are "God-given." We still de-humanise others by denying they have sentiments (secondary emotions).

Emotions influence reasoning

Processing style perspective: Positive and negative emotions lead to different types of information processing. POSITIVE moods: TOP-DOWN thinking. There is more reliance on schemas, heuristics, stereotypes. This is due to mood maintenance, reduced cognitive effort and feelings-as-information processes: Difficult decisions require cognitive work and cognitive work may hamper a good mood so happy people take shortcuts to perpetuate their good mood, and they rely on feelings-as-information as they feel good and so trust their immediate, spontaneous judgement more. NEGATIVE moods: BOTTOM-UP thinking. More systematic and analytical thinking. Especially for emotions linked to sadness. Sadness leads to less of a reliance on stereotypes.

Two-factor theory of emotion

The "jukebox" theory of emotion: Theory that emotions are made of two components - a) Unexplained physiological arousal. b) A cognitive explanation of the arousal. Both are necessary, and neither is sufficient, for the experience of emotion. The theory assumes emotions have NO distinct physiological pattern. Schachter and Singer study: A study of "effects of a drug on vision" (in reality the drug was adrenaline; or saline solution) Participants got an adrenaline injection and were either informed or uninformed about the effects (informed participants told that it would make them aroused with a possible racing heart while uninformed Ps were told nothing about the injection). Ps then interact with a confederate who is acting either happy/euphoric or angry/irritable which can provide the cognitive explanation for the arousal. Prediction: Uninformed Ps will report emotions similar to those displayed by the confederate while informed Ps will not be influenced because they already have a cognitive explanation. Results: Uninformed Ps reported higher levels of happiness when interacting with the happy confederate than informed participants. Interpreted as evidence that cognitive explanations physiological arousal are important components of emotion.

Social intuitionist model of moral judgement

The idea that people first have fast, emotional reactions to morally relevant events, and then rely on reason to arrive at a judgment of right or wrong. Related to moral foundations theory.

Motivating coordination: Touch

Touch can promote closeness in 3 ways: 1) Touch is pleasurable and rewarding. Skin is the largest organ, it is connected to the orbitofrontal cortex and represents rewards. Touch can release oxytocin. This has to be the right kind of touch, because touch can also signal power, challenge etc. 2) Touch can soothe and relieve stress. Touch reduces stress hormone. Stress reduction is greater when touched by a loved one than by a stranger. 3) Touch encourages reciprocity Primate touching increases food sharing. Human touch increases cooperation and compliance with requests, e.g. sports teams that touch each other more are highly successful. Touch can also convey social emotions like Gratitude and Compassion. People can communicate different emotions through touch alone, without being able to see/hear the other person. Interdependent cultures may be able to communicate emotions through touch better than independent cultures. Touch study: Toucher and touchee sat a table with a black curtain between them preventing all communication except touch. The toucher attempted to convey different emotions by making contact with the touchee for 1 second on the forearm. Participants could reliable communicate love, sympathy and gratitude with brief tactile contact.

Misattribution of arousal

When arousal is attributed to the wrong cause: the adrenaline caused arousal, but uninformed participants assume their feelings were caused by the situation. Studies have shown such effects with - Romantic attraction, cartoons and erotica, insomnia. Zillman's excitation transfer theory.

Emotional mimicry and friendship

When doing amusing tasks, friends mimic each others' laughter, but strangers do not. Over a year, the emotional responses of college roommates became more similar. Roommates who were closer friends mimicked each other more than less close friends. Mimicry caused friendship.