Chapter 13

EmotionPhineas gage

theories of emotion

Theories of Emotion

• Does your heart pound because you are afraid... or are you afraid because you feel your heart pounding?

Emotion

• William James and Carl Lange came up with the James-Lange Theory of Emotion.

• We feel emotion because of biological changes caused by stress.

• The body changes and our mind recognizes the feeling.

James-Lange Theory of Emotion

• Experience of emotion is awareness of physiological responses to emotion-arousing stimuli

Fear(emotion)

Poundingheart

(arousal)

Sight of oncoming

car(perception of

stimulus)

James-Lange (cont.)• Subjects report

feeling more sad when viewing scenes of war, sickness, and starvation if their “sad face” muscles are activated.

• They also find comic strips funnier if their “happy face” muscles are activated.

Cannon-Bard Theory of Emotion

• The physiological change and cognitive awareness must occur simultaneously.

• They believed it was the thalamus that helped this happen.

Cannon-BardTheory of Emotion

• Emotion-arousing stimuli simultaneously trigger:– physiological

responses – subjective

experience of emotion

Sight of oncoming

car(perception of

stimulus)

Poundingheart

(arousal)

Fear(emotion)

Two-Factor Theory of Emotionhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e2qdvELqskc

• Stanley Schachter explains emotions more completely that the other two theories.

• They happen at the same time but…

• People who are already physiologically aroused experience more intense emotions than unaroused people when both groups are exposed to the same stimuli.

• Biology and Cognition interact with each other to increase the experience.

Schachter’s Two Factor Theory of Emotion

• To experience emotion one must:– be physically

aroused – cognitively

label the arousal

Cognitivelabel

“I’m afraid”

Fear(emotion)

Sight of oncoming

car(perception of

stimulus)

Poundingheart

(arousal)

Schachter’s Two-Factor

Injection Told Emotion

Group 1 Epinephrine Will increase arousal

Mild

Group 2 Epinephrine Will have no effect / other side effects

Strong

Epinephrine Study:

Emotional Arousalhttp://education-portal.com/academy/lesson/fight-or-flight-response.html#lesson

Autonomic nervous system controlsphysiological arousal

Sympatheticdivision (arousing)

Pupils dilate

Decreases

Perspires

Increases

Accelerates

Inhibits

Secrete stresshormones

Parasympatheticdivision (calming)

Pupils contract

Increases

Dries

Decreases

Slows

Activates

Decreasessecretion of

stress hormones

EYES

SALIVATION

SKIN

RESPIRATION

HEART

DIGESTION

ADRENALGLANDS

Arousal and Performance

• Performance peaks at lower levels of arousal for difficult tasks, and at higher levels for easy or well-learned tasks

Performancelevel

Low

Arousal

High

Difficult tasks Easy tasks

Yerkes-Dodson Law

Yerkes Dodson Law: What type of motivational level do you need??

TASK MOTIVATIONAL LEVEL

easy high moderate moderate difficult low

Arousal Theory

• We are motivated to seek an optimum level of arousal.

• Yerkes-Dodson Law

Expressing Emotion

Smiles can show different emotions:

A) Mask angerB) Overly politeC) Soften

criticismD) Reluctant

compliance

Experienced Emotion - Fear• Learning Fear– Observation / Experience– Genetic / Evolutionary Predispositions?

• Biology of Fear– Amygdala – emotions of fear– Hippocampus – memory of fear

Expressed Emotion

People more speedily detect an angry face than a happy one (Ohman, 2001a)

Expressing EmotionHow good are you at detecting emotions?

• Culturally universal expressions

Experiencing Emotionhttp://education-portal.com/academy/lesson/categorizing-emotions.html

• The Amygdala-a neural key to fear learning

Experiencing Emotion

• Catharsis–emotional release–catharsis hypothesis • “releasing” aggressive energy

(through action or fantasy) relieves aggressive urges

• Feel-good, do-good phenomenon–people’s tendency to be helpful

when already in a good mood

Experiencing Emotion

• Does money buy happiness?

Year

100%

90%

80%

70%

60%

50%

40%

30%

20%

10%

0%

Averageper-person

after-tax incomein 1995 dollars

Percentagedescribingthemselves asvery happy

$20,000$19,000$18,000$17,000$16,000$15,000$14,000$13,000$12,000$11,000$10,000

$9,000$8,000$7,000$6,000$5,000$4,000

1930 1940 1950 1960 1970 1980 1990 2000

Percentage very happy

Personal income

Experiencing Emotion

• Adaptation-Level Phenomenon– tendency to form judgements relative to

a “neutral” level

• Relative Deprivation– perception that one is worse off relative

to those with whom one compares oneself

– Is Happines Relative (8 min)

Opponent-Process Theory of Emotion

Strong

Neutral

StrongFirst experience

(a)

Strong

Neutral

StrongAfter repeated experiences

(b)

Happiness is...

Researchers Have Found ThatHappy People Tend to

Have high self-esteem (in individualistic countries)

Be optimistic, outgoing, and agreeable

Have close friendships or a satisfyingmarriage

Have work and leisure that engagetheir skills

Have a meaningful religious faith

Sleep well and exercise

However, Happiness Seems Not MuchRelated to Other Factors, Such as

Age

Gender (women are more often depressed, but also more often joyful)

Education levels

Parenthood (having children or not)

Physical attractiveness

Theories of Emotions Review

Reflection Reflection• What affects your emotions?

• What theory do you think is most accurate regarding emotion? Why?

• How are motivation and emotion connected?

?