Emotion

References

What is Emotion?• Physiological arousal• Cognitive interpretation• Subjective feelings• Behavioral expression

• Emotion & motivation work together– Emotion = arousal based on

situation– Motivation = how arousal

becomes action

Why We Have Emotions• Genetics• Learning early in life• Arousal states help organisms

cope with significant, recurring situations

• Emotional responses are components of many psychological disorders

Physiology of Emotion• ANS controls arousal – sympathetic nervous

system– Adaptive (Yerkes-Dodson) – optimum arousal for

survival• Similar physical arousal for fear, anger, sexual

arousal– Yet we feel different…

Emotion and PhysiologyAutonomic nervous system controls

physiological 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

Copyright © Allyn & Bacon 2007

Emotionfear

Cognitive interpretation“I feel afraid!”

Physiological arousaltremblingincreased heart rate

James-Lange theory

Cannon-bard

theory

Two-factor theory

Stimulussnake

Stimulussnake

Stimulus

Emotionfear

Physiological arousaltremblingincreased heart rate

Physiological arousaltremblingincreased heart rate

Emotionfear

Psychological Theories of Emotion

• Two-Factor Theory: This theory suggests that the emotions we feel depend on two things:

• 1) our internal physical state • 2) the external situation we find ourselves in.

– Attractive female researcher study (pg 308)

Lazarus (Cognitive Appraisal) Theory

• Event Cognitive appraisal physiological response emotion

You are walking down a dark alley late at night. You hear footsteps behind you and you begin to tremble, your heart beats faster, and your breathing deepens. Upon noticing this arousal you realize that is comes from the fact that you are walking down a dark alley by yourself. This behavior is dangerous and therefore you feel the emotion of fear.

Schachter-Singer

You are walking down a dark alley late at night. You hear footsteps behind you and you begin to tremble, your heart beats faster, and your breathing deepens. You notice these physiological changes and interpret them as your body's preparation for a fearful situation. You then experience fear.

James-Lange Theory

You are walking down a dark alley late at night. You hear footsteps behind you and you begin to tremble, your heart beats faster, and your breathing deepens. At the same time as these physiological changes occur you also experience the emotion of fear.

Cannon-Bard Theory

You are walking down a dark alley late at night. You hear footsteps behind you and you think it may be a mugger so you begin to tremble, your heart beats faster, and your breathing deepens and at the same time experience fear.

Lazarus

Psychological Theories of Emotion

• Opponent-Process Theory: Theory that we trigger one emotion by suppressing its opposite emotion.

• Ex. Drugs-the highs experienced by some drugs are replaced with lows (withdrawals). Eventually people take drugs not for the highs, but to avoid the lows.

Yerkes-Dodson Law• Yerkes-Dodson law: A theory that a degree of psychological arousal

helps performance, but only to a certain point. Too much or too little arousal can decrease performance. Also known as the Inverted U.

Arousal and Performance

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

Experienced Emotion Infants’ naturally occurring emotions

Universality of Emotions

• Facial expressions of emotion are universal

• Other forms of expressing emotions differ by culture

Seven Basic Emotions• Paul Ekman, a leading psychologist in emotions,

suggests humans everywhere can recognize seven basic emotions: sadness, fear, anger, disgust, contempt, happiness and surprise.

A sample of 6 of Ekman’s emotions. Which one is missing?

Identifying Emotion

Differences in Emotions• Temperatures &

hormone secretions• Facial muscles• Brain activation– Right PFC – negative

emotions– Left – positive emotions

Detecting Lies

• Difficult to detect deceiving emotions• Liars left prefrontal cortex, anterior

cingulate cortex

Emotion - Lie Detectors Polygraph

machine commonly used in attempts to detect lies

measures several of the physiological responses accompanying emotion perspiration cardiovascular breathing changes

Emotion--Lie Detectors

Control Question Up to age 18, did you ever physically harm

anyone? Relevant Question

Did [the deceased] threaten to harm you in any way?

Relevant > Control --> Lie

Emotion--Lie Detectors

50 Innocents 50 Theives

1/3 of innocent declared guilty

1/4 of guilty declared innocent (from Kleinmuntz & Szucko, 1984)

Percentage

Innocentpeople

Guiltypeople

80

70

60

50

40

30

20

10

0

Judged innocent by polygraphJudged guilty by polygraph

Emotion--Lie Detectors

Is 70% accuracy good? Assume 5% of 1000 employees actually guilty

test all employees 285 will be wrongly accused

What about 95% accuracy? Assume 1 in 1000 employees actually guilty

test all employees (including 999 innocents) 50 wrongly declared guilty 1 of 51 testing positive are guilty (~2%)

Reading Emotion• Age may not matter in reading facial expressions• It is possible that children as young as 5 may be able to

recognize others’ facial expressions and emotions

Expressed Emotion• Verbally & nonverbally– Read fear and anger mostly from eyes– Absence of gestures, facial expressions, and tones of voice

in e-mails deprives us of important information

• Women better at emotional cues– Better lie detectors– Greater emotional responsiveness– Experience emotional events more deeply, greater brain

activation

Expressed Emotion

Culturally universal expressions

Experienced Emotion Adaptation-Level Phenomenon

tendency to form judgments relative to a “neutral” level brightness of lights volume of sound level of income

defined by our prior experience Relative Deprivation

perception that one is worse off relative to those with whom one compares oneself

Origins of Emotions – Two Paths• Two distinct emotional pathways in the brain.– Fast “low road” – unconscious level, respond

immediately or quickly to stimuli• Bypasses cortex, directly to amygdala

– Slow “high road” – conscious processing of stimuli• Uses cerebral cortex

The Limbic System• While the two pathways differ, they do have some things in

common. Both rely heavily on the limbic system.

• The amygdala plays an especially important role in both emotion pathways. In the past it was thought that the amygdala was simply involved in negative emotions. Recently it has been discovered that it plays a role in positive emotions as well.

Cognition and Emotion The brain’s shortcut for emotions

Two Routes to Emotion

Expressed Emotion People more speedily detect an angry face

than a happy one (Ohman, 2001a)

Expressed Emotion Gender and expressiveness

Men Women

Sad Happy ScaryFilm Type

16

14

12

10

8

6

4

2

0

Numberof

expressions

Spillover Effect• Experiment in which subjects were injected

w/epinephrine• Waiting room w/participant who was irritated

or euphoric• No emotional response when attributed heart

race, rapid breathing to drug• When told drug would have “no effects”, they

took on the emotion of the other participant

• Display rules– Norms that tell people whether, which, how, and

when emotions should be displayed• Facial feedback– Facial expression of anger or happiness intensifies

feelings– Ex: Smiling while watching comedy makes it funnier– Putting a smile on your face can make you happier!

Experienced 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

Experienced 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

Experienced Emotion

Values and life satisfaction

MoneyLove

1.00 2.00 3.00 4.00 5.00 6.00 7.00Life satisfaction

0.6

0.4

0.2

0.0

-0.2

-0.4

Importancescores

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

ReferencesKaplan, H. Emotion (PPT file). Retrieved from AP

Psychology Commune web Site: http://www.appsychology.com

Myers, D.G. (2011). Myers’ psychology for AP. Holland,MI: Worth Publishers.