emotion (affect)
-feelings that involve subjective evaluation, physiological processes, and cognitive beliefs
-emotions communicate our inner states to others (they express what we are experiencing and what we are likely to do next)
-complex reactions that engage our bodi
psychological model of emotion***
-emotional reactions have several interrelated properties expressed in a graphic
-physiological processes (brain/autonomic), expressive behavior, and cognitive appraisal are all integrated/affect each other and they all affect EMOTION
-brain is affected b
primary emotional expressions (6)
-strong evidence supporting the idea that the following 6 emotions are "universal" and exist across cultures
-HAPPINESS
-SADNESS
-ANGER
-DISGUST
-FEAR
-SURPRISE
-there is no absolute consensus about what/how many basic emotions there are
Eckman
-actors posed in photos expressing certain emotions, photos then shown to members of literate and pre-literate cultures
-people were asked to identify the emotions being portrayed
-results: judgements of portrayed emotions were essentially similar across
facial cues***
-face is critical to emotional expression and experience
facial myography
-measurement of facial muscles
-used to determine emotional deception
genuine vs. ingenuine smiles*****
-big difference between genuine and ingenuine smiles (DUSHANE???)
-genuine smiles: eye creases, involvement of eye muscle AND mouth when smiling
-more smiling=more happiness
primary emotions vs. secondary emotions
-primary emotions: evolutionary adaptive, shared across cultures, and associated with specific physical states. they include anger, fear, sadness, disgust, happiness, and surprise (possibly contempt)
-secondary emotions: blends of primary emotions. they i
arousal
-physiological activation (such as increased brain activity) or increased autonomic responses (such as increased heart rate, sweating, or muscle tension)
-feeling excited is a state of positive affect and high arousal
-depression is a state of negative af
display rules
-emotional experience is relatively independent of culture, but emotional displays are culturally-dependent
-aka, CULTURE AFFECTS WHEN/HOW WE EXPRESS EMOTION (ex: church=subdued, party=loud, demonstrative)
-we tend to only express certain emotions under p
sex differences in emotionality
-men tend to be less emotional than women
-women self-disclose more and are socialized for openness
-women (on average) outperform men in using nonverbal cues to infer what others are feeling (ex: women are more likely to detect feelings of people shown i
Are all emotions physiologically identical?
-older psychological theories suggested yes but evidence from recent studies suggests that the answer is a clear no
-each emotion has its own "physiological signature" that is represented in a unique type of "neural circuitry" associated with specific emo
Autonomic Fingerprint" Evidence
-ECKMAN had subjects express various emotions in their faces while hooked up to machines that measured heart rate, temp., skin resistance, etc. and researchers recorded a variety of autonomic arousal measures
-results showed relatively distinct patterns o
Affective Style
-presence of cerebral lateralization points towards individual differences in emotional responses between different people
-people differ in their styles of response to emotional stimulation and challenge
-dispositional readiness to experience positive an
Neural Circuitry
-loops of connections in axons that connect different parts of the brain
-particular emotions have particular physiological signatures
Cerebral Lateralization" Evidence
-RICHIE DAVIDSON did a lab that shows that children and adults with more active left hemispheres tend to be more interested, joyful, and enthusiastic
-those with more active right hemispheres are more fearful, nervous, avoid ant, and depressed
-also known
Greater EEG activity in right hemisphere of brain
-more likely to be fearful, nervous, avoid ant, and depressed
-likely to experience more negative emotions than people with more active left hemispheres
Greater EEG activity in left hemisphere of brain
-more positive emotions are experienced and less negative emotions are experienced than those with a more active right hemisphere
Extreme right-prefrontal activation is associated with...
-larger decreases in natural killer cells in response to stress (reduced immune functioning-stress affects their immune systems more profoundly)
-higher plasma cortisol levels (stress-related hormone, HPA axis activation is more common, leads to worse hea
Can people become more cerebrally left-active?
-substantial scientific support that yes, the brain can become more left-active
-our brains are adaptable
-Dalai Lama: "the systematic training of the mind...is possible because of the very structure and function of the brain..."
-can be achieved through
Contemplative Neuroscience
-looks at affect of contemplative action on people's experiences
-many neuro-imaging studies have examined whether the practice of methods designed to increase positive affect AND to decrease or limit negative affect actually leads to stable changes in ne
DAVIDSON (2003) study results
-mindfulness based stress reduction program
-mindfulness based stress reduction group experienced less negative emotion/reduction in negative affect
-average shift in brains toward activation of left-frontal hemisphere (less unhappy)
-flu shot: higher ant
Positive Psychology
-new direction for psychological research introduced by SELIGMAN
-has developed as a field, recommends using positive affect
-humans are adaptable creatures and it IS possible to have MORE positive emotions (similar to humanistic psychology)
Barbara Fredrickson's Broaden-and-Build Model of Positive Affect
-positive emotions broaden thought-action tendencies and build up personal resources (experiment: people are better at solving problems when they are experiencing positive emotions/are in a good mood. they tend to SEE more/have more flexibility in thinkin
Joy/Playfulness (Positive Emotion Experiment)
-students experiencing joy and playfulness in problem-solving build intellectual, physical, physiological, and social resources
-also develop problem solving skills, coordination, musculature, and a sense of competency about optimism
Mindful Attention to Emotions
-more mindful attention to positive emotions results in more positive affect, while mindfully attending to negative emotion results in self-distancing and reframing
-it is beneficial to spend more time amplifying/noticing experiences
Schachter-Singer Two-Factor Theory
-two social psychologists who proposed this theory
-basically, all emotions are comprised of a similar underlying physiological arousal combined w/ a cognitive interpretation
-a situation evokes a physiological response, such as arousal, and a cognitive i
Misattribution of Arousal
-implication of two-factor theory is that we can attribute physical states to the wrong emotion
-when people misidentify the source of their arousal, it is called misattribution of arousal
-ex: two men crossed either an unstable or a stable bridge to meet
Excitation Transfer
-similar form of misattribution
-residual physiological arousal caused from one event is transferred to a new stimulus occurring after initial arousal
Regulation of Emotional States
-it is possible to directly alter our emotional reactions to events by reappraising those events in more neutral terms
-ex: person afraid of flying distracts self and helps person next to them
-ex: person scared while watching scary move but reminds self