AP Psychology Chapter 13: Emotion

emotions

a response of the whole organism involving physiological arousal, expressive behavior, and conscious experience.

James-Lange Theory

theory that our experience of emotion is our awareness of our physiological resoponses to emotion-arousing stimuli. (emotion caused by our awareness of aroused physiological state)

Cannon-Bard Theory

the theory that an emotion-arousing stimulus simultaneously triggers physiological responses and emotional experiences. (emotion caused by seperately but simultaneously occuring emotional experience and physiological arousal)

Two-Factor Theory

Schachter-Singer Theory that to experience emotion, one must be physically aroused and cognitively label the arousal.

Sympathetic nervous system

arouses systems of the body

Parasympathetic nervous system

calms systems of the body

nucleus accumbens

neural pathway that increases dopamine levels. triggers laughter and smiling.

spill-over effect

our response to one event spills over and influences our response to another.

low road

eye or ear neural pathways--->thalamus--->amygdala; enables fast emotional response before cognition.

thinking high road

eye/ear neural pathways--->thalamus--->sensory cortex--->prefrontal cortex--->amygdala.

Richard Lazarus

Believed congnition precedes emotion.

Zajon

Believed emotions can precede cognition.

facial feedback hypothesis

proposes that expressions amplify our emotions by activating muscles associated with specific states, the muscles signal the body to respond as though we were experiencing those states. ex) if you smile long enough you will feel happy.

behavior feedback hypothesis

assumes that if we move our body as we would when experiencing some emotion we are likely to feel that emotion to some degree. ex) clenched fists, tense and rigid body will make you feel angry.

2 demensions of emotion

arousal & valence; valence: pleasant vs. unpleasant.

high arousal

best used for menotenous tasks

low arousal

best used for tasks requiring effortful thought.

catharsis

emotional release; releasing aggressive behavior will relieve aggressive urges.