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.