Myers’ EXPLORING PSYCHOLOGY (6th Ed) Chapter 11 Emotions, Stress and Health James A. McCubbin, PhD Clemson University Worth Publishers

Emotion  Emotion  a response of the whole organism  physiological arousal  expressive behaviors  conscious experience

Theories of Emotion  Does your heart pound because you are afraid... or are you afraid because you feel your heart pounding?

James-Lange Theory of Emotion  Experience of emotion is awareness of physiological responses to emotion-arousing stimuli Fear (emotion) Pounding heart (arousal) Sight of oncoming car (perception of stimulus)

Cannon-Bard Theory of Emotion  Emotion-arousing stimuli simultaneously trigger:  physiological responses  subjective experience of emotion Sight of oncoming car (perception of stimulus) Pounding heart (arousal) Fear (emotion)

Schachter’s Two-Factor Theory of Emotion  To experience emotion one must:  be physically aroused  cognitively label the arousal Cognitive label “I’m afraid” Fear (emotion) Sight of oncoming car (perception of stimulus) Pounding heart (arousal)

Cognition and Emotion  The brain’s shortcut for emotions

Two Routes to Emotion

Emotion and Physiology Autonomic nervous system controls physiological arousal Sympathetic division (arousing) Pupils dilate Decreases Perspires Increases Accelerates Inhibits Secrete stress hormones Parasympathetic division (calming) Pupils contract Increases Dries Decreases Slows Activates Decreases secretion of stress hormones EYES SALIVATION SKIN RESPIRATION HEART DIGESTION ADRENAL GLANDS

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

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 - A Polygraph Examination

Emotion - Lie Detectors  Control Question  Example- Up to age 18, did you ever physically harm anyone?  Relevant Question  Example- Did [the deceased] threaten to harm you in any way?  Relevant > Control --> Lie

Emotion - Lie Detectors  50 Innocents  50 Thieves  1/3 of innocent declared guilty  1/4 of guilty declared innocent (from Kleinmuntz & Szucko, 1984)

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

Expressed Emotion  Gender and expressiveness Men Women Sad Happy Scary Film Type Number of expressions

Expressed Emotion  Culturally universal expressions

Experienced Emotion  Infants’ naturally occurring emotions

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  Subjective Well-Being  self-perceived happiness or satisfaction with life  used along with measures of objective well-being  physical and economic indicators to evaluate people’s quality of life

Experienced Emotion  Moods across the day

Experienced Emotion  Changing materialism

Experienced Emotion  Does money buy happiness? Year 100% 90% 80% 70% 60% 50% 40% 30% 20% 10% 0% Average per-person after-tax income in 1995 dollars Percentage describing themselves as very 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, Percentage very happy Personal income

Experienced Emotion  Values and life satisfaction Money Love Life satisfaction Importance scores

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

Happiness is... Researchers Have Found That Happy People Tend to Have high self-esteem (in individualistic countries) Be optimistic, outgoing, and agreeable Have close friendships or a satisfying marriage Have work and leisure that engage their skills Have a meaningful religious faith Sleep well and exercise However, Happiness Seems Unrelated 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

Stress and Illness  Stress  the process by which we perceive and respond to certain events, called stressors, that we appraise as threatening or challenging

Stress Appraisal Stressful event (tough math test) Threat (“Yikes! This is beyond me!”) Challenge (“I’ve got to apply all I know”) Panic, freeze up Aroused, focused Appraisal Response

Stress and Illness  General Adaptation Syndrome  Selye’s concept of the body’s adaptive response to stress in three stages Stress resistance Phase 1 Alarm reaction (mobilize resources) Phase 2 Resistance (cope with stressor) Phase 3 Exhaustion (reserves depleted) The body’s resistance to stress can last only so long before exhaustion sets in Stressor occurs

Stress and Health  Health Psychology  subfield of psychology that provides psychology’s contribution to behavioral medicine

Perceived Control  Equality and Longevity

Stress and the Heart Hopelessness scores Heart attack Death Low riskModerate riskHigh risk Men who feel extreme hopelessness are at greater risk for heart attacks and early death

Stress and the Heart  Coronary Heart Disease  clogging of the vessels that nourish the heart muscle  leading cause of death in many developed countries

Stress and the Heart  Type A  Friedman and Rosenman’s term for competitive, hard- driving, impatient, verbally aggressive, and anger-prone people  Type B  Friedman and Rosenman’s term for easygoing, relaxed people

Stress and Disease  Psychophysiological Illness  “mind-body” illness  any stress-related physical illness  some forms of hypertension  some headaches  distinct from hypochondria— misinterpreting normal physical sensations as symptoms of a disease

Stress and Disease  Lymphocytes  two types of white blood cells that are part of the body’s immune system  B lymphocytes form in the bone marrow and release antibodies that fight bacterial infections  T lymphocytes form in the thymus and, among other duties, attack cancer cells, viruses, and foreign substances

Stress and Disease  Conditioning of immune suppression UCS (drug) UCR (immune suppression) UCS (drug) UCR (immune suppression) CS (sweetened water) CS (sweetened water) CR (immune suppression)

Stress and Disease  Negative emotions and health-related consequences Unhealthy behaviors (smoking, drinking, poor nutrition and sleep) Persistent stressors and negative emotions Release of stress hormones Heart disease Immune suppression Autonomic nervous system effects (headaches, hypertension)

Promoting Health  Aerobic Exercise  sustained exercise that increases heart and lung fitness Depression score Before treatment evaluation After treatment evaluation No-treatment group Aerobic exercise group Relaxation treatment group

Promoting Health  Biofeedback  system for electronically recording, amplifying, and feeding back information regarding a subtle physiological state  blood pressure  muscle tension

Promoting Health  Modifying Type A life-style can reduce recurrence of heart attacks Percentage of patients with recurrent heart attacks (cumulative average) Year Life-style modification patients Control patients Modifying life-style reduced recurrent heart attacks

Promoting Health  Social support across the life span Age in years 100% Percentage with high support

Life events Tendency toward HealthIllness Personal appraisal ChallengeThreat Personality type Easy going, Nondepressed, Optimistic Hostile, Depressed, Pessimistic Personal habits Nonsmoking, Regular exercise, Good nutrition Smoking, Sedentary, Poor nutrition Level of social support Close, enduringLacking Promoting Health

Alternative Medicine

 Predictors of mortality Men Women Not smoking Regular exercise Weekly religious attendance Relative risk of dying

Promoting Health  Religious Attendance

Promoting Health  The religion factor is multidimensional Religious involvement Healthy behaviors (less smoking, drinking) Social support (faith communities, marriage) Positive emotions (less stress, anxiety) Better health (less immune system suppression, stress hormones, and suicide)