Emotion

Emotions are our body’s adaptive response. Where do emotions come from? Why do we have them? What are they made of?

Theories of Emotion Emotions are a mix of 1) physiological activation, 2) expressive behaviors, and 3) conscious experience. OBJECTIVE 1| Identify three components of emotions, and contrast James-Lange, Canon-Bard and two factor theories of emotion.

Big Questions Does physiological arousal precede or follow your emotional experience? Does cognition (thinking) precede emotion (feeling)?

Commonsense View When you become happy, your heart starts beating faster. First comes conscious awareness, then comes physiological activity. Bob Sacha

James-Lange Theory William James and Carl Lange proposed an idea that was diametrically opposed to the common-sense view. The James-Lange Theory proposes that physiological activity precedes the emotional experience.

Cannon-Bard Theory Walter Cannon and Phillip Bard questioned the James-Lange Theory and proposed that an emotion-triggering stimulus and the body's arousal take place simultaneously. 1) Cannon suggested that body’s responses were not distinct enough to evoke different emotions. 2) Physiological responses seemed too slow to trigger sudden emotions.

Two-Factor Theory Stanley Schachter and Jerome Singer proposed yet another theory which suggests our physiology and cognitions create emotions. Emotions have two factors–physical arousal and cognitive label.

Schachter’s Two-Factor (cont.) Swinging Bridge Study Would you like my phone number?

Reviewing the three Emotion occurs at the same time as arousal Emotion follows (lags behind) arousal Arousal + Cognitive label  Emotion

Challenge to Cognition Do we always think before we feel? Babies can imitate emotional expressions at 12 days of age Yet do not have the cognitive ability to label an emotion Babies respond to situations without taking time to interpret and evaluate them Some emotions are not clear-cut Sometimes we don’t know what we are feeling!

Some emotions provide facial movements and body postures that are unlearned Sometimes these are independent of conscious thought When information about these things reaches our brain, we automatically experience the emotion Carol Izard

Embodied Emotion We know that emotions involve bodily responses. Some of these responses are very noticeable (butterflies in our stomach when fear arises), but others are more difficult to discern .

Emotions and Autonomic Nervous System During an emotional experience, our autonomic nervous system mobilizes energy in the body that arouses us. OBJECTIVE 2| Describe the role of the autonomic nervous system during emotional arousal.

Arousal and Performance YERKES-DODSON LAW: Inverted U We perform better under moderate arousal, but optimal performance varies with task difficulty. OBJECTIVE 3| Discuss the relationship between arousal and performance.

Physiological Similarities Physiological responses related to the emotions of fear, anger, love, and boredom are very similar. OBJECTIVE 4| Name three emotions that involve similar physiological arousal. M. Grecco/ Stock Boston Excitement and fear involve a similar physiological arousal.

Physiological Differences Physical responses, like finger temperature and movement of facial muscles, change during fear, rage, and joy. OBJECTIVE 5| Describe some physiological and brain pattern indicators of specific emotions. The amygdala shows differences in activation during the emotions of anger and rage. Activity of the left hemisphere (happy) is different from the right (depressed) for emotions.

Cognition and Emotion What is the connection between how we think (cognition) and how we feel (emotion)? Can we change our emotions by changing our thinking?

Cognition Can Define Emotion An arousal response to one event spills over into our response to the next event. OBJECTIVE 6| Explain how spillover effect influences our experience of emotion. AP Photo/ Nati Harnik Reuters/ Corbis Arousal from a soccer match can fuel anger, which may lead to rioting.

Cognition Does Not Always Precede Emotion A subliminally presented happy face can encourage subjects to drink more than when presented with an angry face (Berridge & Winkeilman, 2003). OBJECTIVE 7| Distinguish the two alternate pathways that sensory stimuli may travel when triggering an emotional response. Emotions are felt directly through the amygdala (a) or through the cortex (b) for analysis.

How Many Basic Emotions Are There? Robert Plutchik – 8 Fear, surprise, sadness, disgust, anger, anticipation, joy, acceptance All other emotions are a combination of these Paul Ekman – 6 Happiness, surprise, sadness, fear, disgust, and anger What about love? No corresponding facial expression, but most psychologists agree it is universal

The Biology of Emotion

The Autonomic Nervous System Review What are its two divisions? What happens when either of these divisions is activated? Is the ANS more active when we feel positive or negative emotions? Negative Why does our body (and our society) put an emphasis on negative emotions?

What Parts of Our Brain Are Active When We Feel Emotion? Amygdala Helps identify emotional stimuli Begins the arousal response to these stimuli In 1939 scientists removed the temporal lobes of rhesus monkeys (this includes the amygdala) What do you think happened to the monkeys? Normally hard to handle After recovery, became tamer with less intense emotions Amygdala and danger When people look at faces expressing fear, activity increases in the amygdala When the amygdala is damaged, animals do not respond appropriately to danger When the amygdala perceives danger it sets off a chain reaction that activates hormones (pituitary gland), the adrenal glands, and neurotransmission

S.M. Damage to both amygdalas (from disease) Can recognize happiness, sadness, and disgust (in photographs) Difficulty in recognizing fear Struggles to use information from the eyes to read emotion

Insula Region in the cerebral cortex that is found at the junction of the frontal and temporal lobes Also plays a role in interpreting emotions Experiment: People with damage to the insula were shown pictures and asked to rate them on a scale of very pleasant to very unpleasant AND how arousing the picture was to them Result (when compared to the control group): Didn’t rank the pictures as pleasantly or unpleasantly Showed a decrease in their arousal ratings

Other Brain Structures Cingulate Cortex Basal Ganglia Helps process both physical and social pain Social exclusion, etc Active when processing disgust Damaged in patients with Huntington’s disease Result?

Cerebral Cortex Those with damage to their frontal lobe often experience a reduction in fear and anxiety (which can lead to an increase in impulsiveness) Left hemisphere activity is correlated with the experience of positive emotions; Right hemisphere is correlated with negative emotions We do not have “happy centers” or “sad centers” in the cerebral cortex

People generally divide emotions into Dimensions of Emotion People generally divide emotions into two dimensions.

Fear can torment us, rob us of sleep, and preoccupy our thinking. However, fear can be adaptive – it makes us run away from danger, it brings us closer as groups, and it protects us from injury and harm.

Learning Fear We learn fear in two ways, either through conditioning and/or through observation. OBJECTIVE 14| State two ways we learn our fears. Watson (1878-1958) By Monika Suteski

The Biology of Fear Some fears are easier to learn than others. The amygdala in the brain associates emotions like fear with certain situations. OBJECTIVE 15| Discuss some of the biological components of fear. Courtesy of National Geographic Magazine and Laboratory of Neuro Imaging (LONI) at UCLA. Art and brain modeling by Amanda Hammond, Jacopo Annese, and Authur Toga, LONI; spider art by Joon-Hyuck Kim

Catharsis Hypothesis Venting anger through action or fantasy achieves an emotional release or “catharsis.” Expressing anger breeds more anger, and through reinforcement it is habit-forming.

Happiness People who are happy perceive the world as being safer. They are able to make decisions easily, are more cooperative, rate job applicants more favorably, and live healthier, energized, and more satisfied lives. OBJECTIVE 17| Describe how the feel-good do-good phenomenon works, and discuss the importance of research on subjective well-being.

Subjective Well-Being Subjective well-being is the self-perceived feeling of happiness or satisfaction with life. Research on new positive psychology is on the rise. http://web.fineliving.com

Emotional Ups and Downs Our positive moods rise to a maximum within 6-7 hours after waking up. Negative moods stay more or less the same throughout the day. OBJECTIVE 18| Discuss some of the daily and longer-term variations in the duration of emotions.

Wealth and Well-being Many people in the West believe that if they were wealthier, they would be happier. However, data suggests that they would only be happy temporarily. OBJECTIVE 19| Summarize the findings on the relationship between affluence and happiness.

Does Money Buy Happiness? Wealth is like health: Its utter absence can breed misery, yet having it is no guarantee of happiness.

Happiness & Satisfaction Subjective well-being (happiness + satisfaction) measured in 82 countries shows Puerto Rico and Mexico (poorer countries) at the top of the list.

Nonverbal Communication Most of us are good at deciphering emotions through non-verbal communication. In a crowd of faces a single angry face will “pop out” faster than a single happy face (Fox et al. 2000). OBJECTIVE 8| Describe some of the factors that affect our ability to decipher non-verbal cues.

Emotions are Adaptive Darwin speculated that our ancestors communicated with facial expressions in the absence of language. Nonverbal facial expressions led to our ancestor’s survival. Charles Darwin (1809-1882)

Analyzing Emotion Analysis of emotions are carried on different levels.

Experienced Emotion Izard (1977) isolated 10 emotions. Most of them are present in infancy, except for contempt, Shame, and guilt. Patrick Donehue/ Photo Researchers, Inc. Bob Daemmrich/ The Image Works Tom McCarthy/ Rainbow OBJECTIVE 13| Name the 10 basic emotions, and describe two dimensions psychologists use to differentiate emotions. Lew Merrim/ Photo Researchers, Inc. Nancy Brown/ The Image Bank Marc Grimberg/ The Image Bank Michael Newman/ PhotoEdit