Emotions

Emotions The word emotions means' to move' A state characterized by , involving Physiological arousal Expressive behaviors (changes in Facial expressions, Gestures, Body Posture) Subjective feelings

An emotion is a mental and physiological state associated with a wide variety of feelings, thoughts and behavior. Emotions are subjective experiences, or experienced from an individual point of view.

Emotion = PC+EE+EF Physiological Changes (PC)---Changes in body functions Emotional Expression (EE)---Outward signs that an emotion is occurring Emotional Feeling (EF)---The private, subjective experience of having an emotion. Study of the meaning of body movements, posture, hand gestures, and facial expressions---Kinesics (Body Language)

Mood A mood is the mildest form of Emotion Moods are low intensity emotional states that can last for many hours, or even days.

The brain and Emotion Emotions can be either positive or Negative Positive emotions are processed mainly in the left hemisphere, and negative in the right side; so we can feel happy and sad at the same time. An area in brain called Amygdala is responsible for producing emotions. People who suffer from any damage to Amygdala, become blind to emotions.

Primary Emotions Robert Plutchik (2003) has identified eight basic emotions, and these are: Fear Surprise Sadness Disgust Anger Anticipation Joy Acceptance

Physiological Changes During Emotions When we experience an intense emotions, such as fear or anger, we are aware of number of bodily changes. For example: rapid heart beat Breathing dryness of the throat and mouth increased muscle tension Perspiration trembling of the extremities a sinking feeling in the stomach.

Physiological Changes During Emotions Most of the physiological changes that occur during emotional arousal result from activation of the sympathetic division of the autonomic nervous system as it prepares body for emergency action. Sympathetic system is responsible for the following changes: Blood Pressure and heart rate increase Respiration becomes more rapid The pupils of the eye expand

Cont. iv) Perspiration increases while discharge of saliva and mucous decreases v) Blood sugar level increases to provide more energy vi) The blood is thicken more quickly in case of wounds vii) Movement of the gastrointestinal tract decreases; blood is preoccupied from the stomach and intestines and sent to the brain and skeletal muscles. viii) The hairs on the skin become rigid

Theories of Emotions Psychologists and physiologists have all worked to formulate some general principles to guide us in thinking about the emotions. Some of these theories are discussed here. 1. James- Lange theory 2. Cannon- Bard theory 3. Schachter Singer theory

James Lang theory It combined the ideas of William James and Danish physiologist Carl Lange, who largely independently arrived at the same conclusion, was proposed in 1884. Theory states that “Our experience of emotion is our awareness of our physiological responses to emotion-arousing stimuli” The perception of bodily changes as they occur is the emotion.

Cont…. Example I see a bear. My muscles tense, my heart races. I feel afraid. So What? Using it Watch people's physiological signals (facial color, etc.) and deduce what emotions will result. Defending Notice your own physical feelings and think about how these lead to emotion. If you could relax deliberately, would you feel better? Description When a stimulating event happens, we feel emotions and physiological changes (such as muscular tension, sweating, etc.) at the same time. The sequence thus is as follows: Event ==> Simultaneous arousal or physiological changes ==> emotion

Cont…. James further claims that 'we feel sorry because we cry, angry because we beat, afraid because we shiver The James-Lange theory, in opposition asserts that first we react to a situation (running away and crying happen before the emotion), and then we interpret our actions into an emotional response. In this way, emotions serve to explain and organize our own actions to us.

Cannon Bard theory The Cannon-Bard theory is a psychological theory developed by physiologists Walter Cannon and Philip Bard. It was formulated after James Land theory of emotion. Cannon and Bard (1929) rejected the James Lang theory.

Cont…. It States that an emotion arousing stimulus simultaneously triggers: a) Physiological responses b) the subjective experience of emotion. people feel emotions first and then act upon them.

They both proposed that when we perceive an environmental stimulus during emotion, the thalamus in the brain reacts. According to the theory, after an emotion inducting stimulus is perceived, the thalamus is the initial site of the emotional response. In turn, the thalamus sends a signal , and communicates a message to the cerebral cortex regarding the nature of emotion being experienced.

Schachter-Singer Theory Also called Two Factor theory of emotion. It states that “to experience emotion one must Be physically aroused Cognitively label the arousal”. This theory emphasized that we identify the emotion we are experiencing by observing our environment and comparing ourselves with others. In other words given a state of arousal ,we experience the emotion that seems appropriate to the situation in which we find ourselves.

Schachter-Singer Theory In a classical experiment subjects were told that they would receive a vitamin injection of a drug. In reality they were given a drug that causes an increase in physiological arousal, including higher heart and respiration rates and a reddening of the face---responses that typically occur as part of strong emotional responses. Although one group of subjects were informed of the actual effects of the drug

Subjects in both groups were then individually placed in a situation where a confederate (associate person) of the experimenter acted in one of the two ways. In one condition, he acted angry and hostile, complaining that he would refuse to answer personal questions to the experimenter asked him to complete. In the other condition, his behavior was quite the opposite: He behaved joyfully, flying paper airplanes and acting quite happy with the situation.

Schachter-Singer Theory The key purpose of the experiment was to determine how the subjects would react emotionally to the confederate’s behavior. When they were asked to describe their own emotional state at the end of the experiment, subjects who knew the effects of the drug were relatively unaffected by the behavior of the confederate: being informed of the effects of the epinephrine earlier, they thought their arousal was due to the drug, hence they reported experiencing relatively little emotion.

Schachter-Singer Theory On the other hand subjects who had not been told of the drugs real effects were, another was kept in the dark. Influenced by the confederate’s behavior. Exposed to the angry confederate they also felt angry. In sum, the results suggested that uninformed subjects turned to the environment and the behavior of others for an explanation of the physiological arousal they were experiencing.

Schachter-Singer Theory The results of the Schachter- singer experiment support a cognitive view of emotion, in which emotions are determined jointly by a relatively nonspecific kind of physiological arousal and the labelling of the arousal based on cues from the environment. There is evidence that in some cases physical arousal is not essential for emotional

Schachter-Singer Theory The results of the Schachter- singer experiment support a cognitive view of emotion, in which emotions are determined jointly by a relatively nonspecific kind of physiological arousal and the labeling of the arousal based on cues from the environment. There is evidence that in some cases physical arousal is not essential for emotional experience to occur and that physiological factor alone can account for one’s emotional state.