Emotion

What is Emotion? A conscious feeling of pleasantness/unpleasantness accompanied by biological activation and expressive behavior Includes both biological and cognitive components Two Dimensions: Arousal (intensity) The greater the arousal the more intense the emotion Valence (positive/negative quality) Basic Inborn Emotions: Joy, fear, anger, sadness, surprise and disgust (Ekman’s Research; Microexpressions)

Emotion is Multifaceted Emotion refers to the mix of: 1. Physiological Arousal 2. Expressive Behaviors (how you react to the physiological arousal) 3. Conscious Experience (how you cognitively interpret environment)

Theories of Emotions Evolutionary Theory James-Lange Theory Cannon-Bard Theory Opponent-Process Theory Schachter-Singer Two-Factor Theory Cognitive Appraisal Theory

Evolutionary Theory (Paul Ekman) Emotions are developed because of adaptive values, allowing the organism to survive by avoiding danger Animals/humans showing expressions of anger allows us to avoid conflict with them Knowing how we feel before we know what we think

Facial Expressions Are Universal No matter what part of the world you are from, facial expressions indicating 6 basic emotions tend to be universal.

Facial Expressions Are Universal The six universal emotions are: Happiness Anger Interest (not an emotion) Disgust Surprise Sadness Fear

Paul Ekman’s 6 Micorexpressions

Detecting Emotion/Lies With Facial Expressions With experience and training it is possible to detect microexpressions which indicate guilt, despair, and fear. Paul Ekman developed a system for classifying deception within emotional expression. Must play close attention to facial muscles which are nearly impossible to control.

expressing emotion

James-Lang Theory (William James & Karl Lange) Proposed that our awareness of our physiological arousal leads to our conscious experience of emotion Believe that we can change our feelings by changing our behavior Facial-feedback hypothesis: our facial expressions affect our emotional experiences Smilingpositive moods Frowningnegative moods External stimuli activate our automatic nervous systems, producing specific patterns of physiological changes for different emotions that create different emotional experiences See a mean dogwe run (SNS kicks in)then we realize we are afraid

James-Lange Theory of Emotion A Physiological Response causes the Emotion Fear (emotion) Pounding heart (arousal) Sight of oncoming car (perception of stimulus)

Support for James-Lange Subjects report feeling more sad when viewing scenes of war, sickness, and starvation if their “sad face” muscles are activated. They also find comic strips funnier if their “happy face” muscles are activated. This is called the facial feedback effect

Criticism of James-Lange Fear (emotion) Pounding heart (arousal) Sight of oncoming car (perception of stimulus) LOVE (emotion) Pounding heart (arousal) Sight of Your secret crush

Cannon-Bard Theory (Walter Cannon & Phillip Bard) Disagreed with James-Lang Theory Conscious experience of emotion accompanies physiological responses because the thalamus sends information to the limbic system & the cerebral cortex simultaneously interact See a mean dogrun because we recognize we are afraid (happens at the same time) *the thalamus does not directly cause emotional responses, it relays sensory info. to the amygdala and hypothalamus

Cannon-Bard Theory of Emotion Sight of oncoming car (perception of stimulus) Pounding heart (arousal) Fear (emotion) The Physiological Response and the Emotion are experienced at the SAME TIME

Cannon-Bard Theory of Emotion Says James-Lange theory is full of crap. The physiological change and the emotion occur simultaneously. They believed it was the thalamus that helped this happen.

Think – Two cannons firing at the same time. Physiological change (heart rate, breathing) Emotion

Opponent-Process Theory (Solomon and Corbit) When we experience an emotion, an opposing emotion will counter the first emotion, lessening the experience of that emotion During repeated occasions, the opposing emotion becomes stronger When we go bungee jumping the first time, we feel extreme fear and high levels of a “rush”…after multiple jumps, we become less fearful & don’t experience as strong of a “rush”

Schachter-Singer Two-Factor Theory (Stanley Schachter & Jerome Singer) We infer emotion from arousal and then label it according to our cognitive explanation of the arousal If we feel aroused and someone is yelling at us, we must be angry

Schachter’s Two Factor Theory of Emotion Cognitive label “I’m afraid” Fear (emotion) Sight of oncoming car (perception of stimulus) Pounding heart (arousal) We experience the Physiological Response and give it a Cognitive Label and this produces our emotions

Reviewing the three theories Emotion occurs at the same time as arousal Cannon-Bard Emotion follows (lags behind) arousal James-Lange Arousal + Cognitive label  Emotion Schachter’s Two Factor

Cognitive-Appraisal Theory (Richard Lazarus) Our emotional experience depends on our interpretation of the situation we are in Primary appraisal: Assess potential consequences of the situation Secondary appraisal: We decide what to do We can change our emotions if we learn to interpret the situation differently Counter Arguments: Evolutionary Psychologists: Disagree that emotions depend on evaluation of the situation (emotional response is developed before complex thinking) Robert Zajonc: thinks we often know how we feel before we know what we think about the situation

If you are in a falling vehicle heading toward the ground at 60 mph, your autonomic reaction would include heart racing and screaming. But if your cognitive appraisal says you are on a rollercoaster, then you have the emotion of “fun.”

Biology of Emotions Sympathetic Nervous System (SNS): Hormonal secretion Amygdala: influences aggression and fear which interacts with the hypothalamus Hypothalamus: sets emotional states such as rage Cerebral cortex & frontal lobe: interpretation of emotions Left hemisphere: Positive emotions Right hemisphere: Negative emotions Body language & vocal qualities change for different emotions

Biology of Fear The body’s control center for learning/enacting fear is the amygdala. Loss or damage to one’s amygdala has lead to fearlessness in some patients.

Must Cognition Precede all Emotions? Some pathways, especially ones involving amygdala (fear), bypass cortical areas involved in thinking. Certain likes, dislikes, and fears do ignore conscious thinking.

Two Routes to Emotion Appraisal Event Emotional response Physiological activation Expressive behavior Subjective experience

The Physical Arousal of Emotion is Controlled by The Autonomic Nervous System It is very difficult to differentiate the physical arousal associated with many emotions (criticism of James-Lange Theory) even though they definitely feel different. The arousal associated with emotions are controlled by the autonomic nervous system’s divisions the sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous systems.

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