1. Emotion

2. Emotion Why do we have emotions? Three major elements:
Reproduction (e.g., lust, love)
Self-protection (e.g., anger & fear)
Social structure (e.g., love, liking)
Three major elements:
Physiological
Cognitive
Cultural

3. Physiological Common Sense View James-Lange Theory
Event -> Emotion -> Physiological response
James-Lange Theory
Event -> Physiological response -> Emotion
“We feel sorry because we cry, angry because we strike, afraid because we tremble (W. James, 1884).”

4. The Face of Emotion
Six basic facial expressions: anger, happiness, fear, surprise, disgust, and sadness.
Recognized across cultures with high reliability.
Consensus highest for happiness, lowest for fear.
Some context dependence.
Probably used for communication, both to others and to ourselves.

6. Emotion & The Brain Amygdala Cerebral Cortex
Evaluates sensory information for emotional importance; approach vs. avoid assessment.
Damage causes emotional abnormalities.
Cerebral Cortex
“Rational” appraisal
Some hemispheric specialization
RH: Recognition of emotional expression

7. Energy of Emotion Medulla releases epinephrine & norepinephrine
Leads to state of arousal, the sine qua non of emotion.
General vs. specific arousal?

8. Can lies be detected?
Even very experienced professionals are no better than chance at detecting whether someone is lying.
Problem with lie detectors:
No physiological patterns of responses are specific to lying.
Interpretation is unreliable
More likely to accuse the innocent than to release the guilty

9. Cognitive Two-factor Theory of Emotion
Event -> Physiological response -> Cognitive interpretation -> Emotion
Emotions may be more closely associated with explanations than with outcomes (e.g., good vs. bad performance on exams)
Olympic medallists

10. Loneliness & Depression
Who are the loneliest people in the US according to surveys?
Three aspects of cognition are important in loneliness & depression:
Internality: Internal vs. external causes?
Stability: Permanent vs. temporary?
Control: Out of control vs. in control?

11. Loneliness & Depression
Depressed or anxious people can learn how thinking affects emotions and change their thinking accordingly.
Gillham et al. (1995)
69 5th & 6th grade children at risk for depression.
Prevention group was taught to identify pessimistic beliefs; to examine evidence for and against beliefs; to generate more realistic alternatives. Control group received no training.

12. “Inoculation” Against Depression

13. The Culture Primary-Secondary Emotions
Primary are experienced universally
fear, anger, sadness, happiness, surprise, disgust, & contempt
Secondary are culture specific
Germans: schadenfreude (joy at another’s misfortune)
Japan: ijirashii (the feeling associated with an admirable person overcoming an obstacle)
Czech: litost (“a state of torment caused by the sudden insight into one’s own miserable self,” Kundera)

14. The Culture ´Primary emotions Physiological patterns
Facial expressions
Prototypes
Tend to be evoked by the same situations across cultures

15. The Culture Display rules Emotion work
Hiding emotions we feel, and showing emotions we do not feel.
Women: “flight attendants”
Men: “bill collectors”

16. Summary
Emotions have three elements: Physiological, cognitive, & cultural.
A relatively small number of emotions seem to be common to all cultures.
The experience of emotion is affected by cognition and culture.