1. Emotions, stress, & health
Chapter 12

2. Emotions Emotions are adaptive responses that support survival.
Emotional components
Bodily arousal
Expressive behaviors
Conscious experiences

3. emotions Theories of emotion generally address two major questions.
Does physiological arousal come before or after emotional feelings?
How do feeling and cognition interact?

4. emotions James-Lange Theory: Arousal comes before emotion
Experience of emotion involves awareness of our physiological responses to emotion- arousing stimuli
Cannon-Bard Theory: Arousal and emotion happen at the same time
Emotion - arousing stimulus simultaneously triggers (1) physiological responses and (2) the subjective experience of emotion
Human body responses run parallel to the cognitive responses rather than causing them

5. emotions
Schachter and Singer Two-Factor Theory: Arousal + Label = Emotion
Emotions have two ingredients: Physical arousal and cognitive appraisal.
Arousal fuels emotion; cognition channels it.
Emotional experience requires a conscious interpretation of arousal.
Spillover effect: Spillover arousal from one event to the next—influencing a response

6. emotions The Spillover Effect
Arousal from a soccer match can fuel anger, which can descend into rioting or other violent confrontations

7. emotions Zajonc, LeDoux, and Lazarus: Emotion and the two-track brain
Sometimes emotional response takes neural shortcut that bypasses the cortex and goes directly to amygdala.
Some emotional responses involve no deliberate thinking.
Lazarus
Brain processes much information without conscious awareness, but mental functioning still takes place.
Emotions arise when an event is appraised as harmless or dangerous.

8. Emotions
The arousal component of emotion is regulated by the autonomic nervous system’s sympathetic (arousing) and parasympathetic (calming) divisions.
In a crisis, the fight-or-flight response automatically mobilized the body for action.
Arousal affects performance in different ways, depending on the task.
Performance peaks at lower levels of arousal for difficult tasks, and at higher levels for easy or well-learned tasks.

9. emotions Different emotions have subtle indicators.
Brain scans and EEGs reveal different brain circuits for different emotions.
Depression and general negativity: Right frontal lobe activity
Happiness, enthusiastic, and energized: Left frontal lobe activity
In one study, polygraph experts interpreted the polygraph data of 100 people who had been suspects in theft crimes (Kleinmuntz & Szucko, 1984).
Half the suspects were guilty and had confessed; the other half had been proven innocent.
Had the polygraph experts been the judges, more than one-third of the innocent would have been declared guilty, and one-fourth of the guilty would have been declared innocent.

10. How might this affect our electronic communications?
emotions
People can often detect nonverbal cues and threats, and signs of status.
Nonthreatening cues more easily detected than deceiving expressions
Westerners
Firm handshake: Outgoing, expressive personality
Gaze: Intimacy
Averted glance: Submission
Stare: Dominance
Gestures, facial expressions, and voice tones are absent in written communication
In absence of expressive emotion, ambiguity can occur.
How might this affect our electronic communications?

11. emotions
Women
Tend to read emotional cues more easily and to be more empathic
Express more emotion with their faces
People attribute female emotionality to disposition and male emotionality to circumstance
Male and female film viewers did not differ dramatically in self-reported emotions or physiological responses.
But the women’s faces showed much more emotion. (From Kring & Gordon, 1998.)

12. Emotions
Gesture meanings vary among cultures; but outward signs of emotion are generally the same.
Musical expression of emotion crosses culture.
Shared emotional categories do not reflect shared cultural experiences.
Facial muscles speak a universal language for some basic emotions; interpreting faces in context is adaptive.

13. Emotions Research on the facial feedback effect
Facial expressions can trigger emotional feelings and signal our body to respond accordingly
People also mimic others’ expressions, which help them empathize
A similar behavior feedback effect
Tendency of behavior to influence our own and others’ thoughts, feelings, and actions

14. emotions
Izard isolated 10 basic emotions that include physiology and expressive behavior.
These basic emotions are joy, interest-excitement, surprise, sadness, anger, disgust, contempt, fear, shame, and guilt.
Two dimensions that help differentiate emotions
Positive-versus-negative valence
Low-versus-high arousal
James Russell, David Watson, Auke Tellegen, and others have described emotions as variations on two dimensions—arousal (low versus high) and valence (pleasant versus unpleasant feeling).

15. EMOTIONS Infants’ naturally occurring emotions
To identify the emotions present from birth, Carroll Izard analyzed the facial expressions of infants

16. Emotions Causes of Anger
Consequences of Anger
Chronic hostility is one of the negative emotions linked to heart disease.
Emotional catharsis may be temporarily calming, but in the long run it does not reduce anger.
Expressing anger can make us angrier.
Controlled assertions of feelings may resolve conflicts, and forgiveness may rid us of angry feelings.
Anger communicates strength and competence, motivates action, and expresses grief when wisely used.
Causes of Anger
With threat or challenge, fear triggers flight but anger triggers fight—each at times an adaptive behavior.
Anger is most often evoked by misdeeds that we interpret as willful, unjustified, and avoidable.
Smaller frustrations and blameless annoyances can also trigger anger.

17. Emotions State of happiness influences all facets of life
Feel-good, do-good phenomenon
People’s tendency to be helpful when already in a good mood
Subjective well-being
Self-perceived happiness or satisfaction with life
Used along with measures of objective well-being to evaluate people’s quality of life

18. Three pillars of positive psychology
Emotions
Positive psychology
Research areas
Three pillars of positive psychology
Scientific study of human functioning, with the goals of discovering and promoting strengths and virtues that help individuals and communities to thrive.
Positive health
Positive emotions
Positive neuroscience
Positive education
Positive well-being
Positive character
Communities
Culture

19. emotions
Emotional ups and downs tend to balance out; moods typically rebound
Even significant good events, such as sudden wealth, seldom increase happiness for long.
Happiness is relative to our own experiences (the adaptation-level phenomenon) and to others’ success (the relative deprivation principle).

20. emotions Wealth does correlate with well- being in some ways.
Having resources to meet basic needs and maintain some control over life does buy happiness.
Increasing wealth matters less once basic needs are met.
Economic growth in affluent countries provides no apparent morale or social well-being boost.
Surveys of more than 200,000 entering U.S. collegians per year have revealed an increasing desire for wealth after (From The American Freshman surveys, UCLA, 1966 to 2013.)

21. Emotions Happiness levels are product of nature-nurture interaction
Some individuals, because of their genetic predispositions and personal histories, are happier than others.
Cultures, which vary in the traits they value and the behaviors they expect and reward, also influence personal levels of happiness.
Researchers have found that happy people tend to have high self-esteem (in individualist countries); be optimistic, outgoing, and agreeable; have close friendships or a satisfying marriage; have work and leisure that engage their skills; have an active religious faith.
Happiness levels are product of nature-nurture interaction
Twin studies: About 50 percent of happiness rating differences heritable
Culture: Variation in group value of traits
Personal history: Emotions balance around level defined by experience; happiness set point
Individual happiness level may influence national well-being

22. Stress
Stress is process by which we perceive and respond to certain events, called stressors, that we appraise as threatening or challenging
Stressors appraised as threats can lead to strong negative reactions
Extreme or prolonged stress can cause harm
Catastrophes: Unpleasant, large-scale events
Significant damage to emotional and physical health
Significant life changes: Personal events
Reported by one-half of people in twenties and one-fifth of those over 65
Raises risk of disease and death; cluster crisis is worse
Daily hassles: Day-to-day challenges
Can negatively affect physical and mental well-being

23. Stress Stress Response:
Cannon viewed the stress response as a “fight-or-flight” system.
Selye proposed a general three-phase (alarm-resistance-exhaustion) general adaptation syndrome (GAS).
Facing stress, women may have a tend- and-befriend response; men may withdraw socially, turn to alcohol, or become aggressive.

24. Stress
Health psychology is a subfield of psychology that provides psychology’s contribution to behavioral medicine.
Psychoneuroimmunologists study mind-body interactions, including
stress-related physical illnesses, such as hypertension and some headaches.
Stress diverts energy from the immune system, inhibiting the activities of its B and T lymphocytes, macrophages, and NK cells.
Stress does not cause diseases such as AIDS and cancer, but by altering our immune functioning it may make us more vulnerable to them and influence their progression.

25. Stress
Four types of cells active in the search-and-destroy mission of the immune system
B lymphocytes
T lymphocytes
Macrophages
Natural killer cells (NK cells)

26. Stress
Stress Effects and Health: Immune System Malfunctions
Reacting Too Strongly
Self-attacking diseases
Some forms of arthritis
Allergic reaction
Underreacting
Bacterial infection flare
Dormant herpes virus erupt
Cancer cells multiply
Immune system is affected by age, nutrition, genetics, body temperature, and stress
When the immune system does not function properly:
Responds too strongly
Underreacts

27. Stress Stress hormones suppress immune system
Animal studies: Stress of adjustment in monkeys caused weakened immune systems
Human studies: Stress related to surgical wound healing and development of colds. Low stress may increase effectiveness of vaccinations.
And so…stress does not make people sick but it reduces immune system’s ability to function optimally.
Slower surgical wound healing; increased vulnerability to colds; decreased vaccine effectiveness

28. Stress
And so…stress does not make people sick but it reduces immune system’s ability to function optimally.
Slower surgical wound healing; increased vulnerability to colds; decreased vaccine effectiveness
Stress and cancer
Stress does not create cancer cells, but may affect growth by weakening natural defenses.
Stress-cancer research results mixed

29. Stress Stress and heart disease
About 600,000 North American coronary heart disease-related deaths yearly
Stress related to generation of inflammation which is associated with heart and other health problems
Meyer and colleagues
Stress predicted heart attack risk for tax accountants
Type A men more likely to have heart attack
Conley and colleagues
Stress related to everyday academic stressors in students

30. Stress Type A Type B Type D
Friedman and Rosenman’s term for competitive, hard - driving, impatient, verbally aggressive, and anger - prone people
Friedman and Rosenman’s term for easy going, relaxed people
Term for people who suppress negative emotion to avoid social disapproval

31. Stress Stress, pessimism, and depression
Pessimists are more likely than optimists to develop heart disease
Depression increases risk of death, especially by cardiovascular disease
Stress and inflammation
Chronic stress triggers persistent inflammation which increases risk of heart disease and depression

32. Stress
People deal with stress through the use a several coping strategies.
Coping: Reducing stress using emotional, cognitive, or behavioral methods
Problem-focused coping: Attempting to reduce stress directly—by changing the stressor or the way we interact with that stressor
Emotion-focused coping: Attempting to reduce stress by avoiding or ignoring a stressor and attending to emotional needs related to our stress reaction

33. stress
In animals and humans, uncontrollable threats trigger strongest stress responses
Animal studies
Laudenslager and colleagues (1984) rat studies
Seligman and colleagues (1967) learned helplessness dog studies
Human studies
Rodin (1986) nursing home resident study
O’Neill (1993) work site environment studies

34. Stress Why does perceived loss of control predict health problems?
Losing control produces rising stress hormones blood pressure levels increase immune responses drop
Increasing control has noticeably improved health and morale in prison and nursing home studies
Tyranny of choice can create information overload

35. Stress
Those who have an external locus of control believe that chance or outside forces control their fate
Those who have an internal locus of control believe they control their own destiny

36. Stress
Self-control
Ability to control impulses and delay short-term gratification for greater long-term rewards
Exercising willpower temporarily depletes the mental energy needed for self-control on other tasks.
Self-control requires attention and energy, but it predicts good adjustment, better grades, and social success.

37. Stress Pessimists Expect things to go badly, blame others
Optimists/optimism
Expect to have control, work well under stress, and enjoy good health
Run in families; genetic marker/oxytocin
Danner and colleagues: Optimism- long life correlation study

38. Stress Aerobic exercise
Involves sustained activity that increases heart and lung fitness; reduces stress, depression, and anxiety
Can weaken the influence of genetic risk for obesity
Increases the quality and “quantity” of life (~two years)
Mildly depressed college women who participated in an aerobic exercise program showed markedly reduced depression, compared with those who did relaxation exercises or received no treatment.

39. Stress Relaxation and mediation
Relaxation: More than 60 studies found that relaxation procedures can provide relief from headaches, high blood pressure, anxiety, and insomnia.
Relaxation training: Training has been used to help Type A heart attack survivors reduce risk of future heart attacks.
Faith factor
Religiously active people tend to live longer than those who are not religiously active.
Why?
Possible explanations may include the effect of intervening variables, such as the healthy behaviors, social support, or positive emotions often found among people who regularly attend religious services.