2. What Are Human Emotions? By Trina Showalter

3. Emotions Emotions: Emotions are defined as ‘the physiological response to a stimulus.’ Emotions are a mix of: 1) Physiological responses( sweating, heart rate increasing, adrenaline, etc.) 2) Expressive behaviors( smiling, eyebrows lifted up or down, tears, etc.) 3) Conscious thinking.

4. Emotion Vocabulary Spill-over Effect: Once we are already aroused with emotion, this can intensify just about any other emotion. Empathy: One’s ability to recognize, perceive and directly experientially feel the emotion of another. Phobias: Fears that fall outside the normal range. Catharsis: We can reduce anger by releasing it either through aggressive action or fantasy.

5. The Three Theories of Emotion James Lange Theory: It states that the body’s physiological response to a situation is autonomic and that these changes in our body cause us to ‘feel’ fear. An example would be the ‘fight or flight’ response. James Lange Theory: It states that the body’s physiological response to a situation is autonomic and that these changes in our body cause us to ‘feel’ fear. An example would be the ‘fight or flight’ response. Cannon Bard Theory: This theory states that the emotion and the physiological response occur simultaneously( at the same time), not that one triggers the other. Cannon Bard Theory: This theory states that the emotion and the physiological response occur simultaneously( at the same time), not that one triggers the other. Schechter's Two-Factor Theory of Emotion: It states that in order to experience any emotion, one must have both physical arousal and also cognitively label that arousal. Schechter's Two-Factor Theory of Emotion: It states that in order to experience any emotion, one must have both physical arousal and also cognitively label that arousal.

6. Feelings and Emotions What you think influences how you feel. Arousal fuels emotion, cognition channels it. Other emotions such as depression, hatred and love are all greatly influenced by our memories, expectations, and ‘thoughts’. People everywhere experience the autonomic nervous system reaction to emotions, regardless of different cultures or in infants. - Carrol Izard analyzed the faces of very young infants and came up with a set of features that the infants had for very different emotions. She also isolated the following 12 emotions: joy, interest, excitement, surprise, sadness, anger, disgust, contempt, fear, shame, guilt, and love.

7. Being Aroused Too Much or Too Little If you are aroused too much or too little, either extreme can harm you. Optimal arousal for best performance is high for repetitive tasks, but if you are doing something that isn’t repetitive, you want a more moderate level or arousal. Being too anxious for an exam causes students to do poorly. Being unprepared for an exam, ironically, also increases anxiety. That is why it helps to be prepared for tests and pop quizzes! If you are aroused too much or too little, either extreme can harm you. Optimal arousal for best performance is high for repetitive tasks, but if you are doing something that isn’t repetitive, you want a more moderate level or arousal. Being too anxious for an exam causes students to do poorly. Being unprepared for an exam, ironically, also increases anxiety. That is why it helps to be prepared for tests and pop quizzes!

8. How To Control Your Emotions Better Use “I Statements”: We can express how we feel without attacking someone. This helps to build and improve solid relationships. “I feel_____________, because _____________________, and what I would like is ____________________________”. Just WAIT! Don’t hide your anger inside. That is the worst thing you could do. All this accomplishes is after a period of time, the anger builds up and up until one day it explodes like a volcano. Or you could consciously choose what to do. In other words, THINK!

9. A Story of How World War II Soldiers Cope With Injuries A study that supports the James Lange Theory of emotions: Some research that is interesting was done with World War II soldiers who had spinal cord injuries from the neck down. That is, they couldn’t feel anything from the neck down. These soldiers had a considerable decrease in how they felt emotions. One soldier described anger as not having any ‘heat’ to it like it used to. He said it was more of a mental type of anger. Think about it, when you are feeling anger… don’t you feel it in your stomach, or maybe your muscles are tensed up all over, and you feel a heaviness in your chest? He didn’t feel any of that because he couldn’t feel below his neck. However, for emotions that were expressed above the neck, these soldiers reported feeling greater intensity. That is, they wept more, had more lumps in their throats, and felt they were ‘getting choked’ more. This seems to lend some credence to the James Lange Theory.

10. Bibliography Mrs Kim Deamer’s Unit 5 Psychology Reading Material