1. Emotion

2. 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)

3. 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)

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

5. 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

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

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

8. Paul Ekman’s 6 Micorexpressions

9. 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.

10. expressing emotion

11. 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

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

13. 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

14. 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

15. 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

16. 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

17. 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.

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

19. 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”

20. 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

21. 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

22. 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

23. 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

24. 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.”

25. 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

26. 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.

27. 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.

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

29. 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.

30. 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