1. Myers’ EXPLORING PSYCHOLOGY (4th Ed)
Chapter 10
Emotions, Stress, and Health
James A. McCubbin, PhD
Clemson University
Worth Publishers

2. Emotion Emotion a response of the whole organism physiological arousal
expressive behaviors
conscious experience

3. Emotional Arousal
Autonomic nervous system controls physiological arousal
Sympathetic
division (arousing)
Parasympathetic
division (calming)
Pupils dilate EYES Pupils contract
Decreases SALVATION Increases
Perspires SKIN Dries
Increases RESPERATION Decreases
Accelerates HEART Slows
Inhibits DIGESTION Activates
Secrete stress
hormones
ADRENAL
GLANDS
Decrease secretion
of stress hormones

4. Arousal and Performance
Performance peaks at lower levels of arousal for difficult tasks, and at higher levels for easy or well-learned tasks
Performance
level
Low
Arousal
High
Difficult tasks
Easy tasks

5. Lie Detectors Polygraph
machine commonly used in attempts to detect lies
measures several of the physiological responses accompanying emotion
perspiration
heart rate
blood pressure
breathing changes

6. Lie Detectors Control Question Relevant Question
Up to age 18, did you ever physically harm anyone?
Relevant Question
Did the deceased threaten to harm you in any way?
Relevant > Control --> Lie

7. Emotion- Lie Detectors
Control
question
Relevant
(a)
(b)
Respiration
Perspiration
Heart rate

8. Emotion- Lie Detectors
Percentage
Innocent
people
Guilty 80 70 60 50 40 30 20 10
Judged innocent by polygraph
Judged guilty by polygraph
50 Innocents
50 Thieves
1/3 of innocent declared guilty
1/4 of guilty declared innocent (from Kleinmuntz & Szucko, 1984)

9. Emotion- Lie Detectors
Is 70% accuracy good?
Assume 5% of 1000 employees actually guilty
test all employees
285 will be wrongly accused
What about 95% accuracy?
Assume 1 in 1000 employees actually guilty
test all employees (including 999 innocents)
50 wrongly declared guilty
1 of 51 testing positive are guilty (2%)

10. Expressing Emotion Smiles can show different emotions: A) Mask anger
(b)
(c)
(d)
Smiles can show different emotions:
A) Mask anger
B) Overly polite
C) Soften criticism
D) Reluctant compliance

11. Expressing Emotion
Culturally universal expressions

12. Experiencing Emotion Catharsis Feel-good, do-good phenomenon
emotional release
catharsis hypothesis
“releasing” aggressive energy (through action or fantasy) relieves aggressive urges
Feel-good, do-good phenomenon
people’s tendency to be helpful when already in a good mood

13. Subjective Well-Being
Experiencing Emotion
Subjective Well-Being
self-perceived happiness or satisfaction with life
used along with measures of objective well-being
physical and economic indicators to evaluate people’s quality of life

14. Experiencing Emotion Are today’s collegians materialistic? Percentage
rating goal
as very
important or
essential 90 80 70 60 50 40 30 20 10
1966 ‘68 ‘70 ‘72 ‘74 ‘76 ‘ ‘80 ‘82 ‘84 ‘86 ‘ ‘90 ‘92 ‘94 ‘96
Year
Developing a meaningful life philosophy
Being very well-off financially

15. Experiencing Emotion Does money buy happiness? Average per-person
Year
100%
90%
80%
70%
60%
50%
40%
30%
20%
10% 0%
Average
per-person
after-tax income
in 1995 dollars
Percentage
describing
themselves as
very happy
$20,000
$19,000
$18,000
$17,000
$16,000
$15,000
$14,000
$13,000
$12,000
$11,000
$10,000
$9,000
$8,000
$7,000
$6,000
$5,000
$4,000
Percentage very happy
Personal income

16. Experiencing Emotion Adaptation-Level Phenomenon Relative Deprivation
tendency to form judgements relative to a “neutral” level
brightness of lights
volume of sound
level of income
defined by our prior experience
Relative Deprivation
perception that one is worse off relative to those with whom one compares oneself

17. Theories of Emotion
Does your heart pound because you are afraid... or are you afraid because you feel your heart pounding?

18. James-Lange Theory of Emotion
Experience of emotion is awareness of physiological responses to emotion-arousing stimuli
James-Lange Theory
Fear
(emotion)
Pounding
heart
(arousal)
Sight of
oncoming
car
(perception of
stimulus)

19. Cannon-Bard Theory of Emotion
Sight of
oncoming
car
(perception of
stimulus)
Pounding
heart
(arousal)
Fear
(emotion)
Emotion-arousing stimuli simultaneously trigger:
physiological responses
subjective experience of emotion

20. Schachter’s Two Factor Theory of Emotion
Schachter’s Theory
To experience emotion one must:
be physically aroused
cognitively label the arousal
Pounding
heart
(arousal)
Fear
(emotion=
labeled
arousal)
Cognitive
label
“I’m afraid”
Sight of
oncoming
car
(perception of
stimulus)

21. Cognition and Emotion The brain’s shortcut for emotions Thalamus
Visual
cortex
To pounding heart
Amygdala
Instant fear
response
Slightly slower
interpretation:
“This is a snake!
Get away.”

22. Cognition and Emotion Emotion and cognition feed on each other
Experienced
emotion
Cognition
Emotion and cognition feed on each other

23. What is Stress?
Stress
the process by which we perceive and respond to certain events, called stressors, that we appraise as threatening or challenging
Stressors
Catastrophes
Life changes
Hassles
Intervening
factors
Appraisal
Perceived control
Personality
Social support
Coping behaviors
Stress
reactions
Physiological
Emotional
Behavioral

24. What is Stress? General Adaptation Syndrome
resistance
Phase 1
Alarm
reaction
(mobilize
resources)
Phase 2
Resistance
(cope with
stressor)
Phase 3
Exhaustion
(reserves
depleted)
The body’s resistance to stress can only
Last so long before exhaustion sets in
Stressor
occurs
General Adaptation Syndrome
Selye’s concept of the body’s adaptive response to stress as composed of three stages

25. What is Stress? Coronary Heart Disease
clogging of the vessels that nourish the heart muscle
leading cause of death in the United States

26. Stress & Coronary Heart Disease
Hopelessness
scores
3.5 3
2.5 2
1.5 1
0.5
Heart attack
Death
Low risk
Moderate risk
High risk
Men who feel extreme hopelessness
are at greater risk for heart attacks
and early death

27. Stress & Coronary Heart Disease
Type A
Friedman and Rosenman’s term for people who are competitive, hard-driving, impatient, verbally aggressive, anger-prone
Type B
Friedman and Rosenman’s term for easygoing, relaxed people

28. Stress and Disease Psychophysiological Illness “mind-body” illness
any stress-related physical illness
distinct from hypochondriasis – misinterpreting normal physical sensations as symptoms of a disease

29. Stress and Disease Lymphocytes
two types of white blood cells that are part of the body’s immune system
B lymphocytes form in the bone marrow and release antibodies that fight bacterial infections
T lymphocytes form in the thymus and, among other duties, attack cancer cells, viruses and foreign substances

30. Stress and Disease Conditioning of immune suppression UCS (drug) UCR
(sweetened water) CR
Conditioning of immune suppression

31. poor nutrition and sleep)
Stress and Disease
Negative emotions and health-related consequences
Unhealthy behaviors
(smoking, drinking,
poor nutrition and sleep)
Negative
emotions
Stress
hormones
Heart
disease
Immune
suppression
Autonomic nervous
system effects
(headaches,
hypertension)

32. Promoting Health Aerobic Exercise
Depression
score 14 13 12 11 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3
Before treatment
evaluation
After treatment
No-treatment
group
Aerobic
exercise
Relaxation
treatment
Aerobic Exercise
sustained exercise that increases heart vand lung fitness
may also alleviate depression and anxiety

33. Promoting Health Biofeedback
system for electronically recording, amplifying, and feeding back information regarding a subtle physiological state
blood pressure
muscle tension
Patient observes

34. Life-style modification patients
Promoting Health
Modifying Type A life-style can reduce recurrence of heart attacks
Percentage
of patients
with recurrent
heart attacks
(cumulative
average) 6 5 4 3 2 1
Year
Life-style modification patients
Control patients
Modifying life-style
reduced recurrent

35. Level of social support
Life events
Tendency toward
Health
Illness
Personal appraisal
Challenge
Threat
Personality type
Easy going
Nondepressed
Optimistic
Hostile
Depressed
Pessimistic
Personality habits
Nonsmoking
Regular exercise
Good nutrition
Smoking
Sedentary
Poor nutrition
Level of social support
Close, enduring
Lacking