Chapter 13 Emotion Phineas gage theories of emotion

Chapter 13 Emotion Phineas gage theories of emotion

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

Emotion • William James and Carl Lange came up with the James-Lange Theory of Emotion. • We feel emotion because of biological changes caused by stress. • The body changes and our mind recognizes the feeling.

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

James-Lange (cont. ) • 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.

Cannon-Bard Theory of Emotion • The physiological change and cognitive awareness must occur simultaneously. • They believed it was the thalamus that helped this happen.

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

Two-Factor Theory of Emotion http: //www. youtube. com/watch? v=e 2 qdv. ELqskc • Stanley Schachter explains emotions more completely that the other two theories. • They happen at the same time but… • People who are already physiologically aroused experience more intense emotions than unaroused people when both groups are exposed to the same stimuli. • Biology and Cognition interact with each other to increase the experience.

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

Schachter’s Two-Factor Epinephrine Study: Injection Told Emotion Group 1 Epinephrine Will increase arousal Mild Group 2 Epinephrine Will have no effect / other side effects Strong

Emotional Arousal http: //education-portal. com/academy/lesson/fight-or-flight-response. html#lesson Autonomic nervous system controls physiological arousal Sympathetic division (arousing) Parasympathetic division (calming) Pupils dilate EYES Pupils contract Decreases SALIVATION Increases Perspires SKIN Dries Increases RESPIRATION Decreases Accelerates HEART Slows Inhibits DIGESTION Activates Secrete stress hormones ADRENAL GLANDS Decreases secretion of stress hormones

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

Yerkes Dodson Law: What type of motivational level do you need? ? TASK MOTIVATIONAL LEVEL

Arousal Theory • We are motivated to seek an optimum level of arousal. • Yerkes-Dodson Law

Expressing Emotion Smiles can show different emotions: A) Mask anger B) Overly polite C) Soften criticism D) Reluctant compliance

Experienced Emotion - Fear • Learning Fear – Observation / Experience – Genetic / Evolutionary Predispositions? • Biology of Fear – Amygdala – emotions of fear – Hippocampus – memory of fear

Expressed Emotion People more speedily detect an angry face than a happy one (Ohman, 2001 a)

Expressing Emotion How good are you at detecting emotions? • Culturally universal expressions

Experiencing Emotion http: //education-portal. com/academy/lesson/categorizing-emotions. html • The Amygdalaa neural key to fear learning

Experiencing Emotion • Catharsis – 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

Experiencing Emotion • Does money buy happiness? Average per-person after-tax income in 1995 dollars $20, 000 $19, 000 $18, 000 100% $17, 000 90% $16, 000 $15, 000 80% $14, 000 70% $13, 000 Personal income $12, 000 60% $11, 000 50% $10, 000 Percentage very happy 40% $9, 000 30% $8, 000 $7, 000 20% $6, 000 10% $5, 000 0% $4, 000 1930 1940 1950 1960 1970 1980 1990 2000 Year Percentage describing themselves as very happy

Experiencing Emotion • Adaptation-Level Phenomenon – tendency to form judgements relative to a “neutral” level • Relative Deprivation – perception that one is worse off relative to those with whom one compares oneself – Is Happines Relative (8 min)

Opponent-Process Theory of Emotion Strong Neutral Strong First experience (a) After repeated experiences (b)

Happiness is. . . Researchers Have Found That Happy People Tend to However, Happiness Seems Not Much Related to Other Factors, Such as Have high self-esteem (in individualistic countries) Age Be optimistic, outgoing, and agreeable Gender (women are more often depressed, but also more often joyful) Have close friendships or a satisfying marriage Education levels Have work and leisure that engage their skills Parenthood (having children or not) Have a meaningful religious faith Physical attractiveness Sleep well and exercise

Theories of Emotions Review

Reflection • What affects your emotions? • What theory do you think is most accurate regarding emotion? Why? • How are motivation and emotion connected? ?