Sowon Hahn

Embodying Emotion Paula M. Niedenthal (2007) “When you are smiling, the whole world smiles with you.”

Your Stance, Your Emotion

Embodiment of Cognition A man goes into a bar to tell a new joke. Two people are already in the bar. One is smiling and one is frowning. Who is more likely to “get” the punch line and appreciate his joke?

Embodiment of Emotion Two women are walking over a bridge. One is afraid of heights, so her heart pounds and her hands tremble. The other is not afraid at all. On the other side of the bridge, they encounter a man. Which of the two women is more likely to believe that she has just met the man of her dreams?

Embodiment Experiment Fritz Strack (1988) and colleagues – The participants then held a pencil in their teeth (which naturally activates the muscles typically used for smiling) or lips (which does not activate those muscles), and then rated several cartoons for funniness. – Those who were (unknowingly) “smiling” rated the cartoons as funnier than people who weren’t smiling.

Embodiment Experiment Stepper and Strack (1993) – One group stood with their back straight and the shoulders were held high. The other group stood with shoulders and head slumped. – They learned that they succeeded on an achievement test completed earlier. Those who received the good news in the slumped posture felt less proud and reported being in a worse mood than participants in the upright or working posture.

Approach and Avoidance Behavior Duckworth, Bargh, Garcia, & Chaiken (2002) – Images that typically evoke positive or negative responses were presented on the screen. – Participants who pushed the lever away responded to negative images faster than to positive images, whereas participants who pulled the lever toward themselves responded faster to positive Images.

Nodding and Shaking Heads Tom, Pettersen, Lau, Burton, & Cook (1991) – Under the guides of studying the quality of headphones, participants who were nodding preferred the pen that had been placed on the table, whereas participants who were shaking preferred the new one.

Theories of Embodied Cognition Perceiving emotional stimuli such as snarling bear involves seeing, hearing, and feeling afraid.

Theories of Embodied Cognition Population of sensory, motor, and affective neurons are highly interconnected, and their activation supports the integrated, multimodal experience of the bear. Just thinking of the bear can reinstate the pattern of neurons in one system, and cascade to complete full pattern in the others. Experience in the sensory-motor system.

Thinking about Emotion Participants made judgments whether words referring to concrete objects (e.g., “baby,” “slug” were associated with emotion. During the task, activation of four facial muscles were recorded.

Thinking about Emotion Half of the participants made a different judgment about the words - whether the words were written in capital letters. They didn’t have to embody emotional meaning, and didn’t show facial muscle activation.

Mind and Body _Mh1QhMc _Mh1QhMc

Right stance can be reassuring