Theories and Embodied Emotion

Theories of Emotion Emotions – A response of the whole organism involving physiological arousal, expressive behaviors, and conscious behaviors James-Lange theory – theory that our experience of emotion is our awareness of our physiological responses to emotion-arousing stimuli Your car slides on ice and you struggle to regain control. You notice your heart racing after the incident. The fear followed the bodies response

Theories of Emotion Cont’d Cannon-Bard theory – theory that an emotion arousing stimulus simultaneously triggers physiological responses and the subjective experience of emotion your heart begins to pound as you experience fear

Theories of Emotion Cont’d Two-factor theory – the Schachter-Singer theory that to experience emotion one must be physically aroused and cognitively label the arousal Emotional experience requires a conscious interpretation of the arousal

The Autonomic Nervous System Sympathetic nervous system prepares the body for action Parasympathetic calms the body down.

Physiological Similarities of Emotion Different emotions can cause similar physiological responses in the body. Breathing, heart rate, perspiration, etc. can be similar Excitement and fear show similar physiological reactions

Arousal and Performance Performance peaks at lower levels of arousal for difficult tasks, and at higher levels for easy or well-learned tasks

Physiological Differences of Emotion Different emotions can activate different facial muscles despite affecting heart rate the same. Fear and excitement Brain activity or locations in the brain where there is activity is different depending on the emotion Positive moods show more left frontal cortex activity Depressive moods show more right frontal cortex activity

Cognition and Emotion Do we experience emotion without thinking? Or Do we become what we think? Our arousal response to one event spills over into our response to the next event. Arousal fuels emotion: cognition channels it

Cognition Does Not Always Precede Emotion You can feel something without being able to put a label to it. You feel bad about something and get distracted with another task. You may still feel bad, despite not thinking about it. You can recall liking something or someone, without knowing why

Priming Emotion A stimulus can prime a specific mood or emotion and lead us to feel better or worse about a follow-up stimulus People were shown a smiling or disgusted face. They were then given a cup of juice and told to take a drink. Those exposed to the happy face drank 50% more than the other group.

Shortcut for Emotion Some emotions go directly to the amygdala without passing through the cortex. This creates instant emotional reactions The amygdala also sends neural projections to our cerebral cortex. This causes emotional responses to override rational thinking.

Emotional Appraisal Our brain reacts to emotions without our conscious awareness. When we feel emotion, it is because we appraise something as being harmful or beneficial to our well being. Some emotional responses involve no conscious thinking Fear of a spider which can’t actually hurt us

Emotional Appraisal Cont’d More complex emotions are influenced by our experiences, memories, and expectations Highly emotional people may personalize events as being directed towards them, and they may generalize their experiences by blowing single incidents out of proportion.