Class 13: Emotions and Cognition III Man, in the instability of his emotions resembles deplorably a monkey. Joseph Conrad

1.More neurons than spinal cord 2.Fibers non-mylinated—like in big brain 3.Bathed in same neurochemicals as big brain 4.Suffers damage to big-brain diseases 5. Responsive to psychotropic drugs Brain in Gut (aka Neurogastroenterology)

1.Big brain and gut brain communicate 2.Stressful event #1: Big brain stores threat in “emotion memory” 3.Stressful event #2: Limbic system responds, sends signal to gut. Gut may get signal before cortex. 4. Result—gut feeling Are “Gut Feelings” Real?

Kelly's travail: What signal does she FAIL to attend to? Why? What signal does she finally attend to? Why? How does Kelly's experience relate to emotion arousal? (hint—Mandler theory of emotions) Why do people discard danger signals? Dilemma: external cues do not justify feeling. Social desirability, politeness norms Dependence on experts What might determine who listens to own emotions? De Becker meets St. Exupery: a. How do emotions and cognition interact? b. Which informs which? In what order? c. Is unc. smart or dumb? De Becker: Gift of Fear

Challenging DeBecker Is his approach a version of "Victim Blaming"? Aren't there times when it's better to follow social rules than own "gut reaction"? Do emotions = "intuition"? What if you have multiple emotions, e.g., Anger + Fear?

Mood Effects and Person Perception: Forgas & Bower

Scuba Diver Study

State Dependent Memory Memory associated with an emotional state will be easier to retrieve when you are in that same emotional state. Example: Learn FACT A when happy, easier to remember FACT A when happy. Memory associated with an emotional state will be harder to retrieve when you are in an opposed emotional state. Example: Learn FACT A when happy, harder to remember FACT A when sad.

Number of Attributes Recalled About Target as a Function of Attribute Valence (Pos vs. Neg) and Participant Mood (Sad vs. Happy) Subjects Mood Details Recalled

Number of Attribute Items Correctly Recognized as a Function of Attribute Valence (Pos vs. Neg) and Participant Mood (Sad vs. Happy) Subjects Mood Details Recalled

MOOD CONGUENT LEARNING REALTORBURGLER Emotional states are similarly goal-related. Emotion at Time A affects how situation is searched and learned at Time A Emotion (mood) congruent learning relates to what Lewinian construct? Life space.

Time Spent Reading Descriptive Sentences as a Function of Attribute Valence (Pos vs. Neg) and Participant Mood (Sad vs. Happy) Subject's Mood Attribute Valence

Number of Pos and Neg Judgments Made as a Function of Participant Mood (Sad vs. Happy) Subject's Mood Judgments Made of Target

Time Taken to Judge Target as Positive or Negative as a Function of Attribute Valence (Pos vs. Neg) and Participant Mood (Sad vs. Happy) Judgments Made of Target Subjects Mood

Mood and Visual Processing MM MM MM MM Who sees “M”? Who sees “L”? Happy or Sad SAD HAPPY

Do Humans Care About Other Humans? Batson (1990)

Acts of Selfless (?) Heroism The “fifth man” in Air Florida crash Polish Concentration Camp Guard Question: What motivates this behavior?

Why Do People Help Others? Altruistic explanation -- Caring Egoistic explanations Negative state relief: Stop personal discomfort Avoid social/self punishments: Shame, guilt Seek social/self rewards: Honor, pride

A “Selfishness Bias” in Psychology? Freud : Behavior based on pleasure principle Skinner: Behavior based on pleasure principle Modern Self Theorists in Social Psychology: 1. Totalitarian ego: false uniqueness, false representativeness 2. Self affirmation 3. Self esteem 4. Self monitoring 5. Self efficacy 6. Downward social comparison

The “Selfish Gene” Theory Fundamental goal of life-forms – pass on genes Who will pass on genes? Those who survive Therefore behaviors that promote survival are “adaptive” and are “selected in” Behaviors that jeopardize survival are maladaptive and are “selected out” Who is more likely to survive, the selfless helper or the selfish non-helper?

Challenges to “Selfish Gene” Inclusive Fitness: Share genes with others Risk taking for others promotes their survival People more apt to sacrifice for those closest to them in terms of shared genes Reciprocal Altruism: I help you today, you help me tomorrow, and typically with interest.

Prosocial Behavior vs. Altruistic Behavior 1. Prosocial : Helping others, for any reason 2. Altruistic: Helping others because you care about them. Note: Altruistic is a type of pro-social behavior.

Emotions Consistent with Egoistic (Selfish) Behavior EnvyPride JealousySpite Greed Lust Gluttony Covetousness Scheudenfreuden Empathy Emotions Consistent with Altruistic Behavior

Daniel Batson: Empathy and Altruism Batson conducts classic research on “bystander intervention”, showing how situations can prevent people from helping. Jerusalem to Jericho study, for example However, he becomes interested why some people help, others do not, regardless of the situation. Asks: Are we capable of caring?

Empathy vs. Avoiding Shame: The “Elayne” Study 1. Subs. told: study about learning and shocks 2. Sub. is “observer”, confed. (“Elayne”) is “learner” 3. Sub. learnes Elayne is very similar (high empathy cond) or very dissimilar to him/her (low empathy cond) 4. Sub. sees Elayne's distress, upset 5. Exptr. calls a break, asks Elayne if OK, “yes, but water please.” Elayne is clearly distressed. 6. During break, Sub completes mood check-list. Purpose: ID people high/low on empathy 7. Elayne confides to Expt. childhood trauma w’ shocks. 8. Expt. asks Subs: “willing to switch places w’ Elayne?” 9. Subs. must qualify to help by performing well at test a. For ½ Subs. “easy test, most can do well” b. For ½ Subs. “hard test, most can’t do well”

“Social Censure” vs. “Empathy and Altruism” Predictions Justification for not helping Low Empathy Condition High Empathy Condition “Social Censure” Predictions Weak Justif. Helps Strong Justif. No Help Justification for not helping Low Empathy Condition High Empathy Condition “Empathy and Altruism” Predictions Weak Justif. Helps Strong Justif. No Help Helps

Rates of Volunteering to Help Distressed “Elaine” as a Function of Felt Empathy and Opportunity to Avoid Social Censure Batson et al., 1988 Note: Easy test = Low Justification to avoid helping Hard test = High justification to avoid helping

Effort Made to Qualify to Help “Elaine” as a Function of Felt Empathy and Opportunity for Face-Saving Out Batson, et al., 1988 Note: Easy Test = Low justification to avoid trying on test Hard Test = High justification of avoid trying on test

Solution to Selfishness vs. Altruism Debate – “The Shared Self” Problem: Do we ever intentionally act outside of self-interest? Solution: Reconsider what we mean by “self” and “other” Batson’s implicit definition – these are distinct entities S O

Solution to Selfishness vs. Altruism, Contin. What do people say when someone they love has died? What phases do they use to express this kind of loss? “Part of me is missing”, “It’s as if I lost a limb” What does this suggest about the self/other divide? In other words, can self/other be represented as overlapping, rather than separate? S O In this case “me” is not limited to my biological self, but to a shared self. Empathy  Altruism my require this “shared self”