Emotion Module 12

What are emotions? full body responses, involving: 1. physiological arousal (increased heart rate) 2. expressive behaviors (smiling, pouting) 3. conscious experiences (thoughts about experience)

Debates in Emotion Research Which comes first, physiological arousal or the subjective experience of an emotion? Can we react emotionally before appraising a situation, or does thinking always precede emotion?

Theories of Emotion: Historical Approaches

Common Sense Theory 1. emotion-arousing stimulus leads to 2. a conscious feeling (fear, anger) and 3. a physiological (physical) response Example: Seeing an angry dog (stimulus) triggers feelings of fear (conscious feeling) and physical responses such as trembling.

James-Lange Theory an emotion-arousing stimulus in the environment triggers a physiological reaction awareness of the physiological reaction leads to our experience of an emotion

Cannon-Bard Theory an emotion-arousing stimulus simultaneously triggers both a physiological response and the experience of an emotion

Theories of Emotion: Cognition and Emotion

Two-Factor Theory Emotions involve two factors:  a physiological arousal  a cognitive label of the arousal

Which Baby is Which? Anger, Disgust, Fear, Interest, Joy, Surprise, Sadness

Joy AngerInterest Disgust SurpriseSadnessFear

Think about this… Higher levels of testosterone are linked to aggression. So…  does aggression cause testosterone levels to increase? OR  do high levels of testosterone cause aggression?OR  does some third factor cause both of them?

Theories of Emotion: Review A) Common SenseD) Two-Factor B) Richard LazarusE) James-Lange C) Robert Zajonc F) Cannon-Bard 1) emotion is our awareness of our physiological responses to an emotion- arousing stimulus 2) an emotion-arousing stimulus simultaneously triggers (1) physiological responses, and (2) experience of emotion 3) to experience emotion one must (1) be physically aroused, and (2) cognitively label the arousal 4) some emotions don’t require conscious thought, but there must be a minimum of unconscious thought to know what we’re reacting to 5) not all emotions involve deliberate thought; some emotions skip the thinking part of the brain and go directly to the amygdala 6) emotion-arousing stimulus leads to a conscious feeling (fear, anger) and a physiological response.

The Expression of Emotion: Nonverbal Communication Birthday Scramble Activity

Robert Zajonc cognition (thinking) is not necessary for all emotions some emotions skip the thinking part of the brain (cerebral cortex) and go directly to the amygdala How is this similar to reflexes?

Two Paths to Emotional Responses

Richard Lazarus agreed some emotions do not require conscious thought BUT, there must be a minimum of unconscious thought to know what we’re reacting to

Cartoon Ranking Activity Rank the following cartoons on a scale of 1 (not very funny) - 10 (very funny)

Cartoon A

Cartoon B

Cartoon C

Cartoon D

Cartoon E

Cartoon F

Cartoon G

Cartoon H

Cartoon I

Cartoon J

Cartoon Ranking Activity Average your scores for the 10 cartoons Which side do you think will have the higher average? Why? Do we smile because we are happy or are we happy because we smile?

Think about this… Do some emotions have similar physiological responses?  Which ones?  What types of physical responses do they elicit? Is it possible to have these physiological responses without an emotion-arousing stimulus?

Nonverbal Communication communicating feelings without words:  facial expressions  tone of voice  hand gestures also called “body language” FYI: Studies show that during interpersonal communication:  7% of the message is verbally communicated  93% is non-verbally transmitted 38% is through vocal tones 55% is through facial expressions

Analyzing Nonverbal Communication

Analyzing Nonverbal Communication: Historical Example Analyzing Nonverbal Communication: Historical Example (1960 Presidential Election)

The Expression of Emotion: Gender Effects on Emotion

Gender Effects women are better at reading the nonverbal communication of emotion women tend to express emotions more than men do

Display Rules cultural rules governing how and when a person may express emotion vary greatly from culture to culture (examples of other cultures’ display rules)

Facial Expressions Paul Ekman studied facial expressions to determine if they are inborn or culturally based research shows that certain basic expressions are common to all cultures

“Primal Fear: Our Deepest Fears Revealed” Video: What are the body’s physiological responses to fear? Your conclusion: How does cognition (our thoughts) contribute to the experience of fear? Your conclusion: How would each of the 6 contemporary psychological perspectives explain the experience of fear?