Myers’ EXPLORING PSYCHOLOGY (6th Ed) Chapter 11 Emotions, Stress and Health

Emotion  Emotion  a response of the whole organism  _________________

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

_________________  _________________________________________________ _________________________________________________ ________________________________________________ Fear (emotion) Pounding heart (arousal) Sight of oncoming car (perception of stimulus)

_________________  ___________________ ___________________ __________________  physiological responses  subjective experience of emotion Sight of oncoming car (perception of stimulus) Pounding heart (arousal) Fear (emotion)

_________________  To experience emotion one must:  be physically aroused  ____________ _____ Cognitive label “I’m afraid” Fear (emotion) Sight of oncoming car (perception of stimulus) Pounding heart (arousal)

Emotion and Physiology Autonomic nervous system controls physiological arousal Sympathetic division (arousing) Pupils dilate Decreases Perspires Increases Accelerates Inhibits Secrete stress hormones Parasympathetic division (calming) Pupils contract Increases Dries Decreases Slows Activates Decreases secretion of stress hormones EYES SALIVATION SKIN RESPIRATION HEART DIGESTION ADRENAL GLANDS

Emotion - Lie Detectors  Polygraph  machine commonly used in attempts to detect lies  measures several of the physiological responses accompanying emotion  perspiration  cardiovascular  breathing changes

Emotion - A Polygraph Examination

Emotion - Lie Detectors  50 Innocents  50 Thieves  1/3 of innocent declared guilty  1/4 of guilty declared innocent (from Kleinmuntz & Szucko, 1984)

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

Expressed Emotion  Gender and expressiveness Men Women Sad Happy Scary Film Type Number of expressions

Expressed Emotion  _________________

Experienced Emotion  Infants’ naturally occurring emotions

Experienced Emotion  _________________  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

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

Stress and Illness  _____________  the process by which we perceive and respond to certain events, called stressors, that we appraise as threatening or challenging

Stress Appraisal Stressful event (tough math test) Threat (“Yikes! This is beyond me!”) Challenge (“I’ve got to apply all I know”) Panic, freeze up Aroused, focused Appraisal Response

Stress and Illness  ____________ ____________ ___________  Selye’s concept of the body’s adaptive response to stress in three stages Stress resistance Phase 1 Alarm reaction (mobilize resources) Phase 2 Resistance (cope with stressor) Phase 3 Exhaustion (reserves depleted) The body’s resistance to stress can last only so long before exhaustion sets in Stressor occurs

Stress and Health  _________________  subfield of psychology that provides psychology’s contribution to behavioral medicine

Stress and the Heart Hopelessness scores Heart attack Death Low riskModerate riskHigh risk Men who feel extreme hopelessness are at greater risk for heart attacks and early death

Stress and the Heart  _________________  clogging of the vessels that nourish the heart muscle  leading cause of death in many developed countries

Stress and the Heart  _________________  Friedman and Rosenman’s term for competitive, hard-driving, impatient, verbally aggressive, and anger-prone people  _________________ Friedman and Rosenman’s term for easygoing, relaxed people

Stress and Disease  _________________  “mind-body” illness  any stress-related physical illness  some forms of hypertension  some headaches  distinct from hypochondria— misinterpreting normal physical sensations as symptoms of a disease

Stress and Disease  _________________  two types of white blood cells that are part of the body’s immune system  B lymphocytes form in the bone marrow and release antibodies that fight bacterial infections  T lymphocytes form in the thymus and, among other duties, attack cancer cells, viruses, and foreign substances

Stress and Disease  Conditioning of immune suppression UCS (drug) UCR (immune suppression) UCS (drug) UCR (immune suppression) CS (sweetened water) CS (sweetened water) CR (immune suppression)

Promoting Health  Aerobic Exercise  sustained exercise that increases heart and lung fitness Depression score Before treatment evaluation After treatment evaluation No-treatment group Aerobic exercise group Relaxation treatment group

Promoting Health  Modifying Type A life-style can reduce recurrence of heart attacks Percentage of patients with recurrent heart attacks (cumulative average) Year Life-style modification patients Control patients Modifying life-style reduced recurrent heart attacks

Promoting Health  Social support across the life span Age in years 100% Percentage with high support

Promoting Health  Religious Attendance