1. Discuss the extent to which cognitive and biological factors interact in emotion.

2. 3 Components of Emotion 1. physiological changes: arousal of the autonomic nervous system and the endocrine system (not conscious) 2. a person’s subjective feelings of an emotion 3. associated behavior such as crying or screaming

3. 6 Basic Emotions O Anger O Disgust O Fear O Joy O Sadness O Surprise

4. Which comes first? Emotion (physiological signals) or Feelings (cognition)?

5. No winner! O These are two independent, but parallel processes.

6. Biological Factors in Emotion O There are two biological pathways (LeDoux, 1999): O Short Route: goes from thalamus to amygdala (this is a fast but simplistic reaction that can save our lives) O Long Route: goes from thalamus to neocortex to hippocampus to amygdala (this is the more evaluative response that can adjust our emotions to something more reasonable)

7. Fear in Rats Study (Ledoux, 1977+) O AIM: to investigate what role the amygdala plays in fear.

8. METHODS O Rats were conditioned to experience fear every time they heard a bell by being shocked every time a bell rang.

9. FINDINGS O Lesioning of the rats’ amygdalas wiped out the fear response. O This supports a biological connection to emotion.

10. Phobias O Unreasonable fear responses are thought to be caused by a dysfunction in the prefrontal cortex that doesn’t allow them to automatically unlearn a fear once new info is provided.

11. Cognitive Factors in Emotion (Lazarus’ Theory) O According to Lazarus, a person’s subjective and active appraisal of a situation leads to an emotional feeling. Appraisals are evaluations related to how the situation will impact one’s personal well-being.

12. Appraisal = Emotion O Positive Appraisal = there will be a potential benefit to one’s personal well- being. This will result in a positive emotion. O Negative Appraisal = there is potential harm to one’s personal well-being. This will result in a negative emotion.

13. Factors that can affect Emotional Stress O Our individual appraisal of threat O Our believed resources for dealing with the stress O Which are in turn influenced by personal: O Motivation O Beliefs about oneself and the world O Environment (nature of the danger/social networks)

14. Strategies for Stressful Situations (Lazarus and Folkman, 1988) O Two strategies people use to deal with stressful situations: O Problem-focused coping: the aim is to change the situation that caused the emotional stress. O Emotion-focused coping: the aim is to handle the emotions rather than change the situation. (examples: escape, self-control over expression of emotions, social support, attempting to create a positive appraisal of the situation)

15. Initiation Ceremony Study (Speisman et al,1964) O AIM: To investigate if people’s emotional reaction to an unpleasant film can be manipulated. To support the idea that appraisal can have an effect on the way people cope with emotional stress/arousal.

16. METHODS O Researchers showed 3 different groups of participants a film of an initiation ceremony that involved genital surgery. Each group’s film included a different soundtrack. O Condition One (trauma condition): soundtrack emphasized the pain and mutilation. O Condition Two (denial condition): showed the participants as willing and happy. O Condition Three (intellectualization): gave an anthropological interpretation of the ceremony.

17. METHODS O During the film several objective physiological measures were taken like: -heart rate -galvanic skin response

18. FINDINGS O Participants reacted more emotionally (demonstrated by higher physiological measures) to the trauma condition. O Therefore, it seems to support Lazarus’ theory that subjective appraisal affects emotional stress. O It also supports LeDoux’s model of two biological pathways.