1. Emotion, Stress, and Health
Chapter 11
Emotion, Stress, and Health

2. Objectives 11.1 The Role of Physiology and Evolution in Emotion
Define how bodily processes are involved in emotion.
Discuss how physiological processes are involved in emotion.
Discuss the evolutionary basis of emotion.
11.2 The Role of Behavior and Cognition in Emotion
Explain the impact that thoughts and behaviors have on emotion.
Explain the connection between behavior and emotion.

3. Objectives 11.3 Theories of Emotion
Identify and discuss the main theories of emotion.
11.4 Expressing Emotion
Examine and explain the special factors and situations that can influence the expression of emotions.

4. Objectives
11.5 Stress
Examine the various factors that lead to stress.
Discuss the physical and psychological effects of stress.
11.6
Illustrate how positive psychology emphasizes the constructive features of human strength and healthful living rather than pathology.

5. The Role of Physiology in Emotion
Your sympathetic nervous system prepares you to fight, freeze, or flee. This fight-or-flight response is a reaction to danger in which the sympathetic nervous system prepares the organs for vigorous activity.
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Chapter 11: Emotion, Stress, and Health
11.1 The Role of Physiology and Evolution in Emotion
LO: Define how bodily processes are involved in emotion..
There are many physiological reactions that occur with emotions. Your sympathetic nervous system prepares you to fight, freeze, or flee. This fight-or-flight response is a reaction to danger in which the sympathetic nervous system prepares the organs for vigorous activity. Once stimulated, your autonomic nervous system signals the adrenal glands to release stress hormones corticosteroids, hormones produced in the adrenal cortex in reaction to stress, and catecholamines, stress hormones released by the adrenal glands. Your muscles tense, blood pressure increases, heart rate quickens, and endorphins release. In this state, your pupils dilate, your attention focuses, and your digestive functioning slows to a crawl. When the parasympathetic nervous system takes over, things slow down.

6. The Role of Physiology in Emotion
According to the Yerkes Dodson law, optimal levels of arousal occur in the moderate range.
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Chapter 11: Emotion, Stress, and Health
11.1 The Role of Physiology and Evolution in Emotion
LO: Define how bodily processes are involved in emotion..
According to the Yerkes Dodson law, optimal levels of arousal may be helpful, while too little arousal can be problematic. The Yerkes Dodson law looks like an upside-down U, with optimal outcomes occurring at moderate levels of arousal for most behaviors. The more complicated a behavior, however, the lower the best arousal level. This is also true for new behaviors or ones that require careful judgment or creativity. Each person has a level of arousal that works best for her or him—an optimal level of arousal.
Knowing the physiological elements of emotions and the nervous system can be handy. One way that this knowledge is used is in a polygraph, a machine that uses biological measurement to detect lies. A polygraph will test autonomic nervous system arousal in multiple ways including pulse, blood pressure, breathing, fidgeting, and galvanic skin response (GSR), a measurement of the conductivity of your skin. When you have a sympathetic nervous system spike, the tips of your fingers begin to release sweat, which makes skin more conductive, and allows electricity to pass along the skin more quickly. Sweat glands are activated by the sympathetic nervous system and deactivated by the parasympathetic nervous system.
An alternative way to use a polygraph is the guilty knowledge test (GKT). People tend to respond physiologically to things that are familiar, so the autonomic nervous system will answer the questions for them.

7. The Role of Evolution in Emotion
Evolution suggests that certain traits are more likely to be passed along if they make reproduction or survival more likely.
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Chapter 11: Emotion, Stress, and Health
11.1 The Role of Physiology and Evolution in Emotion
LO: Discuss the evolutionary basis of emotion.
Evolution suggests that certain traits are more likely to be passed along if they make reproduction or survival more likely. Darwin suggested that emotions were innate and evolved adaptive responses. People who had the ability to create and understand the emotions on the faces of others had a reproductive advantage because they could, for example, instill fear or anticipate aggression.

8. The Role of Behavior in Emotion
Your emotional experience is made up of more than physiological reactions. How you interpret those reactions also influences how you feel.
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Chapter 11: Emotion, Stress, and Health
11.2 The Role of Behavior and Cognition in Emotion
LO: Explain the impact that thoughts and behaviors have on emotion
Your emotional experience is made up of more than physiological reactions. How you interpret those reactions also influences how you feel. Sometimes you can have an emotional response without a thought tied to it. There are multiple influences on how emotions are processed. Some emotions are the result of a neural shortcut. Rather than being processed in the cortex, visual and auditory sensations can hop on neural pathways from your eyes and ears to the amygdala, a cluster of neurons in the temporal lobe linked to emotions such as anger and fear. The amygdala, in turn, can influence your thoughts and feelings. This gives biological support to the idea that thoughts and simple feelings can sometimes be disconnected. Darwin suggested that facial expressions were evolved behaviors for communicating information. For this to be true, other people have to be able to recognize those facial expressions. To test this theory, Paul Ekman showed photographs of people displaying emotions to several countries. Because they are thought to be universally expressed, anger, fear, disgust, happiness, sadness, and surprise are known as basic emotions—feeling states thought to be expressed in a common way. Facial expressions do vary a bit from culture to culture, which could explain why people are better at identifying emotional expression from faces from their own culture than those of people from other cultures.
The facial feedback hypothesis suggests that an emotion is regulated, in part, by the feedback your brain gets from the way your face is arranged. Some theorists suggest that facial feedback alone influences emotion. Other theories suggest that facial muscles act in a way that controls blood flow to your brain.

9. Theories of Emotion (slide 1 of 3)
Common sense theory suggests that the perception of an event elicits an emotion, which then causes your body to react.
James-Lange theory suggests that emotions are composed of our awareness of biological reactions to stimuli.
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Chapter 11: Emotion, Stress, and Health
11.3 Theories of Emotion
LO: Identify and discuss the main theories of emotion.
Different theories of emotion offer different angles on how emotions arise. In general, theories will highlight the multiple influences of biology and sociocultural influences on emotion. The biopsychosocial model recognizes three equally important aspects of human mental processes and behaviors: biological, psychological, and social.
If you ask most people where emotions come from, you are likely to get a common description. Common sense might suggest that the perception of an event would elicit an emotion, which would then cause your body to react.
According to the James-Lange theory, our emotional experience is really just an interpretation of the specific physiological recipe for that emotion. The experience of emotion is, according to this theory, an awareness of the physiological responses to emotion-arousing stimuli.

10. Theories of Emotion (slide 2 of 3)
The Cannon-Bard theory suggests that events cause emotions by triggering biological and psychological experience of emotions at the same time.
The Schacter-Singer two-factor theory suggests that feelings are a combination of body arousal and how we think about that arousal.
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Chapter 11: Emotion, Stress, and Health
11.3 Theories of Emotion
LO: Identify and discuss the main theories of emotion.
The Cannon-Bard theory of emotion suggests that perception of a stimulus causes bodily arousal and emotion at the same time. Emotion-arousing stimuli simultaneously trigger physiological responses and subjective experience of emotion.
The Schacter-Singer two-factor theory of emotion suggests that feelings are a combination of bodily arousal and how we interpret that arousal. This theory suggests that all emotions are physiologically similar—basically just sympathetic nervous system arousal—and what distinguishes them is the label we place on that emotion. Emotion = arousal + labels.

11. Theories of Emotion (slide 3 of 3)
The Cognitive-mediational theory suggests that feelings are caused by what we think caused our thoughts.
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Chapter 11: Emotion, Stress, and Health
11.3 Theories of Emotion
LO: Identify and discuss the main theories of emotion.
Some emotion researchers emphasize physiological reactions, while others emphasize cognitive labels attached to emotions, and still others emphasize certain behaviors, such as facial expressions. The cognitive-mediational theory of emotion suggests that feelings are caused by our cognitive appraisal. Different cognitive appraisals explain why similar situations can create different emotions in different people. Lazarus suggested that cognitive appraisals could happen outside of awareness and without a thought, i.e. a thought that occurs so quickly that you don’t know you had it. Incidents can create situation–feeling pairings, so that when a situation happens again, the feeling is generated automatically.

12. Expressing Emotion Culture Gender
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Chapter 11: Emotion, Stress, and Health
11.4 Expressing Emotion
LO: Examine and explain the special factors and situations that can influence the expression of emotions.
Emotions involve four components: physiological, behavioral, cognitive, and affective. However, many special factors and situations have the potential to influence how and when emotions are expressed: Culture - Emotion is influenced by culture. Not only does culture determine what makes people feel angry, sad, lonely, happy, ashamed, or disgusted, but it can also affect the behavioral component of the emotion. Display rules are guidelines about how you should express emotions.
Gender: Display rules also govern how men and women express their emotions. Some suggest that men tend to show their feelings less often and less intensely. Women may report more emotions because of social and cultural norms of display rules. Women may be more likely to pick up on emotional cues than men and may score higher on tests of emotional intelligence, the capacity to understand and manage feelings.

13. Expressing Emotion Fear Anger and aggression Love
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Chapter 11: Emotion, Stress, and Health
11.4 Expressing Emotion
LO: Examine and explain the special factors and situations that can influence the expression of emotions.
Fear: The part of the brain that’s most involved in fear is the amygdala, the brain area most involved in the processing, memory, and emotional reactions to fear. It seems that the brain areas that are responsible for our sensation of fear are also linked to our recognition of fear responses in others.
Anger and aggression: The frustration-aggression hypothesis suggests that frustration occurs when a goal is blocked and leads to anger and aggression, which are words or physical acts a person does to cause harm. Anger assumes that the other person had control over his or her actions, and, for some reason, acted without considering your needs. anger is one of the six basic emotions. But anger is also governed by display rules.
Love: Love is a complex emotion and concept. Robert Sternberg proposed what he called a triangular theory of love. His theory suggested that all interpersonal relationships are composed of one or more of three components:
1. Intimacy: Close feelings; sharing private and personal thoughts and emotions;
2. Passion: Physical attraction;
3. Commitment: A pledge to maintain the connection into the future.
These ingredients of relationships can be combined in different amounts to create eight different kinds of love:
1. Nonlove represents an absence of all three. Nonlove may describe how you feel about people you pass on the street or have no connection with.
2. Friendship/liking involves intimacy only, no commitment or passion. You may have close feelings and share important details about your life.
3. Infatuation involves passion only but lacks any sharing or commitment. Infatuation can burn bright and hot but can easily vanish.
4. Empty love involves commitment only, no passion and no intimacy. There is commitment to maintaining the relationship. When couples “stay together for the children”
or a marriage is arranged for them, it can result in empty love.
5. Romantic love consists of intimacy and passion, but no commitment. Often a couple early in a relationship experiences romantic love before they have made a long-term
commitment to each other.
6. Companionate love consists of intimacy combined with commitment, without passion. Long-term best friends, family, and even couples for whom passion has faded are examples of companionate love.
7. Fatuous love involves passion and commitment but not intimacy. Fatuous (meaning foolish) suggests that the commitment without any intimacy is a problem with this
kind of love.
8. Consummate love is love that consists of all three forms: intimacy, passion, and commitment.

14. Stress Stress: A response that occurs from events seen as a challenge
Stressors: Anything perceived as a challenge
Acute stressors: Brief events that require a period of coping
Chronic stressors: Long-lasting events that require adaption
Daily hassles (microstressors): Minor irritations that produce stress
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Chapter 11: Emotion, Stress, and Health
11.5 Stress
LO: Examine the various factors that lead to stress.
Stress is a response that occurs from events seen as a challenge. When studying stress, some psychologists emphasize exposure to events that are linked to the stress reaction, or stressors.
Anything perceived as a challenge can be a stressor. Acute stressors are brief events that require a period of coping. Chronic stressors are long-lasting events that require you to adapt. Some researchers have focused on small events that can build up over time. Called daily hassles or microstressors, these small events can affect you even more than a rare major life event.

15. Sources of Stress Student Stress Scale
Social Readjustment Rating Scale
Student Stress Scale
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Chapter 11: Emotion, Stress, and Health
11.5 Stress
LO: Examine the various factors that lead to stress.
Different stressors require different amounts of life change and coping. The Holmes and Rahe Social Readjustment Rating Scale is a scale of stressful events. Different events were assigned different numbers of life change units, with higher numbers indicating more adjustment needed and therefore more stress. After adding up all the numbers, the Social Readjustment Scale indicates how likely it is that the stressors will lead to health difficulties.
Students often have different stressors than the ones listed in the original scale. Inspired by Holmes and Rahe, other researchers have created a scale for young college students that reflects the kinds of stressors most common for them.

16. Choice as a Stress
Approach-approach conflict: A decision must be made between two incompatible choices that both have positive features
Avoidance-avoidance conflict: A decision must be made between two undesirable choices
Approach-avoidance conflict: A decision must be made about a goal that has both positive and negative features
Multiple-approach-avoidance conflict: A decision must be made between man choices, each with positive and negative consequence.
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Chapter 11: Emotion, Stress, and Health
11.5 Stress
LO: Examine the various factors that lead to stress.
Stress isn’t just an event. Something can be stressful to one person but not to someone else. Whether something creates a stress reaction also depends on how it is perceived. The ways in which we see, or appraise, a situation can help to determine if it is stressful for us. We appraise not only the threat but also our ability to handle such a threat. These appraisals are subjective in nature.
Choice also causes stress. Making a choice can result in a situation involving incompatible goals or a conflict. With choices come four kinds of conflict, each with the potential to cause stress:
An approach-approach conflict is a situation in which a decision must be made between two incompatible choices that both have positive features. An approach-approach conflict carries the smallest amount of stress since you like both options.
An avoidance-avoidance conflict is a situation in which a decision must be made between two undesirable choices. Since you have to choose between two things that are unlikable, you may have a problem deciding and may experience more stress than you’d expect with an approach-approach conflict.
In an approach-avoidance conflict, a decision must be made that has both positive and negative features. Working through approach-avoidance conflicts requires that you calm down, understand the relative benefits of each choice, gather information, and maybe even outsource the decision to someone you trust. Sometimes the decision process feels bigger than the actual decision itself.
Most of the time, we are confronted with many choices, each with positive and negative consequences, as in the multiple-approach-avoidance conflict. This can sometimes result in a post-decision remorse.

17. Stress and Health Psychosomatic disease Personality Immune system
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Chapter 11: Emotion, Stress, and Health
11.5 Stress
LO: Discuss the physical and psychological effects of stress.
The connection between stress and illness is well established. When there is a link between an illness and stress, it’s thought of as a psychosomatic illness. A psychosomatic disease is a disorder in which a real medical syndrome is exacerbated by psychological factors. While it is common to think that a psychosomatic illness is all in your head, stressors can create or worsen real illness.
Personality, stress, and illness interact. In the 1960s, cardiologists uncovered a link between reactions to stress and cardiac disease. This led to the classification of two personality types. Type A personalities tend to be competitive, hostile, and impatient. The type A personality is so aware of time that even the slightest delays in a schedule will cause them a lot of anxiety. They also escalate to anger pretty quickly. Type B personalities are relaxed and patient. Seemingly unflappable, the Type B personalities are more resistant to time pressure, more cooperative, easygoing, and patient. Researchers discovered that Type A personalities have a greater likelihood for coronary heart disease, a medical condition that results in narrowing of the vessels that supply blood to the heart.
Stress can impact the body and the immune system. The immune system consists of processes the body uses to protect against disease. Your immune system defends against external invasions such as bacteria and viruses, in part by employing lymphocytes, cells that attack foreign substances. Hormones such as endorphins and corticosteroids flow into your body during stress and can weaken the immune response, a process called immunosuppression.

18. Coping with and Managing Stress
Negative coping involves engaging in behaviors that are unhealthy and can make matters worse.
Emotion-focused coping involves managing the feelings that arise from the situation.
Problem-focused coping involves the management of the event causing the stress.
Constructive coping involves healthy efforts to reduce the impact of stressors.
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Chapter 11: Emotion, Stress, and Health
11.5 Stress
LO: Discuss the physical and psychological effects of stress.
While stress is the response to the event you see as a challenge, coping is the way that you manage the stress. Some people engage in unhealthy behaviors, known as negative coping. This can include blaming themselves or others, and self-indulgence. Others shut down and do not attempt to respond or cope. Learned helplessness occurs when an animal fails to take action to escape a noxious stimulus.
There are also several constructive ways to cope with stress. Emotion-focused coping directs coping at the response to the event. This can be cognitive or behavioral. You are more likely to employ emotion-focused responses when you think there is not much that you can do to change the actual stressor. A problem-focused coping strategy, on the other hand, directs the coping toward the situation itself. You tend to use problem-focused coping if you think you can influence the situation. Employing constructive coping is the best thing you can do to combat stress and make a preemptive strike to keep the effects of stress at bay.
Health psychology is concerned with how psychological factors impact wellness, illness, and medical treatment. Behavioral medicine is an interdisciplinary field concerned with health and illness that combines knowledge of the social and medical sciences to improve health and combat illness.

19. Happiness
Positive psychology is a branch of psychology that studies human strengths, focusing on what’s good about individuals and the qualities that bring out the best in humanity.
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Chapter 11: Emotion, Stress, and Health
11.6 Positive Psychology
LO: Illustrate how positive psychology emphasizes the constructive features of human strength and healthful living rather than pathology.
Positive psychology is a branch of psychology that studies human strengths, focusing on what’s good about individuals and the qualities that bring out the best in humanity. Happiness consists of positive emotions and subjective well-being, or feeling good about your life. Researchers have discovered that happy people are more likely to be solution-focused and are also more likely to be helpful. This is called the feel-good, do-good phenomenon —happy people are helpful people. The adaption-level phenomenon is the ability to adapt to a new situation so that the new situation becomes the norm and you may end up wanting more. It’s easy to get used to the new normal. Our happiness also depends on how we feel in comparison to others. Relative deprivation is your opinion that you are worse off than your comparison group. Relative deprivation may be more important than absolute deprivation since we normally focus our attention on those around us, such as our comparison groups.

20. Hardiness Commitment Challenge Control
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Chapter 11: Emotion, Stress, and Health
11.6 Positive Psychology
LO: Illustrate how positive psychology emphasizes the constructive features of human strength and healthful living rather than pathology.
Hardiness is a personality style characterized by commitment, challenge, and control.
1. Challenge: Seeing problems as challenges to be vanquished
2. Commitment: To self, friends, family, and values
3. Control: A perception of mastery over life and work
Hardiness is associated with lower stress levels, fewer illnesses and greater job satisfaction. While those who feel helpless tend to freeze in the face of adversity, hardy individuals employ problem-focused coping and easily accept social support or help from others when they are stressed.

21. Optimism
Your explanatory style reflects what you think caused or explains an event.
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Chapter 11: Emotion, Stress, and Health
11.6 Positive Psychology
LO: Illustrate how positive psychology emphasizes the constructive features of human strength and healthful living rather than pathology.
In their experiments on learned helplessness, Peterson and Seligman discovered three cognitive components of helplessness and reformulated the helplessness approach by examining explanatory style. Your explanatory style reflects what you think caused or explains an event. Peterson and his colleagues suggested that our responses to negative events tend to revolve around three questions about the event itself:
1. Is the event internal or external? In other words, who or what caused the event? Was it your fault or did someone else cause the event to occur? In an internal locus of control, you believe that any good or bad things that happen to you are the result of your own actions. External locus of control is the idea that reinforcers and punishments are outside your control.
2. Is the event stable or unstable? In other words, is the cause of the negative event here to stay or does it come and go?
3. Is the event global or specific? That is, does the event affect other things in your life, or does it have a relatively localized impact?
Those whose explanatory style reflects internal, stable, and global explanations will have a pessimistic explanatory style and be more prone to helplessness. A person with an optimistic explanatory style will often attribute the negative event to an outside, or external, factor, that the event is a temporary, or unstable, occurrence, whose impact has a limited, or specific, effect. Optimists tend to have longer life spans, recover more quickly from illnesses, and have overall better health.