1. Emotion

2. The heart has reasons that reason does not recognize -- Pascal Reason is and ought to be the slave of passion -- Hume Are Emotions Necessary for Reasoning?

3. Outline 1. Definitional and classification issues 2. Emotional expression 3. Universality and cultural variability 4. Health benefits of emotional expression

4. Are emotions rational? Bechara et al card game study o Gut feelings--The “somatic marker” hypothesis

5. Emotions as Adaptive Response Patterns  Amygdala: regulation of fear (LeDoux)  Lesions to this area cause disturbances in emotional reaction to fearful stimuli  Ventromedial Prefrontal Cortex: Lesions cause hyperrationality, inability to commit to decisions (Damasio)

6. Embodied Cognition  Studies show that our bodily experiences affect our thinking (Barsalou)  Nodding vs. shaking head while listening to a persuasive message  Arm flexion (approach) vs arm extension (avoidance) – liking of unrelated novel stimuli  Judging whether a pic of cup right side up vs upside down—if response hand of subject same side as cup handle, affects accuracy and speed

7. Characterizing Emotion Definitional issues Emotions - multi-component, brief, specific responses to challenges or opportunities that are important to the individual’s goals What are emotions for? Emotions are nature’s way to trigger in us a useful behavioural response accompanied with an internal embodied experience to a given situation Ex: bear fearescape

8. Circumplex Model of Emotion POSITIVE NEGATIVE LOW AROUSAL HIGH AROUSAL Serene Excited Sad Furious Happy Elated Irritated Embarrassment

9. Emotions as Adaptive Response Patterns  Specificity: Neg emotions tend to be more specific than pos ones; pos emotions are “expansive”  Approach/avoidance:  Approach: love, joy, hate, anger  Avoidance: fear, disgust, shame  Pos emotions tend to be approach; neg ones tend to be avoidance, but there are exceptions

10. Emotions as Adaptive Response Patterns  Emotions can malfunction when:  What was functional in ancestral environment is no longer functional  Ex  Hair-triggering of emotions. Negative emotions sometimes loose their specificity  Ex 

11. Expression and Recognition of Emotions Basic emotions: happy, sad, angry, fearful, possibly disgusted and surprised Cross cultural research: basic emotional expressions are universally recognized Exist in all languages Recognized across cultures Facial expressions of blind and normally sighted children are similar; expression of basic emotions (ex, smiling) probably has innate components

12. Expression and Recognition of Emotions Important cultural variation in: The cultural importance of an emotion (frequency, intensity, number of words) Construal of emotional situations (meaning) Ex: funny vs. insulting Display rules of when/how to express emotions Ex: Matsumoto & Ekman (1989) study

13. Expression and Recognition of Emotions Important cultural variation in (cont’d) Attentiveness to emotional cues Ishii and colleagues emotional stroop task Complex emotions culturally created Ex: Humiliation (shame + anger) Culture-specific emotions: mamihlapinatapei, amae, honor

15. Health Benefits of Emotional Expression Is expressing emotions good for you? Studies by Jamie Pennebaker and others: randomly assign ppts to two conditions: 1) “In the next 5 days, write about your deepest thoughts and feelings about an extremely emotional issue that has affected you and your life...” People write about lost loves, deaths of loved ones, tragic failures, sexual and physical abuse

16. Health Benefits of Emotional Expression 2) Writing about superficial topics (their plans for the day) (Control condition) Studies with college students, the unemployed, new mothers, prisoners, spouses of victims

17. Health Benefits of Emotional Expression Immediately after: more distress Long term benefits: Writing over longer periods, stronger results Comparable effect across gender, age group, educational level, writing vs. talking

18. Health Benefits of Emotional Expression Possible explanations:

19. Health Benefits of Emotional Expression Explains some of the positive benefits of

20. Summary Def. and classification of emotions Emotions as adaptive responses When emotions backfire Universality and cultural variability of emotions Health benefits of emotional expression