1. Fear!

2. Why do we love horror movies? Body responds in way we would if we were in situation Reading of novels especially elicits same response His right arm swung limply at his side shooting pain up his arm, through his neck and into his head…

3. Fear as emotion Emotions affect our hormones Hormones affect physiology Physiology governs behavior Common emotions: Joy Happiness Sadness Anxiety Anger Love Pity Pride Regret Shyness

4. Why is fear good? Stimulates the body to redline Reprioritizes Allows you to do things not normally possible

5. Specific Species Defense Response Species react to situations in different, unique ways Depends upon other behavior

6. Processing Fear We recognize the feeling of fear, but what causes this feeling? We have very little control over the process, as it’s automated

7. What’s involved Amygdala Hypothalamus Thalamus Hippocampus Sensory Cortex Septum Brainstem

8. Sympathetic Nervous System Autonomic Nervous System Impossible to override some of it Controls the processes that keep us alive

9. Fight or Flight Accelerated breathing Constriction of blood vessels Increase in muscle tension Sweating Increase in blood sugar Increase in Calcium

10. Amygdala Amygdala hijacking Paralyzed with fear Pavlovian Conditioning – Pairing of stimuli Stimulus of memories in amygdala trigger the same hormonal response

11. Laughter

13. Laughter’s effect on the body Increase heart rate and breathing rate Activates pleasure centers of the brain Dispels negative thoughts Increases endorphins Lowers stress hormones (cortisol and adrenaline)

14. The simple anticipation of laughter Simply anticipating laughter lowers stress hormones!! Up next….a really funny video!!

15. Mimicking emotion Laughing is the most contagious emotion of them all! More than coughing, sneezing, yawning, crying, all of them!!

16. Cocktail of Hormones Muscles are controlled by hormones and neurotransmitters Protagonist and antagonistic exist Situation determines which are released

17. Epinephrine and Norepinephrine Increase heart rate Increase blood sugar content Also called adrenaline and noradrenaline Lowers certain organ function, kidneys & stomach

18. Cortisol Increases Calcium ions in the blood Increases sugar in blood Increases white blood cell count

19. Endorphins The body’s pain killers

20. Hippocampus Portion of the brain directly involved in memory Stimulated with Amygdala Stores the emotional memories

21. PTSD

22. How the hormone cocktail affects behavior All the hormones released will increase chance for survival Very expensive responses, though

23. A snake in the grass! Think about how your body processes this…

24. Advantages to not thinking

25. How past experience affects future behavior Memories become associated with hormone releases and behavior When the same memory neurons fire, it will set off same response due to synaptic pathway