Emotions and personality

Components

• Physiological - e.g increases heart rate

• Subjective feeling - how the emotions makes us feel 

• Cognition - how we mentally process the feeling

• Action tendency - which action does the emotions tends to elicit

Affectively differences

• Lability - how rapidly someone change in mood 

• Range -  how simple or complex ones emotions are 

• Content - he range in how many emotions someone can react with

• Expressivity - the tendency in expressing emotions in an observable way 

• Intensity - how strong the emotional reaction is 

Emotional state

transitory and situational, short-term

Emotional traits

consistent and stable across situation, long-term

Categorical approach

all states reduced to basic emotions, smaller in number and have unique physical expression also differs in quality

Dimensional approach

using the circumplex model of pleasant-unpleasant and low-high activation, all emotions are not in separate categories

Emotional content

 what type of  emotion the individual experiences, e.g joy

Emotional style

 how the emotions is experienced by the individual, e.g intensity

Personality disorder - extreme end of the continuum

• Cluster A -  suspicious, little expressivity or bizarre expression, e.g paranoid PD

• Cluster B - high emotionality and difficulty regulating, hostility, e.g antisocial PD

• Cluster C - fearful, anxious and avoidant, e.g dependent PD