Theories Of Emotion

Chapter 9 Motivation and Emotions

what is a definition of emotion?

is a complex state of being where physiological and psychologiacal changes influence behavior and thought.

Emotions also are

1) they are physiologial responces (usually arousal)

2) they are expressed reactions (through our faces, body language, and vocal vibes)

3) they are subjective experiences (internal thought or feelings)

What are the fuctions of emotion?

they motivate us

they help us make quick decisions

they guide our choices

they help us communicate

What did the visual cliff experiment explain?

How infants look to their parents to guide their decisions.

They are beggining to learn to ajust behavior based on other reactions, demostrating the power of emotions as influncers of action.

Are emotions universal? What are big 6 no hero?

while not all emotions are equally interpited amongst diffrent cultures 6 of them seem to be.

Those emotions are: Happiness, Sadness, Anger, Disgust, Suprise, and Fear

What does the James-Lang theory suggest about how emotions operate?

this theory suggest our experince of emotions are the result of percieving physiological responces.

1) experience a stimulus

2) this produces a physiological change or reaction

3) we interprit this change/reaction as a particular emotion emotion

Stimulus -> physiological responce ->emotion

what is the facial feeback hypothesis, how is it tested? how does it support the James-Lang thoery of emotion?

the hypothesis predicts that our peripheral body responces influence our emotions.

In the pen in mouth experiment, subjects facial expressions influenced they attitudes towards a cartoon.

What explinationations help poke holes in James-Lang theory

1) the same physiological responce may be atrributed to diffrent emotions. (high heartrate, can be excitment, or fear, or anxiousness)

2) sometimes we experience an emotion before we experience a physiological reaction

3) physiological reactions are always attributed with a responce. (like the jjitters after a large cup of coffee)