emotions pt. 1 and pt. 2

what is an emotion

“[Emotion is] an inferred complex sequence of reactions to a stimulus [including]cognitive evaluations, subjective changes, autonomic and neural arousal, impulses to action, and behaviour designed to have an effect upon the stimulus that initiated the complex sequence”

• key points: this definition assumes that:

• Emotions are functional: treats emotions as useful tools. emotions are not just a byproduct, they do something, help us navigate the world through things that will help us survive

• Emotions are reactions to stimuli: usually a clear because. idea proposes that emotions are reactions to other events (distinct from drives) (panic attacks, random emotions— no reasons for it serves as evidence against this

• Emotions include cognitive appraisals, subjective feelings, physiological change, and behaviour response

  • Are all four aspects necessary for something to count as an emotion? What is the relationship between them

**The issue is that not everyone agrees on what an emotion is

James-Lang theory of emotion

Emotions are the result of perceiving bodily changes in response to some stimulus in the environment

1. stimulus in the environment (ex. bear)

2. physiological response and behavior (ex. heart beating)

3. emotional experience (ex. fear)

o Different emotions are associated with different patterns of bodily responses

Cannon-Bard theory

Bodily response and emotional experience occur at the same time following a stimulus

• the bodily/ physiological response and emotional experience occur at the same time following the stimulus

• it’s not that the physiological response leads to the emotional experience but that these occur simultaneously and independently

Schacter-Singer two-factor theory of emotion

•  Emotional response is the result of an interpretative label applied to a bodily response

  • Emotion involves cognitive appraisal of the source of the bodily response

• the physiological response is not very specific (ex. if you see a bear or receive a love note, in both cases, your heart rate will speed up)

  • but, these two things will lead to very different emotional experiences because you will attach different labels/appraisals to them

  • bear: appraisal= “i’m going to die”= scared

  • crush: appraisal= “i’m going to die of happiness”= happy

**emphasizes cognition to a much greater extent

Describe the 7 emotional systems proposed by Panksepp? (know their functions, triggers, behavioural outputs, subjective feelings)

1. seeking

2. rage

3. fear

4. lust

5. care

6. panic/ grief

7. play

**example of basic emotions approach

William Jame’s idea of emotion

“We feel sorry because we cry, angry because we strike, afraid because we tremble”

• first comes the action, then comes the emotion

the famous capilano bridge study

• men would walk across the bridge then interact with this (attractive) confederate

• men who walked across this scary bridge vs another small one, were more likely to call up the Confederate

• arousal caused by walking over high suspension bridge is misattributed to attractive confederate

playboy study (Valins, 1966)

• had men flip through a Playboy magazine

• PS were hooked up to equipment measuring their physiology (it was bogus)

• Some PS were told the sound of the equipment was their heart rate, others were told it was nothing

  • the participants who attributed sound to their heart rate, rated the pinup as more attractive

  • same idea as bridge study where ps are misattributing their arousal as sexual attraction for the woman

Describe the core principles as basic/discrete categories approach to emotion (basic emotions)

basic emotions are thought to be evolved, hardwired responses adapted to solve specific survival problems

• core principles:

  • Each emotion has an adaptive function

  • emotions coordinate cognition, physiological responses, subjective experiences and behaviour

what components make an emotion “basic”

1. universality: the emotion should appear across all cultures (and maybe other species)

2. distinct expressions: cross-culturally recognizable facial, vocal and behavioural patterns

3. early emergence: innateness

4. physiological distinctiveness: each emotion should have a unique expression

Ekmand & Friesen (1971) study on american rating of emotions from a non-western tribe

• collected people and asked people about what they thought were the basic emotions cross culturally.

• Asked them to identify the emotion in photograph.

• Seemed to be 70% accurate.

• They repeated this study with people who were not exposed to western culture, and what was found was that, American people were able to correctly identify the emotions in the non-western tribe

seeking system (pankseep)

• function: generates enthusiasm, curiosity, sense of purpose

• trigger: new or promising stimuli (ex. food, mates, exploration)

• behavioural output: foraging, exploration, goal-directed behavior

• subjective feeling: interest, anticipation, excitement, enthusiasm

• neurobiology: Dopamine-driven;centered in the mesolimbic pathway

rage system panksepp

• function: mobilizes an aggressive response to threat, restrain or frustration

• trigger: physical restraint, blocked goals, perceived injustice

• behavioural output: fighting, attacking, asserting, control

• subjective feeling: anger, frustration, irritation

• neurobiology: Centered in medial amygdala, hypothalamus,

  and periaqueductal gray

fear system panksepp

• function: promotes survival through avoidance and escape

• trigger: threats, pain, unfamiliar or dangerous stimuli

• behavioural output: freezing, fleeing, avoidance

• subjective feeling: fear, anxiety, dread

• neurobiology: Amygdala,

  hypothalamus,

  periaqueductal

  gray

lust system (panksepp)

• function: drives reproductive behaviour and sexual attraction

• trigger: presence of sexually relevant stimuli (ex. pheromones, cues of fertility)

• behavioural output: sexual arousal, courtship, mating behavior

• subjective feeling: sexual desire, attraction

• neurobiology: Hypothalamus,

  testosterone,

  estrogen,

  oxytocin

care system (panksepp)

• function: promotes nurturing and caregiving

• trigger: presence of offspring or vulnerable others

• behavioural output: protecting, feeding, soothing

• subjective feeling: warmth, affection, compassion

• neurobiology: Ventromedial

  hypothalamus,

  oxytocin

panic/ grief system (panksepp)

• function: promotes social reconnection and attachment maintenance

• trigger: social separation, loss, neglect

• behavioural output: crying, protection, withdrawal, sadness

• subjective feeling: sadness, loneliness, grief

• neurobiology: Anterior cingulate cortex,

  periaqueductal

  gray,

  endogenous

  opioids

play system (panksepp)

• function: encourages social engagement, learning social rules, building social bonds, emotion regulation

• trigger: safe, relaxed environments and familiar social partners

• behavioural output: rough-and-tumble play, laughter

• subjective feeling: joy, amusement, social pleasure

• neurobiology: Dorsal thalamus, dopamine, opioids

study on rats + tickling (Panskepp 1998)

• tickled rats: they emit behaviour distinct from their response to pleasure and pain.

• Panksepp interpreted it as laughter. This is called rough and tumble play, in which rats often engage.

  • This serves as a learning ground of how to modulate their emotions (i.e. not to go too far when wrestling) → “emotional muscle memory”

  • evidence shows that those who do not engage in this behavior, grow up to be troubled adults

explain the dimensional approach to emotion

• suggest that emotions exist on continuous scales rather than in discrete/ distinct categories

two key categories of dimensional approach to emotion

1. valence (pleasant vs unpleasant)

2. arousal (high vs low activation)

**people differ in emotional granularity (ability to finely differentiate emotional experience

psychological construction

theories that argue that emotions aren’t biologically hardwired categories but are constructed using concepts we learn from those around us

• ex. what makes an animal a pet is not natural/biological but is a concept humans have attached to their animal (a relationship)

• similar to Schachter-Singer theory—idea that people rely on situational concepts to interpret and label feelings

• agree on the fact that physiological arousal is too general to categorize an emotion

  • unlike S-S theory, do not believe that bodily arousal is necessary

the debate about emotion definition — conclusions/ suggestions

• maybe integration of the theories is possible (ex. Panksepp acknowledged. both biological and learned components)

  • primary processes: raw emotional systems rooted in subcortical brain regions, shared across mammals

  • Secondary processes: learning and memory systems that shape responses based on past experiences (ex. Over time, an individual learns how to respond to a behaviour based on what has been rewarded in the past)

  • tertiary processes: higher-order cognitive systems (ex. language and culture) that conceptualize and label emotions

• ex.shame may be rooted in social pain (PANIC/GRIEF) but

  shaped by cultural and cognitive processes (i.e. through language and social script, shame has become distressing)

emotional granularity

ability to finely differentiate emotional experience

fear

a response to a specific, immediate threat

• involves intense feelings, facial expressions, physiological reactions and action tendencies (freezing, escape, avoidance)

how does fear differ from anxiety and social anxiety

• anxiety is more diffuse (i.e. free flowing type of dread where one may not be able to pinpoint the source is), non-specific

• social anxiety: specific to social situations (especially meeting new ppl or public speaking)

  • driven by fears of judgement, rejection, or negative evaluation

facial expression associated with fear and anxiety

• raised and drawn together eyebrows, widened eyes, tension around the mouth

  • Freezing is a characteristic behavioural response

what is the adaptive value of fear and anxiety

heightens attention to threat, prepares body for action

sadness

 is most often triggered by losses that threaten social bonds or valued goals

• signals a need for support

  • sad facial expressions are universally recognized

  • body language and nonverbal cues are recognizable

  • Crying increases recognition

what does sadness promote

more careful, systematic thinking

• Less reliance on stereotypes and heuristics, more realism

• When goals are no longer attainable, sadness may help break through rigid goal persistence (goal shielding) & lead to realistic reassessment and openness to shifting goals, especially with help from other

describe the physiological profile of sadness

associated with 2 physiological patterns:

1. increased arousal (protest) : higher heart rate, blood pressure

   • seen when crying

   • more likely when loss is impending

   • may reflect active coping, call for social support

2. decreased arousal (despair) lower heart rate, skin conductance

   • more likely when loss is final

   • may reflect energy conservation

what is the parallel seen between sadness and protest and despair

• protest phase: active distress

• despair phase: emotional shutdown

explain panksepp’s affective neuroscience perspective of the parallel between sadness + protest and despair + depression and addiction

• prolonged activation of panic/ grief system leads to shutdown of the seeking system, causing low energy and motivation (core features of depression)

• Common roots of depression and addiction

  • Drug use wears down brain’s natural ability to generate pleasure, leading to dysphoria

  •  Both depression and addiction stem from overtaxing the brains’ basic emotional systems—through prolonged grief or overstimulation of reward systems

what is a self-consciousness emotion

these emotions involve heightened awareness and negative appraisals of the self

• what is similar about them: reflect the belief that we have done something wrong or fallen short of expectations, make us feel bad, provoke the urge to hide or withdraw

• include: embarrassment, shame, guilt

embarrassement

often triggered by social mishaps or unwanted attention, but doesn’t necessarily mean we did something morally wrong

• different people feel embarrassed by different things

shame

typically follows moral or personal failures (hurting someone, lying, disappointing others) and leads to negative, global self-judgments like “I’m a bad person.” (global, stable self-criticism)

guilt

arises from specific actions (breaking a promise, neglecting someone, cheating) and is tied to feeling bad about what we did, not who we are

o Guilt, but not shame, motivates people to take action and repair harm

• punishes us for our mistakes

▪ E.g., prejudice study: study where examined attitudes towards different races. Falsely told participants that they exhibited some racist attitudes when it wasn’t true. Findings showed that those who experienced guilt were more likely to try to help their behaviour, but shame did not

what is the function of shame

• display resembles submission signals in animals, which function to de-escalate conflict and prevent harm (ex. in animals, signals they do not want to fight)

  • May have evolved as an appeasement strategy—helping reduce aggression, elicit cooperation or pity, & maintain social cohesion

  • Shame triggers emotional and physical withdrawal— similar to depressive states and sickness behaviour—both of which are linked to increased inflammation

    • looks like physical injury and sickness

    • inflammatory messengers show similarities between our behaviour when we feel sick as well as when we feel depressed

  • Inflammation heightens social sensitivity (for both positive and negative stimuli)

  **When someone is sick, they are interpersonally sensitive