PSY202 Emotion

week 4-5

What are Emotions?

* They act as a motivator for people to take action in specific situations
* Functionally connected to Motivation
* How we see out experiences

What are the three components of Emotion?

1. Physiological Reaction (Body Response; blood pressure, muscle tension…)
2. Expressive Reaction (Facial expression, actions…)
3. Subjective Experience (Feelings)

What is the Brain-Based theory of Emotion?

* Limbic System
* Frontal Lobes

__Limbic System__ and Emotion.

Amygdala (damage can lead to condition called ”psychic blindness” which is the inability to recognize meaningful/significant events, or fear of faces and voices).

__Frontal Lobes__ and Emotion.

* **Prefrontal Cortex** (Emotion control center; conscience feelings that allow us to take action based off our feelings)
* **Left** (positive emotions); **Right** (negative emotions)

What did __Paul Ekman__ contribute to Emotions Theories?

* **The Discrete Emotions Theory**; humans have a small number of discrete (primary) emotions
* Emotions (limbic system) precede thoughts/cognitions about emotional feelings (cortex)

What are __Primary emotions?__

Happiness, disgust, fear, sadness, surprise, anger, contempt… Pride also.

How do Primary Emotions have an __Evolutionary__ basis?

* They are __biologically__ innate
* __Darwin__ claims that humans and nonhumans have similar emotional expressions

How do Primary Emotions have a __Universality__ basis?

* Similar emotional expressions across cultures
* Similar emotional recognition across cultures

What is the __Facial feedback Hypothesis?__

* There is a unique facial expression for each primary emotion
* Muscles in the face cause facial expressions that give signals to the brain in order for it to analyze the signal; this sensory feedback contributes to emotional feelings

What are the Cognitive Theories of Emotions?

* James-Lange Theory
* Cannon-Brad Theory
* Two-factor Theory

What is the James-Lange Theory of Emotion?

Stimulus → Bodily Reactions → Subjective Emotional Experience (emotions are caused by bodily sensations; happier when smile).

What is the Cannon-Bard Theory of Emotion?

Stimulus → both Bodily Reactions and Subjective Emotional Experience (emotions and bodily sensations occur at the same time).

What is the Two-Factor Theory of Emotion?

Stimulus → Arousal + Appraisal → Subjective Emotional Experience (psychological arousal comes first, cognitive appraisal \[labelling the emotion you are feeling and situation you are in\] comes next which both lead to emotion).

What is Nonverbal Leakage of Emotion?

When nonverbal emotions unconsciously spill out.

Body Language/Gestures and Emotion.

* Posture (prescription of emotions through bodily poses)
* Gestures (Illustrators \[speech\] VS Manipulators \[true emotions\])
* Emblems (culture specific gestures with conventional meanings)

Lying and Lie detection, and Emotion.

* Nonverbal gestures help with identifying true emotion (also if people are lying)
* Polygraph test (when a person lies, their heart rate increases and the lie detector measures heart rates)

What is Happiness?

Involves expectations; based on comparison

What is Happiness good for?

* To produce enduring physical and psychological benefits
* Broaden and Build Theory; happiness predisposes us to think more openly and allow us to see the bigger picture

What does Forecasting Happiness mean?

* Affective Forecasting (prediction of one’s future emotional states)
* Impact Bias
* Hedonic Treadmill

What does __Impact Bias__ mean?

Overestimating the length or intensity of future emotional states.

What does __Hedonic Treadmill__ mean?

Tendency to quickly return to stable levels of happiness.