Unit 5: Emotions

Emotion

1. brief response to a personally significant event

2. feeling, arousal, purpose, and expression

Views on how emotions are generated

1. bio: body changes, temperament, evolutionary

2. cog: appraisal

Basic emotions

1. Joy, fear, anger, sadness, disgust, but numbers vary (surprise, love)

2. confusion between fear and surprise/anger, some languages don't have words for studied emotions

Mood dictinctions from emotion

longer, no clear elicitor, not directed, low intensity, easier to control

Affect

mood and emotion

Motivation and affect

1. motivation, hemispheric asymmetry, and affective valence are often aligned 

2. approach: anger, joy, curiosity

3. avoidance: fear, disgust, shame

Theories of what causes emotions

1. james lange (bio)

2. lazarus appraisal (cog)

3. schachter singer two factor (biocog)

4. ledoux multi level (biocog)

James Lange theory of emotion

1. emotional trigger - physiological changes - brain interprets as emotion 

2. facial feedback hypothesis (smiling - pleasant affect)

3. no emotional impairment with spinal cord injuries, physiological changes too slow to cause emotion

Lazarus’ appraisal theory (cognitive)

1. emotions come from reactions to events, modulated by appraisal 

2. less skin conductance when a painful event is intellectualized

3. cognition is sometimes slower than emotion

Schachter and Singer’s two factor/arousal interpretation theory (biocognitive)

1. physiological response=strength of emotion, interpretation of pr=what is it

2. manipulating physiological arousal and providing contextual clue - misattribution of arousal (bridge picture)

3. not always replicated, implies arousal is necessary

Ledoux multi-level theory (biocognitive)

thalamus receives sensory input and sends info through fast subcortical route (-amygdala, bodily response, james lange) or slow cortical route (-cortex-amygdala, appraisal, Lazarus)

Arousal aka

alertness, stress

Yerkes-dodson law of arousal and performance

1. mo arousal (boredom, apathy, inaction), underload (inattention, relax), fit (focus, flow, eustress), overload (fatigue, distress), severe arousal (breakdown, panic, violence)

2. bell curve performance 

Reversal theory

1. emotional experience of arousal depends on motivational state

2. bistability model: telic, paratelic

How are functions of emotions explained

internal and external states

Internal states

flexible internal decisionmaking signal affecting decisionmaking and motivation (whole feeling, provides info on expected and actual cost)

Internal states cognitive function

1. draw and capture attention (emotional Stroop task)

2. aid memory (mood congruent memory)

3. influence decisionmaking (somatic marker hypothesis)

External states

cues that provide insight into how events affect others (emotional expressions, tones, body language of others)

External states cognitive function

1. info

2. prediction

3. affective responding (empathy)

4. coordination

5. help seeking

6. social influence (approval)

Emotional regulation

influences which emotions we have and how we experience them (ie signaling)

Emotional regulation examples

1. situation selection (taking action to approach or avoid a situation)

2. situation modification (alter the situation to make it more likely to produce positive emotions)

3. attentional redirection (distraction and ruminating)

4. reappraisal (change the meaning of the event)

5. suppression (downregulate experience and expression of the emotion)

6. points of influence (change situation, attention/interp, experience/expression)

Display rules

1. masking: hiding emotion with another emotion

2. modulation: exaggerating or minimizing expression of emotion (neutralization=extreme inhibition)

3. simulation: expressing an emotion thats not felt

4. leakage: signs of true emotion during masking

What are the two examples of emotional regulation

signaling and display rules

Moral, prosocial, altruistic motivation

1. because it is right

2. benefiting another (compassion, avoiding guilt)

3. benefiting another without benefiting

Empathy

1. understanding or sharing an emotional state 

2. may not lead to helping (also fairness, duty, guilt)

Theories of religion and moral motivation

1. byproduct

2. cultural evolution

3. motivational

4. socialization

Emotions associated with religion, self consciousness, moral motivation

guilt and shame

Self conscious moral emotions

1. guilt: milder, focused on behavior, private transgressions

2. often co-occur, guilt=realization of caused harm

3. self punishment (signals remorse)

Byproduct theory of religion

people perceive non existent agents because we assume that observed things have a purpose, an agent who enacted it, and a human-like mind that created it (also hyperactive agency detection service)

Cultural evolution theory of religion

1. large scale groups need to maintain cooperation and reduce cheating

2. god is watchful, morally invested, and powerful

Motivational theory of religion

offers a sense of structure through imposed structure, personal control, and faith in external agents control (hydraulically related)

Socialization theory of religion

belief in god determined by exposure to religious behaviors and credibility enhancing displays (increase belief adoption)