Science of Emotion: Chapter 6: Self-conscious emotions (NO STUDIES)

what are the basic emotions

anger, fear, sadness, happiness, disgust, surprise

what are self-conscious emotions

jealousy, shame, guilt, envy, pride, hubris, embarrassment

The management of social relationships for both humans and animals includes the tasks of (2 things)

creating/ nurturing social bonds (getting along) and gaining social status (getting ahead)

Ex: a student is kind to classmates, helps then with hw, and spends time with them. This helps them build friendships (getting along). If that same student becomes a team captain or class president that gain leadership and respect (getting ahead)

self-conscious emotions are

cognition-dependent

• These emotions don't fully occur until certain cognitive capabilities are available

• The experience of self-conscious emotions requires that a person is first able to distinguish the self as physically distinct from others (self-concept)

what is self-concept and what are the signs

sense of self

signs include: using words like “I, me, mine” and can recognize themselves in the mirror

what are 2 important abilities gained after the sense of self is gained?

self-evaluation and social comparison

explain self-evaluation

• Children begin to judge their own behavior as good or bad based on rules they’ve learned from parents or society

• Learn what is right or wrong, then evaluate themselves based on those rules

Ex: a child knows they aren't supposed to hit, they might feel guilty bc they know they did something wrong

what does the ability of self evaluation lead to?

This ability leads to self-evaluative emotions such as guilt, shame, embarrassment, pride, hubris (excessive pride). These emotions come from judging yourself based on your own standards and morals

what occurs during social comparison?

• Children begin to compare themselves to other people to figure out how they measure up

• Might compare: appearance, intelligence, skills, popularity, possessions

Ex: a child may feel proud is they run faster than others, or they feel bad if they think they are worse in school then their classmate.

what abilities are gained once social comparison is obtained?

This ability leads to social comparison emotions such as envy(wanting what someone else has) and jealousy (fear of losing something, like attention or relationships)

what is guilt?

when you feel bad about something that hurt someone else or broke a rule

what is the feeling of guilt?

Feeling: remorse (feeling sorry), responsibility for your actions, belief that you can fix it

what do people want to do when they feel guilty?

 apologize, fix the mistake, make things right, and change their behavior

Guilt is about feeling bad about your actions, not about who you are as a person

Ex: you lie to a friend and feel bad, so you apologize and tell the truth

what is shame

 when you feel bad about yourself as a person, not just your actions

what is the feeling of shame?

Feeling: worthless, powerless, hopeless, like something is wrong with you

what do people want to do when they feel shame?

hide, avoid others, disappear from the situation

what is the body language of shame?

head down, shoulders slumped, looking at the ground

what is shame about?

Shame is about feeling bad about yourself, not just your behavior

Ex: you fall in front of others and you get made fun of, making you feel like you aren't enough

what do we focus on when we feel guilt?

precipitating events, often moral transgressions that harm another (lying, cheating, infidelity), arise when we focus on the unacceptable behavior as the cause

what do we focus on when we feel shame?

 precipitating events, often threats to one's social esteem, status, or acceptance (public failure, rejection, invasion of privacy), arise when we focus on the entire self as the cause

what is counterfactual thinking?

mental undoing to uncover which appraisal a person has made and what emotion they are experiencing

what is upward counterfactual thinking?

imagining how things could’ve been better

Ex: after being late to class, you say, “If I had left 10 min earlier, I would not have missed the quiz.” 

what is downward counterfactual thinking?

imagining how things could have been worse

Ex: after losing a soccer game by 1 goal, you might say, “it could've been a blowout” or “at least it was close.”

what is embarrassment?

Expressed by a sequence of behaviors that involves gaze aversion, then constrictions of muscles around the face aimed at inhibiting smiling, followed by a non-Duchene smile involving only upturning the lips resembling a sheepish grin, then attempting to inhibit a smile again, then a downturn of the head, completed by a tendency to involve face touching (hiding face and mouth)

what is embarrassment NOT accompanied by

• Sequence not accompanied by amusement/ shame

what is a unique feature of embarrassment

• Unique physiological feature of blushing - it is different from blushing from exercising, sexual arousal, or drinking

• CANNOT CONTROL THE EXTENT OF BLUSHING

what do people do when embarrassed/ why?

•  apologizing for their mistake and trying to repair it

• The repair involves redressing harm done to the present self (embarrassment), unlike guilt, which is repairing harm done to others (guilt)

what is the presented self?

 the version of yourself that you show to others, how you want others to see you

when does embarrassment happen?

when a person makes a small mistake on accident in public that disrupts how they’re supposed to act

Ex: dropping a plate of food in front of a bunch of people

how is embarrassment different from shame

failure is minor, not a deep moral flaw, usually involves breaking a social script (expected way to behave)

what is the function of embarrassment?

serves as an appeasement function

When someone shows embarrassment (blushing, looking down) they are signaling “I know I messed up, I didnt mean to” communicating the desire for forgiveness and reintegration into the group

what happens to others when someone is embarrassed?

When people are embarrassed, others are more likely to respond kindly, reassure them, share similar embarrassing stories — embarrassment helps repair minor social mistakes/ maintain relationships

when does embarrassment develop?

early childhoood

what is exposure embarrassment?

being center of attention

what is evaluation embarrassment

performing poorly

is more stressful bc it involves negative self-evaluations

what happens if people are not accepted after being embarrassed?

people feel mortified and flustered

what is pride (authentic)?

Positive emotion that arises from a specific accomplishment/ behavior, reflects satisfaction from meeting personal standards/ working hard

• “I did something well”

Ex: “ I studied hard and earned an A+ on my final”

what are the behaviors/ outcomes of pride?

Increased motivation, effort, self-efficacy, creativity, productivity, citizenship, helping others, likability, and stable self-esteem

what is the expression of pride

small smile, head tilted slightly back, chin raised, expanded chest, hands on hips/ arms raised (victory pose), all can appear in children as young as 3, appears across cultures, shown by blind/ contingentially blind individuals, recognized worldwide, suggesting that pride is universal and likely evolved

what are the functions of pride?

Evolved to: communicate success, signal competence, increase social status, secure access to group resources, motivate skill development

Pride  —> prestige (earned thru competence)

what is hubris (hubristic pride)?

Self-focused, arrogant form of pride reflects global superiority and inflated self-importance 

• “I am great.”

  • “I won bc I’m better than everyone else.”

what are the behaviors/ outcomes of hubris

Aggression, hostility, narcissistic reactions to criticism, unstable self-esteem (depends on feedback), social rejection, conflict in relationships

what is the function/ pathway for hubris?

Evolved to: communicate success, signal competence, increase social status, secure access to group resources, motivate skill development

Hubris —> dominance (earned thru aggression and intimidation

what is envy?

Envy is an unpleasant emotion involving: longing, dissatisfaction, feelings of inferiority

Happens when you want something someone else has that you dont

what kind of people are involved with envy and how many?

2 people: 1) an envious person, 2) an envied person

the self unfavorably compares one another

envy is most likely to occur when?

1) the person is similar to you, 2) comparison, if that area is personally important to you

we dont feel envy in areas we dont care about

what is Heider’s balance theory?

People want consistency in social relationships. When similar people have unequal outcomes, it creates tension that can lead to envy, especially malicious envy.

Ex: you and your friend have the same major, grades, effort but they get a big internship and you dont

• Feels unbalanced, your brain thinks, “wait were basically the same, that does not make sense.”

• To fix it you might think: “They had connections, it wasn't fair”

what is jealousy?

Feelings of anger, fear, loss, suspicion, resentment, maliciousness, possibly betrayal (ex: if you get cheated on an lied to, its the betrayal that hurts the most)

when do feelings of jealousy arise?

a person believes that an important relationship is threatened by another individual

how many people does jealousy require?

1) The jealous person, 2) The person with whom the jealous person has a relationship, 3) Rival who threatens the relationship

what is the function of jealousy

 in moderate amounts it is healthy bc it reminds you of the importance of relationships, motivating you to maintain the relationship

what is the evolutionary theory of jealousy

Men → sexual jealousy (paternity uncertainty)
Women → emotional jealousy (fear of losing support)
Jealousy = protects relationship and ensures survival of offspring

what are the characteristics of jealousy

Men and women feel jealous of different rivals because they value different traits in mates. Men are more threatened by high-status, strong, or wealthy male rivals, while women are more threatened by younger, more physically attractive female rivals. This type of jealousy evolved to protect against rivals with higher mate value.

why did Tesser (1988) propose the Self-Evaluation Maintenance Model (SEM)

how many people maintain a positive view of themselves

what is the core idea of the SEM

 We constantly evaluate ourselves in comparison to those who are similar and close to us

We compare ourselves to friends, siblings, classmates, and partners

what are the 2 key processes in SEM - when someone close to us succeeds, 2 things can happen:

Reflection and Comparison

what is reflection in SEM

Reflection (basking in reflected glory), if their success is in an area that doesn't matter much to us, we feel good about ourselves

Ex: your friend is great at piano, you don't care for music, you feel proud of them - this is a reflection

what is comparison in SEM

1. Comparison if there is success in an area that matters to your identity, you feel bad about yourself

Ex: academics are important to you, your sibling gets straight A’s, but you don't, now it threatens your self-evaluation - that is, comparison

how does a person try to restore their self esteem when they feel their status is threatened (jealousy)

We may distance ourselves from the person, downplay their success, convince ourselves that were better in other ways, even subtly interfere with them – all of this is about protecting the self

what is the difference between jealousy and envy? EXAMPLE

if your friend starts hanging out with someone new

Jealousy: you feel upset bc you’re afraid of losing your friendship. Thought: What if they replace me

Envy: you feel upset bc you want what the other person has. Thought: I wish I had that kind of friendship

what is the difference between envy and jealousy? EXPLANATION

jealousy: fear of losing something you already have (involved 3 people)

envy: wanting something some else has (involves 2 people)

how can jealousy and envy overlap in SEM? EXAMPLE

• Your close friend (same major as you) gets a higher test score

You feel:

• Envy → “I wish I got that score”

Jealousy → “What if they’re seen as smarter than me and I lose my status?”

how can envy and jealousy over lap SEM? EXPLANATION

• The Self-Evaluation Maintenance (SEM) model says our self-esteem is affected by:

  • how close we are to someone

  • how relevant the situation is to our identity

• When someone close to us succeeds in something important to us:

  • we compare ourselves → envy

  • we may feel threatened → jealousy

  • both happen when others’ success threatens your self-esteem (SEM model)

chapter summary of self-conscious emotions

• Self-conscious emotions rely on cognitive abilities of self-awareness, self-reflection, and self-evaluation; some require internalization of social norms and standards

• Negative self-evaluations of one's own behavior result in guilt, while global results in shame

• Embarrassment arises when self-preservation is disrupted and its expression helps with re-entry into the social group

• Pride comes from the evaluation of having done something well, while hubris results from global self-satisfaction