Psych 101 - Unit 10 : Emotion and Well-Being

What is Emotion

A complex psychological event that involves a mixture of

reactions: (1) a physiological response (usually arousal), (2)

an expressive reaction (distinctive facial expression, body

posture, or vocalization), and (3) some kind of subjective

experience(internal thoughts and feelings)”

Initial response to emotion

Amygdala

• Rapid response to emotionally arousing stimuli (less than a second - 105 ms)

• Especially aversive/fear-inducing stimuli

• Threat detector (snake, bad odour, scary face)

Sends information to outer brain areas for more complex responding

Theory of Emotion - Subjective experience

Cognitive experience comes before physiological arousal

• We subjectively experience an emotion (fear) and this causes bodily arousal (trembling)

Theory of Emotion - James-Lange Theory

Physiological arousal comes before conscious experience

• First experience physiological arousal (trembling) and this causes the subjective emotion (fear)

• BUT more emotions than physiological triggers

Theory of Emotion - Cannon-Bard Theory

Physiological arousal and conscious experience happen simultaneously

• Stimulus activates both the body (trembling) and the cortex (fear); not casual, correlational

• BUT emotional experience is affected by physiological arousal

Theory of Emotion - Schacter-Singer

Initial physiological arousal is interpreted, leading to conscious experience

• First we have a physical response (trembling) we interpret that response (this is dangerous), leading to subjective emotion (fear)

• Context and expectation are very important!

Misattribution of Arousal

Dutton & Aron (1974)

• crossing a high bridge, and have an attractive tour guide

• crossing a low bridge, and have the same attractive tour guide

The men crossing the high bridge were more likely to call the tour guide, misattributing the feeling of “fear” (racing heart, increased arousal) as the feeling of attraction

• could be the reason why gym crushes are so popular

Expressing Emotion

• 6 emotions seem to be universal:

  • fear

  • happiness

  • disgust

  • anger

  • surprise

  • sadness

Though we seem to have non-verbal “accents” (Marsh et al., 2003)

found people with no contact with outside world and found consistent results

(Ekman & Friesen, 1971, 1975

Culture, Emotion and Display Rules

Western cultures tend to express more ego-focused emotions

Eastern cultures tend to express more other-focused emotions

Display Rules: unwritten expectations for when it is appropriate to show an emotion

• North Americans blush, look away when embarrassed (hide and seem small - like you’ve done something wrong)

• Japanese smile (trying not to show embarrassment - hide emotion b/c it shouldn’t be about yourself)

Kitayama Mesquita & Karasawa, 2006

What is Happiness?

Aristotle: Happiness as virtue (living a good and virtuous life)

Happiness as “psychological well-being)

• Satisfaction of basic needs

• Autonomy, environmental mastery, personal growth, positive relations, purpose, self-acceptance (Carol Ryff)

Happiness as “subjective well-being”

1. Positive affect

2. Negative affect

3. Life satisfaction

(Diener, 1984)

What determines Happiness?

Set Point: Genetically-determined biological predisposition for happiness

• Happiness is about 50% heritable (genetic)

• 40% Intentional Behaviour

• 10% Circumstances

Hedonic Adaptation:

• Tendency to return to a relatively stable level of happiness

• Hedonic treadmill

Importance of hemispheric frontal lobe activity

Greater left-sided activity associated with approach motivation, positive appraisal, expected reward, positive emotion

• Babies with dominant right prefrontal cortex more distressed by separation

• Adults with dominant left prefrontal cortex are happier

Therefore, happiness being a choice is not entirely true

How to be happier

Change your brain (Haidt, 2006)

• Meditation

• Cognitive therapy

• Medication (Prozac)

Happiness-boosting activities (Lyubomirsky, 2005)

• How we think (optimism, gratitude)

• What we pay attention to (savouring)

• Our social relationships (nurturing relationships, acts of kindness)

• What we work towards (goal commitment)