Psych Final

Chapters 12 and 14.

Micro-expressions-

Sudden, brief emotional expressions.

Autonomic Nervous System-

The section of the nervous system that controls organs such as the heart and intestines.

Sympathetic Nervous System-

Chains of neuron clusters to the left and right of the spinal cord. Arouses body for vigorous actions.

Parasympathetic Nervous System-

Neurons that extend axons from the medulla and the lower spinal cord to cluster near the organs. Decreases heart rate and promotes digestion.

Some theorists insist that we can discuss emotions only for humans because animals cannot tell us about their emotions. How might you argue against that position?

We infer young children's emotions before they know the words to describe them. They could not learn the proper words if we did not infer the emotions directly from behavior. That is, we do not need self-reports to infer emotions.

James-Lange Theory-

Your interpretation of a stimulus evokes autonomic changes and sometimes muscle actions. Your perception of those changes is the feeling aspect of your emotion.
(Event - Arousal - Interpretation - Emotion)

Pure Autonomic Failure-

The autonomic nervous system stops regulating the organs.

According to the James-Lange theory, what should we predict about the emotions of people who have stronger than average reactions of their autonomic nervous system?

People with stronger autonomic reactions should report more intense emotional experiences. For example, panic disorder relates to sudden strong reactions of the heart and breathing rates.

Self Report-

Asking people their emotions on a scale of 1-10.

Behavioral Observations-

Inferring emotions from people's behavior and it's context.

Galvanic Skin Response-

Measures change in sweat.

Electrocardiogram (EKG)-

Measures change in heart rate/rhythm.

BMR-

Measures change in breathing rate/habit.

EMG-

Measures muscle tension.

Schachter and Singer's Theory of Emotions-

Autonomic arousal determines the intensity of an emotion, but a cognitive appraisal of the situation determines whether what we call the emotion.

You are going on a date and you hope this person will find you exciting. According to S&S theory, should you plan a date walking through an art gallery or riding on roller coasters?

You should plan a date riding on roller coasters, hoping that your date will attribute the arousal to you. (But this can backfire if your date experiences other emotions such as nausea or disgust).

Why are people better at recognizing emotions in real life than when looking at a photograph of a facial expression?

In everyday life, we have other cues; including gestures, posture, tone of voice and context.

Why is the ability to recognizer the facial expressions of six emotions not convincing evidence that these are basic emotions?

The apparent recognition of six expressions is inflated by use of a matching procedure. Most everyday expressions do not fit neatly into any of those six categories. We can also identify additional states, such as contempt and pride. Also, we can identify facial expressions of other conditions that may or may not be emotions.

Circumplex Model-

Emotions range on a continuum from pleasure to misery and along another continuum from arousal to sleepiness.

What is the alternative to the concept of basic emotions?

Our emotional experiences vary along two or more continuous dimensions. Such as pleasantness and intensity.

Broaden and Build Hypothesis-

A happy mood increases your readiness to explore new ideas and opportunities.

In what way might sadness be useful? In what way might guilt be useful?

Sadness prompts people to be more cautious about future decisions. Guilt feelings and the ability to imagine guilt feelings; are important for maintaining ethical behavior.

Emotional Intelligence-

The ability to perceive, imagine and understand emotions and to use that information in making decisions.

What is the objection to "Consensus" scoring?

A test based on consensus scoring cannot identify outstanding individuals because it rewards only the most common answer to each item. .

Measuring Emotions-

Researchers infer emotions from self-reports, behavioral observations and physiological measurements.

James-Lange Theory-

The feeling aspect of an emotion is the perception of a change in the body's physiological state.

Effects of Arousal-

Weak arousal is associated with strong emotional feeling.

Schachter and Singer's Theory-

Autonomic arousal determines the intensity of an emotion, but a cognitive appraisal of the situation determines whether we call the emotion happiness, anger, fear or anything else.

The controversy about basic emotions-

Certain psychologists propose that we have a few basic emotions. The main evidence is that people throughout the world can recognize certain emotional expressions. However, the usual research method overestimates accuracy. We ordinarily identify emotion from posture, context and other cues and not by facial expressions alone, which vary too much to be fully reliable.

The alternative-

Instead of basic emotions, an alternative is to consider emotional feelings as varying along continuous dimensions such as pleasantness and intensity. According to this view, one emotion blends into another.

Usefulness of Emotions-

Emotions call our attention to important information and they adjust our priorities.

Emotions and Moral Decisions-

Emotions play a central role in moral decisions. Certain types of brain damage that impair emotional perception lead to moral decisions that more people consider deficient.

Emotional Intelligence-

People vary in their ability to perceive others' emotions and promote emotional health. However, it is not clear that current measurements of emotional intelligence predict much that we could not already predict in other ways.

What can physiological measurements tell us about someone's emotion?

They gauge the intensity of an emotional experience.

According to the James-Lange Theory, what causes the feeling aspect of emotion?

Perception of body changes.

According to Schachter and Singer, how do you recognize which emotion you feel?

By cognitive appraisal of the situation.

Many studies overestimate people's ability to recognize emotions from facial expressions because they used which method?

Matching.

People experiencing which two emotions are unlikely to make eye contact with you?

Fear and sadness.

What do researchers propose as an alternative to the idea of six basic emotions?

Two or more continuous dimensions.

What is one apparent advantage of feeling sad?

Sad people make more cautious decision.

People with certain types of brain damage are impaired at perceiving or imagining other people's emotions. What is the effect on reasoning?

They make decisions that others regard as morally unacceptable.

Tests of emotional intelligence ask questions about how someone would feel in various situations. Which of the following is a significant difficulty with such tests?

It is hard to be sure what is the correct answer.

Anxiety-

An increase in the startle reflex.

What is the advantage of using the startle reflex to measure anxiety?

Using the startle reflex makes it possible to measure anxiety in animals or in people woh cannot verbally describe their emotions. Using laboratory animals makes it possible to explore the biological mechanisms of anxiety.

Polygraph-

Records sympathetic nervous system arousal as measured by blood pressure, heart rate, breathing rate, and electrical conduction of the skin. (Lie detector test).

Guilty-Knowledge Test-

A modified version of the polygraph test, produces more accurate results by asking questions that should be threatening only to someone who knows the facts of a crime.

How is a guilty-knowledge test better than the usual polygraph?

A guilty-knowledge test asks questions that should cause nervousness only for someone with detailed knowledge about the crime. Therefore, it is less likely to classify an innocent person as guilty.

Contempt-

A reaction to a violation of community standards.

Disgust-

A reaction to something that would make you feel contaminated if you got into your mouth.

Positive Psychology-

Studies the features that enrich life, such as happiness, hope, creativity, courage, spirituality, and responsibility.

Subjective Well-Being-

A self-evaluation of one's life as pleasant, interesting, satisfying and meaningful.

Why did a doubling of the mean wealth of Americans over 30 years fail to increase mean happiness?

Most of the increased wealth went to rich people.

Is asking about "happiness" the same as asking about "satisfaction" with life?

No; most people rate themselves as happier than average, but only about average in satisfaction with life. Also, when parents report how happy they are right now, they often report low happiness, yet when asked about life satisfaction, they describe their children as a source of great joy.

List some factors that correlate with happiness:

Wealth, health, living in a country that tolerates minority groups and gives high status to women, having close personal relationships, having goals in life; etc.

What evidence conflicts with the idea that crying relieves tension?

People who cried during a sad movie had no less tension than people who restrained their crying, and they reported feeling more depressed.

Embarrassment-

Shame far more often than the word translated into embarrassment; mistakes, being the center of attention, and sticky situations.

Measuring anxiety-

Anxiety can be operationally defined as variations in the startle reflex. That definition enables researchers to explore the biological basis of anxiety in laboratory animals.

Role of Amygdala-

The amygdala processes information important for emotion. A woman with damage to her amygdala on both sides feels fear only when she is gasping for breath, and not in response to signals of danger.

Anger and similar states-

Anger, disgust and contempt are similar feelings that arise in response to different types of offense.

Wealth and happiness-

Increased wealth improves happiness for poorer people, but it has less effect of those who are already well-off. Mean happiness for a nation suffers when a great disparity exists between rich and poor.

Increasing happiness-

Ways to increase happiness include doing something for others, social support, having meaningful conversations and enjoying nature.

Impaired happiness-

Happiness and life satisfaction suffer, usually for years, after divorce, death of a spouse, or loss of a job.

Crying-

Crying communicates a need for sympathy and support.

Self-conscious emotions-

Embarrassment, shame, guilt, and pride depend on how we believe others will react to our actions.

What typically causes the startle reflex?

A sudden loud noise.

Why is the guilty-knowledge test preferable to the standard polygraph?

It is less likely to mislabel innocent people.

What is the literal meaning of disgust?

Bad taste.

Which of the following makes a major, long-term, contribution to happiness?

Temperament.

What is the advantage of humans' white sclera of the eyes?

To increase communication of sadness.

Cortisol-

Enhances metabolism and increases the supply of sugar to the cells,

Stress-

The nonspecific response of the body to any demand made upon it.

General adaptation syndrome-

The body's response to stressful events of any type.

Health psychology-

Addresses how people's behavior influences health.

Why is it difficult to measure stress?

The main reason is that en event can be highly stressful to one person and not to another. Also, people can have uplifts that soften the effect of stress.

For many college students, the stress of taking final exams activates the immune system, resulting in increases in cortisol. Would that effect improve or impair performances on exams?

It depends; a moderate increase in cortisol enhances memory and alertness. However, more extreme or prolonged cortisol damages the hippocampus, impairs memory, and exhausts the immune system. Different individuals react differently, or course.

Type A Personality-

Highly competitive, insisting on always winning. They are impatient and often hostile.

Type B Personality-

More easygoing, less hurried, and less hostile.

PTSD-

A profound result of severe stress, marked by prolonged anxiety and depression.

What conclusion would follow if researchers had found that the twin without PTSD had a normal size hippocampus?

If the twin without PTSD had a normal hippocampus, the conclusion would be that severe stress had damaged the hippocampus of the twin with PTSD.

Problem-Focused Coping-

Doing something to improve the situation.

Reappraisal-

Reinterpreting a situation to make it seem less threatening.

Emotion-focused coping-

Regulating one's emotional reaction.

Inoculation-

A small-scale preview of an upcoming experience.

Why does the mess that your roommate made bother you more than the mess you made yourself?

You have a feeling of control over your own mess, but not over your roommates'.

Resilience-

The ability to handle difficult situations with a minimum of distress.

Under what conditions would emotion-focused coping be advisable?

It is best when problem-focused coping is not feasible?

Definitions of stress-

Hans Selye defined stress as the response to any change in life. An alternative definition is that stress comes from an event that someone considers threatening.

General adaptation syndrome-

As Selye noticed, the body reacts to almost any illness or to severe stress with sleepiness, fatigue and fever.

Difficulties of measuring stress-

Stress is difficult to measure because a given event can be highly stressful ton one person and much less to another.

Indirect effects on health-

Stress affects health indirectly because people exposed to stressful events often change their eating, sleeping and drinking habits.

Direct effects-

Stress alters health by activating the immune system & increasing cortisol release. But prolonged cortisol impairs the hippocampus and immune system itself.

Heart disease-

Research has found a small link between heart disease and emotional response, especially hostility.

Coping Styles-

People cope with stress by fixing the problem, reappraising it, or trying to control emotions.

Prediction and control-

Events are generally less stressful when people think they can predict or control them.

Facilitated forgetting-

Research, mostly with laboratory animals, has found procedures that can weaken the physiological aspect of fear memory. However, research on animals is different and may be difficult to apply to human anxieties.

According to Selye's definition of stress, which one of the following would be considered stressful?

Getting married.

Intense, prolonged stress leads to fever, fatigue and sleepiness by releasing which hormone?

Cortisol.

Which of the following most strongly increases the probability PTSD?

Previous history of depression.

What aspect of brain anatomy or function is associated with increased risk of PTSD?

Smaller than average hippocampus.

If people think they have control of a situation, but really they don't, what is the effect on stress?

The stress becomes less severe.