Emotion & phsyical arousal

A collection of flashcards covering key concepts related to emotions, physiological responses, theories of emotion, and health implications of emotional expression.

Emotion

An evaluative response to a situation that typically involves physiological arousal, subjective experience, and behavioral expression.

Affect

pattern of observable behaviours that expressed in individuals emotion, Affect this rival, fluctuating in response to changing emotional states e.g. a depressed person with blunted affect very little intensity in their emotional expression

Physiological Arousal

Bodily changes that occur in response to emotional situations, such as increased heart rate and muscle tension.

Mood

A generally longer-lasting and more general emotional state that may be internal and unobservable to outsiders.

Affect

A pattern of observable behaviors associated with an individual's emotions that can fluctuate in response to changing emotional states.

Feeling

subjective experience of an emotion (I feel angry/happy)

Basic Emotions

Universal emotions common to the human species, often classified as anger, fear, happiness, sadness, and disgust.

Sometimes included as basic emotional:

●Surprise

●Interest

●Guilt

●Anticipation

●Contempt

Shame

Joy

but these are not universally accepted as basic.

Basic Emotions Ekman

●Ekman recruited people around the world

●What emotions are being displayed?

 ●Identified six cross-cultural emotions 

 ●Believed…

…any culture could identify these faces

Include surprise 

EMOTION EXPERIENCE

Experience emotion made up of….

 

●PHYSIOLOGICAL AROUSAL (bodily changes)

 

●SUBJECTIVE EXPERIENCE (how things feel to us)

 

Behaviorally observable expressions (e.g., facial expressions, actions) are another component often discussed alongside arousal and experience.

EMOTION PHYSIOLOGICAL AROUSAL

 

When we are in situations that induce emotions, we tend to

become physiologically aroused

 

●e.g., muscle tension, fast heart rate, sweaty palms

 

But what comes first?

●The experience of the emotion or the arousal?

●Does fear come before a pounding heart?

●Or is it the other way around?

Schachter-Singer Two-Factor Theory

A theory that proposes physiological arousal is nonspecific, and cognitive appraisal is essential to interpret arousal and identify the emotion.

Alexithymia

An inability to recognize and understand one's own feelings.

Cognitive Appraisal

The process of evaluating a situation to determine the appropriate emotional response.

Emotional Intensity

The degree to which an emotional experience varies, from mild to extreme.

Disclosure of Emotions

The act of expressing negative emotions to others, which can lead to positive health and well-being outcomes.

Positive Affect

Pleasant emotions that drive pleasure-seeking and approach-oriented behavior.

Negative Affect

Unpleasant emotions that lead to avoidance or escape behavior.

Common sense

: I tremble because I’m afraid

Bear → Fear → Trembling/shake

Stimulus —> emotion —> arousal

The sequence is emotion first, then physiological response, e.g., I tremble because I am afraid.

 

James-Lange:

I feel afraid because I tremble 

Bear → Trembling → Fear

Stimulus -> arousal bodily —> emotion

 

the physiological arousal occurs first, and the emotion follows from that arousal.

 

 Example: see a bear -> tremble -> I feel afraid; I feel afraid because I tremble.

 

• Theory states the motion originates in peripheral nervous system response that the central nervous system then interprets

• Sometimes called peripheral theory of emotion

But:

1. Arousal does not  guarantee emotion egPalm sweat when its hot onside

2. Arousal may not proceed emotion

3. Identical responses are associated with several different emotions

4. Arousal not necessary for emotion

 

Cannon-Bard

I simultaneously tremble/shake + feel afraid

Bear → Brain Activity → Trembling + Fear

Stimulus causes emotions and arousal independently/ neither one cause the other

But unlikely that they are entirely disconnected

the physiological arousal and the subjective emotional experience occur simultaneously and independently after the brain processes the stimulus.

the brain processes the stimulus such that both arousal and emotion emerge concurrently (simultaneous onset).

 

Cannon-Bard Theory

A theory proposing that emotional arousal and physiological responses occur simultaneously and independently after assessing a stimulus.

Schachter-Singer Two-Factor theory

physiological arousal is nonspecific; what makes it an emotion is the cognitive label we attach to that arousal based on the context.

●Emphasised cognitive appraisals

● Appraisal/bewertung of situation to identify what emotion we are experiencing.

●Physiological changes due to lots of different situations

●Cognitively appraise context of situation to label physiological responses

• Mechanism: after arousal occurs, we appraise the situation to determine what emotion is appropriate, and we label the arousal accordingly.

• Bear scenario (example from lecture): we tremble in response to the bear, then cognitively label the trembling as fear because the bear is scary.

• Different context example: if about to meet a famous celebrity, the same trembling could be labeled as excitement rather than fear.

• So, in the Schachter-Singer model, cognitive appraisal is essential to map the nonspecific arousal onto a specific emotion.

Schachter-Singer: I appraise the situation as dangerous and label my trembling as fear

Bear → Trembling → Cognitive Appraisal → Fear

 

●Sometimes same arousal can be experienced as different emotions, depending on the attributions we make for what we are currently experiencing

 

●Cognitive appraisals inform us of our emotions based on expectations of what is likely

James-Lange Theory

A theory suggesting that physiological arousal precedes and drives the emotional experience.

Universal Emotions

Emotions identified by Ekman that are recognized across all cultures, including surprise.

Emotional Experience

What it feels like to experience emotions, varying in intensity and valence.

Anger

An emotion that may contain both positive and negative components, often leading to approach-oriented behavior.

Health Outcomes from Emotion Disclosure

The correlation between expressing negative emotions and improvements in emotional and physical health.

EMOTION SUBJECTIVE EXPERIENCE

●What it feels like to be happy, sad, angry…

 

●Emotional experience varies in intensity

➢e.g., content vs. happy vs. ecstatic

 

Subjective experience varies in intensity along a continuum (mood-like experiences to intense emotions).

 

●Individuals differ in emotional intensity

➢Extreme upper-end of bell curve:

severe personality disorders, emotions spiral out of control

➢Extreme lower-end of bell curve:

people who do not appear to have emotional states, indifferent

➢Alexithymia: inability to recognise own feelings

 

 

 

➢Alexithymia

inability to recognise own feelings

 

 

Emotional experience varies in valence:

 

Positive affect: pleasant emotions (e.g., happiness)

➢We usually try to pursue these emotions

Drives pleasure-seeking, approach-oriented behaviour

 

Negative affect: unpleasant emotions (e.g., sadness, anxiety)

➢We usually try to avoid these emotions

Drives avoidance / escape behaviour -Situations/ behaviours

  

Within these two factors, emotions are usually correlated

➢People who experience one negative emotion (e.g., sadness) tend to also experience others (e.g., anxiety, guilt)

●Individuals differ in emotional experience & preference for emotions

Emotions are not perfectly isolated to one side of the affect spectrum; there is often correlation between negative emotions (e.g., sadness with fear or guilt) and similar patterns of comorbidity (e.g., clinical depression with generalized anxiety disorders).

 

●Anger does not neatly fit into positive/negative affect distinction can feel unpleasant but can also have pleasurable components

• Angry approach oriented emotion because it leads people to approach or attack the object of their anger

• For example, anger can be satisfying or motivating in certain contexts (e.g., reacting to provocative stimuli), even though it is often perceived as unpleasant.

Is it healthy to experience & express negative emotions?

Disclosing negative emotions to others can have positive health and well-being outcomes.

 

• writing about stressful unpleasant events has been shown to increase the function of specific cells in the immune system

• Disclosure also decreases autonomic reactivity that keeps the body on red alert and takes its overtime

• Disclosure permits to change in cognitive function that allows the person to revoke the traumatic experience and thought of memory

 

●Holocaust survivors spoke for 2 hours about their experiences

More expressed emotion → better health over a year later

Feeling happy

• Momentarily feeling of happiness and longer lasting happiness are two separate experiences

• Happiness stems from a combination of being satisfied with your life, having lots of positive feelings and less negative feelings

 

• Happiness drives from five distinct and measurable areas of every day life:

• Pleasure

• Engagement

• Relationships

• Meaning

• Accomplishment