psy 336 exam 3 ch 11

ideal affect

the affective states that people want to feel

varies from person to person and culture to culture

would like to feel more positive emotion than negative

negative emotion

considered less problematic and undesirable by people from East Asian versus Western cultures

fear

a response to a specific perceived danger, either to oneself or to a loved one

pulls attention to danger so to avoid it

anxiety

a general expectation that something bad might happen

a pervasive ongoing sense of uncertainty and threat

social anxiety

intense anxiety around social interaction, especially meeting new people or having others’ attention focused on you

State

temporary condition related to recent events

trait

long term aspect of personality

startle response

a reaction to a sudden loud noise in which the muscles tense rapidly, eyes close tightly, shoulders pull close to then neck, and arms pull up towards the head

reflex, input from the rest of the nervous system can modify its intensity. Negative emotions (fear and anxiety) amplify the response

startle response information

from ears travel to pons, medulla, and spinal cord; full response takes less than 1/5 second

startle potentiation

enhancement of the startle response in a frightening or unpleasant situation, as compared to a safe one (Lang, Bradley, & Cuthbert, 2002)

biology of fear - amygdala

scans information from the environment, assessing potential danger

communicates with pons and areas of the startle reflex, can modulate

connected with a hippocampus (important for memory), in a position to associate various stimuli with dangerous outcomes that follow them

biology of fear - conditioned fears

fears based on the association of some stimulus with shock - depend on synaptic changes in the amygdala

startle response can be augmented or diminished by input from amygdala

anxiolytics

drugs that relieve anxiety by inhibiting overall brain activity

freezing response to fear

suppression of movement

popular in research with nonhuman animals

failure to explore is interpreted as an indication of fear or anxiety

major categories of phobic targets

dangerous animals

social threatts

nonliving physical threats (heights, thunder)

(easily conditioned fear response)

social fear learning

learn new fears based upon seeing other people’s negative experience with or fear response to some stimulus

prepared learning

proposal that people are evolutionarily predisposed to learn some fears more easily than others (Öhman, Eriksson, & Olofsson, 1975; Seligman, 1971)

Learning fear - SNAKES

people who receive shocks paired with pictures of snakes develop conditioned fear responses faster than when shocks are paired with pictures of houses

people develop conditioned fears more rapidly to images of snakes and spiders than fish and bird

prepared learning - evolution

humans are prepared by evolution to learn specific fears of dangerous animals

many safe experiences with stimuli that are not easily feared to offset one scary one

fear or interest?

whether to fear depends on learning and socialization

evolutionarily predisposed to notice and attend to these stimuli, not to fear them

fear as an algorithm

guiding the best possible response to threat, given the context of the current situation

fear in animals

animals entering an area where a predator might be present, such as an open field or a watering hole, will go about their business slowly with heightened vigilance

prey will freeze if predator is present and not noticed the prey yet, prey’s heart rate will slow dramatically, but muscles will tense

once predator is close, sympathetic nervous system response kicks in, heart rate speeds up and blood pressure rises, prey will run

freeze

when the danger is distant or uncertain, you stop moving, heart rate slows, muscles tense, as you try not to attract attention

flight

once danger is imminent, sympathetic activation increases heart rate and blood pressure to support escape

fear appeal

a public service message emphasizing the negative outcomes that are likely if behavior doesn’t change

fear: changes in behavior

health- promotion messages, including a fear appeal were found to produce more positive attitudes toward the recommended behavior, greater intention to change, and more actual behavioral change, relative to control conditions

fear alone may not be enough to produce results

in the meta-analysis fear appeals showed the greatest effects when they were accompanied by clear and specific steps people could take to avoid disaster; and when only one-time action was needed rather than commitment to ongoing, long-term change

self efficacy

belief that one can actually succeed in doing so

Warning: people who feel threatened but do not believe they are capable of changing their ways may simply tune out the message in order to avoid being upset (Kok et al., 2018)

fear based behavior change interventions

be effective if the threatening message is paired with clear, easy-to-implement action steps for preventing the unwanted outcome, aimed at increasing self-efficacy.

genetics of fear

Individual differences in fearfulness/anxiety tend to be consistent over decades (Durbin, Hayden, Klein, & Olino, 2007)

Panic disorder and phobias tend to run in families, are more common when a
close relative has a similar disorder (Hettema, Neale, & Kendler, 2001)

low threat sensitivity and reactivity to danger

characterize people with psychopathy, defined by recklessness, impulsivity, and callousness toward other people

anger

unexpected, unpleasant events

evoke arousal and strong visceral responses

common with fear

expression of anger

the brows contract into a frown, lower eyelids pull up and toward the inner corner of the eyes, the eyes widen, and lips tighten

physiological state of anger

resembles that of fear in many ways, but blood vessels expand in anger, and show greater frontal cortical activity on the left than on the right (approach pattern)

Recalibrational theory of anger

we experience anger when we appraise someone’s behavior toward us as failing to take our welfare sufficiently into account

function of anger

expressing anger communicates that you expect to be treated better

interchange can improve relationship

lets people know your limits and demands

can understand you better and avoid similar acts in the future

anger changes perspective

When we are angry we prioritize our own perspective more strongly than that of an interaction partner

anger study

Participants who lived on the East Coast of the United States were randomly assigned to vividly remember a personal experience in which they felt either angry or emotionally
neutral.
- They were then asked to send an email proposing possible times for a meeting—with someone in
California
– The dependent variable: whether the proposed times were expressed in the earlier time zone.
Among participants in the anger condition, 52% bothered to translate the proposed times into the Pacific time zone, as compared with 72% in the neutral control condition.
• Explaining which way to move a chess piece to someone on the opposite side of the table
from you (32% versus 52% explained from the other person’s perspective)
• Whether the number in front of the person facing you is 16 or 91 (21% versus 42%).
• Neither sadness nor disgust showed these effects

hostile aggression

Harmful behavior is motivated by anger, and the intent to hurt someone

instrumental aggression

Harmful or threatening behavior used purely as a way to obtain something or to achieve some end

Participants insulted by a confederate will deliver more intense “punishments” to that person, but in this situation aggression is explicitly endorsed by the researcher (Berman, Gladue, & Taylor, 1993)

anger and gender

Men’s anger tends to be attributed to the situation as justified; women’s
to dispositional anger or lack of self control

Angry male lawyers were perceived as dominant and having conviction in
their argument, leading to greater inclination to hire them relative to
neutral-affect men. In contrast, angry women were less likely than neutral-
affect women to be hired, and these decisions were based on perceptions
of the angry woman lawyer as “shrill” and “obnoxious.

constructive anger episode

For anyone, communicating clearly why you are angry, why your anger is
reasonable, and what you want from your interaction partner may be part of this

value of anger

People confer power, status to those who display moderate amounts of anger (Tiedens, 2001)

Negotiators who express mild anger tend to elicit greater concessions (van Kleef, De Dreu, & Manstead, 2004)

Constructive, mild displays of anger can improve relationships by communicating needs, boundaries (Kassinove, Sudholdolsky, Tsytsarev, & Solovyova, 1997)

Cognitive restructuring

Person is taught to reinterpret events as less threatening or hostile, and replace anger-evoking thoughts with calmer ones

Social skills training

Therapists teach clients to communicate their needs more clearly to others, calm down before speaking

Exposure therapy

The client practices remaining calm in the presence of events, insults that would usually provoke anger

problem solving

Clients learn to solve problems constructively, without getting angry.

prototypical facial expression of disgust

narrows the nasal passages and expels contents from the mouth,
reducing the risk of contamination through breathing or eating.

core disgust

Emotional response to an object that threatens your physical health, such as feces, rotting food, or sick humans

easily conditioned, even after on negative experience

intrapersonal function of keeping pathogens out of our bodies, moral disgust serves the interpersonal function of communicating our virtuousness to other people

magical thinking of disgust

avoid the thought of contamination even when no risk is present

moral disgust

disgust response to violations of moral code rather than physical contamination

display similar facial expressions to bitter tastes, photos of insects, and unfair behavior in an economic game

moral transgressions in disgust

rated as more disgusting after participants tasted a bitter substance than after a sweet or neutral one

contamination focused disgust

increased heart rate and blood pressure, increased respiratory sinus arrhythmia, fast shallow breathing, increased electrodermal activity

blood gore focused disgust

decreased heart rate and blood pressure, along with other responses

insular cortex

activated in response to disgusting stimuli, especially among people who are highly disgust-prone

also activated in fear

becomes more active when people are aware of their visceral sensations, such as heartbeat, as well as gastric feelings

activated in disgust, but perhaps also in any psychological states involving perception of physical change.

Participants in this study imagined overhearing an emotional rant by a colleague, without understanding exactly what the conversation was about. Participants were more likely to infer the speaker’s concern for
another person’s welfare when the speaker expressed disgust rather than anger; the reverse was true for assumptions about the speaker’s self-interest

sadness

response to loss or failure

nonverbal expression is easily recognizable

elicits others’ sympathy, concern, support

may facilitate cautious, systematic information processing

individual differences in sadness

Women more likely to express sadness than men (Choti et al., 1987, Fischer et al., 2004), though this is consistent with societal gender roles.

Sadness related to loss may increase with age, and show more coherence across measures of emotion (e.g., self- report, physiology; Lohani, Payne, & Isaacowitz, 2018).

self-conscious negative emotions: embarrassment

Felt when one violates a social convention, draws attention; motivates submissive behavior

self-conscious negative emotions: guilt

Felt when one does something morally wrong, focuses on the act; more likely to make amends

self-conscious negative emotions: shame

Felt when one does something morally wrong, and focuses on
the self; less likely to make amends

Cross-Cultural Comparisons of Shame

Key appraisal eliciting shame is that one is perceived as less valuable by the in-group members (Sznycer et al., 2016)

non-western cultures on shame

not related to guilt or even to transgression, only social value

a Bedouin term hasham

relates to shame but can be felt in mere presence of a higher-status person, like humbleness, and is not unpleasant

self report disgust scale

assesses intensity of disgust toward several different categories of elicitors

Perceived Vulnerability to Disease questionnaire

measures people’s subjective discomfort around possible sources of germs, as well as beliefs about how susceptible one is to infection

Neuroticism

a tendency to experience unpleasant emotions relatively easily

disgust expression intensity shows high correlation (+.45)

PEOPLE PRONE TO DISGUST ARE ALSO PRONE TO SADNESS AND ANXIETY

Openness to Experience

the tendency to explore new opportunities, such as trying new or unusual types of foods, art, music, literature, and so forth

Disgust also shows a negative correlation (–.28)

biology of disgust

people exposed to videos, photographs, and smells eliciting contamination-focused disgust show signs consistent with increased sympathetic nervous system activity: increased heart rate and blood pressure; fast, shallow breathing; and increased skin conductance caused by sweating. On the other hand, people also show clear signs of
increased vagal parasympathetic influence on the heart (i.e., increased respiratory sinus arrhythmia).

– The electrical rhythm of the stomach is also disturbed, with waves generated by muscle contraction slowing down (bradygastria); associated with nausea & vomiting

food neophobia

a general aversion to the unfamiliar foods and taste

meta analysis of rating moral transgressions

rate as more disgusting after they have just been exposed to a core disgust stimulus, such as a nasty odor or a used tissue

moral disgust responses

may be an extension of core disgust to facilitate rejection of “impurity” in the social and moral domain

peoples reportings on disgust

express disgust when they hear about an immoral act, both verbally and
nonverbally through facial expression, as long as they were not personally
harmed by that act. expect them to express anger

report feeling stronger disgust in response to hypothetical situations
where an actor’s intent was bad. When the outcome was bad, but not the intent, anger is more likely

virtue signaling

advertising us as norm-following, trustworthy, valuable social partners

moral disgust limitations

most of the experimental research on moral disgust has been done in Western countries

disgust individual differencea

women are more disgust-prone than men

Heritability studies also suggest a genetic component to disgust sensitivity, finding that approximately 50% of individual differences can be accounted for by genetic relatedness

sadness pattern

arousal increases, with signs of sympathetic nervous
system activation such as increased heart rate, blood pressure, and
skin conductance.
– This pattern is more likely when people are actually crying, and when they are watching a video showing a loss that is about to happen (e.g., a person talking with a dying family member) rather than a loss that has already taken place.

The other pattern is essentially the opposite, including reduced
heart rate and skin conductance.
– This pattern is seen more often when participants are not crying and/or
when they are watching a film about a loss that has already taken place

When the loss has not yet happened, our bodies may be activating in an effort to prevent it, but afterward it is best to withdraw and conserve energy

sadness arousal profiles

high-arousal profile is experienced primarily in response to social losses, the low- arousal profile in response to failures and material losses

when people are in a sad mood,

they process information more carefully and systematically

less likely to show a false memory effect, in which they report having seen a word related conceptually to several others on a list they were given to
remember

may make us more careful with our relationships; in two studies, researchers found that unlike amusement, which tended to
make participants more selfish in a resource-allocation game, sad
participants tended to distribute the resources more fairly

when compared with angry people,

sad people rely less on cognitive shortcuts, such as stereotypes in perceiving new social targets and heuristics in processing persuasive messages
(e.g., relying on the superficial credibility of the person
delivering the message rather than the message content

blush

a temporary increase in blood flow to the face, neck, and upper chest

helps bring people back to our side, even after we have transgressed

Participants rated the blushers in a more favorable way than the nonblushers

rated their apologies as more sincere, and were more likely to forgive them, although the offense was the same