lecture 7 emotion social

• Staple theories: of emotion

- Classic view

- Two-factor view

- Appraisal view

Defining what emotions are

We may define moods as low-intensity, diffuse and relatively enduring affective states without a salient antecedent cause and therefore little conscious cognitive content.

In contrast, emotions are more intense, short-lived and usually have a definite cause and conscious cognitive content (Forgas, 1995, 2002).

This is a fairly common modern definition. Intensity and duration are pretty uncontroversial. But do emotions have a "definite cause"...? (do we always know why we feel an emotion, we'll look at some theories which disagree)

Classic ('James-Lange') View

• Innateness

- You are born with a core set of emotional capacities.

- Perceive a stimulus → triggers brain circuit → bodily response → emotion.

classic view examle

-eg see scary cat, triggers brain, fight or flight, need to respond quickly before make cognitive appraisal

what actually is emotion in classic view

- Experience of emotion is just epiphenomena. - after the fact description of what happened but matters less, important thing is you flinched away the fear is an after effect from their experience

old guys in relation to classic theory

• William James:

- "Emotion is the perception of physiological changes. We feel sorry because we cry, angry because we strike, afraid because we tremble."

- Darwin: "serviceable habits" (evolved tendency -refer to later)

Evidence / consequences of classic view

• One consequence is that people who cannot move their facial muscles, for example, may be predicted to experience less intense emotions.

-can't make fear face and then can't feel emotion because of bodies response • for example, people who experience Botox injections which paralyze their facial muscles partially, may experience changes in how they respond to emotional stimuli

Davis et al 2010

-botox and placebo/control group restylane

-watch emotionally provocative before and after injection

-control group were more scared after negative video whereas botox no change

-for mild positive botox group found less positive after injection control grou no change

-with positive video no sig diff between groups

-perhaps when more ambigous "nudge" of facial movement has more effect than when you see something very positiv and are just aware that it is postive

Two-factor View

• Schachter (1959) on anxiety, affiliation

- 1. No arousal = nothing

- 2. Arousal = need explanation

- 3. Have explanation at-hand: stop there.

- 4. Need explanation: seek one.

The difference between 2 factor and classical view

- Events/objects do not trigger immediate emotion reactions; arousal is "interpreted".

Interpretations can change what emotion occurs, holding arousal constant

• Schachter (1959) on anxiety, affiliation - study

- Key finding: those who were anxious preferred to be in the company of others.

- Explanation: uncertainty about appropriateness of anxious feelings led to need to

engage in social comparison. (axtively want to be around the other people getting zappped - cognitively engage withthis concept - how scared should I be)

Schachter & Singer - vitamin

• 184 male college students, told they were taking part in a study on the effects of a vitamin called Suproxin on vision.

-take "smth" , interact with a confederate (who they think has had same experience), and rate emotions (happy vs angry) + behaviours observed.

• Most participants received epinephrine (adrenaline).

Factors

• Factor 1: Drug information

- Informed ("this will excite you")

- Misinformed ("this will calm you") -don't wrry about this one

- No information

• Factor 2: Context

- Euphoria (confederate plays around, jokes)

- Angry (confederate complains about

procedure)

-you think confederate took same thing as you

• Finally, a subset of participants get placebo (saline, inert)

predictions (schachter ad seigler)

• Informed participants know why they are feeling excited: should ignore context

effects.

• Ignorant participants should be uncertain or confused about what they are actually

experiencing physiologically. Thus, should respond to context.

siegler and schachter results

Given Euphoria cue, INFORMED participants don't get happier and even get less happy. But IGNORANT participants get happier.

Given Anger cue, the reverse occurs. INFORMED participants if anything get happier. But IGNORANT participants are shaped by context and get less happy.

-same pattern for confederate imitation

schachter and seigler overall

-further evidence they are internalising the information around them when uninformed?

-they don't just listen to what body is telling them rely on explanation

-this was just men, however women tend to comply similar levels

-will they be so violent though

appraisal

- Construal, or interpretation an individual gives to a situation that gives rise to the experience of emotion.

- Emotions guide our actions, motivating actions that advance our goa

appraisal view

• Emotions as appraisal tools

appriasal view vs 2 stage

-agree emotions emerge from construal of situation

-two-stage tends to speak of a single "physiological arousal" that is given labels that then are felt as emotions.

- But what if there are multiple, fine-grained judgmental reactions that interweave to form emotions. (this is what they belieive - emotions can be varying levels of intensity, positive, feeling in control etc)

Appraisal Evidence • Smith, C. A., & Ellsworth, P. C. (1985)

• Participants first recalled autobiographical episodes of each of 15 emotions and answered questions about them (as if they were explaining the experience to a Vulcan).

• Each episode then rated for how much it was associated with particular appraisal profiles.

• Idea being that beyond just 'arousal', emotions are associated with multiple fine- grained feelings.

• Feelings of certainty, responsibility, expending effort...

eg -anger and guilt are similarly unpleasant but pride is not

-anger differs in lack responsibility

issues with Appraisal Evidence • Smith, C. A., & Ellsworth, P. C. (1985)

• no manipulation

• often dependent on memory

• are we aware of ongoing appraisals?

• what about emotions with sudden onset?

what does reults suggest appriasal evidence

data suggest that emotions might "tell us things" about a situation ("we have control"; "we are responsible") that are socially important and go beyond judging situations as good/bad.

This perspective says depending on what dimension you focus on different emotions will cluster together or be different

-these can be exploited in various ways eg persuasion

appraisal view neuroscience evidence

• Neuroscience shows specific patterns associated with the appraisal dimensions (which can't be

explained by just 'more or less arousal' per two- stage).

• Appraisals alone (e.g., interpreting an ambiguous face as threatening vs. neutral) activate emotion-

related networks (amygdala, insula, PFC) even when physiological arousal is low.

-can do appraisal of someone else's emotion without feeling it themselves

• Furthermore, re-appraising stimulus could reduce intensity of subjectively-felt emotional distress.

-appraising/viewing it differently eg how in control I am effects the emotion

do we all share emotions debate

universal vs local

• Universal views

- Evidence that we have a shared emotion "palette" in terms of content and expression. (same basic emotions)

- Emphasizes common evolved roots, similarity of basic human goals.

• Local views:

- Weak evidence that cultures conceptualize emotions differently.

- Stronger evidence that cultures may emphasize emotion expression and value emotions differently. (eg expressed differently, different amount, what triggers them)

Universalist Approach to Emotion

• Bottom-up view of emotion

- All cultures nonetheless descend from common evolutionary ancestries.

Gene change is slow. We should all have a lot of shared "programming".

- Emotions serve very fundamental goals: retreat through fear, submit through guilt, attack through anger. All cultures should still have these goals.

but evidence?

• But why do fear, sadness, excitement, etc., produce these particular vocal signals, facial expressions, etc.?

Darwin: The principle of serviceable associated habits.

-certain complex actions useful to do in certain states of mind

-eg to relieve sensation or desires

-when this state of mind is induced -even feebly- tendency to perform same movements through habt even if not useful

Emotional response develop for a reason even if not helful in all situations --eg anger - bunch up fists for fight- now you generally wont however still no harm in bunching up fists

Emotion Detection Game - Ekman

• Ekman tested whether people who had not been exposed to Western civilization still recognized 'Western' emotional expressions.

• And vice versa: U.S. students recognized Fore tribe i Paa new guniea emotions.

• High scores were obtained despite the shift in culture.

• He also photographed the locals creating facial expressions in response to stimuli.

Distinct profile which is pretty cosnsistent across cultures

-not always identical but sufficiently criteria

Ekman possibly criticism solved

• What if the New Guinean people saw Ekman and his team emoting, and were just imitating what they saw back?

• Interestingly, however, blind people - lacking the rich visual input a culture provides related to how to display emotion

- still show expressions very similar to those of sighted people.

-again links it to genes

what Mitochondrial Eve suggests

no matter where we are from, we all share genetic tissue from a

single individual 150k-200k years ago.** - simplification

• Emotions probably evolved over literally millions of years before that.

• Evolutionary changes are slow... and there seems little reason to change the core set of emotions which communicate basic goals/needs.

emotions in primates

our close genetic siblings, chimps and bonobos, show similar emotions

• Human anger resembles other primates' threat displays.

• When playing, chimpanzees have a "relaxed open-mouth display" that resembles human laughter.

• Even what feel like specific social ('human') emotions are shared: our embarrassment

resembles the appeasement displays of other social mammals.

universaist view number emotions

according to paul Ekman's work beyond a core set of emotions other emotions are just emotions with thoughts on top rather than another emotions

-6/7 wasnt really a relevant pont

• Localist views

- Cultures may feel emotions differently.

- Cultures may express emotions differently.

- Cultures may value emotions differently, and relatedly - might regulate them differently.

- (For instance, if Culture A things anger is more of a problem than does Culture B, people in

Culture A might work harder to reduce their anger. Eg phsycial eactivites, drugs (perhas more to get an experience))

"Unique Emotions"?

• "schadenfreude" is a German word that relates to feeling pleasure at another's

suffering or downfall.

• There isn't a single emotion word in English capturing this, though obviously it can be

communicated through adjectives (as I did above).

• Does this mean Germans experience an emotion non-Germans don't? (probably not)

• Or does this mean it is a "focal emotion" of greater resonance in Germany? (ggerman might be more likelly to exlain reaction using this way as have word maybe because has greater resonance- or not)

• Or neither?

different types of culture

"cultures of honor"

cultures of dignity"

"face cultures".

Cultures of Honor and Aggression

high importance is placed on one's ability to exert social control, defend one's "stake", and protect one's family. (their construal of self worth is tied up in this)

• This might lead to more construal of threat, which might lead to more anger. As if you are weak you cant defend the things you are scared about

All Cohen and Nisbett studies

ulture of dignity

ellf worth should be internally derived (sticks and stones) and face is about presenting to society appropriately (we're not really looking at this one)

face cultures

cultures focused on maintaining 'face', that is, other-facing roles that create interpersonal equanimity. (calm and composed)

Tracy & Matsumoto (2008) - shame

interdependent cultures show more shame expressions than other culture types.

• Losing athletes were more likely to display explicit shame when they were from interdependent cultures. (interdependent and face culture used interchangeably here)

• True among sighted, blind, and congenitally blind individuals (not just about seeing loots of faces)

Expression: Other Modalities?

• Ekman considered facial expressions. What about beyond facial expressions? E.g., vocal emotions?

consider music

Laukka and colleagues actors

100 professional actors from 5 nations convey 11 emotional states (basic emotions + lust, neutral, contempt, interest, relief, shame). -in english

• Within-culture advantage. However, across groups there was clear evidence of better- than-chance emotion detection.

-people were better at recognising it from their own culture but overwhelming evidence of it being quite universal

-again partly localised partly universal

• Laukka et al. (2013) music

musicians express emotion using instruments given their

Swedish, Hindustani, Japanese, or Western classical trainings.

• Emotion-expressive intentions correlated similarly with musical cues, and cues were related to listeners' emotion-reading judgments.

• Match of performers' and listeners' use of cues was stronger within cultures.

-may be harder to pick out exact emotion than general valence

cultures differ in how much value emotion

Affect Valuation Theory

Affect Valuation Theory

• South American and Latin cultures place a value on simpatia: warm, affectionate

interaction. Is this an emotion? (or emotion with extra content)

• Cultures might also create "rules" about when emotions should be felt. In Classical Greece: happiness only valid when emerging from temperate, fair, kind, courageous, dutiful mindsets and actions.

• Any quantitative support for these sorts of differences? If so, do they matter?

Circumplex and 'Emotion Subtypes'

Circumplex and 'Emotion Subtypes'

-has lots of emotions varying across pleasantness and activation

Tsai, J. L. (2007). circumplex

people who prioritize HAP (high-arousal positive, like

'excitement') emotions, versus those who prioritize LAP (low-arousal positive, like 'calm').

• In her work: Americans (as proxy for 'Westerners') privilege HAP, and Chinese people (as proxy for 'East Asians') privilege LAP.

Tsai sports

Americans and Asians' sporting behavior differences might trace to ideal affect

differences: e.g., Americans are more likely to pursue HAP-inducing sports (e.g., climb

mountains), than are Asians.

• Americans are more likely to engage in "active individual" (e.g. jogging, rollerblading,

basketball) and less likely to do "passive" activities (e.g., sightseeing, picnicking)

ideal effect substances

• Americans prefer amphetamines over sedatives

more than Asians, and use cocaine more.

• Chinese use of heroine is higher.

• Amongst their other effects, these drug uses are consistent with the cultures' profiles of HAP/LAP preferences.

-obviously could be other reasons eg production

HAP influence

eople tend to want HAP (over LAP)

more strongly when they wish to influence others socially (versus be adaptative to others'

needs).

• Americans value influence (over adaptation) more than Asians, and the HAP/LAP difference helps account for this difference

Happiness over the lifespan

• Trends in happiness show U-shaped curves across the age span.

• So, people start out pretty happy, then get less happy in middle age, then get happier

again in later age: we'll see how this forms a 'U'.

• However, relationship factors can moderate this... (drop in u greatly driven by single than married people