Psychology of Emotions - Lecture Notes

Vocabulary-based flashcards covering the theories, physiology, expression, and experience of emotions as discussed by Dr. Maureen Vincent.

Physiological arousal

Physical body responses to emotion, such as heart pounding, slow breathing, or perspiration.

Conscious experience

A characteristic of emotion that includes both thoughts (e.g., 'is this kidnapping?') and feelings (e.g., panic, fear, joy).

Common Sense Theory

The theory that after an event, conscious awareness of the emotion comes first, followed by physiological arousal.

James-Lange Theory

The theory that physiological arousal occurs first after an event, which is then followed by the emotional experience.

Cannon-Bard Theory

The theory proposed by Walter Cannon and Philip Bard stating that physiological arousal and emotional experience occur at the same time after an event.

Schachter and Singer Two-Factor Theory

The theory that to experience emotion, one must be physiologically aroused and then cognitively label that arousal.

Autonomic Nervous System

The system that regulates the arousal component of emotion through sympathetic (arousing) and parasympathetic (calming) divisions.

Sympathetic Nervous System

The division that prepares the body for action by releasing stress hormones, increasing heart rate, and slowing digestion.

Parasympathetic Nervous System

The division that calms the body after a crisis, allowing hormones to gradually leave the bloodstream and returning functions to normal.

Yerkes-Dodson Law

The principle that peak performance is reached with an intermediate level of arousal, while too little or too much stress results in poorer performance.

Insula

A neural center deep inside the brain activated when experiencing various negative social emotions.

Left frontal lobe

The area of the brain's cortex that tends to show more activity during positive moods and in people with positive personalities.

Right frontal lobe

The area of the brain's cortex that shows more activity in depression-prone individuals.

Polygraph

A device used for lie detection that measures emotion-linked physiological changes like breathing and perspiration, though it is wrong about one-third of the time.

Ekman's 6 Universal Expressions

The theory that anger, fear, disgust, surprise, happiness, and sadness are facial expressions recognized in all cultures.

Facial Feedback Effect: William James

The tendency of facial muscle states to trigger corresponding feelings; for example, smiling can make stressful situations less upsetting.

Izard's 10 Basic Emotions

A set including anger, fear, disgust, surprise, joy, sadness, contempt, interest-excitement, shame, and guilt.

Catharsis Hypothesis

The idea that venting anger through action or fantasy achieves an emotional release, though it may actually breed more anger in the long run.

Feel-good, do-good phenomenon

The tendency for people to be more willing to help others when they are already feeling happy.

Adaptation-level phenomenon

The tendency to judge happiness relative to our own prior experiences; once we adapt to a positive event, we require something better to feel the same surge of pleasure.

Relative Deprivation Principle

The perception that we are worse off relative to those with whom we compare ourselves, such as comparing a pay increase to a coworker's larger increase.

Positive Psychology

The scientific study of human functioning with the goal of promoting strengths and virtues that help individuals and communities thrive.

Subjective well-being

Self-perceived happiness or satisfaction with life, used alongside objective measures to evaluate quality of life.

Resilience

The human capacity to adapt and recover from negative events; people often overestimate the duration of emotions and underestimate this ability.