psych emotions

what are emotions/3 things of emotion

Emotion is a complex state involving physiological arousal, subjective feelings, and expressive behaviour. They are our body’s adaptive response, drive, or motivational behaviour.

James-lange theory

• Emotions are felt after noticing physiological responses

• Eg: heart is pounding so you experience fear

• Emotion producing stimulus -> physiological response -> feeling of emotion

“I am afraid because I am shaking”

• Person sees a spider -> begins to shake -> interprets shaking as fear

Cannon-Bard theory

• Emotions are felt at the same time that our bodies respond 

• Eg: your heart begins pounding as you experience fear

• One does not cause the other

• Physiological arousal + cognitive interpretation = emotional experience 

“The spider makes me shake and feel afraid”

•  Person sees a spider -> begins to shake + interprets shaking as fear -> experiences fear

Two-factor theory

• Emotions have two ingredients: physical arousal and cognitive label

• An emotional experience requires a conscious interpretation of the arousal

• Stimulus -> physiological arousal + cognitive interpretation -> emotional experience

“I label my shaking as fear because I appraised the stimulation as dangerous”

• Person sees spider -> begins to shake + decides situation is dangerous -> experiences fear

Robert Plutchik’s Theory

there are 8 priamry emotions and other emotions are varients of these 8. secondary emotions are where these primary emotions mix. only the ones next to each other on the wheel can mix

Limbic System 

includes: amygdala, hippocampus, thalamus, hypothalamus. is in the temporal lobe. controls emotional processing and personal motivations, particularly related to survival.

amygdala

• Small almond-shaped structure

• The emotional center of the brain responsible for fear conditioning/learning processes for that

• If this part was stimulated the emotions would be anger, violence, fear, and anxiety

• If this part was damaged it would be harder to feel these emotions + hypersexuality + tendency to put stuff into mouth - Kluver-Bucy syndrome

• Responsible for regulating emotions 

hippocampus

• Skinny thing

• Forms and stores new memories, STM to LTM

• If this was damaged it would cause anterograde amnesia, which is the inability to form new memories (old memories are safe)

• Responsible for contextualizing emotional memories 

hypothalamus

• Above the amygdala and under thalamus

• Regulates the endocrine system

• And autonomic nervous system which regulates fight and flight or rest and digest responses and body temperature

• Regulates sleep-wake cycle in response to light 

• Damaged hypothalamus results in rapid weight changes, sleep disruptions, body temperature swings, fatigue, and mood or hormonal imbalances.

ANS, PSNS, SNS

Autonomic Nervous System - ANS

• Regulated by the hypothalamus

Parasympathetic Nervous System = PSNS

• Lowers responses in the body

Sympathetic Nervous System = SNS 

• Activates responses in the body, controls fight or flight 

• Hypothalamus

thalamus

• In the middle above everything kind of. Big circle. 

• Main information relay station 

• Sensory and motor signals are sent like eyes ears and skin

• Only sense that bypasses thalamus is sense of smell

• Damage can cause sensory issues and apraxia

• Apraxia is a brain disorder that stops a person from doing body movements they want to do