Emotions Unit 2 Exam

    1.         Identify and describe three cultural variations in facial expressions of emotion.

a.     Intensity: to what extent an emotion is visibly expressed on one’s face

b.     Emotional accents: the variety with which specific emotions can be expressed, dependent on culture

c.     Regulation of expression: the extent to which a specific culture has engrained the necessity of hiding emotions or being open about emotions

    1.         Emotional styles have been found to relate to physiological functioning (i.e., virus contraction, symptoms, respiratory sinus arrhythmia). Review two pieces of empirical evidence about the relationship between emotional styles and physiological functioning.

a.     Positive mood and optimism are significantly positively correlated with RSA

b.     Higher scores in NA (negative affect) are correlated with better RSA which demonstrates the benefits of positive emotions on our parasympathetic nervous system function

    1.         What is emotional intelligence, according to the four-branch model? Identify and describe each of the four branches.

a.     Ability to perceive emotions in others

b.     Ability to use emotions to facilitate thought: the use of emotions as data when making decisions

c.     Ability to understand one’s own emotions: via labelling or anticipating outcomes

d.     Ability to manage emotions

    1.         Describe the connection between emotional intelligence and emotion regulation. What empirical evidence do Feldman Barrett et al. (2001) offer in support of this relationship?

a.     Emotional intelligence offers the ability to understand what one is feeling and the possible actions one can take to alter said feeling – emotional regulation depends on emotional intelligence to make informed decisions on ways to cope with emotions and have the intended consequences

b.     Feldman and Barrett tested granularity and regulation and found that negative emotion differentiation (granularity) predicted higher emotional intelligence

    1.         Briefly define the emotion regulation strategies of suppression, reappraisal, and rumination. Of these strategies, which is most empirically supported as being beneficial? Review one piece of correlational evidence in support of this strategy.

a.     Suppression: pushing down one’s emotions in favor of not having to “deal” with them

b.     Reappraisal (most beneficial): using cognition to help cope with emotions

                                               i.     Utilizing reappraisal was positively correlated with measures of well-being

c.     Rumination: circling back on experiences over and over

    1.         What is the RULER curriculum? Provide a brief overview of this curriculum and the empirical evidence in support of its effectiveness.

a.     Recognize -> understand -> label -> express -> regulate

                                               i.     Predicts better work habits, social development, and adaptability scores

    1.         Identify and describe two ways in which our social context shapes our emotional development.

a.     Attachment styles: attachment styles are formed by the relationship one has in their early years with their primary caregiver(s) and this can change the comfortability one has in expressing their emotions and gaining emotional intelligence

b.     Cultural context: different cultures have different beliefs on how one should interact with emotions which changes emotional development

    1.         What is socioemotional selectivity theory? Define this theory and review the implications for our emotional lives as younger and older people.

a.     How motivational goals of optimizing social and emotional lives change over time

                                               i.     Earlier in life there is a focus on knowledge acquisition

                                             ii.     Later in life there is a focus on prioritizing positivity

    1.         Review Keyes’ definition of mental health. In your answer, identify and briefly define each of the three subcomponents of mental health.

a.     Emotional states: increased positive affect, lower – but present – negative affect, satisfaction with life

b.     Psychological well-being: personal growth, satisfaction with life, autonomy, purpose

c.     Social well-being: How is the world working for you? Do you feel part of the broader community? Do you feel like you have something to offer the world?

    1.         What is the definition of flourishing? What mechanism has been found to promote flourishing and how does this mechanism promote flourishing? In other words, how do flourishers flourish?

a.     Flourishing: a state of optimal mental health promoted by increased experiences of positive affect

    1.         What is mindfulness? Provide a detailed definition that encompasses the features of awareness. Then, identify two benefits of mindfulness.

a.     Mindfulness is paying attention in a particular way; it involves being non-judgmental, present-oriented, and having flexibility of awareness and attention.

                                               i.     Positively correlated with emotion regulation ability and negatively correlated with depressive symptoms

    1.         What is resilience and how does it differ from recovery? Identify and describe two factors believed to make someone resilient.

a.     Resilience: maintaining stable and healthy levels of psychological and physical functioning

                                               i.     Resilience is consistent in that the original disruption does not affect life much across time, while recovery starts with high disruption and then returns to baseline

                                             ii.     Hardiness/grit: the belief that one has control over their life, their worth, and their purpose

                                            iii.     Self-enhancement: benefits from positive illusions of the self

1.     Being lowkey delusional about one’s abilities

What is one thing you learned in Unit 2 that you could use to improve your own emotional life? Clearly identify and review the material you selected and explain how you could use it to improve your own emotional life.

Looking across our unit on mental health and well-being, identify and explain three tips for someone to increase their happiness.

1.     In this unit, you were exposed to three competing perspectives regarding facial expressions of emotion. Briefly review each of these perspectives and provide one piece of empirical evidence to support each perspective. Finally, which perspective do you most agree with and why?

-       Nativist

o     emotional expressions are biologically inherent and occur similarly across cultures

o     Empirical evidence: high correlation of facial expressions matching emotions across cultures

-       Cultural Relativism: emotional expressions are not universal

o        Emotional expressions require cultural context

o        Labeling accuracy in preliterate samples significantly decreases

§            Denies the universality of emotional expressions

o        Evolutionary perspective gives forced choice samples

§            If left to self-label, accuracy goes down

o        Accuracy can be affected by observer’s mood

o     Empirical evidence: Namibians categorized emotional expressions more freely with no patterns, when Americans tended to group emotions in the same category

-       Interactionist perspective: nature and nurture

o        Facial expressions for six basic emotions are hardwired

o        Culture influences how/when emotions are expressed\

o        Evidence shows cross-cultural recognition at 58%

§            Increases for in group accuracy (67%)

·                           Typically regarding racial groups

o     Empirical evidence: cross cultural correlation is strong but there is also solid evidence for emotional impact on emotional expression

1.     What is emotion regulation and why are we motivated to engage in emotion regulation? Describe Gross’ (2001) process model of emotion regulation (including a definition of each of the 5 stages) and provide a novel example (one NOT presented in class) of a regulation strategy that could be employed for each stage.

-       Process Model of Emotion Regulation

o   Situation selection: approaching or avoiding situations based on emotional consequences

o   Situation modification: altering a situation to prevent or enhance emotional reactions

o   Attentional deployment: orienting attention to specific stimuli in the environment

o   Cognitive change: altering your thoughts about a situation to affect emotional reactions

o   Response modulation: attempts to modify the experiential, physiological, and behavioral expressions of an emotion