PSYC 308: Midterm 2

in what aspects are emotions central to social psychology?

• stories we tell

• relationships

• well-being and happiness

• moral judgements

• social identities

emotions

brief, specific responses, psychological and physiological, to challenges or opportunities that are important to individual’s life goals

• arise because of construals (called appraisals)

• created by many complex and automatic processes

• cause shifts in physiology and involve expressive behaviour

appraisals

interpretations of events in terms of things like how pleasant, novel, fair, threatening event is and if you, others, or situation caused the event in the first place

how are emotions different from moods?

• emotions are brief (secs to mins) vs. hours to days

• emotions are specific to certain events vs. more general/unfocused

5 components of emotion

1. fast and automatic construal

2. physiological response

3. expressive behaviour

4. subjective (internal) feeling

5. action tendency

why do we have emotions?

• help us interpret our surrounding circumstances - prioritize events and influence how much weight assigned to them/reasoning

• guide our actions that advance our goals

• enable us to respond effectively to specific challenges especially those with other people to strengthen relationships with people

empathy

understanding (cognitive) and experiencing (emotional) the feelings of another person

5 components of empathy

1. fast and automatic construal

2. physiological response (oxytocin - social bonding hormone)

3. expressive behaviour - mirroring of facial expressions

4. subjective (internal) feeling - sharing of the feeling

5. action tendency (social bonding, caring)

evolutionary basis of empathy

mammalian parental care

discrete view of emotion (universal emotion)

limited number of core basic emotions—sadness, anger, fear, disgust, happiness, surprise

• accuracy rates of identifying them were 70-90% across cultures

• the Foray tribe in Africa who had no exposure to Western culture had accuracy rates of 68-92% (Ekman and Friesen, 1971)

other emotions with evidence of universality

amusement, desire, interest, love, pride, some self-conscious emotions, awe, pain

constructivist approach to emotion

culture affects how we feel about events, what we do about our feelings, how we express/describe our feelings

• emotions derive from language/knowledge structures of cultures

• influenced by values, roles, institutions, socialization practices that vary across cultures

guilt vs shame

• specific attribution (person) vs. global attribution (behaviour)

• not likely triggered by awareness or loss of social status vs. is

• elicits social damage repair (approach) vs. elicits social withdrawal (avoidance)

circumplex model of emotion

any emotion can be described using an unpleasantness/pleasantness dimension (valence) and a high arousal/low arousal dimension (activation).

• positive valence/high arousal = elated, excited

• positive valence/low arousal = happy, serene

• negative valence/high arousal = furious, embarrassed

• negative valence/low arousal = sad, melancholic

how are emotions evolutionary adaptive?

Darwin proposed human emotions derive from motivations that were evolutionary advantageous for primates

• fear = danger avoidance

• empathy = care for offspring

We share some basic emotional expressions with our primate relatives

blind individuals still show expressions similar to sighted people

what emotions do chimps share with humans?

threat displays (anger, sadness), happiness (smile, laughing), compassion, embarrassment

adaptive importance of embarrassment

signals remorse for social transgressions, prompting forgiveness and reconciliation after an individual has violated a social norm

• results in people trusting you more

is pride a evolutionary based emotion? (Tracy and Matsumoto)

evidence of innately prepared emotional displays of pride - congenitally blind athletes show similar emotional displays as sighted athletes

emotional accents

culture-specific emotional expressions

• open mouth or closed mouth smiling

• biting your tongue as a display of embarrassment in India

focal and ideal emotions

emotions with cultural importance

• feeling prideful when achieving something in North America

• shame and embarrassment experienced more in collectivistic cultures

focal emotions

relatively common in everyday lives of members of a culture and that are experienced and expressed with greater frequency and intensity

• shame and embarrassment are focal in more interdependent cultures

ideal emotions

emotions that are valued in a particular culture

• affect valuation theory: emotions that promote important cultural ideal, play prominent role in social lives of individuals

display rules

when/how to express emotions

• have to be sad at a funeral

cultural meaning

same situation may have different cultural meanings, eliciting different emotions

• turning 21 in the US vs. Europe

• cultures of honour (insult or bemusement

reappraise emotions

rethink the reasons they are feeling the way they do

accepting emotions

understand emotions are fleeting and causes typically change

suppressing emotions

minimizing outward signs of emotions

• more common in interdependent cultures

emotional intelligence (Mayer, Salovey, Caruso, 2008)

overlap of emotional literacy, self-awareness, regulating emotions

emotional literacy

knowing emotional vocabulary and identifying emotions

self-awareness

• getting to know internal states, motivations, preferences, emotions

• cultivating a non-judgemental approach to our inner world

• moment-to-moment awareness of inner states

regulating emotions

• impulse control and self-regulation: resisting temptations, not getting overwhelmed

• goal pursuit: perseverance when appropriate, recovering from setbacks

• calibrating emotions to a given situation: feeling pain of another in distress, etc.

social functional theories of emotion

each emotion is associated with a unique motivational function for the individual and the social environment

• shifting our construal of social context

emotion and the orbitofrontal cortex

damage to it causes loss of ability to rely on emotion to act in ways that fit the current situation

• shows how important emotions are to healthy social relationships - shows a commitment to others, motivate how we act towards others

oxytocin and emotion

fosters emotions that strengthen commitment in long-term familial relationships and friendships

emotional mimicry

copying others’ emotional expressions

• helps us collaborate more effectively with others

emotion and touch

Hertenstein et al., 2006 found that brief tactile contact could reliably communicate love, sympathy, gratitude

• touch can also promote better collaboration

emotion and group membership

help us identify with groups and help us find our place within them

• negotiate status through emotion expressions

• pride and anger can signal desire to gain power/status

• envy depicts dissatisfaction with someone’s group role

emotions influencing perception

we perceive events in ways that are consistent with how we are feeling

• can influence broader judgements (if our circumstances are fair or safe)

• anger can cause us to perceive others as hostile

emotions influence reasoning

positive emotions can prompt people to think creatively and with flexibility

broaden-and-build hypothesis

whereas negative emotions focus our attention on the narrow details of what we are perceiving, positive emotions broaden our patterns of thinking

culture variations in happiness

• Americans: personal achievement

• East Asians: maintaining harmonious interactions and fulfilling duties and societal expectations

• Latino cultures: warm, affectionate interactions

measurement of happiness

life satisfaction and emotional well-being

benefits of happiness

enables better work, better personal relationships, better physical health

ways to improve happiness

• writing down what you’re grateful for

• appreciate the people you love

• do something that makes you laugh

• go for a walk somewhere

• donate to charity

• sit quietly and focus on feelings

• write about life goals

• use money to buy a experience

• get off devices

affective forecasting

predicting future emotions - number of biases that affect it

• immune neglect, overestimating long term life dissatisfaction, focalism

immune neglect

tendency to ignore our ability to respond productively to stress and other potential sources of unhappiness

focalism

focus too much on central elements of significant events and fail to consider how other aspects of our lives will influence how happy we are

• ex. trying to break up with a toxic boyfriend

remembrance of past pleasures

peak moment of pleasure during an event and feelings at the end of the event strongly influence how we remember it

• length of event has little impact (duration neglect)

pursuit of happiness

• found in being with other people - avoid isolation

• money will bring (some) happiness - only when it achieves base economic stability

• practicing gratitude

• better to give than to receive (sharing, charity, volunteering)

• buying experiences over items

• cultivating experiences that lead to awe

importance of emotional intelligence

• associated with higher life and relationship satisfaction

• more success in leadership positions

• improves learning environments and academic achievement among kids

• higher self-control as a child leading to better health and less financial difficulties as an adult

how does loneliness affect health?

more harmful than smoking 15 cigarettes daily, excessive drinking, obesity

how is attachment foundational to social relationships

• experiencing of early bonding to caregivers provides template for adult relationships

• securely attachment to parents predicts positive outcomes in adulthood

• however early bonding experiences are not destiny

passionate love

• intense longing, ecstasy/despair

• intense but brief - intensity quickly plateaus

• like a drug, burning fire

companionate love

• feelings of intimacy, care, connection

• slow growing but long lasting - intensity grows over time

• vines growing and intertwining

love and marriage across cultures (Levine et al., 1995)

49% of participants from India said they would marry a person if they didn’t love them but they had all the other qualities they desired

• vs. <10% US, UK, JP, HK

~40% of participants from all those countries said it was ok to leave a relationship if love disappeared

romantic love

exists everywhere, but marriages based on it are not universal (arranged marriages are common)

are arranged marriages satisfying?

most end up becoming loving relationships even if they start out without love

• studies show they are at lease as happy as love marriages

Maslow’s hierarchy of needs

1. physiological

2. safety

3. belonging and love

4. esteem

5. self-actualization

shift in Maslow’s hierarchy of needs

marriage has went from necessity/survival to meeting intimacy and self-expressive needs

• causes more marriages to fail from this high standard

• few marriages that succeed are as fulfilling as they used to be

4 horsemen of the apocalypse

1. criticism

2. contempt

3. defensiveness

4. stonewalling

criticism

attack on your partner at the core of their character

contempt

treat others with disrespect, mock them with sarcasm, ridicule, call them names, and mimic or use body language such as eye-rolling or scoffing

defensiveness

When we feel unjustly accused, we fish for excuses and play the innocent victim so that our partner will back off.

stonewalling

occurs when the listener withdraws from the interaction, shuts down, and simply stops responding to their partner

importance of relationships

humans have a biological need to be in a relationship

• increase likelihood of passing on one’s genes, improves survival

• monkeys even prefer cloth mothers than wire mothers with food

communal relationships

individuals feel a special responsibility for one another and often expect relationship to be long term

• more common among East Asian and Latin American countries

exchange relationship

trade based and often short term - feel no special responsibility for one another’s well-being

• concerned with equity and reciprocity

• more common among European and North American countries

social exchange theory

humans, wanting to maximize own satisfaction, seek out rewards in interactions with others and are willing to pay certain costs to obtain those rewards

• prefer when rewards exceed the costs

• comparison level and comparison level for alternatives standards

comparison level

expectations people have about what they should get out of a relationship

comparison level for alternatives

outcomes people think they can get out of alternative relationships

• think they can do better

equity theory

helps us understand how the combo of too many rewards and too few costs in a relationship can be unattractive - people are motivated to pursue fairness

universal features of relationships

• caregiving between mother and child

• wrestling between siblings

• flirtation by young people

• affection between romantic partners

• dominance displays

• grieving loss of loved ones

propinquity

physical proximity encourages liking, friendships, romance

• disrupted by social media

explanations of propinquity effects

• availability encourages interactions

• anticipating interactions produces warm feelings

• mere exposure effect

functional distance

influence of layout of a physical space that encourages contact between people

• significant importance

mere exposure effect

repeated exposure breeds familiarity, encourages liking

• does not need conscious reflection

• oldest trick in advertising

• familiarity is the key to exposure therapy

novelty seeking

familiarity is much more powerful - we just don’t noticed familiarity choices

similarity

breeds attraction

• engaged couples study: the presence of the four horsemen in couples predicts divorce

• bogus stranger studies: if shown a description of a random person, you are more likely to like them if they are like you

• weaker in more collectivistic cultures

• similar in social class, educational level, religious background

why is similarity important?

• leads to consensual validation

• assume they have other positive qualities

• enables more rewarding interactions

opposites attract

some exceptions to the similarity preference

• sexual attraction (masculine-feminine attraction)

• some personality traits (dominant/submissive, talkative/quiet, nurturing/needy)

attachment theory

our early attachments with out parents and other primary caregivers shape our relationships for the rest of our lives

• establishing a sense of security early in life is important for the rest of life (determinant on parents’ availability and responsiveness)

strange situation (Mary Ainsworth)

classified attachment of infants based on how they reacted when parents left the room

• secure: comfortable exploring a novel environment - had caregivers who quickly comforted them

• anxious: distressed in novel environment - less comforted by contact with caregiver

• avoidant: caregivers frequently rejected them and children were less inclined to seek comfort

adult attachment

carries over from infancy - dimensional instead of rigid

• can be changed

anxiety dimension of attachment

amount of fear a person feels about rejection abandonment within close relationships

avoidance dimension of attachment

degree to which a person is comfortable with intimacy and dependence

why does similarity encourage attraction?

• social validation (egocentrism)

• smooth social interactions

• we expect similar others to like us

• similar others have qualities we like -

physical attractiveness

one of the most powerful determinant of interpersonal attraction

• variability in what individuals find attractive

• variability in how attractive people are over time

• how attractive you are perceived to be depends heavily on how you act

attractive people

• more popular as friends

• better liked as potential romantic partners

• favoured more academically and professionally

halo effect

common belief that people who are appealing to look at have a host of positive qualities beyond their physical appearance

• independent cultures: more dominant/assertive

• interdependent cultures: more generous, sensitive, empathetic

reproductive fitness

capacity to pass one’s genes on to subsequent generations

• prefer people who’s traits signify health

• prefer symmetrical faces

investment in offspring

women invest more in offspring than men so they should be more selective with their mates

• men want more partners to increase their genes

what are men and women attracted to?

• men: younger women, cues associated with youth

• women: material resources, ambition industriousness, social status, physical strength

investment model of commitment

why some romantic partners remain committed to their relationships - satisfaction, no alternative partners, magnitude of investments

• related to the degree to which people see partners as being understanding, validating, responsive (perceived partner responsiveness)

predictors of relationship dissatisfaction

neuroticism, low self-esteem, high sensitivity to rejection, lower SES, marrying younger, 4 horsemen of the apocalypse, blaming

creating stronger romantic bonds

healthy conversation, capitalize on the good, being playful, pursuing growth, intimacy, rewards in relationship, laughter, finding the good

social influence

Ways people change another’s attitudes, beliefs, feelings, behaviour that result from comments, actions, presence of others

• neither good or bad but can get ugly fast (war crimes, copycat suicides)

homophily

tendency for people to associate disproportionately with people like them

why do people participate in rituals

• Hype and applause, crowd approval

• Cultural significance

• Approval by friends and family

• Actions perceived as exiting rather than painful because of ritual standing

conformity

social influence in response to real or imagined pressure from others to change to align with others

• automatic mimicry and chameleon effect, informational social influence, normative social influence

• seen as a bad thing but is important for a society to function well

chameleon effect (automatic mimcry)

non conscious mimicry of expressions, mannerisms, movements, other behaviours of those with whom one is interacting

• Mirror neurons in frontal cortex: base of synchrony in social animals and empathic skills - perception regions overlap with action regions

• mimicking others facilitates smooth interaction and social connection