Py 101 CH 12.4

Motivation and Emotion

Psychologists believe that motivation and emotion are closely linked, both deriving from the Latin movere, meaning "to move." Many motivating conditions also lead to emotional experiences.

Components of Emotion

Emotions involve a physiological response (arousal), an expressive reaction (facial expression, body posture, vocalization), and a subjective experience (internal thoughts, feelings).

Basic Emotions

Researchers debate whether there are hundreds of emotions or just a basic few. Most agree on about a half-dozen basic emotions like anger, fear, happiness, and sadness.

Facial Expressions and Culture

Facial expressions are universal signals for emotions, with certain expressions like anger recognized worldwide. Interpretation of facial expressions can vary based on the context or situation.

Emotional Experience

Arousal:Emotions lead to physiological arousal, preparing the body for fight-or-flight responses. Optimal task performance occurs at moderate levels of arousal, with too much arousal leading to decreased performance.

Arousal and Task Performance

Performance is best at intermediate levels of arousal for a given task. Too little or too much arousal can lead to a decrease in performance, impacting cognitive processing and memory in high-arousal situations.

Emotion Experience

Involves thoughts, perceptions, environmental cues, and changes in voice patterns, making it difficult to measure accurately due to its personal and subjective nature.

Anger

Studied by recording situations causing anger, with individual differences suggesting an inherited biological trait influencing anger threshold and serving an adaptive function in problem-solving and signaling.

Causes of Anger

Include violations of expectations, physical or psychological restraints, and unpleasant events leading to anger responses.

Expression of Anger

Debate exists on the psychological health of venting anger, with expressions potentially reinforcing anger responses and leading to self-defeating behaviors.

Happiness

Associated with positive outcomes, influenced by social comparisons and past experiences, with constantly changing standards affecting satisfaction levels.

Disgust

A basic emotion with adaptive value in food selection, universal but learned over time, influencing moral judgments and linked to sensitivity in moral decisions.

Theories of Emotion

Include the James-Lange theory proposing that physiological reactions drive subjective emotional experiences, with evidence from studies on spinal cord injuries supporting the theory.

Unique biological markers

Specific physiological indicators associated with particular emotions, suggesting a potential link between emotional states and physiological responses.

Cannon-Bard Theory

A theory proposing that subjective emotional experiences and physiological reactions are independent processes, developed by Walter Cannon and Philip Bard.

Two-Factor Theory

A theory of emotion suggesting that both autonomic arousal and cognitive appraisal of the arousal are essential in determining subjective emotional experiences.