Psych155B Exam #2

Hannah Arendt’s view on emotions

emotions (i.e. fear) are useful experiences that promote survival

Jeanie Tsai - Cultural Differences in Arousal Valuation

arousal valuation: how much do you want/value to feel high/low arousal

Ss asked how much they desire to feel excited vs calm

• European Americans value excitement more

• Asian Americans value calmness more

factors of cultural differences in arousal valuation (Jeanie Tsai)

interpersonal communication: parents and peers interaction styles

religion: christian texts encouraged high arousal positive states more and low arousal positive stages less than Budhist texts

magazines: more high arousal facial expressions in American v. Chinese magazines (even in same brand)

children’s literature: American bestsellers had significantly more excited smiles and significantly bigger smiles than did characters in Taiwainese bestsellers

is what counts as “good” or “informative” feeling universal?

no, it’s shaped by culture

the affect as information hypothesis - Gerald Clore

proposes that affective cues of mood and emotion influence our judgements directly, serving as experiential & bodily information regarding how one feels about the object or judgement

• simple terms: if we don’t know what to think, we often ask, how do I feel about it?

• those feelings are used as information to guide our decision