Lecture 24: measuring emotions

true or false: a consensual definition of “emotions” has recently been created

false: there isn’t one definition yet

what are the possible approaches when analyzing emotions? (5)

• biological: primary/secondary

• developmental: basic/cognition

• behavioural: moral/prosocial 

• relational: powerful/powerless 

• cultural: engaged/disengaged

what are the processes triggered after an emotion-eliciting stimulus? (4)

0. emotion-eliciting stimulus: walk on the street and hear a crash

1. subjective experience: alarm

2. cognitive appraisal: is there a danger for me

3. physiological reaction: body prepares to react

4. behavioural expression: flee the scene

why do we say that emotions are relevance detectors?

because they signal which stimuli matters, which one we should pay attention to in order to survive or accomplish our goals

what are the core questions in emotion research? (4)

• what is the nature of emotions

• what is the effect of emotions on cognition

• how emotions are elicited

• are they inherited or acquired

true or false: only a few theories have been able to answer all four core questions in emotion research (nature of emotions, effect of emotions on cognition, how are emotions elicited, inherited or acquired)

false: no theory has been able to answer all of them 

define “emotion”

• clear cause

• short

• action oriented

define “feeling”

• cleat cause

• long lasting

• cognitive (representation of the situation and how we should act)

define “mood”

• unclear (no specific cause)

• long lasting 

• cognitive

define “sensation”

• impact on our senses

• physical

what’s the difference between emotion, feeling, mood, sensation?

• emotion: clear cause, short, action oriented

• feeling: clear cause, long lasting, cognitive

• mood: no clear cause, long lasting, cognitive

• sensation: impact on our senses, physical

what are the major functions of emotions? (3)

• attention: shift focus to eliciting event 

• informational: understand what’s happening and what we need to do 

• motivational: action tendencies (take action according to what you need to do)

explain James-Lange theory of emotions

• event → physiological response → interpretation → emotion

• the interpretation is based on the response you have, which will then influence your emotions

explain Cannon Bard theory of emotions

• event = physiological response + emotion 

• the mind and the body are parallel systems: brain generates emotions and body responds at the same time

• problem: doesn’t consider interpretation of the situation 

explain Shachter-Singer theory of emotions

• event = physiological response → interpretation → emotion

• event, physiological response and appraisal cause the emotion

• problem: relies a lot on conscious interpretation, doesn’t explain emotions that can be reflexive

explain Lazaraus theory of emotions

• appraisal of the event = physiological response + emotion

• how you appraise the event depends on your physiological response and your emotions

what are the theories of emotions? (4)

• James-Lange: event → physiological response → interpretation → emotion

• Cannon Bard: event = physiological response + emotion

• Shachter-Singer: event = physiological response → interpretation → emotion

• Lazarus: appraisal of the event = physiological response + emotion

how can you induce emotions? (5)

• affective picture data base 

• videos 

• music 

• autobiographical recall 

• acted expressions 

how can you elicit emotions with autobiographical recall?

• ask participant to describe a situation that made them fearful

• they need to describe it so that someone would also be afraid by just hearing it

explain the double dissociation process

• used to show that process A and process B are processed in different regions of the brain

• ex:

  • patient 1: ok process A, but not process B

  • patient 2: ok process B, but not process A

  • shows that these processes are independent

what did Broca’s patient, Louis Victor Leborgne, made us understand in emotion research?

• could only say “Monsieur Tan” or one swear work and short phrase when he was angry 

• this means that we should try to elicit emotions and not ask participants to display certain emotions in research 

true or false: different measures can give you different emotions

true (ex: physiological response might not match self-report)

what’s the measure and sensitivity for the “subjective experience” response system?

• measure: self-report

• sensitivity: valance and arousal

what’s the measure and sensitivity for the “peripheral physiology (ANS)” response system?

• measure: autonomic nervous system (ANS) measures 

• sensitivity: valence and arousal 

what’s the measure and sensitivity for the “affect-modulated startles” response system?

• measure: startle response magnitude

• sensitivity: valence, especially at high levels of arousal

what are the measures (2) and sensitivity (1) for the “central physiology (CNS)” response system?

• measures: EEG, fMRI/PET

• sensitivity: approach and avoidance (for both)

what are the measures (4) and sensitivity (4) for the “behaviour” response system?

• vocal characteristics (amplitude, pitch), arousal

• facial behaviour (server ratings), valence

• facial behaviour (EMG), valence

• whole body behaviour, observer ratings

what are the behavioural measures? (3)

• facial expressions 

• body expressions 

• voice cues 

what are the psychological measures? (2)

• dimensional

• discrete

what are the physiological measures? (3)

• heart rate

• galvanic skin response

• EEG

what’s facial action coding system? (FACS)

• each emotion has a unique pattern of expression 

• we can identify the emotion displayed with the different muscle activation 

what do we mean when we say emotional expressions can be multilayered?

if you understand the context, you will have a less difficulty identify a facial expression than if you only know the context or if you only see a facial expression

why do we sometimes need to see the whole body to understand the emotion?

because intense emotions can create ambiguous facial expressions, so the body helps us identify the emotion

how can voice patterns help us determine arousal?

depending on the pitch 

what’s the positive and negative affect scale?

it’s a Likert scale with adjectives and we ask the participants how well the adjective represent what they feel at that moment (it’s pretty subjective and biased though)

why do we prefer to measure the heart rate variability instead of the heart rate?

• an increased heart rate doesn’t tell us much (doesn’t necessarily reflect your emotional state)

• but if you measure the variability, you can tell if there is a difference between times 

true or false: physiological measures are enough to identify emotions

false: we would also need self-report

true or false: emotional experiences don’t always result in specific behavioural or physiological responses

true

define the “dimensional perspective”

there are three fundamental dimensions that organize emotional responses

what are the dimensions of the dimensional perspective? (3)

• valence: contrast between the states of pleasure (happy) and displeasure (sad)

• arousal: contrast between the states of low arousal (quiet) and high arousal (excited)

• approach-avoidance: approach a stimuli or avoid a stimuli 

define “discrete perspective”

each emotion correspond to a unique profile in experience, physiology and behaviour

true or false: you can reconcile both dimensional and discrete perspectives

true: you can say that the discrete emotion is a combination of multiple dimensions

how can self-reports of emotion be more valid?

they need to relate to the currently experienced emotion 

among the dimensions of the dimensional perspective (valence, arousal, approach-avoidance), which ones are more relevant to the autonomous nervous system responses? (2)

valence and arousal

what does the autonomic nervous system consist of? (2)

sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous systems 

true or false: perceptions of the autonomous nervous system don’t always predict the actual autonomous nervous system responses

true

what do we measure when looking at vocal characteristics? (2)

• amplitude (loudness)

• pitch (fundamental frequency)

what can vocal pitch measure?

the current emotional arousal level of the person at that moment 

define “electromyography” (EMG)

facial EMG where you measure electrical potential form facial muscles with the placement of electrodes on one’s face