psych

Emotions are a mix of

Expressive behavior, bodily arousal, and conscious experience

James-Lange Theory

Arousal occurs before emotion

Emotion

Result of attention to arousal

Cannon Bard Theory

Arousal and emotions happen at the same time

Schaenter-Singer Theory

"A factor" theory that emotions are arousal and a cognitive label. Emotions don't exist until we add a label to body sensations

Spillover effect

People "caught" the emotions of others

Fuels emotion

Arousal

Channels emotion

Cognition

Zajonc, LeDoux, Lazarus

Emotion without cognition/awareness; straight to amygdala, bypasses cortex

Sympathetic nervous system

Psychological arousal felt during different emotions triggers activity in organs

Parasympathetic nervous system

Calming

Emotions in the left frontal lobe

Positive emotions

Emotions in the right frontal lobe

Negative emotions

Emotional content is easily read in the

Eyes and face

Introverted people excel at

Reading emotions; extroverted people are easier to read

The gender generally better at reading emotional cues

Women; they're also more likely to express empathy

Universally understood facial expressions

Smiles, frowns

Cultures differ in

How much emotion is expressed

Facial feedback effect

The tendency of facial muscle states trigger corresponding feelings

Behavior feedback effect

The tendency of behavior to influence our own and others' thoughts, feelings, and actions

Persistent anger

Harmful to our bodies

Chronic hostility has a link to

Heart disease

The Catharsis Myth

We can reduce anger by "releasing" it (hostile outbursts)

Expressing anger breeds what?

More anger

The best way to cope with anger

Wait, then use a distraction, exercise, a hobby, etc

Feel-good, do-good phenomenon

The tendency to be helpful when already in a good mood

Positive psychology

The study of happiness and life satisfaction

Adaptation level phenomenon

We adjust to our neutral levels; happiness is relative to past experiences

Money can buy happiness when

It gets you out of poverty

Relative deprivation

Happiness is relative to others' wealth, successes, etc

Stressor

An event or conditions that we view as threatening, challenging, or overwhelming

Appraisal

Deciding whether to view something as a stressor

Stress reaction

Any emotional or physical response to a stressor

Stress

The process of appraising and responding to a stressor

Stress arises from

How we appraise events, rather than from the event itself

General Adaptation Syndrome

Three phases (Alarm reaction, resistance, exhaustion)

Coronary heart disease

Stress is closely linked to this; the leading cause of death in the US

Worsens experience of stress

Chronic stress and personality style

Type A

Reactive, impatient, competitive, easily angered; more likely to have a heart attack. The most toxic component is anger

Type B

Easygoing

Problem focused coping

Changing the stressor or the way we interact with the stressor

Emotion focused coping

Reducing the emotional impact of stress by getting support and comfort from others

Losing control

Provokes an outpour of stress hormones; Blood pressure increases, immune responses drop

Optimistic people

Expect to have more control, cope better with stressful events, have stronger immune systems

Internal locus of control

We control our own fate

External locus of control

Chance or outside forces determine fate (Causes less motivation, more anxiety)

Self control

The ability to control impulses and delay gratification

Close relationships

Predict happiness and health

Aerobic exercise

Reduces the risk of heart disease, cancer, dementia, early death

Exercise is a strong predictor of

Life satisfaction; It's as effective as antidepressants with longer lasting effects

Lifestyle modification

Modifying lifestyle led to reduced heart attack rates

Faith communities

Led people to live longer (Relaxed meditation of prayer)

Attribution

A conclusion about the caused of an observed behavior

Attribution Theory

We explain others' behavior with two types of attributions (situational and dispositional)

Fundamental attribution error

When we go too far in assuming that a person's behavior is caused by their personality

Attitude

Feelings, ideas, and beliefs that affect how we react to other people, objects, and events

Foot-in-the-door phenomenon

The tendency for people who have first agreed to a small request to comply later with a larger request

The Effects of Playing a Role

When we play a role, even if we know it is just pretending, we eventually tend to adopt the attitudes that go with the role, and become the role

Cognitive Dissonance

When our actions and attitudes clash

Cognitive Dissonance Theory

We change our attitudes to fix our actions

Conformity

Adjusting our behavior or thinking to go along with a group standard

Social Contagion

Behavior is contagious (Yawning, laughing, etc)

Asch Conformity Studies

About one third of people will agree with obvious mistruths to go along with the group

Normative Social Influence

Going along with others in pursuit of social approval and to avoid rejection

Informational Social Influence

Going along with others because groups provide information

Milgram's Obedience Study

Participants "teachers" shocked actors "learners" when they said a wrong answer under command from an authority figure, using the foot-in-the-door technique. Over 60% complied fully.

Factors increasing obedience

Authority figures, association with prestigious institution, figures standing close by, victim depersonalization

The Power of Obedience

People may be more obedient after time in war, however, it can also strengthen heroism (risking or sacrificing oneself)

Social Facilitation

Strengthens performance in presence of others, or strengthens the most likely response

Social loafing

The tendency for people in a group to exert less effort when not individually accountable

Deindividuation

Loss of self awareness and self restraint. Group participation makes people aroused and anonymous

Group polarization

Beliefs you bring to a group grow stronger as you discuss with like minded others

Echo chamber of the internet

Fuels extreme views

Prejudice

An unjustified attitude towards a group

Targets of prejudice

Racial, ethnic, gender, LGBTQ

Just-world phenomenon

"Those who succeed must be good and those who suffer must be bad"

Ingroup bias

Natural drive to distinguish enemies from friends

Scapegoat theory

Prejudice offers an outlet for anger by providing someone to blame

Other-race effect

Greater recognition for own-race faces

Aggression

Behavior with the intent of harming another person

Social scripts

Guide for how to act in situations seen in video, music, TV, and other media

Why do we befriend or fall in love with some people but not others?

Proximity, physical attractiveness, similarity

Key to a long lasting relationship

Positive interactions outnumber negative by 5 to 1

Altruism

Unselfish regard for welfare of other people; helping without need for personal gain

Bystander effect

Fewer people help when others are available

Conflict

A perceived incompatibility in goals, ideas, or actions between people or groups

Peacemaking

The four C's: contact, cooperation, communication, conciliation

Personality

Our characteristic pattern of thinking, feeling, and acting

Freud

"Discovered" the unconscious, named his theory and treatment psychoanalysis

Freud's Personality Iceberg

Repression of unacceptable passions; Personality arises from a conflict between impulse and restraint. Id (pleasure), ego (reality), and superego (moral compass) with ego being the mediator

Psychosexual stages

Childhood stages of development where the id is focused on erogenous zones, and people can be fixated on one stage. Five stages.

Oedipus complex

According to Freud, a boy's sexual desires toward his mother and feelings of jealousy and hatred for the rival father

Projective tests

Ambiguous prompts reveal inner workings of mind

Rorschach inkblot test

A projective test through looking at inkblots. The problem is that results have low validity and low reliability.

Critiques to Freud

Development is lifelong, underestimation of peer influence, dreams don't reveal unconscious wishes, traumatic memories are NOT repressed, low testability

Abraham Maslow

People are motivated to keep moving up a hierarchy of needs

Humanistic Theories of Personality

Abraham Maslow (Self Actualizing Person) and Carl Rogers (Person Centered Perspective)

Carl Rogers

Genuineness, acceptance, and empathy are the three conditions facilitating growth and fulfillment

Trait

A characteristic pattern of a behavior or predisposition to feel and act a certain way

Trait theory of personality

We are made up of a collection of traits that can be identified and measured; traits differ from person to person