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