Emotion 1

Importance of Emotions

  • Leo Tolstoy: "Music is the shorthand of emotion."
  • Dale Carnegie: When dealing with people, remember you are not dealing with creatures of logic, but creatures of emotion.
  • Vincent Van Gogh (1889): "Let's not forget that the little emotions are the great captains of our lives and we obey them without realizing it."
  • Honore de Balzac (1799-1850): "All humanity is passion; without passion, religion, history, novels, art would be ineffectual."

Emotion Definition (Carroll Izard)

  • Consists of neural circuits (at least partially dedicated), response systems, and a feeling state/process.
  • Motivates and organizes cognition and action.
  • Provides information to the person experiencing it.
  • May include antecedent cognitive appraisals & ongoing cognition including an interpretation of its feeling state.
  • Includes expressions or social-communicative signals.
  • May motivate approach or avoidant behavior.
  • Exercises control/regulation of responses.
  • Can be social or relational in nature.

Emotion: Psychological State

  • Involves changes in:
    • Physiology
    • Conscious experience
    • Motivation
    • Behavioral expression
  • Physiological changes involve:
    • Autonomic Nervous System
    • Sympathetic Nervous System
    • Parasympathetic Nervous System
    • Hormones
    • Muscular responses

Emotion: Conscious Experience

  • Emotions are experienced as positive or negative in valence.
    • Positive emotions: Joy, contentment, calm
    • Negative emotions: Fear, anger, disgust, sadness, boredom
  • Experience/liking, not consequences, define valence.

Emotion and Arousal

  • Emotions are associated with different degrees of arousal.
    • High arousal emotions: Fear, anger, joy, desire
    • Low arousal emotions: Contentment, calm, sadness, boredom

Circumplex Model of Emotion (James Russell)

  • Two dimensions: valence (pleasant vs. unpleasant) and activation (high vs. low arousal).
  • Examples:
    • Pleasant, high activation: Happy, elated, excited
    • Pleasant, low activation: Contented, serene, calm, relaxed
    • Unpleasant, high activation: Angry, nervous, stressed, upset, tense
    • Unpleasant, low activation: Sad, depressed, lethargic, fatigued

International Affective Picture System (IAPS)

  • Uses images to elicit emotional responses, categorized by emotional arousal and hedonic valence.
  • Categories include: Babies, Nature, Adventure, Erotica (Appetitive Motivation), Everyday People, Objects, Food, Loss, Contamination (Defensive Motivation), Accidents, Violence, Mutilation.

Emotion and Motivation

  • Emotions are associated with different motivational directions.
    • Approach-related emotions: Desire, joy, anger
    • Avoidance-related emotions: Fear, disgust

Theories of Emotion

James-Lange Theory

  • Stimulus → Physiological arousal → Emotion
  • The body responds to the environment, and the individual’s perception of these responses is the emotional feeling.
  • James (1890, 1894):
    • "… the more rational statement is that we feel sorry because we cry, angry because we strike, afraid because we tremble…"
    • "Stated in this crude way, the hypothesis is pretty sure to meet immediate disbelief."
    • "every one of the bodily changes, whatsoever it be, is FELT, acutely or obscurely, the moment it occurs." (pp. 450-451)
    • The sensation of bodily changes is a necessary condition, but not everything.
    • Emotion is multiply determined & has multiple facets.

Cannon’s Criticisms of James-Lange Theory

  • Bodily responses are not necessary for emotion.
  • Responses are the same for all emotions (undifferentiated).
  • Insensitive internal organs & feedback.
  • Responses are too slow to cause feeling.
  • Artificial inducement of arousal does not cause feeling.

Cannon’s Emergency Theory

  • Emergency reaction to need for energy (flight or fight).
  • Body’s role is less important than in James-Lange Theory.
  • Cannon: all emotions have same physio.
  • Body changes occur simultaneously with emotional experience.
  • Thalamic processes contribute to feeling.

Comparison of James-Lange and Cannon-Bard Theories

  • James-Lange: Perceive external stimulus → Physiological arousal → Emotion
  • Cannon-Bard: Perceive external stimulus → Physiological arousal AND Emotion (simultaneous)

Emotion: Cognitive Factors

Two-Factor Theory (Schachter/Singer)

  • Physiological arousal + cognitive labeling = emotion
  • Arousal → interpret external cues → label emotion

Two-Factor Theory of Emotion Diagram

  • Perceive external stimulus → Physiological arousal AND Cognitive labeling → Emotion

Schachter and Singer (1962) Experiment

  • Participants received "vitamin supplement" (either 0.5cc of epinephrine or saline placebo).
  • Groups: "Informed," "Ignorant," and "Misinformed" about the effects of epinephrine.
  • Participants left alone for 20 minutes with a stooge who acted either "euphoric" or "angry."
  • DV: Observed activity and reported emotions.

Schachter and Singer (1962) Results

  • Ignorant and misinformed groups showed more emotional feelings & behaviour than those informed of side effects of epinephrine.
  • Placebo group did not differ from ignorant group.
    • Control for Ignorant – parse out those who were self-informed
    • Differences emerged

Excitation Transfer

  • When arousal occurs, it takes time to decay.
  • During decay, a person may incorrectly identify the source of arousal and transfer arousal to another source.
  • Misattribution of arousal to the incorrect source.
  • Transfer occurs when persons are less aware of arousal.
  • Example: Cantor, Zillman, & Bryant study
    • Physical exercise to increase arousal.
    • View erotic film 0, 5, or 9 minutes after exercise.
    • 5-minute group rated the film as more sexually arousing.

Capilano River Bridge Study

  • Participants crossed either a high, swaying bridge (230 feet above canyon floor) or a low, stable bridge.
  • Male participants met a woman on the bridge.
  • Results: Men on the high bridge rated the woman as more attractive and were more likely to call her compared to those on the low bridge.

Synopsis of 2 Factor Theory of Schachter & Singer

  • Arousal is generated.
  • Cognitive interpretations are applied to the arousal.

Autonomic Differences in Emotions

  • Levenson, Ekman, & Friesen (1990) investigated autonomic differences for:
    • Surprise
    • Fear
    • Disgust
    • Anger
    • Happiness
    • Sadness

Research Findings on Autonomic Differences

  • Emotional facial expressions cause subjective experience of emotion.
  • Heart rate was more accelerated with anger, fear, and sadness than with disgust and surprise.
  • Happy accelerated HR more than surprise.
  • Skin Conductance: Fear and disgust were larger than happy and surprise.
  • Finger temperature: Anger greater than fear.

Additional Research on Autonomic Differences

  • Higher quality voluntary facial configurations were associated with stronger autonomic differences.
  • Self-reported emotion is not necessary for autonomic differences.

Extensions of Autonomic Research

  • Age: 71 to 90 years old.
  • Culture: Americans and Minangkabau males living in West Sumatra, Indonesia.
    • Minangkabau are matrilineal and patriarchal, with property and land passing down from mother to daughter, while religious and political affairs are more the responsibility of men.
  • Relived emotions were studied.

Emotion: Cognitive Interpretations? The Primacy Debate

  • Which comes first - feeling or thinking?
    • Lazarus: Appraisals (thoughts) determine feelings.
      • "It’s not the situation that affects our emotions, it’s our interpretation of the situation"
    • Zajonc: Emotional experience may occur before appraisal.

Emotion and the Brain

  • Amygdala: Fear system; two pathways
    • Direct pathway is fast but not detailed.

Neural Pathways of Fear

  • Low Road:
    • Emotional stimulus → Sensory Thalamus → Amygdala → Emotional responses
    • Quick and dirty
  • High Road:
    • Emotional stimulus → Sensory Thalamus → Sensory Cortex → Amygdala → Emotional responses
    • Slow but accurate

The Emotional Brain (Joseph LeDoux)

  • Amygdala is central to emotional processing.
  • Connections:
    • hipp
    • neocortex
    • monoamine system
    • bodily responses
  • Amygdala activation has both direct and indirect consequences.

Facial Feedback Hypothesis-Laird

  • Similar to the James-Lange hypothesis.
  • The facial expression of an emotion may produce a congruent emotional experience.
    • e.g., posing an angry facial expression may create or intensify the feeling of anger

Facial Feedback Hypothesis-Laird: Procedure

  • For the "angry" position:
    • Contract muscles between eyebrows by drawing them together and down. Pull brows down and together.
  • For the "happy" expression:
    • Contract muscles near corners of the mouth by drawing the corners of your mouth back and up.

Facial Feedback Hypothesis-Laird: Results

  • Posing a facial expression of a discrete emotion created/intensified the emotional experience.
  • Posing facial expressions of discrete emotions also influenced judgments of other stimuli.
  • “Smiling” caused cartoons to be rated as more humorous compared to “frowning.”
  • Influenced physiological responses

Facial Feedback Hypothesis - Additional Points

  • Similar effects occur when experimenter demand is eliminated with pencil manipulation (Strack, Martin, & Stepper).
  • Facial expression can influence emotions.
  • Supports the James-Lange theory of emotions: the body’s responses influence our experience.
  • Supports primacy of emotion (Zajonc): facial expressions influence emotion even when persons are unaware that they are making an emotion expression.

Emotion: Behavioral Factors

  • Emotions motivate behaviors.
    • Instrumental behaviors
    • Facial and bodily expressions
  • Families of emotions: Classes of emotion states that share many characteristics in terms of subjective feelings, behavioral expressions.
  • May be subtle differences within family/class.
  • Anger: Linguistic exemplar of irritation, rage, fury

Emotional Expressions: Anger

  • High approach (attack!).
  • Instrumental: Teeth bared to bite.
  • Communicative: Warning to back off.

Emotional Expressions: Joy

  • Moderate approach (post-goal enjoyment).
  • Communicative: Attraction.

Emotional Expressions: Sadness

  • Reduced approach motivation (depression).
  • Instrumental: Conserve energy.
  • Communicative: Sympathy/social support.

Emotional Expressions: Disgust

  • Avoidance motivation (yuk!).
  • Instrumental: Expel bad food; close off sense organs.
  • Communicative: Warning to avoid something nasty.

Emotional Expressions: Surprise

  • High arousal (what’s happening?).
  • Instrumental: Take in sensory info.
  • Communicative: Pay attention.

Emotional Expressions: Fear

  • Avoidance motivation (get me out of here!).
  • Instrumental: Take in sensory info.
  • Communicative:
    • (directed at observer) don’t hurt me!
    • (directed away from observer) watch out!

Emotional Expressions: Contempt

  • Condescension toward object of contempt.
  • When others violate social conventions.
  • Feeling of moral superiority.
  • Instrumental: Exclude wrong-doer.
  • Communicative: “You are wrong!”

Emotional Expressions: Embarrassment

  • When violate social conventions.
  • Motivation: Hide, withdraw.
  • Instrumental: Corrects mistake, repairs relationship.
  • Communicative: "I'm sorry."

Emotional Expressions: Pride

  • Motivates actions toward self-goals.
  • Instrumental: Alerts others that person deserves group acceptance/status.
  • Communicative: “I’m dominant, but still your friend. Do not attack.”

FACS (Facial Action Coding System)

  • Only comprehensive, anatomically based system for scoring facial movement.
  • Example: Fear Expression
    • FACS Code: 1C+2C+4B+5D+20B+26B

Emotion: Behavioral Expression

  • Facial expressions most often studied.
  • Other expressions of emotion:
    • Touch
    • Full-body displays (pride)
    • Sound (voice and music)

Affective Neuroscience (Jaak Panksepp)

  • Coined the term "Affective Neuroscience".

Basic Emotional Systems (Panksepp)

  • SEEKING (+ & -): Interest, Frustration, Craving
  • RAGE (- & +): Anger, Irritability, Contempt, Hatred
  • FEAR (-): Simple anxiety, Worry, Psychic trauma
  • PANIC (-): Separation distress, Sadness, Guilt/Shame, Shyness, Embarrassment
  • PLAY (+): Joy and glee, Mania, Happy playfulness, ADHD
  • LUST (+ & -): Erotic feelings, Jealousy, Fetishes, Sexual Addictions
  • CARE (+): Nurturance, Love, Attraction
  • The SELF-a substrate for Core Consciousness (see Panksepp 1998b).

Emotional System: Neural Circuits

  • SEEKING:
    • Neural Circuits: Dopamine, VTA, extended lateral hypothalamus, nucleus accumbens
    • Psych/Behavior: Stimulus-bound appetitive behavior & self-stimulation
  • FEAR:
    • Neural Circuits: SNS, corticotrophin releasing factor, adreno- cortico-trophic-hormone, cholecystokinin, central & lateral amyg, anterior & medial hypothalamus, PAG, lower brain stem
    • Psych/Behavior: Stimulus-bound flight & escape behaviors
  • RAGE:
    • Neural Circuits: Testosterone, substance P (neuro- peptide, neuro-transmitter), medial hypothalamus, amygdala, PAG
    • Psych/Behavior: Stimulus-bound biting & affective attack
  • PANIC:
    • Neural Circuits: Corticotrophin releasing factor, cortisol, glutamate, midbrain PAG, medial diencephalon, ventral septal area, preoptic area, bed nucleus of stria terminalis, cingulate gyrus, amyg, hypoththal
    • Psych/Behavior: Stimulus-bound distress vocalizations & social attachment
  • LUST:
    • Neural Circuits: Testosterone, vasopressin, oxytocin, central gray of midbrain, ventromedial hypothalamus, preoptic area, amygdala
    • Psych/Behavior: -sex “The tyranny of lust can lead one to feelings of moral degradation and physical dissipation, while acceptance of the power of lust can lead to incomparable ecstasies of psychophysical delight.” – Panksepp (p. 226).
  • CARE:
    • Neural Circuits: Oxytocin, prolactin, endorphins Cingulate cortex, septal area, bed nucleus of stria terminalis, preoptic & medial areas of hypothalamus
    • Psych/Behavior: Parenting, nurturance
  • PLAY:
    • Neural Circuits: Endorphins Thalamic projection areas of the ventrobasal nuclei to parietal cortex & into nonspecific reticular nuclei such as parafascicular complex and posterior thalamic nuclei; vestibular, cerebellar & basal ganglia
    • Psych/Behavior: Rough & tumble play contributes to learning; only occurs in positive social environment

Hormones & Emotions in Humans

  • Oxytocin – involved in affiliation, trust
  • Testosterone – angry aggression, low empathy
  • Cortisol – involved in stress, anxiety
  • Rarely a 1-to-1 relationship between psychological & physiological variables
    • Oxytocin does not only cause affiliation
    • Affiliation is caused by more than oxytocin

Emotion: Sociocultural Factors

  • Basic emotion expressions are universally recognized.
  • Basic emotion expressions are innate (blind, children).
  • Display rules vary across cultures.

Summary of Emotion Lecture

  • Emotion is comprised of many components: physiological arousal, expressions, subjective experience
  • James-Lange, Cannon-Bard, and Schachter & Singer’s two-factor theory
  • Classifying emotions, bodily expressions
  • Panksepp’s theory & affective neuroscience theory
  • Sociocultural factors