human emotion
Stanley milgram - subway study
“ My head sank between my knees, and I could feel my face blanching. I was not role playing, i actually felt as if i were going to perish”
“Taking the man's seat, i was overwhelmed by the need to behave in a way that would justify my request”
“He feels he need to justify his actions” - “trying to level off playing fields
What are emotions
No unified definition
States that come with physiological and psychological changes
“Ill know it when i feel it”
What do emotions do
A functional perspective suggests emotions are signals to motivation
Ex: survival and fear, need to belong and guilt
Well suited to help us manage the “push” of biological processes and the “pull” of sociocultural forces
Push and pull of emotional motivations
Emotions seem to help us evaluate
Read out of the persons ever-changing motivational states
Positive emotions signal the satisfaction of our motivational states
Negative emotions signal the frustration of our states
Emotions seem to motivate
General agreement that emotions function as one type of motivator, but views about their importance vary
Early psychology focused on psychological drives as motivators (e.g., hunger, thirst)
Followed by a view that emotions were the causal and immediate source of the motivated actions by humans
e.g., Air deprivation
Take away the emotion, and you take away the motivation
What happens when we feel (arousal,behavior, cognition)
Bodily arousal
Conscious experience
Thoughts, especially the labelling of the emotion
Expressive behaviour
How do emotions emerge
james -lange theory: body before thoughts
Our emotions directly follow the response of our physiological reactions to a stimuli
Arousal (ex:snake) -> heart pounding, sweating -> fear (emotion)
cannon -bard theory: simultaneous body response and cognitive experience
Our emotions occur simultaneously with our physiological reactions to a Stimuli
rousal (ex:snake) -> heart pounding, sweating
-> fear (emotion)
Schachter-singer “two factor” theory: emotion = body plus a label
Emotions are the result of the physiological responses and the cognitive appraisal of this response
rousal (ex:snake) -> heart pounding, sweating -> fear (emotion)
-> cognitive label (“im scared”) ->
Automatic affective experiences
Can emotions occur without cognitive appraisal
Robert Zajonc (1923-2008)
Some emotional reactions (fears, likes, and dislikes) develop in a “low road” through the brain
thus skip conscious thought
Emotions with/without appraisal
Schachter-Singer highlights the role of appraisal in labelling consciously experienced Emotions
Lazarus: Even in emotional responses that operate without conscious thought, “top-down” cognitive functions can be involved
Different types of emotions
Emotion valence refers to the positive or negative quality of an emotion
Arousal refers to the level of energy or activation associated with an emotion
What are the basic human emotions (according to Eckman)
Anger, disgust, fear, happiness, sadness, surprise
Emotions beyond basic emotions
Secondary or social emotions
Complex el=motional state that that humans experience following socialization
Typically displayed with a combination of facial and body expression
Difference between guilt and shame
Guilt
Typical occurs when we think a moral transgression occurred because of our “bad behavior”
Motivates reparation
Shame
Typically occurs when we think a moral transgression occurred because we are a bad person
Motivates withdrawal
Are you controlled by emotions
Often emotions provide us with useful information that helps us adapt to changing life circumstances
But sometimes, the emotions we feel are not ideal for us to adapt to the situation
e.g., anger and getting a ticket
Other times our emotions conflict with our roles
e.g., physician regulating disgust, flight attendants managing client
Thankfully, you are NOT controlled by your emotions!
Mastering the regulation of your emotions requires effort, but like other skills, it can be practiced and improved
Fundamental life skill
How can you regulate your emotions?
There are many strategies; three common ones involve
1. awareness (monitoring)
2. Appraisal
3. coping strategies (e.g., mindfulness meditation)
What does awareness mean when it comes to emotions
Recognise the emotions you are experiencing
Label them
Well captured the concept of emotional intelligence
What are some commonly experiences emotions
Shame, irritable, nervous, upset, sad, scared, hostile, blue, jittery, angry, proud, happy, surprise, peaceful, joy, exciter, confident, astonishment, awe, calm (most reported by undergrad students)
Start practicing recognising your emotions
What does appraisal mean when it comes to emotions
The start of an emotion is a life event—how you view that event (appraisal) affects how you will feel about it
e.g., Is it overwhelming, and will I give up? [or] Is this a challenge, and will I tackle it?
Remember hormones are slower to affect your system, and their action is typically longe
Change the appraisal now, but it might take a bit of time before physiological states change
What are coping strategies when it comes to emotions
Strategies that people use to deal with stress (and negative emotions)
Problem focused vs. emotion focused
How can coping focus only on emotions?
One strategy is meditating, including mindfulness mediation
Mindfulness (or mindful awareness) is a mental state of consistent and flexible attention to the present moment, to both the word outside of us and the world within
It involves an accepting attitude, non judgemental, with curiosity
What is mindfulness training
In psychology, these training activities are non-religious and non-esoteric. They derive from meditation but do not necessitate formal meditation practice.
They aim to strengthen attention/concentration skills, build self-awareness
Rapid growth of programs/interventions
Fits with an important ongoing change in psychology toward positive approaches
Are all types of coping functional
As a general rule, relying on external mechanism to regulate emotions can backfire
e.g., relying on others; relying on substances
Alcohol myopia: “a state of shortsightedness in which superficially understood, immediate aspects of experience have a disproportionate in fluence on behavior and emotion, a state in which we can see the tree, albeit more dimly, but miss the forest altogether.” (Steele & Joseph,1990, p. 923)
1. Using alcohol to regulate anxiety and stress (e.g., fear; panic)
2. Using alcohol to feel better about one’s self (e.g., pride)
3. Using alcohol to lower inhibition to do things that otherwise they would not be able to experience (e.g., excitement)
Is it worth to vent anger
Anger is an uncomfortable emotion often experienced when we believe we were wronged
The catharsis myth: Reduce anger by acting aggressively to release it (aka venting or “blowing off steam”)
Counterproductive
Teaches to act aggressively and often leads to feelings of guilt
Personality: Approx 12 questions
What is personality
An individual’s characteristic patterns of thoughts, feelings, and behaviours persisting over time and across situations
Ex: The sevel dwarves
How can we understand the whole person
Psychodynamic theories: Focus on inner conflicts between innate drives (sex + aggression) and social forces
Humanist theories: Focus on private, subjective experiences and personal growth
Trait theories: Focus on identifying clusters of traits (adjectives) that can help differentiate people
Social learning theories: Focus on the role of socialization and mental processes (e.g., schemas); emphasizes interaction between person and(social) environment
What is a psychodynamic approach to personality
Change of perspective: physical symptoms could be caused by purely psychological factors
Fascinated by the unconscious
formulaed a theory of the structure of human personality and its development
Psychoanalytic therapy, linked to a psychodynamic understanding of personality (in this class we can use psychodynamic and psychoanalytic)
Sigmund Freud (1856-1939)
What are the components of personality according to freud
At the start life, personality is made up of the id (“the pleasure principle”)
Then the ego develops (“reality principle”), negotiates the demands of the id with reality and, later, with the superego
Around age 4 or 5, the child develops the superego, a conscience internalized from parents and society, following the ideals of A “morality principle”
Iceberg picture (on slides)
Ego (mostly conscious: makes peace between the id and the super ego)
Super ego (internalized ideals)
Id (unconscious energy)
Conscious mind, preconcious (outside awareness but accessible), unconscious mind
How does personality emerge from these components
Personality emerges from the efforts of our ego, to resolve tension between our id and the superego
Stages of development (“Psychosexual stages”) are characterized by specific forms of tension
Ego’s resolution efforts are assumed to involve the use of “defence mechanisms”
What are the psycholosexual stages of freuds model
First 3 stages most important to prof
Oedipus complex
How the ego protects us
The ego reduces anxiety by unconsciously altering reality
Does this by using different “defence mechanisms”
Denial: Refusing to believe or even perceive painful realities
In most kids, bart simpsons “i didnt do it”, ask did you do it intentionally or did you just not do it, afraid of the consequences of their actions
Displacement: Shifting sexual or aggressive impulses toward a more acceptable or less threatening object or person
Nuclear familiy of 1950’s, husband get yelled at by boss but cant yell back so goes home and yells at the wife, the wife yells at the kid and kids reacts tword the dog
Projection: Disguising one’s own threatening impulses by attributing them to other
When someone suspects/knows their partner is cheating and they cheat in response and blame it on their actions, “i'm sure they cheated that's why i did it”
Rationalization: Offering self-justifying explanations in lieu of the real threatening unconscious reasons for one’s action
Not paying taxes, why because the gov is gonna misuse my money - semi-reasonable excuse mor for yourself than anyone
Reaction formation: switching unacceptable impulses into their opposites
masking/hiding own feelings
Boys lying and saying their not attracted to their mother because is socially unacceptable (ew)
Regression: Retreating to a more infantile psychosexual stage (where some psychic energy remains fixated)
Crawling into a ball when scared = reverting bact to fetal position
How do you access the unconscious
Psychoanalysis techniques for revealing the unconscious mind:
Creative techniques such as free association
Looking for meanings for the “latent” content of dreams or slips of the tongue
What are projective tests
Psychological assessment tools
Require people to respond to ambiguous or unstructured stimuli
Respondents project their unconscious thoughts and personality traits into their responses
Criticisms: test - retest reliability, if you ask someone and then again a week later the answers should be similar but the personality traits are different
Ink blotch test - asking patients what they see
Pics of a scene - asking what's happening
What are some of the main flaws in freuds research
Unfalsifiability
For many elements of Freudian theories, it is impossible to derive clear hypotheses
Unrepresentative sampling
A limited number of observations from a socioculturally and historically unique sample for theories that apply to humanity
Biased observations (confirmatory bias)
He elaborated and examined his theory by making observations about hispatients
Post facto explanations rather than predictions (hindsight bias)
Easily explain any behaviour after it has occured
What has research taught us about freuds ideas
Development appears to be lifelong, not set in stone by childhood
Infant neural networks are not mature enough to create adultlike interpretations of childhood trauma
We may ignore threatening information, but traumatic memories are usually intensely remembered, not repressed
Dreams (and slips of the tongue) have many possible origins
Gender and sexual identity seem to be more a function of genetics and social forces, as opposed to solely based on relationships with parents
What is a humanistic perspective on personality
Humanist psychology emerges in reaction to
the dehumanizing ideas in behaviourism
the dysfunctional view of people in psychodynamic perspectives
Carl Rogers (1902-1987)
Can use psychodynamic and psycho
A “Third Force” in psychology
Humanism focuses on the conditions that support healthy personal growth
As opposed to focusing on problems
Abraham Maslow (1908-1970)
How maslov understood the self actualizing person
Humans are fundamentally good and have an innate drive toward growth
Personality is shaped by needs and the pursuit of self-actualization
People are motivated by unfulfilled needs
Lower needs in the hierarchy must be satisfied before higher needs motivate
What are some characteristics of a self actualized person
Efficient perception of reality: Judge situations correctly and honestly; easily sense dishonesty
Acceptance of self, others and nature: Accept own flaws, those of others and of environment
Non-hostile send of humour: Laugh at oneself and/or make others laugh without without hurting anyone
Autonomy: Actions are free from external authorities or people; resourcefulness
Profound interpersonal relationships. Relationships marked by deep loving bonds
Peak experiences : Loss of awareness of time; mindfulness of the present moment; abilities are optimally challenged; without fear, constraints or contingencies
What is rogers person centered perspective
personality results from one’s sense of self
A consistent set of beliefs and perceptions about oneself
Includes both who you are (actual self) and who you want to be (ideal self)
Maladjustment results from a mismatch between the actual and ideal selves
What are the conditions to facilitate growth
Unconditional Positive Regard
Complete acceptance of the person without judgment
Valuing the individual regardless of their behaviours or feelings
Empathic understanding
Active listening
Genuineness (Congruence)
Consistency between inner experience and outer expression
How to strive for a congruent self
Much of the therapeutic approaches emphasize active listening
e.g., Non-judgemental mirroring
What about genetics
Lacks an appreciation for the contribution of genetic in fluences
e.g., Rogers saw aggression solely as a result of a mismatch of selves
Can humanism lead to too much self centerness
Self-acceptance and self-actualization do not encourage self-transcendence but self-centredness
Is it necessary to have a theory of personality?
Psychoanalytic and humanist approaches use complex theories to explain personality
e.g., Oedipus complex
Isn’t there a way to simply capture the type of person someone is? What makes them unique?
What is a trait based approach to personality
Is there a way to conceive of personality as observable styles?
Trait: An enduring quality that makes a person tend to act a certain way
Can these traits be clustered
Allport and Odbert (1936) identified 18 000 English words the represent personality traits
Factor analysis
Raymond Cattell (1946)
16 factors
Hans and Sybil Eysenck (1947)
2 dimension
What is eysenck's personality model
What are the big 5 personality factors (OCEAN)
Openness: Flexibility, nonconformity, variety
Conscientiousness: Self-discipline, careful pursuit of delayed goals
Extraversion: Drawing energy from others, sociability
Agreeableness: Helpful, trusting, friendliness
Neuroticism: Anxiety, insecurity, emotional instability
What are some of the ongoing questions about trait bases approaches
Does one’s profile of traits change over the lifespan? (stability)
Are traits learned or genetic? (heritability)
Is there one universal trait model? (culture)
e.g., Attempted to support the universality of the model by demonstrating similarity in the factor structure of Big Five across countries
Starting with a different language typically yields different models
e.g., Interpersonal Relatedness in China (Cheung, et al. 2011
What are standardized approaches to assess personality traits (types)
Personality Inventory
Questionnaire assessing many personality traits, by asking which behaviours and responses the person would choose
Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI); Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI); The Big Five (NEO-PI)
What is the myers briggs
Developed to examine personality as conceptualized by Jung by Myers and Briggs
16 personality type profiles
Belongs to a private company now called The Myers-Briggs Company
Taken by about 2 million people per year, mainly as part of hiring process
About $30 each time it is administered
1. Where you focus your attention
Extraversion (E) focus on outer world or Introversion (I) focus on inner world
“You enjoy having a wide circle of acquaintances
“You Find it difficult to speak loudly"
2. The way you take in information
Sensing (S) take information from senses, in the moment or Intuition (N) take information from big picture
“You like to keep a check on how things are progressing”
“You often think about humankind and its destiny
3. The way you make decisions
Thinking (T) prefer decision made through logic or Feeling (F) make decisions based on subjective evaluation
“You trust reason rather than feelings”
“Your actions are frequently in fluenced by emotions”
4. How you deal with the outer world
Judging (J) prefer planning and organizing or Perceiving (P) prefer to be spontaneous
“You usually plan your actions in advance”
“You believe the best decision is one that can be easily changed
What is the minnesota multiphasic personality inventory
The difference between this approach and other test development strategies is that this one is fully atheoretical
Development relied on patterns observed in the data using factor analysis
MMPI-3 has 335 items to rate
Owned by Pearson
Cost varies by package (around $40)
Clinical scales
Hypochondriasis, depression, hysteria, psychopathy, masculinity/femininity; paranoia, schizophrenia, hypomania, social introversion
Validity scales
designed to detect when clients are over-reporting or exaggerating the prevalence or severity of psychological symptoms
e.g., Client "faking bad"
designed to detect when test-takers are under-reporting or downplaying psychological symptoms
e.g., Client "faking good”, Denial/Evasiveness
Supplemental scales
e.g., Addictions Potential Scale
Examples from the MMPI
“Evil people are trying to influence my mind”
“I seem to hear things that other people can’t hear”
“I usually feel that life is worthwhile and interesting”
An example of reversed-coded: meaning that high values mean low on the dimension
“The best things in life are orange”
Dimension is not revealed to the general public, an attempt to control people trying to present themselves in a specific way
Item based on statistical averages
How is the big 5 assessed
NEO Personality Inventory published in 1985
Neuroticism, Extraversion, and Openness to experience
NEO-PI-R published in 1992
Covers all five trait domains of the Big Five
240 items
Privately owned
About $10 (US) per test
What do there tests predict
What makes us unique is important to most people; feels like something that should matter
If we are snowflakes, wouldn’t a test to figure out the configuration of that snowflake be great at predicting how we will act?
Personality tests struggle to predict any one instance of a behaviour
They predict the occurrence of behaviour over a long time
e.g., not whether or not you’ll have a drink tonight, but whether or not you’ll drink this month
Is that really useful?
What is missing to predict what someone will do in one instance
Sam is: Open to new experiences, Extroverted, Agreeable, Neurotic, Conscientious
Will Sam drink beer on Saint Patrick’s day?
Will Sam drink beer on the evening of December 10th 2024?
Need to know about the social context in which that personality will be expressed!
What is a social ;earning approach to personality
How do we interpret and respond to external events—social situations?
To interpret, we use our memories, schemas and our expectations
How do personality and social environment mutually influence each other?
What if you are in the same context over and over?
Are you always the same regardless of the context
Trait theory assumes that we have traits that are a function of personality, not context
What about contextual factors such as social roles?
e.g., neighbours playing hockey vs. foreman and worke
Reciprocal determinism: how personality, thoughts, social environment all reinforce/cause each other over time?
How else to understand the person
The Self: Assumed to be the centre of personality by socio-cognitive approaches
The main repository of our memories, schemas and expectations, which we use to interpret situations
Functions:
Stores information about us
Guides the processing of thoughts, feelings and actions
Where does self esteem come in
Self-esteem: The value of the self
Increased self-esteem has been observed to buffer inflammatory responses to acute stress
Is high self-esteem always a good thing?
Be mindful of purely trait based explanations for complex patterns of thoughts, emotions and behaviours
“She has ... “daddy issues”.”
“He’s “out of control”.”
Because in the end social sontext is a powerful side of that pancake