Chapter 7: Emotional Experiences
Making the Most of Emotional Experiences
Learning Objectives
7.1 Describe the emotional approach coping processes and identify how their psychological impact may be conditional on a variety of mediating and moderating variables.
7.2 Discuss different definitions of emotional intelligence and describe key findings in the emotional intelligence literature.
7.3 Describe key findings from research examining socioemotional selectivity theory.
7.4 Discuss the benefits of expressive writing.
7.5 Identify the biological/neural mechanisms related to emotional approach coping and emotional intelligence.
7.6 Understand the cultural differences and similarities identified in the research regarding emotional approach coping, emotional intelligence, socioemotional selectivity, and expressive writing.
Coping with Stress
General Handling of Emotions: How do people generally handle positive and negative emotions in a manner that leads to a positive outcome?
How Do You Adapt/Cope With Stress?
People adapt to or cope with stress in various ways, allowing for individual differences and preferences.
Common Coping Styles Include:
Take action to solve the problem.
Strategize about possible actions to take.
Consider options and plan.
Wait for the right time to act.
Seek opinions from others in similar situations.
Talk to others for emotional support.
Focus on positive aspects of the situation.
Accept the situation and learn to live with it.
Seek guidance from a higher power.
Vent emotions and get upset.
Deny the existence of the problem.
Give up trying to achieve desired outcomes.
Distract oneself through work or activities.
Use substances to avoid thoughts of the problem.
Indulge in personal comforts like food or spending money.
Emotion-Focused Coping: Discovering the Adaptive Potential of Emotional Approach
Intense Emotions: Often viewed as irrational and dysfunctional.
Cultural Attitudes: "I blame myself for becoming too emotional."
Emotional Approach:
Defined as the movement toward a stressful encounter, as opposed to emotional avoidance, which is movement away from a stressful situation (Stanton et al., 2002).
Two Neurobiological Systems
Behavioral Activation System (BAS):
Regulates appetitive behavior, seeking emotional and behavioral rewards.
Behavioral Inhibition System (BIS):
Regulates avoidance behavior, steering clear of negative events and punishments.
Processes in Approach-Oriented Emotion-Focused Coping
Emotional Processing: Involves attempts to understand one's emotions.
Emotional Expression: Refers to free and intentional displays of feelings (Stanton et al., 2000).
Benefits of Emotion-Focused Coping
Associated with:
Improved self-esteem and life satisfaction.
Beneficial effects against discrimination.
Cultural Perspectives
Minor Stressors: In Western cultures, some emotional expression can be beneficial.
Emotional processing becomes adaptive as individuals understand their feelings and the reasons behind them.
Cultural Differences: Emotional suppression may preserve harmony in Asian cultures, where traditional values favor suppression while contemporary views allow for expression.
Importance of Understanding Emotional Approach
Better comprehension of experiences and central concerns.
Habituation to predictable negative experiences.
Recognition that emotional pain can diminish over time.
Learning to take control through coping methods.
Neuroscience and Cultural Differences
Cultural specificity influences the ability to minimize emotional responses during suppression.
Neuroscience Findings: Under calm conditions, the hippocampus aids in regulating thoughts; under stress, the amygdala takes over.
Mediating and Moderating Factors
Mediating Factors: Affect labeling, reappraisal of stressors, goal clarification, stronger social networks.
Moderating Factors: Characteristics of emotional expression, nature of stressors, social context, and individual differences.
Research on Discrimination and Emotional Coping
Studies reveal that emotion-focused coping is negatively correlated with chronic stress due to discrimination.
Racialized individuals are reported to use more emotion-focused coping compared to white populations (Vasilliere et al., 2016).
Contemporary Asian individuals may blend emotional suppression with expression (Lee, 2013).
Alexithymia
Definition: Lack of emotional awareness, difficulty in identifying and describing feelings, and distinguishing feelings from bodily sensations of emotional arousal.
Potential Causes: Involves neurological factors like smaller corpus callosum, decreased right hemisphere activity, and dysfunctional anterior cingulate cortex.
Nonverbal Expression of Emotion
A significant portion of emotional expression is nonverbal, involving:
Facial expressions, gestures, and postures.
Nonverbal leakage is a strong indicator of concealed emotions and is essential for communication.
Micro Expressions
Brief, involuntary facial expressions that reveal true emotions. Common expressions include:
Sadness:
Drooping upper eyelids, losing focus, slight pulling down of lip corners.
Anger:
Furrowed brows, glaring eyes, narrowed lips.
Contempt:
Tightened lip corners raised on one side.
Disgust:
Nasal wrinkling, raised upper lip.
Surprise:
Eyebrows raised, eyes widened, mouth open for only one second.
Fear:
Raised and pulled together eyebrows, tense lower eyelids, stretched horizontal lips.
Body Language and Gestures
Posture conveys emotions subconsciously; gestures express emotions explicitly.
Emblems: Culturally specific gestures like thumbs up, waving, etc.
Personal Space
Proxemics: The study of personal space, categorized as:
Public (12 feet or more), Social (4-12 feet), Personal (1.5-4 feet), Intimate (0-1.5 feet).
Cultural and sex differences moderate these distances.
Emotional Intelligence
Definition: According to Salovey & Mayer, emotional intelligence is "the ability to monitor one's own and other people's emotions, to discriminate between different emotions and label them appropriately, and to use emotional information to guide thinking and behavior."
Learning the Skills of Emotional Intelligence
Definitions by Experts:
Daniel Goleman emphasizes the importance of emotional intelligence.
Bar-On (1997) defined characteristics of emotional intelligence through the EQI model including self-regard, empathy, and tolerance among others.
The Challenge of Definitions: A plethora of definitions exist, complicating the understanding of the concept.
Salovey and Mayer's Four-Branch Model of Emotional Intelligence
Branch 1 - Perceiving Emotions:
Ability to identify emotions in oneself and others, express emotions adequately, and discriminate between authentic and inauthentic expressions.
Branch 2 - Using Emotions to Facilitate Thought:
Redirecting thinking based on emotions, using emotions to facilitate judgment and creativity.
Branch 3 - Understanding Emotions:
Grasping relationships among emotions and understanding emotional transitions.
Branch 4 - Managing Emotions:
Ability to be open to all feelings, monitor emotions, and manage them in oneself and in others.
Implications of Emotional Intelligence
Emotional intelligence contributes to positive interpersonal functioning and understanding social dynamics, potentially exceeding the Big 5 personality traits.
It can be taught to benefit from emotional experiences and enhances other cognitive abilities like resilience and mindfulness.
How to Increase Emotional Intelligence?
Methodology suggested by Margaret Andrews from Harvard includes:
Recognize and Name Emotions: Acknowledge feelings in various situations and how one would like to respond.
Seek Feedback: Ask for evaluations from friends and family regarding emotional responses and adaptability.
Read Literature: Engaging with narratives from different perspectives can enhance social awareness and emotional understanding.
Socioemotional Selectivity Theory
Overview: Proposed by Carstensen (1998), this theory posits that as individuals age, they focus more on positive emotions and reduce engagement with negative emotions.
Implications: Older adults prioritize meaningful emotional experiences as they become aware of their limited time, leading to a diminished concern with trivial matters.
Cultural Findings on Socioemotional Selectivity
Research reflects that Chinese older adults tend to remember fewer negative images compared to American adults, indicating cultural influences on the perception of aging and emotional experience.
Emotional Storytelling: The Pennebaker Paradigm
Introduction: Dr. James Pennebaker's studies highlight the health benefits of emotionally expressive writing.
Key Findings: Expressive writing is linked to fewer physician visits, particularly using positive emotion words.
Groups Benefitting: Includes those like breast cancer survivors and LGBTQ+ individuals dealing with discrimination.
Cultural Context: Responses can vary across cultures, e.g., emotional writing impacts differ between Asian and American participants.
Instructions for Expressive Writing
Duration: Minimum of 20 minutes per day for four consecutive days.
Topic: Writers should choose highly personal and significant topics.
Continuous Writing: Focus on unstructured writing without concern for punctuation or grammar.
Confidentiality: The writing should be strictly personal, with no intention to share it.
Stopping if Overwhelmed: Writers should cease if they feel emotionally overwhelmed.
Expect Negative Emotion Initially: It is common to feel temporarily saddened after writing, especially on early days, but this usually dissipates.
Emotions and Context
Understanding Emotion: Emotional experiences are culturally variable; expressions, and their intensity differ greatly.
Examples: Anger is expressed openly in North America but is often suppressed in Eastern cultures. Cultural context shapes emotional expression patterns.
An Emotional Balancing Act
Emotional Intensity: High intensity can lead to avoidance, occasionally providing adaptive benefits.
Potential Risks: Rumination and unbalanced emotional processing may impair decision-making leading to challenges like depression and emotional numbing.