Emotion

Emotion Overview

• Emotions are temporary psychological and physiological reactions to environmental changes.

• Exist for:

  • Survival: Emotions help focus attention (fight or flight).

  • Communication: Convey internal states to others.

The Chicken and the Egg

• Physiological Arousal vs. Emotional Experience:

  • Question if physiological arousal comes before or after the emotional experience.

  • For example, a racing heart can indicate fear.

  • Challenges arise: Is fear a result of physiological arousal or the other way around?

Theories of Emotion

James-Lange Theory

• Claims physiological responses precede emotional awareness.

• Example: Seeing a bear could lead to heart racing, which is interpreted as fear.

Cannon-Bard Theory

• Argues that physiological arousal and emotional experience occur simultaneously.

• One does not cause the other.

Two-Factor Theory (Schachter-Singer)

• Emotional experiences require a conscious interpretation of physiological arousal.

• Involves cognitive labeling of the arousal.

Expressed Emotion

• Developed by John Gottman using biofeedback and thin slicing in emotional studies.

• SPAFF Coding System: Used to analyze emotional states.

Basic Emotions

• Major emotional states identified include:

  • Happiness

  • Sadness

  • Anger

  • Surprise

  • Disgust

  • Fear

  • Contempt

Non-Verbal Emotional Expressions

• Sadness:

  • Drooping eyelids, losing focus in eyes, pulling down lip corners.

• Anger:

  • Eyebrows down and together, glaring eyes, narrowing of the lips.

• Contempt:

  • Lip corner tightened and raised on one side.

• Disgust:

  • Nose wrinkling, upper lip raised.

• Surprise:

  • Eyebrows raised, eyes widened, mouth open (quickly fades).

• Fear:

  • Eyebrows raised and pulled together, tensed eyelids, lips stretched back.

Emotions and Social Dynamics

Adaptation Level Phenomenon

• Judgments are relative to past experiences, leading to emotional tolerance.

• Example: Achievements may lead to temporarily heightened pleasure, but adaptation causes it to feel normal over time.

Relative Deprivation

• Involves comparing oneself to others around you, influencing emotional state.

• Example: Being a big fish in a small pond versus a small fish in a large pond.

Practical Application

Rating Exercise

• Participants rate cartoons on humor from 1-5 to evaluate emotional responses.

The Autonomic Nervous System

• Sympathetic Division: Controls arousal, releases adrenaline, increases heart rate and blood pressure.

• Parasympathetic Division: Calms the body by inhibiting stress hormones.

Experienced Emotions

• Emotions are characterized by:

  • Arousal: Ranging from low to high.

  • Valence: Pleasant versus unpleasant emotions.

Influences on Emotions

• Influencing factors include:

  • Biological factors

  • Physiological arousal

  • Evolutionary responses

  • Spillover effect

  • Cognitive labeling

  • Gender differences

  • Social and cultural factors

Emotional Expressivity Scale

• A series of statements to assess emotional expressiveness:

  • Ranges from self-perception of expressiveness to how others perceive one's emotions.

Results and Observations

• Total scores from emotional expressivity scale range from 17-102.

• Higher scores indicate higher emotional expressiveness.

• Notable difference observed in survey results:

  • Female mean = 66

  • Male mean = 61

• Potential for discussion on gender differences in emotional expressiveness.