psy 301- emotions lecture

Introduction to Emotions

• Commonly perceived as nuisances, but play a crucial role in psychology.

• Students were asked to reflect on their current feelings through a survey.

• Recent scientific focus on emotions highlights their significance in daily life.

Function of Emotions

Emotions and Evolution

• Emotions serve functions that aid survival and reproductive success.

• The evolutionary perspective: Emotions help us engage in behaviors beneficial for gene propagation.

Examples of Emotions

• Disgust:

  • Purpose: Prevents ingestion of harmful substances.

  • Characteristics: Subjective feelings of repulsion and physical expressions (scrunching face, closing eyes).

• Love:

  • Purpose: Encourages bonding and caregiving, especially between parents and infants.

  • Mechanism: Motivates caretaking behaviors to enhance survival of offspring.

Emotional Motivation

• Emotions shape immediate behavior and long-term goals.

• Individuals are motivated to avoid negative feelings and pursue positive ones.

  • Example: Avoiding disappointing parents or experiencing heartbreak pushes students to strive academically and maintain relationships.

Survey on Fear

• Introduction of a survey asking about personal fears, particularly dangers relevant to the age group.

• Statistics on Fear:

  • Students reported low fear of cars, despite car accidents being a leading cause of injury and death.

  • Higher fears are reported for failure, guns, heights, and snakes.

Misalignment of Fear

• Evolutionary lag: Our fears are not always aligned with present-day dangers.

• Example:

  • Cars are recent in human history; hence, evolutionary instincts may not reflect current threats.

  • Snake and spider fears are rooted in long-standing evolutionary survival.

Preparedness for Fear

• Humans have evolved to be more readily afraid of certain stimuli.

• Example:

  • Even raised in captivity, primates easily acquire fears of snakes over non-threatening stimuli.

Emotions as Social Signals

Development of Social Emotions

• Young infants display basic emotions (joy, fear, anger) but not self-conscious emotions (pride, shame) until they recognize their social identity.

• Social emotions provide information regarding one's standing relative to social norms and group expectations.

Example of Shame Expression

• Demonstration: Korean student group showed shame after a shooting event by an unrelated individual sharing their ethnic background.

• This highlights how group identity can trigger emotional responses and expressions even when there is no direct guilt involved.

Dominance Hierarchy and Emotional Displays

Importance in Animal Behavior

• Animals use emotional displays to establish social hierarchies without physical conflict.

• Submission and dominance signals:

  • Animals expose vulnerable areas to signal submission, protecting themselves from potential conflict.

• Observing these signals helps all animals within a group understand their relative standings.

Interpretation of Emotional Displays

• The ability to accurately interpret emotional expressions varies among individuals.

• A survey is presented to evaluate participants' skills in reading facial emotions, reinforcing the social significance of emotional understanding.