11- Understanding emotions

Question 1

What are emotions?

Answer 1

acute and transient affective reactions which are triggered by meaningful stimuli. They involve a pattern of cognitive, psychological and behavioural reactions

Question 2

Evolutionary functions of emotion

Answer 2

• Facial expressions convey meaning to other and highlight emotional states
• Emotions help consolidate memories
• Directs us to actions
• Help repair and maintain close relationships
• Emotions are a form of non-verbal communication
• They help individuals solve a number of problems
• Choosing a mate
• Avoiding predators
• Cooperation
• Find food
• Avoid poison

Question 3

How did Darwin categorise emotions?

Answer 3

o Adaptive
o Universal
o Associated with specific biological states and neural circuits

Question 4

Ekman- 6 primary emotions

Answer 4

o Anger
o Contempt
o Disgust
o Enjoyment
o Fear
o Sadness
o Surprise

Question 5

Function of anger

Answer 5

Overcome obstacles

Question 6

Function of contempt

Answer 6

Assert power

Question 7

Function of disgust

Answer 7

Avoid harmful substances

Question 8

Enjoyment

Answer 8

Signals readiness for friendly interactions

Question 9

Function of fear

Answer 9

Avoiding danger

Question 10

Function of sadness

Answer 10

Encourages comfort from others

Question 11

Function of surprise

Answer 11

Prepare to assimilate a new experience

Question 12

Secondary emotions

Answer 12

• Culturally dependent
• Regret
• Anticipation
• Pride
• Jealousy

Question 13

Problems raised with basic emotion theories

Answer 13

1. Lack of agreement as to which emotions are primary
2. Limited evidence for distinct biological markers of each basic emotion in either neural activation or the autonomic system
3. Limited evidence that facial expressions are closely linked to emotions as has been claimed

Question 14

Dimensional models of emotion

Answer 14

• Views emotions not as discrete and resulting from independent systems
• Instead different emotions result from activity on different underlying dimensions
• Circumplex model uses arousal and valance
• Anger and fear cant both be on the model
• Alternative account VAD mode: Valance-Arousal-Dominance
• Also supported by neurotransmitter account

Question 15

Theories of emotion

Answer 15

• Emotions can be understood as having four major components
  o Subjective- private and subjective rang of states and experiences
  o Physiological- autonomic responses that usually accompany emotional states
  o Cognitive- Appraisal of stimuli and of our reactions to them
  o Behavioural- these can be expressive
• James-Lange Theory
  o The experience of emotion is cause by bodily changes
  o Introduced the idea that emotions may involve reading the state of one’s own body
  o We feel fear because we have physiological reactions
• Cannon-Bard Theory
  o Emotional stimuli have 2 independent excitatory effects:
  o The excite the feeling of emotion in the brain and the autonomic/somatic nervous systems
  o Fear and physiological reactions are parallel processes without causal relation
  o Spinal cord signals-
  o One way of testing these two theories is to look at what happens when signals from the body to the brain are disrupted
   J-L- should lead to reduced or even no emotional experiences
   C-B- emotional experiences unaffected
  o Cannon carried out these studies in mice but in humans we can look at people with spinal injuries
  o Some evidence that those with SCI do process emotional experiences differently
  o Some studies found no difference

Question 16

Facial expressions

Answer 16

• Our facial expressions may influence our emotional experience
• Study: participants rate how funny a cartoon is
  o Pen between lips
  o Pen between teeth
• Cartoon funnier when holding pen between teeth (with smile)
• Study replicated and results not the same
• However participants were filmed so that could be a extraneous variable
• When participants aren’t being filmed, the found the cartoon funnier

Question 17

2 factor theory- 1960s

Answer 17

• Situations trigger both a physiological response and a cognitive interpretation
• Emotional labels are attributed to relatively non-specific feeling of physiological arousal
• The attributions are a result of cognitive systems that interpret our current physical, social and cognitive state

Question 18

Testing the 2 factor theory

Answer 18

o Participants injected with adrenaline
- Manipulated expectancies
o Some told there would be no effect
o Others told their heart rate would increase
- Created a situation- participants were left ina room with a confederate
o Behave euphorically e.g. make paper aeroplanes
o Behave offensively and inappropriately- asked how many sexual relationships their mother has been in

Question 19

Erroneous appraisal

Answer 19

• One implication of 2 factor theory is that we could make errors when appraising emotional stimuli
• Bridge experiment
  o Participants were interviewed by an attractive experimented either on a modern, sturdy bridge or on a suspension bridge with very low handrails above a river
  o Experimenter gave their contact details to all participants and made themselves available to give further explanations about the experiment
• Participants interviewed on the suspension bridge were more likely to call her
• Also more likely to add sexual content to their interview stories

Question 20

Cognitive appraisal theory evidence

Answer 20

• Wanted to see if cognitive appraisal could influence physiological response
• Showed participants a film of an aboriginal ceremony where boys were circumcised with a stone knife
• 4 soundtracks
  o Trauma- sounded painful
  o Denial- doesn’t hurt and they’re prepared
  o Intellectualisation- didn’t talk about the circumcision but more about general culture
  o Silent footage
• Found that the type of track played affected the physiological response. Highest for trauma, lowest for denial

Question 21

Emotional recognition

Answer 21

Emotional recognition
- Many of the key functions of emotions are to communicate feelings
- Facial expression recognition is relatively consistent across cultures but there are differences
- Emotions can be expressed through non facial channels
- Vocal expressions of emotion
- Bodily expression of emotion
o Recognised as reliably as facial expressions
- Perception of body language can have an influence of perception of facial and vocal emotions