Emotions Flashcards
(55 cards)
basic emotions
anger, fear, happiness, disgust, sadness, and surprise
limbic system
controls the basic emotions, which are believed to have developed via evolution to help us make quick judgements and actions
secondary emotions
the emotions beyond the basic 6 often with cognitive components (interpreting experiences to create a diverse range of emotions), includes: guilt, enthusiasm, pride, etc.
James-Lange theory of emotion
- argues that all physical reactions create diff emotions, and that psychological response (emotion) is the RESULT of a physiological reaction
- created by William James and Carl Lange
- when confronted with a stimuli, it affects us physiologically, so feelings are a recognition/interpretation of what’s happening physically
Cannon-Bard theory of emotion
- argues that physical responses and emotions occur simultaneously but are independent of each other
- proposed by Walter Bradford Cannon and Philip Bard
- argues that it’s possible to experience emotion when the brain is excised from signals of bodily arousal, so emotion is accompanied by physiological arousal
Walter Bradford Cannon
- coined “fight-or-flight”
- developed theory of homeostasis
- concluded that the thalamus was most involved in physiological emotion while the cortex controls and inhibits them
- believed that the ANS is responsible for arousal and the cortex for subjective emotional experience
thalamic discharge
when this occurs, the bodily changes occur almost simultaneously with emotional experience but also independent of e/o; physiological experience doesn’t have to precede emotional expression/experience
Philip Bard
- Cannon’s student that identified the parts of the brain that might be responsible for generation of emotion
thalamic theory of emotion (C-B)
- suggests that when receptors are activated, they send a message to the cortex, which sends messages to hypothalamus and thalamus, whose responses determine the emotions we experience
- considered outdated since the thalamus is now considered as the relay station or the first to receive info from the body and send it to the cortex and emotions as involving many parts of the brain
Schacter-Singer/two-factor theory of emotion
argues that emotion is the result of an arousal and cognition (interpretation)
misattribution of arousal
tendency of ppl to incorrectly label the source of the arousal they’re experiencing
excitation transfer
phenomenon that occurs when ppl who are already experiencing arousal from one event tend to experience unrelated emotions more strongly
cognitive mediational theory
proposed by Richard Lazarus to argue that many emotions and cognitions come before arousal; sometimes, cognition happens before physiological arousal, if at all; involves primary appraisal (interpreting the stressors as threats or non-threats) and secondary appraisal (analyzing coping ability and available resources)
intrapersonal functions of emotions
- help us act quickly with minimal conscious awareness by preparing the body for immediate action (FOF)
- fuel our behaviour
- influence our thoughts and serve as motivation
interpersonal functions of emotions
- facilitate specific behaviours in perceivers
- signal the nature of interpersonal relationships
- provide incentives for desired social behaviours
cultural functions of emotions
- diff cultures have diff views of emotions and emotional expressions
- used to facilitate social order and control
- shared cultural worldviews help us have similar emotional experiences and management styles
- culturally moderated emotions help us engage in socially appropriate behaviours, which reduces social complexity and increases social order
cultural display rules
learned early in life to specify the management and modification of our emotional expressions according to social circumstances
hardiness
tendency to be less affected by stressors, introduced by Suzanne Kobasa, leads to less sympathetic arousal due to less excretion of stress hormones that dampen our immune response
Kobasa’s aspects of hardiness
- commitment
- control
- challenge
commitment
getting involved in your world, having an interest about the things around you
control
believing and acting as if you can influence the events around you
challenge
the belief that change rather than stability is the normal mode of life and constitutes motivating opportunities for personal growth instead of as a threat to security
optimism
a general tendency to expect positive outcomes, usually leading to less stress and more happiness
perceived self-efficacy
belief in our ability to carry out actions that produce desired results, interchangeable with having an internal locus of control
