lecture 14- emotion and learning

Question 1

what is observational learning?

Answer 1

animals learn about danger/group norms by observing reactions of other group members

Question 2

what did Mineka et al. (1984) find about observational learning in monkeys?

Answer 2

• wild monkeys are afraid of snakes
• evidence: visual cells in the pulvinar more active
• monkeys reared in captivity can have little fear of snakes (reach past them to get food)
• suggests an element of observational learning is required in developing fear of snakes
• when captive monkeys exposed to wild monkeys, rapidly start to evoke fear responses and no longer reach round snakes
• no direct negative consequences for the captive monkey, yet stimulus becomes threatening because of observational learning
• may be due to mirror cells

Question 3

what is the mirror neuron system?

Answer 3

a subset of neurons in the macaque rostral part of inferior premotor cortex fire when the monkey carries out a particular action AND also when he observed the same action being carried out

Question 4

what happens when we observe an action being carried out by another person?

Answer 4

the same motor circuits that are recruited when we ourselves perform that action are momentarily activated

Question 5

what is the chameleon effect?

Answer 5

• people unconsciously mimic the postures of the people they interact with, resulting in pro-social behaviour
• overt copying of body posture and actions is most likely when people are in comfortable social interactions
• mirroring of action seems to facilitate social interaction (Chartrand & Bargh 1999)

Question 6

what study did Van Baaren et al. (2003) and (2004) carry out on the chameleon effect?

Answer 6

• waitress mimicked half her customers by literally repeating their order or did not mimic her customers
• received significantly larger tips when she mimicked her customers than when she did not
• when a person’s actions are mimicked, they tend to like the mimicker more
• during a mock marketing task, experimenter mimicked the posture of half the participants
• copying body orientation, position of arms and legs
• participants who had been mimicked were more helpful (picking up dropped pens) and generous toward other people (donating to charity) than were non-mimicked participants
• after being mimicked, people are more likely to produce more pro-social behaviour in helping others and giving to charity

Question 7

what is emotional mimicry?

Answer 7

• when obserivng the emotional repsonse of another individual, learning might be facilitated by simulation
  
  • we are in the same motor state of another person- hence we feel what they are feeling
• when we observe emotion, we mimic that emotion
  
  • our own facial muscles copy those of another person

Question 8

how do we discriminate between positive and negative emotions physiologically?

Answer 8

• electromyography (EMG) records weak muscle activity
• positive emotion = zygomaticus activity increased (more smiling activity when looking at happy person)
• negative emotion = corrugator activity increased (more frowning activity when looking at sad person)
• means people mimic other facial expressions in subtle ways, even when not trying to

Question 9

what has been found about subconscious mimicry?

Answer 9

• emotion mimicry response appears to be automatic
• Cannon, Hayes & Tipper (2009)- when a face is completely irrelevant to a person’s task and is ignored, the emotion is still mimicked
• Dimberg, Thunberg & Elmehed (2000)- an even if the emotional face is subliminal and people are unaware of its presence, mimicry of emotion still takes place

Question 10

what does the data about subconscious mimicry suggest?

Answer 10

• automatic encoding of irrelevant emotional information and suppression of emotional information by selective attention
• tendency for facial muscle activity to be suppressed when ignoring emotional content of face, but still mimicked (zygomaticus and corrugator activity)