Unit 11: Emotion Flashcards
Emotions
Emotions are our body’s adaptive response.
Theories of Emotion
Emotions are a mix of
1 physiological activation,
2 expressive behaviors,
3 conscious experience.
Controversy
Does your body go through changes first (heart beat accelerated, breathing, etc) or do you feel the emotion first?
Is thinking involved in emotion? If so, in what part of the process?
Commonsense View
Emotion ————> Physiological Changes
James-Lange Theory
Physiological Changes ——–> Emotion
Cannon-Bard Theory
Physiological Changes
Emotion
(Same Time)
Two-Factor Theory
Physiological Arousal —> Thinking (Cognition) ——> Emotion
come back
Embodied Emotion
Embodied emotions refers to what is happening in your body as an emotion is taking place. (Heart beating, pupil dilation, digestion changes, etc.)
Emotions and Autonomic Nervous System
During an emotional experience, our autonomic nervous system changes the body automatically.
Arousal and Performance (Yerkes Dotson Law)
Being moderately emotional (moderate arousal) is typically best when completing tasks. (Yerkes-Dodson Law)
Physiological Similarities
Your body’s physiological response is almost identical for most emotions. Meaning your body reacts very similarly when it’s happy and when it’s mad (heartbeat accelerates, breathing increases about the same…)
Physiological Differences
Finger temperature and movement of facial muscles differ depending on which emotion you are experiencing.
The Amygdala fires for anger and rage. The left side of the brain (frontal lobe) is usually more active for positive emotions, while the right side of the brain (frontal lobe) is usually more active for negative emotions.
Cognition and Emotion
What is the connection between how we think (cognition) and how we feel (emotion)?
Spillover Effect
An arousal response to one event spills over into our response to the next event.
Summary of Cognition and Emotions
Sometimes emotions are felt without thinking about them first. When this is the case it usually starts in the Amygdala in the brain. (Low road to emotion - Joseph Ledoux)
Sometimes thinking needs to happen before you feel a particular emotion. When this is the case your frontal lobe is typically the first part of your brain to be active. (High Road to emotion)
Expressed Emotion
Expressed emotions refer to facial expressions and body language.
Detecting Emotions
People are better at detecting negative emotions than positive emotions.
Gender, Emotion, and Nonverbal Behavior
Women are better at detecting emotions than men.
Detecting and Computing Emotion
Most people find it difficult to detect when people are deceiving them, or lying about their emotions.
Culture and Emotional Expression
Facial expressions are pretty much the same throughout the world.
Emotions are Adaptive
Darwin said that expressing emotions aided in our survival by being able to detect enemies and being able to easily communicate with others, even before language existed.
Elicitors
Elicitors are events that cause the same facial expressions in people.
Display Rules of Emotion
Display Rules of Emotion are cultural norms of how to express yourself (Ex: some cultures smile more than others.)
