w5 - Functions of Emotions in Everyday Life (FEEL) Flashcards
(25 cards)
What evidence is there that our emotions span both time and space?
Time: contemporay particiapnts were able to correctly identify the emotion assoicated with an activity grouping of historic statues from facial expressions
Space: cross-cultural correlation of colour assoications with emotion-words
What effect does the inclusion of a negative, or a positive emotion, have on the receiver?
Neg: felt sense the sender is in a negative mood, despite content of message
Pos: increase sense of warmth of sender
Izard (2010)
What trends were found when analysing contemporary definitions of emotion
- It is valenced (pos/neg)
- A response to event / situations relevant to current goals
- Involved changes across many dimensions
Scherer (1984, 2001)
What three components of an emotions are well agreed upon
- Subjective experience (feelings)
- Psysiological reactions (bodily sensations)
- Expression (face, body, voice)
What two components of emotion are more contested?
- Cognition (appraisals)
- Action tendencies (motivation to act)
Do the 5 components of emotion fit together (cohere)? What is the evidence ?
No. There is only small to moderate correlations between emotional components.
There is also large individaul differences in how each component expresses itself.
Is higher emotional coherence linked with well-being ?
Higher coherence is associated with increased life satisfaction.
Affect is thought of as umbrella. What processes come under it?
- Stress
- Emotion
- Mood
- Impulses
Emotion v. Mood
Both directed toward a specific object?
Only emotions are directed at a specfic object?
Emotion v. Mood
Are there physiological changes in both ?
Emotion: YES
Mood: not necessarily
Core tenent
**Basic Emotion Theory **
There are a finite number of emotions which are hard wired in us
What are the five emotions in basic emotion theory ?
extra points for + 2 emotions left out
- Anger
- Fear
- Sadness
- Disgust
- Happiness / joy
*Surpise and contempt
Ekman’s Theory
Name 5 theory components for basic emotion
- Distinct uniiversal signals (facial expressions)
- Presence in other primates (evolved)
- Distinctive physiology
- Distinctive universal antecedent events (e.g., evolved fears
- Coherence among components
Ekaman’s Theory
Name 4 contested features of basic emotion.
- Quick onset (pre-concious)
- Brief duration (seconds / minutes)
- Automatic appraisal
- Unbidden occurrence (can’t choose when they occur)
What is one piece of evidence against basic emotion theory
Quite small effect sizes of the differences between negative emotions
Should be clearer differences between emotions if valid
i.e small effect between sadness vs anxiety
What is an appraisal?
How we evaluate our environment and whether it will be good or bad for us
What are some of the core tenents of Appraisal theory
- Variability is the rule rather than the expection for emotion
- Emotion varies between-persons
- Emotions varies for an individual in different situations, even from the same category (within-persons)
- Appraisals cause emotions (appraisal are based on current goals)
What are the six key appraisal dimensions?
- Goal relevance
- Goal congruence (is it advan or disadvantagious to you)
- Self vs. other responsibility
- Control / power (do you have any?)
- Coping potential
- Future expectancy
emotions are based on a mixture of these
Psychological Construction Theories is all about …
How we construct our world based on context cues that we are given
Core tenents of Psychological Construction Theory
- Ingredients that make up emotions are not unique to specific emotion
- Emotions are* products of the human mind*, rather than things in nature
- Variation is the norm
What do emotion theories agree upon ?
- Emotions have functions
- These are functional for specific situations
What is the smoke detector principle ?
The cost of a ‘false alarm’ is much lower than the cost of missing a threat.
Therefore a bias toward false alarms is adaptive
What are three functional groups of emotions ?
- Intrapersonal : individually
- interpersonal : relationships
- social and cultural: functioning of our societies and cultures at large
