Emotion

1. Chapter 13 Emotion

2. The Nature of Emotion

3. Defining Characteristics Organized psychological and physiological reactions to changes in our relationship to the world Both subjective and objective Subjective level has several characteristics: is usually temporary is either positive or negative is elicited partly by a cognitive appraisal of how the situation relates to your goals How you interpret an event alters thought processes by directing attention towards things and away from others Triggers an action tendency or the motivation or behave in a certain way Are passions that happen to you

4. Defining Characteristics cont. Subjective emotions are triggered by the thinking self and felt as happening to the self Objective aspects of emotions include learned and innate expressive displays and physiological responses How your body responds to emotions Emotions are a temporary experience with either positive or negative qualities Allows people to communicate their internal states and intentions to others Also directs and energizes a person�s thoughts and actions Can organize and disrupt thoughts and behavior

5. The Biology of Emotion Central nervous system and the autonomic nervous system Brain Mechanisms Three basic features of brain�s control of emotion: Activity in the limbic system (amygdala) Brain�s control over emotional and nonemotional facial expressions Contributions of the cerebral hemispheres in experience, perception and expression of emotion

6. The Biology of Emotion cont. Mechanisms of the Autonomic Nervous System �fight-or-flight� syndrome Involved in the physiological changes in emotion

7. Theories of Emotion

8. The James-Lange Theory William James (1890) Body responds before your brain Afraid of something because you run away from it Physiological responses relate to emotional experience w/o them, we would feel no fear According to James, emotion must be the result of experiencing a particular set of physiological responses Called James-Lange theory because Carl Lange, a Danish physician, offered a view similar to James�s Polygraphs or lie detector tests (p. 508-509)

9. The Cannon-Bard Theory Walter Cannon disagreed w/James�s theory Cannon believed that one does not cause the other; they happen simultaneously, but separately from one another

10. Cognitive Theories Schachter-Singer Theory (two-factor theory) emotions we experience are partly shaped by the way we interpret the arousal we feel Argued James�s theory was correct; but req�d some modifications combination of feedback from peripheral responses and the cognitive interpretation of what caused those responses May have different interpretations of the same response

11. Cognitive Theories cont. How you label your arousal depends on attribution Process of identifying the cause of an event Theory is not fully accepted today; but it did stimulate more research Transferred excitation When physiological arousal from one experience carries over to affect emotion in an independent situation Ex. Bad day just gets worse

12. Cognitive Theories cont. Richard Lazarus (1966) Cognitive appraisal theory Process begins when we decide whether or not an event is relevant to our well-being (do we care?) If so, we will feel a positive or negative reaction based on whether it is helping or hurting us achieving our goals

13. Experienced Emotion

14. The Adaptation-Level PrincipleHappiness is relative to our prior experience Our tendency to judge various stimuli against prior experience Allen parducci Utopia?

15. The Relative Deprivation Principle: Happiness is Relative to Others� Attainments