EMOTIONS Emotion Theories

1. EMOTIONSEmotion Theories AP PSYCH

2. EMOTIONS • You are outside in your yard, when out of the corner of your eye, you see a large pit bull running your way. It’s snarling its large teeth as it gets close to you. • How do you feel? What do you do? • Fear, nervous, frightened • Start sweating, shaking, run away

3. Emotions • 4 part process, that interacts with each other (nonlinear) • Physiological arousal – how your body responds • Fear sets off an alarm in your autonomic nervous system, enabling you to react. Knot in your stomach, heart racing, sweating… • Cognitive interpretation – thinking about your emotion • The more you think about your emotions, the more heightened they become • This dog is going to hurt me, I am scared of dogs… • Subjective feelings- How we feel based on our body reactions and our past experiences • Being afraid, the time that dog bit me when I was a kid makes me especially scared • Behavioral expressions - Facial expressions, vocalizations, action • Scared look on your face, screaming “Oh no, run” and running away

4. Emotions involve genetics and learning • Genetics • Genetic predisposition for depression • Emotions have survival value and have been shaped by natural selection • Good to fear things that can harm us • Jealously has evolved to deal with the biological importance of reproducing • Humor evolved to serve social purpose - bonds groups • Learning • Classical conditioning • Observational Learning

5. Paul Ekman – basic emotions • People understand the same “facial language” around the world • Humans share universal emotions • Smile – happy • Frown – sad or upset • People everywhere can recognize 7 basic emotions • Sadness • Fear • Anger • Disgust • Contempt • Happiness • Surprise

6. Two emotion processing pathways • Unconscious – linked to implicit memory • FAST • Our body and brain quickly process and respond to incoming stimuli • Operates automatically, without deliberate conscious control • Example: jolting up in the middle of the night to a loud noise • Classical conditioning • Little Albert’s fear of white objects • Conscious – linked to explicit memory • SLOWER • Getting excited when you think about Christmas break • Feeling nervous about a test • Feel emotions because we are consciously thinking about them **Systems are linked: We can have an unconscious fear of heights, and consciously know its irrational, or feel more frightened when just thinking about high places.

7. The Neuroscience of Emotion • THE LIMBIC SYSTEM • Control mechanism in brain for the body's attack, defense, and retreat function. • known as the "fight-or-flight" response– works with ANS • When parts of the limbic system are electrically stimulated, dramatic changes in emotions are produced • Amygdala processes unconscious and conscious emotional messages

8. The Neuroscience of Emotion • Reticular Formation • Detect emotional reactions, (anger and fear) • Works with the thalamus and amygdala to observe incoming information. • When a threat is detected, the reticular formation is what sets off automatic physiological arousal. In return, it may increase heart rate, tense muscles, and trigger sweat and/or a dry mouth.

9. The Neuroscience of Emotion • Cerebral Cortex • Main component in our conscious emotional pathway • Interprets events, associates them with memories

10. The Neuroscience of Emotion • Autonomic Nervous System • Parasympathetic – pleasant emotions • Sympathetic – unpleasant emotions • Brain alerts our body to stressful situations through the Sympathetic NS • Heart race, blood pressure rise, etc • Parasympathetic restores body to regular state to counteract sympathetic, return body to normal

11. The Neuroscience of Emotion • Neurotransmitters • Serotonin – depression • Epinephrine (adrenalin) – fear • Norepinephrine - anger