Psychology

1. Psychology Lecture VI Jolanta Babiak Winter semester 2018/2019

2. EMOTIONS • Complex pattern of bodily and mental changes including: • Physiological arousal • Feelings • Cognitive processes • Behavioral reactions Made in response to a situation perceived as significant to an individual

3. EMOTIONS AND MOODS • Emotions – specific reactions to specific events eg. Feeling of joy and happiness after defense of your master thesis; are rather short lived and intense • moods – are less intense and may live longer e.g. Couple of days; connection between moods and triggering events is rather weak

4. EMOTIONS AND CULTURE • Are emotional responses universal across cultures? Silvan Tomkins research • Are facial expressions universal? Paul Ekman research • seven universally recognized expressions of emotion • Fear, 2.disgust, 3. contempt, 4. anger, 5. sadness, 6. surprise, 7. happiness

11. PAUL EKMAN THEORY OF EMOTIONS • reflects common contribution of the brain (product of evolution) and culture in emotional expression • Our brain signals which facial muscles to move for the face to have specific expression in response to an emotion • Different cultures impose own constraints on expression of emotions beyond biological orders(Fore tribe and American students: surprise & fear); Japanese adults were worse at identifying anger than were U.S, Vietnamese adults were worse at identifying disgust

12. CULTURE AND EMOTIONAL EXPRESSIONS • different cultures have different standards for how emotion should be managed • social rules for when people may show certain emotions • social appropriateness of certain types of emotional displays • Given types of people • Wolof people of Senegal – High-caste members are expected to show great restraint in their emotions • Middle East– “professionally” wailing women at the funerals • Japan – indicated less approval for open emotional expressions of pain

13. Physiology of emotion • What happens when we experience a strong emotion? How our body reacts to the situation triggering e.g. strong fear? • Autonomic nervous system, ANS • Sympathetic division: release of hormones epinephrine and norepinephrine • Parasympathetic division: inhibit release of activating hormones • strong emotions such as fear or anger activate the body’s emergency reaction system

14. CENTRAL NERVOUS SYSTEM • hypothalamus and limbic system: control systems for emotions and for patterns of attack, defense, and flight • Neuroanatomy research has particularly focused on the amygdala as a part of the limbic system that acts as a gateway for emotion and as a filter for memory • Processing of emotional information attaching meaning to negative experiences; • Amygdala acts as a threat detector

15. RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN EMOTIONS AND PHYSIOLOGICAL REACTIONS • Do emotions precede responses? • James-Lange theory of body reaction: – feedback from the body is the source of emotions -we feel after our body reacts – (we feel sorry because we cry) James–Lange theory is considered a peripheralist theory because it assigns the most prominent role in the emotion chain to visceral reactions, the actions of the autonomic nervous system that are peripheral to the central nervous system • Cannon-Bard Theory of Central Neural Processes: emotional trigger is a source of two simultaneous reactions – arousal and emotional experiences; that do not cause each other; neither the body nor the mind dictates the way the other responds

16. Cognitive appraisal theories of emotions • Schachter’s two-factor theory of emotion: the experience of emotion is the joint effect of physiological arousal and cognitive appraisal. Both parts are necessary for an emotion to occur; arousal is assumed to be general and undifferentiated, and arousal is the first step in the emotion sequence. • Lazarus Cognitive appraisal theory: emotional experience is a result of interactions with the environment which are being appraised; experiment: wobbley bridge • Robert Zajonc: there are circumstances, in which people show preference to certain stimuli, and not know why; conclusion: cognitive appraisal is important but not the only element of emotional experience

17. The impact of mood and emotions on social life • Emotions: social glue and a means to get distanced • Positive and negative moods influence how people process information • Nm: information is processed in more detailed and effortful fashion • Pn: information is processed more superficially and effortlessly; more efficient and creative thinking, better problem solving than people in neutral emotional state

18. WELL-BEING • Reasearch supports strong influence of the genes on personal well-being: genetic factors accounted for ca. 50 percent of the variance in subjective well-being • Most traumatic experiences, like loosing a job or divorce have destructive influence on sobjective well-being • Social connectedness has strong impact on subjective well-being • After basic needs get secured, there is week correlation between wealth and subjective well-being • An important component of people’s judgments of subjective well-being is the balance of positive and negative emotions in their lives.

19. Functions of emotion • Motivate to take action • Direct and sustain behaviors toward specific goal • Emotional responses impact the focus of attention (memory experiment of emotionally charged or neutral photographs) • Emotions regulate social interactions • Impact person’s behavior in a social setting; mood - politeness experiment • Stimulate prosocial behavior; feel good – helping behaviors; feel guilty – helping behaviors

20. Emotions and cognitive functioning • Emotions influence • what is attended to • The way person perceives himself or herself • The way person perceives others • The way person interprets life situations • The way person remembers life situations • Emotional states affect • Learning • Memory • Social judgements • creativity

21. Stress • What situations in your life do you find most stressful?

22. Stress: background noise • Psychologicalstressinherentattribute of emotions • Stressreactions–meaning a person ascribes to stressing stimulus (subjectivecognitiveappraisal) • Stress–stimulus, situationor event with specificnegativefeatures (difficultcircumstances, deprivation of needs) • Stress–emotionalreactions, experiences, usuallyfrightning • Stress–relationshipbetweenenvironmentalelements and individualfeatures of a person

23. Stress and stressor • Stress is a pattern of responses characterized by negative emotions, like anxiety, fear or anger, and other distressing emotional states, linked with biochemical and physiological reactions which disturbs equilibrium and exceeds the ability to cope (Strelau, 2016) • A stressor is a stimulus that places a demand on an organism for some kind of adaptive response; internal and external conditions • Response to stressors embraces various reactions on physiological, behavioral, emotional and cognitive levels

24. Physiological reactions to chronic stress • Many kinds of stressors trigger the same reaction of an organism • adaptation – maintaining or regaining well-being or homeostasis (Hans Selye) • GAS – general adaptation syndrome • Alarm reaction • Resistance • Exhaustion • Physiological stress reactions are built-in responses with no conscious control from a person • What serves the body well while acute stress strikes it is detrimental for chronic stress situations

25. Physiological reactions to acute stress • Reactions to acute stress: sequence of activity in nerves and glands to prepare to defend or run away (fight or flight response) • Breathing becomes faster and deeper • Heart rate increases • Blood vessels constrict • Blood pressure rises • Face is expressing strong emotions • Differences in acute stress reactions between men and women: females rather experience tend-and-befriend response • Contemporary stress situations differ in extent and degree of intensity

26. Reactions to stress - GAS – general adaptation syndrome • Alarm stage: physiological resources are mobilized, alertness increases • Serious increases in anxiety or fear • Increase in sorrow or depression • Feeling of shock or confusion • Resistance stage: the body begins to store up excess energy due to defense mechanisms, which include: • Aggression • Regression • Repression • Withdrawal • Fixation • Exhaustion: when stress overwhelms, defenses produce pathological consequences

27. Stress appraisal – psychological stress reactions • Psychological reactions are learned • Depend on perceptions of the world • Depend on interpretation of events what is stressful and what is not

28. Psychological reactions to stressing events • Major changes in life; positive and negative changes • Life events don’t have the same impact on all people • Traumatic events – unpredictable, uncontrollable, ambiguous • Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) – persistent re-experiences of negative event • Post-traumatic stress growth (PTSG) – once the stressor is mitigated psychological growth might occur

29. Chronic stress • Often arises from the conditions in the environment and society • Poverty • Chronic work stress • Job burnout • Daily hassles

30. Job burnout • Herbert Freudenberger (1974) –extremedepletion of individual’sresourcesincludingenergy and vitality • Christina Maslach (2000) – syndrom of • Emotionalexhaustion • Depersonalization • Reducedpersonalaccomplishment • Burnout is correlated with greater absenteeism, turnover, lower job performance, poor relations with co-workers and family members, poor personal health

31. Daily hassles • The more frequent and intense daily hassles the poorer the psychological and physical health • The more interpersonal unexpected encounters person experiences at work the greater the fatigue and subjective workload • If daily hassles are balanced out by positive events and uplifts a person might maintain good overall health • Coping strategies play a great role in preserving well-being in life

32. Coping with stress • Cognitive appraisal of stress – interpretation and evaluation of stressor • Reappraising the nature of the stressor • Restructuring the cognitions about the stress reactions • Problem-focused coping: confronting the problem directly by e.g. • destroying the problem, • distancing from the threat • Seek options to fight or flee • Prevent future stress by building resilience • (useful for managing controllable stressors) • Emotion-focused coping: focus on emotions and changing the self to feel better • (useful for uncontrollable stressors)

33. Positive side of stress • Social support – resources others provide in the form of emotional support, tangible support, informational support – if adequate helps alleviate stress • Eustress – e.g. rollercoaster for some people • Personal growth after very negative event – people's ability to find positive aspects of stressful event • Post-traumatic growth • New possibilities • Relating to others • Personal strength • Appreciation of life • Spiritual change

34. Balance in various aspects of life foster resiliency

35. Bibliography • Gerrig R.J. (2012). Psychology and Life, London, Pearson Education, Ltd. – chapter 12 • Maslach, C., Leiter, M.P. () Reversing Burnout. How to rekindle your passion for your work. Stanford Social Innovation Review • Strelau, J. (2016). Różnice indywidualne: historia, determinanty, zastosowania. Warszawa: Wydawnictwo Naukowe SCHOLAR • Whetten, D. A., Cameron K. S. (2011). Developing Management Skills. New Jersey: Person education, Inc.