Emotion

1. Emotion

2. Topics • Arousal and autonomic control • Polygraphs • Emotional expression and experience • Emotion and feelings

3. Arousal • The physical response that prepares the body and mind to act & • The level of activity summoned in the course of action

4. High arousal • Muscles tense up, receive more blood (oxygen and sugars) • Metabolic rate up • heart, breathing, • blood pressure • Endorphins released into bloodstream • Attention becomes narrowly focused Just do it !

5. Autonomic System • Arousal is controlled by the two divisions of the autonomic ‘system’ • Sympathetic • Parasympathetic • The ‘system’ consists of an ancient and complex set of predispositions controlled by limbic structures • Hypothalamus • Amygdala

6. Thesympathetic division prepares the body to take action Sympathetic --> same feeling --> behavior becomes more uniform E.g., heart rate becomes relatively regular The parasympathetic division allows the body to relax, to conserve energy and effort Parasympathetic --> behavior is less controlled E.g., heart rate varies ±20% Two divisions of the Autonomic System

7. What the sympathetic and parasympathetic divisions do Sympathetic division (take action) Pupils dilate Decreases Perspires Increases Accelerates Inhibits Secrete stress hormones Parasympathetic division (conserve effort) Pupils contract Increases Dries Decreases Slows Activates Decreases secretion of stress hormones EYES SALIVATION SKIN RESPIRATION HEART DIGESTION ADRENAL GLANDS

8. Arousal and Performance • Performance peaks at lower levels of arousal for difficult tasks, and at higher levels for easy or well-learned tasks • The inverted U of the “Yerkes-Dodson Law” Performance level Easy Difficult Low Arousal High

9. Polygraph - “lie detectors” • Measures several of the physiological responses accompanying arousal • perspiration • heart rate • blood pressure • breathing changes • ‘Interpretation’ = systematic misinterpretation of relative levels of sympathetic activation

10. Polygraph test protocol • Control Question • Up to age 18, did you ever physically harm anyone? • Relevant Question • Did the deceased threaten to harm you in any way? • IF sympathetic response to Relevant Q > response to Control Q • THEN you are judged to have lied

11. Polygraph test protocol • Control Question • Up to age 18, did you ever physically harm anyone? • Relevant Question • Do you still beat your wife? • IF sympathetic response to Relevant Q > response to Control Q • THEN you are judged to have lied

12. Polygraph tests are specious • 50 Innocents • 50 Thieves • 1/3 of innocent declared guilty • 1/4 of guilty declared innocent • (from Kleinmuntz & Szucko, 1984) Percentage 80 70 60 50 40 30 20 10 0 Innocent people Guilty people Judged innocent by polygraph Judged guilty by polygraph

13. Would you really trust a Polygraph Test? • Is 70% accuracy good? • Assume 5% of 1000 students actually guilty of cheating • Test all students • 285 will be wrongly accused • What about 95% accuracy? • Assume 1 in 1001 students actually guilty • Test all students (including 1000 innocents) • 50 wrongly declared guilty • 1 of 51 testing positive are guilty (2%)

14. Emotion and Feelings Note: Much of the material on emotion and feelings in the textbook is not up to date The material here goes beyond the book

15. Emotion • An adaptive physiological response to the status of your interaction with your environment • Emotion is multi-modal • physiological arousal • expressive behaviors • conscious experience • Emotion is NOT mediated by consciousness!

16. Emotion • An adaptive physiological response to the status of your interaction with your environment • You are in the world • The world impinges upon you • You and the environment are interacting • Emotion is your body’s automatic response to that interaction

17. The 6 basic emotions • Anger • Disgust • Fear • Joy • Sadness • Surprise

18. Two Dimensions of Emotion Positive valence pleasant relaxation joy Low arousal High arousal fear anger sadness Negative valence

19. Subjective Well-Being • Self-perceived and described happiness or satisfaction with life • Does not necessarily correlate with objective measures of well-being • Physical and economic indicators to evaluate people’s quality of life • Poor people can be perfectly happy and satisfied with life • Money don’t buy me love

20. The economics of well-being • Does money buy happiness? $20,000 $19,000 $18,000 $17,000 $16,000 $15,000 $14,000 $13,000 $12,000 $11,000 $10,000 $9,000 $8,000 $7,000 $6,000 $5,000 $4,000 100% 90% 80% 70% 60% 50% 40% 30% 20% 10% 0% Average per-person after-tax income in 1995 dollars ($1,000s) Percentage describing themselves as very happy Personal income Percentage very happy 1930 1940 1950 1960 1970 1980 1990 2000 Year

21. Factors of happiness Researchers have found that HAPPY people tend to Have high self-esteem (in individualistic countries) Be optimistic, outgoing, and agreeable Have close friendships or a satisfying marriage Have work and leisure that engage their skills Have a meaningful religious faith Sleep well and exercise However, HAPPINESS is NOT strongly related to Age Gender Education levels Parenthood (having children or not) Physical attractiveness

22. Emotion is universal • All people everywhere experience and express emotion the same way • The only difference? • Some folks are more open about it • Some are repressed • Men tend to be more repressed than women • Some are exhibitionistic • Both repression and exhibitionism have pathological extremes

23. Sex and expressiveness 16 14 12 10 8 6 4 2 0 Number of expressions Women Men Sad Happy Scary Film Type

24. Emotion and Feeling

25. A physiological response to your interaction with your environment Is evident to others Your body signals emotion Emotions precede feelings The conscious experience of emotion Feelings follow emotion You can exhibit emotion and not know it Emotion ≠ Feelings

26. Theories of Emotion • Does your heart pound because you are afraid... • Or • Are you afraid because you feel your heart pounding?

27. Sight of oncoming car (perception of stimulus) Pounding heart (arousal) Fear (emotion) James - Lange Theory of Emotion • The experience of emotion is awareness of physiological responses to arousing stimuli • You are afraid because you feel your heart pounding

28. Sight of oncoming car (perception of stimulus) Fear (emotion) Cannon - BardTheory of Emotion • Arousing stimuli simultaneously trigger: • physiological responses • subjective experience of emotion Pounding heart (arousal)

29. The problem with Cannon-Bard • Arousing stimuli simultaneously trigger: • physiological responses • subjective experience of emotion • But emotions exist whether or not you feel them • Emotions precede feelings

30. Feelings Pounding heart (arousal) feelings Sight of oncoming car (perception of stimulus) Fear (emotion) Cognitive label “I’m afraid” Schachter’s Two Factor Theory of Emotion • To experience emotion you must: • be physically aroused & • cognitively label the arousal

31. The Amygdala and Emotion • The brain’s shortcut for emotions (principally fear)

32. The primary route to Emotion Emotion Physiological activation Expressive behavior 1 Event

33. The secondary route to Emotion Emotion Physiological activation Expressive behavior 2 Memory

34. Emotions & Consciousness Emotion Physiological activation Expressive behavior Event/ Memory Consciousness Subjective experience = Feelings