Emotion and Motivation I II Universality of Facial Expressions a The facial expressions of some emotions are universal Darwin 1872 i This universality suggest that they have adaptive communication value 1 A fearful face something dangerous is nearby 2 An angry face I need to fight or flee b Facial expressions across cultures i People in other cultures correctly identify American facial expressions and vice versa Theories of Emotion a Three Theories of emotion i William James and Carl Lange Stimuli activate the autonomic nervous system which then produce an emotional experience 1 Emotion results from specific physiological experience ii Cannon Bard Stimuli simultaneously activate the autonomic nervous system and an emotional experience 1 Arousal and emotional label happen together iii Two Factor Theory Different emotions are different interpretations of general physiological arousal 1 Two factors General arousal then an emotional label b The facial feedback hypothesis Emotional expressions can cause the emotional experiences they signify i We experience emotions in part as a result of the positions of our facial muscles ii An example of james lange our emotional experience is a result of changes to our physiology c The schacter singer experiment i Two factor theory ii Participants are injected with adrenalin iii IV 1 Information condition 1 Half are told the truth 2 The other half are told the drug will have no effect iv IV 2 Emotion condition 1 Half wait with a euphoric confederate 2 Half wait with an angry confederate 3 Results a Informed condition i Drug is intense both euphoric and angry ii Physiological arousal is attributed to the drug b Uninformed Condition i I feel euphoric ii I feel angry III IV V iii Physiological arousal is attributed to one s emotions Social Threat and Emotion a Being outperformed by a close other on a self relevant task can lead to negative emotion b The Famous Scientist Study i Dissimilar occupation with father 65 of relationships are close ii Similar occupation with father 13 of relationships are close c When a domain is important participants are tough on their friends d But if you get a chance to feel good about yourself first then you give the friend the easiest clues i Feeling happy makes you a better friend Emotion and Decision Making a Classical phiosphy and conventional wisdom i Rational and Emotional Processes conflict 1 Chariot Metaphor 2 Emotions interfere with effective decision making b The somatic marker hypothesis i Gut feelings often facilitate effective decision making ii c The poster study i Ps were allowed to take their preferred poster of 5 for free ii Before choosing they either were or were not instructed to list pros and cons iii Results Ps who listed pros and cons were less satisfied and less likely to put the poster on their wall d In sum the gut is often wise e Sadness and the endowment effect i The endowment effect the tendency for selling prices to exceed buying prices of the same object 1 If we own something we value it more ii What if somebody is in a sad mood when making decisions about buying and selling 1 Sadness triggers the goal of changing one s circumstances 2 So the endowment effect should reverse Selected Specific Emotions a One of the universal emotions i Evolutionarily the focus is on avoiding incorporation of offensive substances into the body 1 You are what you eat ii When we are very young taste alone determines whether something should be consumed or not 1 Around 304 we find some things disgusting even without trying them VI 2 Around 7 8 we will start to reject foods that have become contaminated by briefly encountering a disgusting object b In adulthood disgust is part of morality c Hypnotism and disgust study i Participants re hypnotized to experience disgust when they read the word take or a control word ii Participants rate the congressman s behavior as more disgusting and more morally wrong when they had been hypnotized d Regret i Regrets of omission vs regrets of commission 1 Omission Things you wish you had done 2 Commission things you wish you hadn t done ii The temporal pattern of regret 1 Commissions hurt more in the short term 2 Omissions hurt more in the long term iii What causes the temporal pattern 1 People exert more effort Interpersonally or psychologically to fix commissions than omissions 2 Retrospective confidence makes earlier omissions inexplicable 3 Whereas the consequences of commissions are often finite the consequences of omissions are infinite Motivation a Maslow s Hierarchy of needs 1 Need for self actualization 2 Esteem needs 3 Belongingness and love needs 4 Safety and security needs 5 Physiological needs ii Some needs have to be satisfied typically before others iii If you are hungry or thirsty or exhausted you can t pursue intellectual fulfillment b The hedonic principle People are motivated to experience pleasure and avoid pain i Explains why some consequences are reinforcing and others are punishing ii 1 Approach vs Avoidance motivation 1 Approach Motivation to experience a positive outcome 2 Avoidance Motivation not to experience a negative outcome iii How are these motivations measured 1 Approach a I go out of my way to get things that I want b I often act on the spur of the moment c I crave excitement and new sensations 2 Avoidance a I feel pretty worried or upset when I think or know somebody is agreeing at me b Criticism or scolding hurts me quite a bit c I worry about making mistakes 3 For the average person avoidance motivation is stronger than approach iv 2 Loss Aversion 1 People gravitate toward option A in the first case but option B in the second case 2