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UW-Madison PSYCH 202 - Intro to Emotional Processes

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Psych 202 1st Edition Lecture 20-Introduction to Emotional ProcessesoWhat is emotion?-Emotions are complex reactions that engage our bodies and minds at multiple levels-Our emotional systems have evolved to promote survival and social communication-Emotional reactions have several interrelated properties, expressed in the following graphicPhysiological processes, expressive behavior, and cognitive appraisal all lead to emotionoSome of the evidence:-Actors posed in photos to express emotionsPhotos shown to members of literate and pre-literate cultures, persons asked to identify the emotions being portrayedResults: judgments of portrayed emotions were essentially similar acrossculturesThere is a set of core, fundamental,"universal" emotions that exist to convey social information6 basic emotionsoThe face is critical to emotional expression and experience-Emotional deception via inhibition of facial cues:Genuine and ingenuine smiles and facial myography (measurement of facial muscles)-Facial-feedback perspective: facial expression as causativeNeed facial muscular engagements to create emotionFacial muscles are part of causation of emotion-Duchenne smile: genuine smileUpturning of corners of mouthCrinkling of eyes, twinkling of eyes, correlated tightly with activation of these muscles with a genuine smile-Can't have the twinkle without the crinkleNeed mouth and eyes*-Ingenuine: just mouth musclesoCultural dependence of emotional displays-Emotional experience may be relatively independent of culture, but culturally-dependent "display rules" control expression (when you get to display what emotion):Ex. Japanese and American subjects both watched a gruesome film of a primitive puberty rite while being filmed unknowingly, in and out of presence of lab-coated experimenterResults: showed fear, anger, and disgustThese notes represent a detailed interpretation of the professor’s lecture. GradeBuddy is best used as a supplement to your own notes, not as a substitute.-Japanese with experimenter in room: less emotionally expressive, they inhibited their emotional displayConclusions about universality and display rules-Cultural norms affect expression (display rules) more than experience of basic universal emotions, although it is likely there is a dampening (or augmenting) effect on emotional experience due to displayrules affected by cultural conditions and circumstancesoSex differences in emotionality: do empirical data mirror social stereotypes?-Self-descriptions of emotionality: men are less-Women self-disclose more and are socialized for openness-Women outperform men in using nonverbal cues to infer what others are feelingE.g. in emotional judgment tasks-Still, within sex differences (range of expression with a given sex) are far greater that between sex differencesoAre all emotions physiologically identical?-**Book: Schacten and Singer's 2-factor theory-Older psychological theories suggested yes, but…-Evidence from recent sources suggests the answer is a clear "no";-In fact, the evidence is mounting that each emotion has its own "physiological signature" that is represented in a unique type of "neural circuitry" associated with specific emotions and also with particular types of individual differences in "affective style"o"Autonomic Fingerprint" Evidence-Eckman et al. (1983) had subjects express various emotions in the face while researchers recorded a variety of autonomic arousal measures-Results showed relatively distinct patterns of autonomic activity for different emotional displays, as next figure shows-Different emotions had different patterns and types of autonomic activations-When angry, body temperature is highero"Cerebral Lateralization" evidence-Research from Richie Davidson's lab shows that children and adults with more active left hemispheres tend to be more interested, joyful, and enthusiastic; those with more active right hemispheres are more fearful, nervous, avoidant, and depressed-Experience sampling methodology: get a sense of what people are feeling at different times-This asymmetry is illustrated in the next figure: compared to subjects who exhibited greater EEG activity in the right hemisphere, those with a more active left hemisphere experienced more positive emotions (left panel) and less negative emotions (right panel)-Right-hemisphere-active have less positive emotions that left-sidedoPresence of cerebral lateralization points towards individual differences in "affective style"-People differ in their styles of response to emotional stimulation and challenge-Affective style is a dispositional readiness to experience positive and negative emotionsWhy?-Geographic factors, culture/environment, genetics, socio-economic factors, diet, family-Different affective styles appear to be correlated with different neural circuits; e.g.:oRight-active affective style and health-Evidence suggests that extreme right-prefrontal activation is associated with:Larger decreases in natural killer (NK) cells in response to stress (thus indexing reduced immune functioning)Higher plasma cortisol levels (cortisol is a stress-related hormone)Deficits in reducing negative affect once it arises (when exposed to pictures or other negative stimuli designed to be stressful, right-active subjects "recover" much more slowly from emotional challenge-This suggests a deficiency in the stress-response systems of suchThus this deficit may be best conceptualized as a generalized failure of inhibitory control over negative affective arousal and experienceSoundbite conclusion: "right-active persons can't turn off negative feelings"oCan people become more cerebrally left-active?oContemplative neuroscience-Many neuro-imaging studies have examined whether the practice of methods designed or limit negative affect (meditation, yoga, prayer, psychotherapy, hypnosis, etc) leads to stable changes in neural circuitry and indices of health-Consider the Davidson results (2003):Less negative affectShift toward left-activation of brainImmune benefitoPositive psychology recommends increasing positive affect-Barbara Frederickson's Broaden-and-Build model of positive affect:Positive emotions broaden thought-action tendencies and build personal resourcesNegative emotions narrows thought-action tendencies and limit development of personal resourcesPositive


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UW-Madison PSYCH 202 - Intro to Emotional Processes

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