Chapter 12 Micro expressions very brief sudden emotional expressions can reveal hidden emotions Sympathetic nervous system two chains of neuron clusters to the left and right of the spinal cord arouses the body for vigorous action Parasympathetic nervous system axons extend from the medulla and the lower part of the spinal cord near organs Decreases heart rate and promotes digestion other non emergency functions The James Lange Theory of Emotions your interpretation of a stimulus evokes autonomic changes and sometimes muscle actions i e your perception of your action is the emotion Schachter and Singer s Theory of Emotions o The intensity of the physiological state the degree of NS arousal determines the intensity of the emotions o But a cognitive appraisal of the situation determines the type of emotions o Experiment was unsuccessful but other experiments e g beta blockers show Basic Emotions Happiness sadness anger fear disgust and surprise Duchenne Smile full expression including the muscles around the eyes o Expressions are universal some variations like accents Chinese pride and disgust o Facial expressions serve a purpose fear eyes wide gasp disgust crinkled nose support vs American squint o Facial expressions are used with other cues to determine the emotions of others gestures tears averted gaze Photos not very helpful Emotional Intelligence o Elliot demonstrated that there is a difference between intelligence and emotional intelligence One can have one without the other o Emotional Intelligence is the ability to perceive imagine and understand emotions and to use that information in making decisions o Includes recognizing and reacting to the emotions of others appropriately as well as recognizing and expressing one s own emotions appropriately Fear Anxiety o Fear response to Immediate danger o Anxiety vague lasting sense of impending doom o Amygdala is key brain region associated with learning fears and anxiety GAD General Anxiety Disorder disorder in which people have frequent and exaggerated worries PTSD Post Traumatic Stress Disorder condition marked by prolonged anxiety and depression Sexual Aggression Most common acts of violence o Women commit more acts but men inflict more damage o Rape huge variation on reports difficult to know of women who have been raped Definition is unclear to many o Sexually aggressive men heavy users of pornography enjoy violent pornography extreme self centeredness lack of concern for others Happiness o Positive Psychology the study of the features that enrich life such as happiness hope creativity spirituality courage and responsibility o Hard to measure happiness produces small inconsistent physiological responses o Subjective well being a self evaluation of one s life as pleasant interesting and almost entirely self reporting satisfying Selye s Concept of Stress 1979 Stress is the non specific response of the body to any demand made upon it Includes o Getting married o Getting promoted o Divorce BUT NOT o Lifelong poverty o Lifelong disability i e stress is about events Stress Health o People who have recently had a severely stressful event are at increased risk for everything from cardiac problems to tooth decay o Direct o In constant state of stress cortisol the stress hormone is released o Cortisol enhances metabolism and increases the supply of sugar and other fuels to the cells Improves immune function at first o Evolution In earlier days stress likely meant injury immune function would o Result Prolonged stress decreases energy to other systems can result in be necessary to fight infection fever fatigue sleepiness o Withdrawn behavior o Damage to hippocampus memory Can ultimately lead to depression o Exhausts the immune system and you become more vulnerable to illness o In addition to physiological effects stress affects behavior poor sleep forget o 1 stressful event in childhood correlates with risk taking behavior in medications alcohol adulthood o Indirect o The risk taking behaviors lead to health problems PTSD o Profound result of severe stress o Marked by prolonged anxiety and depression o Frequent nightmares outbursts of anger unhappiness guilt o Most people do not get it o Talk therapy immediately after does not predict whether or not a person will have PTSD o Small Hippocampus not causal Cortisol Coping Strategies o Problem focused coping do something to control the situation o Reappraisal reinterpreting the situation to make it seem less threatening o Emotion focused coping people try to control their emotional reaction Chapter 13 Avoiding and Accepting Responsibility o Bystander Helplessness and Apathy Kitty Genovese crowds can result in diffusion of responsibility we feel less responsible to act when other people are equally able to act o Pluralistic ignorance each person says nothing and assumes that others have a o Social Loafing the tendency to work less hard when sharing the load with other more informed opinion people o Persuasion is an attempt to alter your attitudes and or behavior All peripheral routes of persuasion o Liking and Similarity People are more likely to be persuaded by someone they like or to whom they feel similar o Social Norms Desire to conform o Reciprocation Free samples gifts with strings attached o Foot in the Door Start with a small request add a larger one later Coercive Persuasion confession o Police or other authority use threats or an offer of sympathy if there is a o People will often confess to crimes they did not commit under these circumstances o Juries consider a confession very strong evidence even if they know there was coercion Kassin Gudjonsson 2004 Techniques o Bait and Switch person first offers an extremely favorable deal then after the offer is accepted makes additional demands o That s Not All Someone makes an offer and ten improves the offer before you have a chance to reply o Fear Especially for political donations only effective if people believe their donation will make a difference Interpersonal Attraction o Establishing Relationships o Possible Biological Value of Attractiveness o Most people agree rather closely on which faces are attractive and which are not o Good looking generally implies normal and normal implies healthy o Implies good genes Feature that is not average may imply mutation o Average nose average distance between eyes etc o However doesn t necessarily pan out turns out that good looks have a weak link with healthy genes Similarity o
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