Chapter Six Emotion and Affect Influences actions and decisions Prepare us to Face threats anger fear Make friends loneliness Find a mate romantic sexual arousal Maintain relationships guilt Shame embarrassment jealousy Definitions Emotion How you consciously feel about a specific event Example I was angry when he called me an idiot Mood How you consciously feel in general and is not linked to a specific event Example I was in a good mood Affect Automatic response that something is good or bad and may not be consciously aware of feelings Example Subliminal priming with angry faces produces negative affect The duplex mind Conscious emotion powerful and unified feeling state Automatic affect initial or disliking of something Interaction Automatic affect can influence conscious emotion and conscious processes can override automatic ones More focus on bad emotions than good emotions Study of emotional language 62 of emotion words refer to bad 74 emotional traits were negative and of 12 most common emotions listed 11 are negative James Lange theory of emotion Physiological arousal precedes emotional experience Emotional Stimulus Physiological Arousal Emotional Emotion Weaknesses Similar patterns of arousal with different emotional states different reactions to similar stimulus Facial feedback hypothesis Feedback from face muscles evokes or magnifies emotion Smiling makes you happy frowning makes you sad Pen in lips teeth rate cartoons Canon Bard theory of emotion Thalamus sends two simultaneous messages to produce emotional e experience physiological arousal Experienced emotion emotional stimulus physiological arousal Schacter Singer Theory of Emotion Emotion has two components Bodily state of arousal Cognitive label specifying the emotion Relabeling arousal From nervous fear to excitement enthusiasm Example Development of public speaking ability Two dimensions Valence Pleasant Unpleasant Arousal High Low What is the Broaden and Build theory of emotion According to this theory what are the benefits of positive emotions and what is the ratio of positive to negative emotions necessary to experience these benefits Negative vs Positive Negative emotions narrows focus and ideas about possible actions to take in a situation Positive emotions Broaden and build Broaden ones viewpoint Think of more ideas both qualitatively and quantitatively See images more abstractly think bigger picture Self views affected such that they see that they have more in common with another person Also builds one s resources Psychological optimistic resilient open accepting driven by purpose Mental able to consider multiple paths Social builds and strengthens social ties Physical lower levels of stress and healthier Ratio of positive to negative necessary to get these benefits 3 to 1 Happiness Measures of happiness Affect balance Frequency of positive minus frequency of negative emotions Life satisfaction General evaluation of one s life and how it compares to some standard reflecting upon the big picture Objective predictors of happiness not many some expectations Example Couples with children are less happy than those without or People with strong social connections are happier than those who are alone Hedonic Treadmill People return to baseline level of happiness regardless of what happens to them Subjective Roots of Happiness More significant than objective roots of happiness Happiness is rooted in one s outlook stable within individuals level of happiness doesn t change much over time Study measure happiness now time A 10 years from now time B Best predictor of happiness at Time B Level of happiness at Time A Anger Emotional response to real or imagined threat or provocation Unpleasant high arousal Angry people Approach threats Take more risks Fail to consider social physical consequences of actions Causes Reaction to perceived wrongdoing Greater anger accompanies perceptions of greater harm of harm without cause that actions are intentionally cruel Functions of Anger Motivates person to act aggressively Anger may help reduce aggression warns others of impending problems Allows resolution prior to aggression In the past anger may have provided that needed arousal fight of predators competitors self defense Expression of Anger Hide it conscious override some evidence of harmful health effects Vent it Catharsis theory healthy release might decrease aggression not much empirical support Intense physical exercise does not actually help much maintains high arousal level and can lead to more aggression later Get rid of it Decrease arousal use relaxation techniques Relabel the arousal Do something nice for someone Guilt and Shame Moral emotions unpleasant Guilt focuses on specific actions I did a bad thing Constructive Can help improve future behavior Shame is more general and internalized I m a bad person Destructive Harder to change self than specific acts Functions of Guilt Can motivate apology which communicates there is an agreement understanding that one did wrong and a desire to alter future behavior and that person does care about the relationship Can motivate amends pro social actions to make up for offense Why do we have emotions Would we be better off without them Probably not people with low emotion disorders don t fit in well such as psychopaths Emotions promote belongingness Guide thinking and learning without emotion its hard to make decisions and form opinions Affect as information hypothesis judge something as good or bad by asking how do I feel about it Affected forecasting predict emotional reactions to future events anticipated emotion guides decisions Yerkes Dodson Law Some arousal is good for performance too much can hurt performance Example exam performance Low arousal hard to focus low motivation Moderate arousal Good attention motivation High arousal Test anxiety stress Too much stress focus too narrow fail to consider all options pick first good sounding option Affect Regulation Sometimes people wish to regulate their positive and negative emotions Three goals get into the mood get out of the mood or prolong the mood Use prior social interactions Strategies altering mood do things that produce good feelings something you enjoy raise or lower your arousal level exercise substance use seek social support talk to friends family Dealing with a problem you can reframe the problem counterfactual thinking you can use humor you can vent your feelings religious activities prayer source of social
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