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Sociology 319Sociological Approaches to Social PsychologyApril 2, 2009: EmotionsA. What are emotions1. Emotions: short-lived reactions to a stimulus outside of the individual that involves both physiological and cognitive reactions. a. Situational stimulusb. Physiological changesc. Expressive gesture of some kindd. A label to apply to the first three.2. Sentiment. Long-standing emotional states that are heavily shaped by social context.3. Mood. A general psychological condition that characterizes our experiences and emotional orientation for hours or even days.B. Are Emotions Universal or Socially Constructed? [Universal]1. Charles Darwin. (The Expression of the Emotions in Man and Animals). He argued that if some emotions and expressions were universal, then they must be genetically encoded, and thus must have value that enhances genetic survival. Darwin focused heavily on the expression of emotions, which he viewed as universal and inborn. Much of his research relied on human-animal comparisons.2. Darwin and more recent scholars including Paul Ekman argue that a set of emotions are universal, that they are experienced across all cultures, and that physical displays of such emotions are recognized universally. These ideas are very important for evolutionary theory; if an emotion is not recognized by others, then its adaptive value is likely diminished. (e.g., if you are angry and have adrenalin rushing, this should scare off predators.).3. Individuals learn that they should shield their physical expression of emotion from others in some cases, because this may give away our plans or intentions (e.g., “put on a poker face,” “force a smile,” “fight back tears.”)4. How do social scientists evaluate these claims that emotions are “universal”? [video]a. Ekman took photographs of thousands of people portraying six fundamental emotions: happiness, sadness, surprise, fear, anger, and disgust. Each of these expressions has a particular configuration of facial muscles. The researchers showed these photos to subjects from different cultures and nations, and asked them to identify which emotion the person in the photo was feeling. The six emotions were recognized at a very high rate (roughly 60-90% correct, across cultures and across emotion types), suggesting that these facial expressions represented a primary set of emotions across cultural groups. i. Critics observe that by the 1970s and 1980s, when Ekman did these studies, Western media had permeated most cultures and thuspeople learned how to recognize emotional expressions.ii. In response to critics, Ekman studied a primitive society in New Guinea. They had no exposure to western influences. He read themvignettes, and asked them to show how they felt. The vignettes included things like “your child has died and you are sad.” Their expressions generally converged with those detected in other cultures.C. Are Emotions Universal or Socially Constructed? [Socially/Culturally Constructed]1. Many examples abound of distinctive culturally-bound emotional displays. China has a notion of “sad love” which is a combination of unrequited love and nostalgia. In Puerto Rico, ataque de nervios is a highly emotional response to deaths of loved ones. These emotional displays are not recognized or understood in other cultures.2. “Display rules” exist in all cultures. These rules dictate the intensity of emotional display, the presence of an emotional display, and the ways that one may mask an emotion for a more appropriate one. Multiple studies by Ekman and others show that people are most likely to display a strong emotion when surrounded by people they know well, and when the context supports that display. 3. Even within a culture, rules vary about which emotions to display. In the United States, women are expected to reveal sadness whereas men are expected to show anger when something distressing happens to them. 4. There is a continuum of perspectives with respect to how much emotions are natural, inborn responses versus cultural shaped reactions. a. Early cognitive models: The early James-Lange model focused heavily on physiological reactions to a stimulus. Specifically, a stimulus is followed by a biological reaction, and then the individual cognitively processes the physiological sensation and interprets it as an emotion. This perspective has had a very powerful influence on later theories of emotional. 5. The James-Lange model gave rise to empirical and conceptual work by Schachter and colleagues: cognitive labeling theory nicely incorporates both biological and social influences on emotion.a. Schachter proposes that emotional experience is a product of: (1) an event in the environment that produces a physiological reaction; (2) noticing the physiological reaction and searching for an appropriate explanation; and (3) by examining situational cues, we find an emotional label for the reaction. b. These ideas were supported in an innovative series of studies by Schachter& Singer. In one version of the study, researchers gave students an injection of epinephrine, a drug that produces a mild physiological arousal.They informed one group of students that this injection would probably cause them to experience a pounding heart, flushed face, and minor trembles. The second group was told nothing about the effect. All students waited in a waiting room with a confederate, who appeared to be another subject. Depending on the experimental treatment, the other subject behaved either euphorically (playing with toys, acting silly) or angrily.The students in the informed group did not need to find an explanation for their arousal, while those in the control group did. In the latter case, students’ descriptions of their emotion very much mirrored those of the confederate. c. These results have been replicated across multiple studies, most famously in the Dutton & Aron (1974) “bridge study.” Zillman has called this phenomenon the “misattribution of emotion.” Subjects on a “high” bridge and a “low” bridge were approached by a member of the opposite sex (an interviewer for study). In the former case, the subjects were significantly more likely than subjects in the latter case to phone and ask the confederate on a date? Why? In the high bridge case, the physiological sensation that was likely triggered by the frightening bridge situation was attributed by subjects to sexual arousal, infatuation, or affection – rather


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Rutgers University SOCIOLOGY 319 - Emotions

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