Transcript class 13 emotions and cogniton III

Class 13: Emotions and Cognition III
Man, in the instability of his emotions
resembles deplorably a monkey.
Joseph Conrad
Brain in Gut
(aka Neurogastroenterology)
1. More neurons than spinal cord
2. Fibers non-mylinated—like in big brain
3. Bathed in same neurochemicals as big brain
4. Suffers damage to big-brain diseases
5. Responsive to psychotropic drugs
Are “Gut Feelings” Real?
1. Big brain and gut brain communicate
2. Stressful event #1: Big brain stores threat in “emotion
memory”
3. Stressful event #2: Limbic system responds, sends signal to
gut. Gut may get signal before cortex.
4. Result—gut feeling
De Becker: Gift of Fear
Kelly's travail:
What signal does she FAIL to attend to? Why?
What signal does she finally attend to? Why?
How does Kelly's experience relate to emotion
arousal? (hint—Mandler theory of emotions)
Why do people discard danger signals?
Dilemma: external cues do not justify feeling.
Social desirability, politeness norms
Dependence on experts
What might determine who listens to own emotions?
De Becker meets St. Exupery:
a. How do emotions and cognition interact?
b. Which informs which? In what order?
c. Is unc. smart or dumb?
Challenging DeBecker
Is his approach a version of "Victim Blaming"?
Aren't there times when it's better to follow social rules than
own "gut reaction"?
Do emotions = "intuition"?
What if you have multiple emotions, e.g., Anger + Fear?
Mood Effects and Person Perception:
Forgas & Bower
Scuba Diver Study
Learn on Land
Learn Under
Water
Recall on Land
Good
Poor
Recall Under
Water
Poor
Good
State Dependent Memory
Memory associated with an emotional state will be easier to
retrieve when you are in that same emotional state.
Example: Learn FACT A when happy, easier to remember
FACT A when happy.
Memory associated with an emotional state will be harder to
retrieve when you are in an opposed emotional state.
Example: Learn FACT A when happy, harder to remember
FACT A when sad.
Number of Attributes Recalled About Target
as a Function of Attribute Valence (Pos vs. Neg) and Participant Mood (Sad vs. Happy)
18
No. Items Recognized
17
Subjects Mood
16
Sad
Happy
15
14
13
12
Pos details
Details Recalled
Neg details
Number of Attribute Items Correctly Recognized
as a Function of Attribute Valence (Pos vs. Neg) and Participant Mood (Sad vs. Happy)
18
No. Items Recognized
17
Subjects Mood
16
Sad
Happy
15
14
13
12
Pos details
Neg details
Details Recalled
MOOD CONGUENT LEARNING
REALTOR
BURGLER
Emotional states are similarly goal-related.
Emotion at Time A affects how situation is searched and learned at Time A
Emotion (mood) congruent learning relates
to what Lewinian construct?
Life space.
Time Spent Reading Descriptive Sentences
Encoding Time
as a Function of Attribute Valence (Pos vs. Neg) and Participant Mood (Sad vs. Happy)
7.6
7.4
7.2
7
6.8
6.6
6.4
6.2
6
5.8
5.6
Subject's
Mood
Sad
Happy
Pos details
Neg details
Attribute Valence
Number of Pos and Neg Judgments Made
as a Function of Participant Mood (Sad vs. Happy)
20
Number of judgments
19
Subject's
Mood
18
17
Sad
Happy
16
15
14
13
12
pos judgments
neg judgments
Judgments Made of Target
Time Taken to Judge Target as Positive or Negative
as a Function of Attribute Valence (Pos vs. Neg) and Participant Mood (Sad vs. Happy)
Time to Judge Target
5.6
Subjects Mood
5.1
Sad
Happy
4.6
4.1
3.6
Pos Judgment
Neg Judgment
Judgments Made of Target
Mood and Visual Processing
Happy or Sad
MM
MM
Who sees “M”?
SAD
Who sees “L”?
HAPPY
MM
MM
MM MM MM
Do Humans Care About Other Humans?
Batson (1990)
Acts of Selfless (?) Heroism
The “fifth man” in Air Florida crash
Polish Concentration Camp Guard
Question: What motivates this behavior?
Why Do People Help Others?
Altruistic explanation -- Caring
Egoistic explanations
Negative state relief: Stop personal discomfort
Avoid social/self punishments: Shame, guilt
Seek social/self rewards: Honor, pride
A “Selfishness Bias” in Psychology?
Freud:
Skinner:
Behavior based on pleasure principle
Behavior based on pleasure principle
Modern Self Theorists in Social Psychology:
1. Totalitarian ego: false uniqueness, false
representativeness
2. Self affirmation
3. Self esteem
4. Self monitoring
5. Self efficacy
6. Downward social comparison
The “Selfish Gene” Theory
Fundamental goal of life-forms – pass on genes
Who will pass on genes? Those who survive
Therefore behaviors that promote survival are
“adaptive” and are “selected in”
Behaviors that jeopardize survival are maladaptive
and are “selected out”
Who is more likely to survive, the selfless helper or
the selfish non-helper?
Challenges to “Selfish Gene”
Inclusive Fitness:
Share genes with others
Risk taking for others promotes their survival
People more apt to sacrifice for those closest to them
in terms of shared genes
Reciprocal Altruism:
I help you today, you help me tomorrow, and typically
with interest.
Prosocial Behavior vs. Altruistic Behavior
1. Prosocial: Helping others, for any reason
2. Altruistic: Helping others because you care
about them.
Note: Altruistic is a type of pro-social
behavior.
Emotions Consistent with
Emotions Consistent with
Egoistic (Selfish) Behavior
Altruistic Behavior
Envy
Pride
Jealousy
Spite
Greed
Lust
Gluttony
Covetousness
Scheudenfreuden
Empathy
Daniel Batson: Empathy and Altruism
Batson conducts classic research on “bystander
intervention”, showing how situations can prevent
people from helping.
Jerusalem to Jericho study, for example
However, he becomes interested why some people
help, others do not, regardless of the situation.
Asks: Are we capable of caring?
Empathy vs. Avoiding Shame:
The “Elayne” Study
1. Subs. told: study about learning and shocks
2. Sub. is “observer”, confed. (“Elayne”) is “learner”
3. Sub. learnes Elayne is very similar (high empathy cond)
or very dissimilar to him/her (low empathy cond)
4. Sub. sees Elayne's distress, upset
5. Exptr. calls a break, asks Elayne if OK, “yes, but water
please.” Elayne is clearly distressed.
6. During break, Sub completes mood check-list.
Purpose: ID people high/low on empathy
7. Elayne confides to Expt. childhood trauma w’ shocks.
8. Expt. asks Subs: “willing to switch places w’ Elayne?”
9. Subs. must qualify to help by performing well at test
a. For ½ Subs. “easy test, most can do well”
b. For ½ Subs. “hard test, most can’t do well”
“Social Censure” vs. “Empathy and Altruism” Predictions
“Social Censure” Predictions
Justification
for not helping
Low Empathy
Condition
High Empathy
Condition
Weak Justif.
Helps
Helps
Strong Justif.
No Help
No Help
“Empathy and Altruism” Predictions
Justification
for not helping
Low Empathy
Condition
High Empathy
Condition
Weak Justif.
Helps
Helps
Strong Justif.
No Help
Helps
Rates of Volunteering to Help Distressed “Elaine” as a Function of Felt
Empathy and Opportunity to Avoid Social Censure
Batson et al., 1988
1
0.9
0.8
0.7
0.6
Easy Test
Hard Test
0.5
0.4
0.3
0.2
0.1
0
Distress
Empathy
Note: Easy test = Low Justification to avoid helping
Hard test = High justification to avoid helping
Effort Made to Qualify to Help “Elaine” as a Function of
Felt Empathy and Opportunity for Face-Saving Out
Batson, et al., 1988
Nmber Correct Answers
14
12
10
8
Easy Test
Hard Test
6
4
2
0
Distress
Empathy
Note: Easy Test = Low justification to avoid trying on test
Hard Test = High justification of avoid trying on test
Solution to Selfishness vs. Altruism
Debate – “The Shared Self”
Problem: Do we ever intentionally act outside of self-interest?
Solution: Reconsider what we mean by “self” and “other”
Batson’s implicit definition – these are distinct entities
S
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Solution to Selfishness vs. Altruism, Contin.
What do people say when someone they love has died?
What phases do they use to express this kind of loss?
“Part of me is missing”, “It’s as if I lost a limb”
What does this suggest about the self/other divide?
In other words, can self/other be represented
as overlapping, rather than separate?
S
In this case “me” is not limited to my biological self,
but to a shared self.
Empathy  Altruism my require this “shared self”
O