Transcript Evolution and Emotions

MIDTERM
* Midterm Review:
Thursday, March 7
* Midterm Date:
Tuesday, March 12
Hostile Personality
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=78b67l_yxUc
Hostile Personality and Health
Hostile Personality IS NOT: Angry all the time
Aggressive all the time
Hostile Personality IS:
Way of perceiving the world
* Distrustful
* Cynical
* Suspicious
* Vigilant
Highly stable trait: Correlation over 4 yrs, r = .84
Which gender is more prone to Hostile Personality?
Men
Hostility Scale (Cook and Medley, 1954)
[answered “YES”/”NO”]
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
No one cares much what happens to you.
I have often met people who were supposed to be
experts who were no better than I.
Some of my family have habits that bother and annoy
me very much.
I often have to take orders from someone who did not
know as much as I did.
It makes me feel like a failure when I hear of the
success of someone I know well.
People often disappoint me.
It is safer to trust nobody.
I have often felt that strangers were looking at me
critically.
I tend to be on my guard with people who are
somewhat more friendly than I expected.
My way of doing things is apt to be misunderstood by
others.
Hostility and Coronary Heart Disease
Among MDs Barefoot, et al., 1983
15
CHD Events
13
11
9
7
5
3
1
-1
0 TO 8
9 TO 13
14 TO 17
Hostility Score
18 TO 31
MD Survival Rates Over 25 Years:
Low Hostile vs. High Hostile
Percent Surviving
0.99
0.97
0.95
Low Hostile
High Hostile
0.93
0.91
0.89
0.87
0.85
1960-
1965-
1970-
1975-
1980-
Pathway From Hostility
to Heart Disease
Appraisal of threat higher  defensive mode (fight) 
more cardiac output  ↑ cortisol  atherosclerosis
Where else did we see
connection between neg.
emotion, cortisol, and
physical costs?
Depression -->
hypercortisolemia -->
hippocampus atrophy -->
memory impairment
Informational Value of
Emotions to Health
Mood affects recognition / interpretation of own symptoms
Pos mood  attn. outward  less focused on symptoms
Neg mood  attn. inward  more focus on symptoms
The Dangers and Benefits
of Being Happy
Happiness as
Health Risk
Happiness as
Health Benefit
Illusion of Invulnerability
More health-promoting behaviors
Blind to danger signs
Willing to risk upsetting diagnoses
Less defensive about hearing
health risk information
Psychoneuroimmunology and AIDS
Psychoneuroimmunology: New inter-disciplinary area that
looks at how psychological states affect the body’s
resistance to illness
AIDS: Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome
HIV: Human Immunodeficiency Virus. The virus that causes AIDS.
Psycho-social Aspects of AIDS
Why do some people who get HIV infections acquire AIDS
sooner than do others? (Cole, 2000).
1. Sample: gay men who acquire HIV at about the same time.
2. Looks at whether disclosed or hid gay identity, HIV status
Who is more likely to become
symptomatic, "hiders" or "disclosers"?
Why is this so?
Hiders
Why Do “In Closet” Gays Develop
AIDS Sooner?
B. (AIDS)
A. (Hide Gay Identity)
C. Sensitizer
Is it that suppressing was itself a stressor, stress 
illness, therefore suppressing leads to quicker AIDS
onset?
NO
Suppressors tend to be “sensitizers”, easily disturbed
by any kind of event, especially social events.
NOTE: THIS LINKS TO "TEMPERAMENT"
How Stress Hastens AIDS Onset
1. “T” cells important player in immune system. Fight infections.
2. Cells sprout molecular “hand holds”, like Velcro, at times.
3. HIV uses these hand-holds to attack cells.
4. Researchers artificially induce hand-holds by using harsh
laboratory chemicals.
5. Cole asks: What kinds of natural chemicals have same effect?
6. Clues:
* AIDS faster among stressed vs. non-stressed
* Stress releases nor-epinephrine
7. Finds: Exposing healthy T cells to nor-epi  more hand-holds.
Emotion, Learning, and
Memory
Class 13
How Emotions Affect Mental
Processes
* How emotions affect memory, learning, and judgment
* Emotional intelligence
* Emotions and social judgment
Gordon Bower Mood and
Cognition Research
1. Memory for past events
2. Learning
3. Higher Order Functions
* Free associations
* Fantasies/Imagination
* Snap judgments
* Event likelihood
* Social impressions
* Self judgment
Gordon Bower
1932--
State Dependent Memory
Memory associated with an emotional state will be easier to
retrieve when you are in SAME emotional state.
Memory associated with an emotional state will be harder to
retrieve when you are in an OPPOSED emotional state.
Scuba Diver Study
Learn on
Land
Learn Under
Water
Recall on
Land
Good
Poor
Recall Under
Water
Poor
Good
Bower State Dependent Memory Study
1. Ss learn 16 words in happy mood, then later Ss learn 16
words in a sad mood
2. Ss come back some time later
3. Ss placed in either a happy or a sad mood
4. Ss asked to recall words from "happy" list and from "sad" list.
Learning and Recall in Same/Different
Moods (Percent Recalled)
85
80
75
70
65
60
55
50
45
40
Learned Happy
Learned Sad
Recall Happy
Recall Sad
Number of Happy and Sad Memories
Remembered by Happy and Sad Subjects
6
5
4
Recall Happy
Recall Sad
3
2
1
0
Sad Event
Happy Event
Associative Networks
Easy Parking
Fine dining
Rutgers
Psych Classes
Get Maria
from airport!!
day-old
pizza
Books
My friend Maria
"Friends" reruns
Associative Networks
Weekends
Emotions Class
Happy
Friends
Birthdays
Mood
Congruent
Learning!!!
Fun
Readings
Associative
Networks
Emotions and
cognition
Time Spent Looking at Happy/Sad Scenes
by Happy/Sad Subjects
9
8.5
8
Happy
Sad
7.5
7
6.5
6
Sad Scene
Happy Scene
Number of Happy/Sad Scenes Recalled by
Ss Who Studies Scenes in Happy/Sad Mood
11
10.5
10
9.5
9
8.5
8
7.5
7
6.5
6
Happy
Sad
Happy Scene
Sad Scene
State Dependent Memory and Mood
Congruent Learning
State-Dependent Memory: How mood helps/hurts
recall of things that are already learned.
Mood-Congruent Learning: How mood affects the
way in which new information is acquired, i.e. learned.
Number of Happy/Sad Story Incidents Recalled by
Ss Who Read Story in Happy/Sad Mood
8
7.5
7
Happy
Sad
6.5
6
5.5
5
Happy Scene
Sad Scene
Probability of Recalling a Prompt due to
Strength of Emotion Generated by the Memory
Associated to the Prompt
90
80
70
60
50
40
30
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
Intensity Rating
8
9
10
Procedure for Emotional Intensity
and Learning Study: Session 1
a. Subjects are hypnotized
b. Ss trained to evoke three different levels of either
happy, sad, or angry
Procedure for Emotional Intensity and
Learning Study: Session 2
a. Ss access mood they were trained to evoke
b. Imagine self in 4 happy scenes, 4 sad scenes, 4 angry
scenes narrated to Ss by the experimenter
1. At emotion level 1 (lowest)
2. At emotion level 2 ( middle)
3. At emotion level 3 (highest)
c. Shift to neutral mood
d. Remove from hypnotic trance
e. Filler task for 5 minutes
f. Free recall of gist of episodes
Average free-recall of happy, angry, sad
episodes by happy, angry, sad subjects
60
55
50
45
Happy
Angry
Sad
40
35
30
25
20
Happy Episode Angry Episode
Sad Episode
Average Free-Recall For Episodes
Under Low, Medium, Or High Intensity Emotion
60
55
50
45
Happy
Angry
Sad
40
35
30
25
20
Happy Episode Angry Episode
Sad Episode