Transcript Emotion
Emotion Psychology 1107 Introduction Emotions are a mix of: Physiological arousal of some sort Behaviour Experience Physiology of emotion Extra sugar is made available for energy Breathe faster Slowed digestion Pupils dilate Sweat Autonomic nervous system kicks in epinephrine norepinephrine The Yerkes Dodson Law Too much arousal is not good Too little arousal is not good Somewhere in the middle is what you want True for most tasks Overlearned tasks, the more arousal the better Emotions are a riddle It is hard to pick out who is angry, scared or sexually aroused by physiological reactions alone They feel different though Different brain regions light up Polygraphs work only on this stuff so it is hard to tell if people are guilty, or just generally aroused Noverbal communication and emotion Kellerman, Lewis and Laird (1989) Body language affects emotions Women tend to be better than men at detecting emotion Women express happiness more easily Men express anger more easily Body language Liars make fewer pauses, more gestures There are cultural differences of course Personal space Gestures Nixon’s famous gaffe Facial expressions though seem to be culturally independent Facial expressions Fear, anger happiness, disgust, surprise are the same everywhere There is probably an evolutionary basis to this, indeed, chimps make expressions that are universal Facial expressions and emotion Oddly enough, our emotions can also feed off the expressions we are making (Duclas et al, 1989) Forced people to ‘smile’ Felt happier Ekman’s work with actors Experiencing emotion Emotions seem to have a few dimensions to them Pleasant vs. unpleasant Arousal vs. sleepy Long vs. short Izzard (1977) said there are 10 emotions Joy, excitement, surprise, sadness, guilt, anger, disgust, contempt, fear, shame Said that other emotions are just combinations Fear Pretty adaptive, fight or flight Learn to fear objects etc Observation too Nobody fears houses… Amygdala may be key Genetic effects too Anger Both other’s willful acts, and plain ol’ annoyances can make us angry Should you vent? Seems maladaptive, but it often leads to a solution Catharsis Usually does not work Leads to more rage Calm down! Vent not through anger, but through exercise etc Happiness Happy people have better lives than non happy people Wonder what the direction is though… Even after bad stuff, happiness levels do not seem to change It is all relative of course We adapt to our lot in life Theories of Emotion James-Lange theory Emotions come from physiological arousal Happiness comes from smiling Sadness comes from crying Perceived Event Physiological And Behavioural response Emotional Experience Cannon-Baird Theory Emotion originates in the thalamus Physiologic al and psychologic al systems activated simultaneo usly Physiological And Behavioural response Perceived Event Emotional Experience Schacter Two Factor Physiological arousal and cognitive label happen Both of which are required for an emotional experience Physiological Arousal Emotional Experience Cognitive Label