Transcript Emotion & Stress - Central Connecticut State University

Emotions, Stress & Health
Michelle McBride
Graduate Assistant
CCSU Psychology Dept.
What would you do?
What is Emotion?
Internal conscious states that we infer
in ourselves and others.
Do animals have emotion?
How about fish?
Insects?
Emotions are private experiences
We use operational definitions
because we cannot actually see
feelings
We infer observable behavior
associated with emotion.
Sympathetic Nervous System
Scream, Run away…infers fear
What other external operations do
we use to define fear or other
emotions?
Must be conscious to feel
emotions
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Absence seizures in epilepsy leaves
person with no memory and no
emotions of that time
We do not need to feel strong
emotions to be conscious though.
Limbic System
A group of structures in the interior of brain
Form a border around brain stem
Critical for emotion
More important for consciousness than
previously thought…
It is possible to have an emotion without
being conscious of what caused it.
Ex: Severe memory loss, but emotional
attachment remains intact
Limbic System
Are Emotions Useful?
Extreme emotions can impair reasoning
Decisions require prediction of outcome
Will you or others feel good or bad about
the decision and consequences?
People who cannot anticipate the
unpleasantness of likely outcomes tend to
make bad decisions.
Damage to Prefrontal cortex experience
loss of emotion and make poor decisions
James-Lange Theory
Autonomic arousal and skeletal actions come
before emotional response
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I experience fear because I run away
Cognitive awareness is separate
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Brain can categorize events as pleasant or unpleasant
in as little as 120 milliseconds
What we experience as an emotion is actually
the label we give to our response.
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I am afraid because I run away
I am angry because I attack
Common Sense vs. James-Lange
Common Sense right?
Frightening Situation
Fear
Running Away and
Increased Heart rate etc.
James-Lange Theory
Frightening Situation
Running Away and Increased Heart
rate etc.
Fear
James-Lange
Your Perception of your body influences your emotion
Locked-in syndrome:
Damage in the ventral part of brain stem
People can only blink eyes to communicate
Patients remarkably tranquil…
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Cannot send out messages for fidgeting, butterflies in stomach
Brain only receives messages of tranquility from body
Key Assumptions:
1. Body’s response comes before emotion
2. Each discriminable emotion produces a different body
response
Sympathetic (S) and
Parasympathetic (P) Reactions
Every situation calls for its own special mixture
of arousal by the sympathetic (fight or flight) and
parasympathetic (conservation of energy) N.S.
 Flight: Sympathetic response includes
redirection of blood flow to specific muscles
 Nausea:
Parasympathetic response includes increased
stimulation of the stomach (decreased secretions)
Sympathetic response includes increased
salivation and intestinal contractions
Other Theories
Cannon-Bard Theory

Emotional experience and physical arousal
occur simultaneously but independently
Schachter-Singer Theory

Physiological changes need to be appraised
cognitively to be able to identify which
emotion it is.
Sympathetic and Parasympathetic flow of
Autonomic Nervous System
Stress and Health
Stress is the nonspecific response of the body to
any demand made upon it.
Failing grades
Scary movie

Even positive events in your life such as:
Graduation
New job
Stress activates the Autonomic Nervous System
rapidly
Stress activates the Hypothalamus-PituitaryAdrenal (HPA) Axis more slowly.
Both systems have major effect on health and
well-being.
Hypothalamus-Anterior Pituitary-Adrenal Cortex Axis
Prolonged stress leads to
the secretion of the
adrenal hormone cortisol
Cortisol (stress hormone)
elevates blood sugar and
increases metabol.
Body is then able to
sustain prolonged activity
But immune system
activity is decreased as a
result
The Immune System
Cells that protect the body against
intruders such as viruses and bacteria.
Like a police force
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Too weak and criminals (viruses etc.) run wild
Too strong and it attacks law-abiding citizens:
The body’s own cells (Autoimmune disease)
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Ex. Lupus Erythmatosis
Ex. Hashimoto’s Disease
Immune Response to Bacteria
Elements of the Immune System
Leukocytes (White blood cells)
Most important elements
Patrol the blood & fluids
Antigens: Intruders have
different surface proteins
(nonself) than our own (self)
WBCs attack antigens
Macrophages and B Cells are
specific defenses
Antibodies search for specific
antigens to attach to
T cells: cytotoxic and helper
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Cytotoxic: direct attack
Helper: stimulates Ts & B’s
to multiply rapidly
Natural Killer Cells
Attach to certain kinds of
tumor cells and infected cells.
Relatively non-specific
Cytokines
Chemicals released to activate
immune system cells to attack
and communicate with brain
Tells brain that body is ill
Stimulate vagus nerve
receptors
Relays message to
hypothalamus and
hippocampus
Some Symptoms Explained
Cytokines are instigators

Fever
Viruses do not thrive at high temperatures
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Sleepiness
Decreased Muscle Activity
Decreased Sex Drive
Decreased appetite
Viruses need iron
To Conserve energy
Effects of Stress on Immune System
Psychoneuroimmunology:

The study of the relationship between the
nervous system and immune systems
All experiences, especially stressful ones,
alter the immune system

New antibodies, B & T cells, etc.
The Immune system in turn influences the
central nervous system.
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Hypothalamus and Hippocampus involvement
Effects of Stress
Continued, long term anxiety, anger or
stress is harmful.
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A body focused on the cycle of increased
cortisol & increased metabolism, it is not
producing new proteins for the immune
system and other systems.
Ex. Three-Mile-Island
High cortisol levels damage hippocampus
(brain damage folks)

Learning and memory suffer as a result
Post Traumatic Stress Disorder
(PTSD)
Traumatic experience leads to:
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Months or even years of flashbacks and nightmares
Exaggerated arousal response to noises etc.
Avoidance of reminders of the event
Combat veterans, rape victims, 9/11
Most PTSD victims have a smaller than average
hippocampus (which came first?)
Symptom of stress OR mechanism of coping with it?
damage from prolonged elevation of cortisol?
OR predisposed vulnerability to stress?
Emotions, Stress and Health
They are all intricately related.