Emotion Lecture 16

EMOTIONS
Emotions: A brief overview
– Emotions contrast with reason
– Emotion causes us to deviate from rationality

– Is this true?
The Function of Emotions
• Preparing us for action
• Shaping our future
behavior
• Helping us to interact
more effectively with
others
• Facilitate adaptability
Emotions
• Emotions are often analyzed into component
features-
• such as an eliciting event,
• a facial expression,
• a physiological change,
• a phenomenological experience, and
• a motivation or action tendency.
Types of emotion
• Anticipatory emotions
– Desire
– Dread
• Outcome emotions
– Happiness, sadness, anxiety, regret, relief
Dimensions of emotion
• Valence: Positive or negative
• Motivation: Approach or avoidance
• Approach emotions
– Positive: Happiness
– Negative: Sadness
• Avoidance emotions
– Positive: Relief
– Negative: Anxiety/Fear
Universal emotions
• anger, disgust, fear, happiness, sadness, and
surprise.
Izard
ten basic emotions, joy, surprise, anger, disgust,
contempt, fear, shame, guilt, interest, and
excitement with combinations of them
resulting in other emotional blends.
.
• Charles Darwin's The Expressions of Emotions
in Man and the Animals (1872).
• Darwin sent his 'emotion questionnaire‘ to
respondents in all five continents,
encompassing over thirty countries, since he
sought to find evidence for his evolutionary
hypothesis that certain 'basic' emotions are
shared across cultures (not to mention
species)!
Moral emotions
• Guilt
• Pride
• Embarassment
• Shame
Moral emotions are the emotions that respond to
moral violations, or that motivate moral behavior.
Moral emotions as those emotions that are linked to
the interests or welfare either of society as a whole
or at least of persons other than the judge or agent.
• The other condemning emotions
Contempt
Anger
Disgust
The Self-Conscious Emotions

Shame
Embarrassment
Guilt
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
What Exactly are Emotions?
• An emotion involves physiological arousal, expressive
behavior and conscious experience
• What psychologists do agree on is that emotions

contain both a cognitive and physiological element
• What they do not agree on is, which comes first?

Basis of Emotional Experience:
Physiology or Cognition?
• At one extreme, emotions can be seen as biological
responses to situations over which we have little
control
• At the other extreme, there are psychologists who
define emotions more by the conscious experience
rather than by the biological response (Lazarus,
1991)
Biological Explanations of Emotion
• Theorists such as William James and Carl Lange
suggest that emotional experience is a direct result
of physiological arousal
• For some, physiological arousal is seen to cause the
emotion (James & Lange); while for others, such
arousal is a signal system for the brain to act and
produce emotions (Cannon)
James- Lange theory of emotion
• Stimulus leads to bodily arousal ( first
response)
• which is then ( second response)
emotion( fear)Physical arousal led to the
labeling of emotion.
• I am afraid because I am aroused.

Canon- Bard theory of emotion
• Emotion and the physiological arousal occur
more or less at the same time not one after
the other.
• I am afraid and running and aroused.

• Cannon argues that the James-Lange theory is too
slow in accounting for instantaneous emotional
feeling
• Yet his own theory also contains a flaw. If the brain

decides upon emotional experience based upon
physiological arousal, then individuals who receive
no physiological arousal signals should not
experience emotion
Facial feedback hypothesis
• This theory assumes that facial expressions
provide feedback to the brain concerning the
emotions being expressed which in turn causes
and intensifies the emotion
• This assumes that changing your own facial

expressions can change the way you feel.
• Smiling makes you feel happy and frowning
makes you feel sad.
Evaluation of the Biological Basis of Emotion
• For example feeling nervous often feels similar to

excitement
• One major criticism – we are not very good at
detecting our levels of physiological arousal
• Cognition should play a major role in emotions too,
as we appraise situations
Cognitive Explanations of Emotional
Experience
• We recognise different emotions because of our
mental evaluations of our current situation
• Schachter & Singer (1962, 1964) two-factor
theory
• Emphasised the importance of both physiological
and situational factors in determining emotion.
They called this the two-factor theory of emotions
• Two things have to happen before emotions
occur.
• 1. The physical arousal

• 2.Labeling of that arousal based on the cues
from the surrounding environment.
• Cognitive labeling is important.

Cognitive Appraisal Model: Lazarus
• Cognitive appraisal of the situation determines the
level of physiological arousal and the specific type of
emotion to be experienced
• We learn what to expect from stimuli from previous
experience with it
Cognitive Appraisal Theory
External Events Appraisal Goals, Beliefs
Emotion
Problem- Emotion-
focused Coping focused
Smith and Lazarus’ cognitive-motivational-emotive system

Coping
• Problem-focused (act on the world)
– Action execution
– Planning
– Seek instrumental social support
• Emotion-focused (act on belief)

– Denial
– Find silver lining
– Shift blame
– Distancing
Positive emotions
• Importance of positive emotions
• Open up thinking in creative and imaginative

ways
• Enhance meaning
• Are markers of meaningful experiences
• Broaden the horizon of thought and experiences
• Are related to resilience and growth

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EMOTIONS

Emotions: A brief overview

– Emotions contrast with reason

– Emotion causes us to deviate from rationality

The Self-Conscious Emotions

• What psychologists do agree on is that emotions

• What they do not agree on is, which comes first?

• I am afraid because I am aroused.

• I am afraid and running and aroused.

• Yet his own theory also contains a flaw. If the brain

• This assumes that changing your own facial

• For example feeling nervous often feels similar to

• 1. The physical arousal

• Cognitive labeling is important.

External Events Appraisal Goals, Beliefs

Smith and Lazarus’ cognitive-motivational-emotive system

• Emotion-focused (act on belief)

• Open up thinking in creative and imaginative

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