CHAPTER 6 EMOTION & AFFECT

© 2014 Wadsworth Cengage Learning

CHAPTER TOPICS

• What is Emotion?• Emotional Arousal• Some Important Emotions• Why Do We Have Emotions?• Group Differences in Emotions• Arousal, Attention, and Performance• Emotional Intelligence (EQ)• Affect Regulation

DEBATE: DEALING WITH SPAM

• Consider the case of Charles Booher, who reacted to a barrage of spam by threatening to kill employees of the company sending him the spam• Was he provoked into making the threats?• Was his arrest and high bond ($75,000) fair? What should his punishment be?

WHAT IS EMOTION?

• Emotion: conscious evaluative reaction to some event• How do emotions guide your behavior?• How do emotions provide you with feedback?

• Mood: feeling state that is not clearly linked to some event

• Affect: automatic response that something is good or bad

7-5

AFFECT, EMOTIONS, AND MOODS

CONSCIOUS EMOTION VS. AUTOMATIC AFFECT

• Conscious emotion – is a powerful and clearly unified feeling state, such as anger or joy.

• Automatic affect – is a quick response of liking or disliking toward something.

• How does conscious emotion relate to the deliberate mind?

• How does automatic affect relate to the automatic mind?

EMOTIONAL AROUSAL

James- Lange Theory of Emotion

The proposition that the bodily processes of emotion come first and the mind’s perception of these bodily reactions then createsthe subjective feeling of emotion.

Facial Feedback hypothesis

• Was inspired by the James-Lange Theory• Facial expressions can evoke or magnify emotions because the brain reacts to what the facial muscles are doing.

• According to the facial feedback hypothesis, what happens when women injected with Botox are not able to move their face as much as normal?

Cannon-Bard Theory of Emotion

Schachter-Singer Theory of Emotion

EMOTIONAL AROUSAL THEORIES

• How does the Cannon-Bard theory of emotion contradict the James-Lange theory of emotion? What does it have in common with James-Lange?

• How does the Schacter-Singer theory of emotion relate to the James-Lange theory of emotion? How does it relate to the Cannon-Bard theory of emotion?

SOCIAL SIDE OF SEX: CAN PEOPLE BE WRONG ABOUT WHETHER THEY ARE

SEXUALLY AROUSED?

• Sexual arousal may not be accurately attributed.

• Ambiguities of sexual arousal• Sexual stimulation may affect the brain, or the genitals, neither, or both

• The disconnect between the brain and the genitals is greater among women than men.

• Attitudes may prescribe reactions different than physiological response

MISATTRIBUTION OF AROUSAL

• How does the Vancouver suspension bridge study relate to the theories of emotion discussed above?

• Can the misattribution of arousal turn fear into love?

• What flaws in the design of the study could lead to questions of the results?

HAPPINESSWhat is happiness?

• Measured by affect balance: frequency of positive minus frequency of negative emotions

• Does affect balance suggest that optimistic people are happier?

Life satisfaction• Can comparing life to some standard explain why someone in a horrible situation can still be happy?

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/programmes/happiness_formula/default.stm

OBJECTIVE ROOTS OF HAPPINESS

• What objective measures do you think would make you happy?• Why do people believe something (such as children) makes them happier, when in fact it makes them less happy?

• How does the hedonic treadmill theory explain the happiness state of lottery winners a year after winning, as opposed to someone who has been paralyzed after an accident?

http://youtu.be/As-g_dwgJig

SUBJECTIVE ROOTS OF HAPPINESS

• In what ways does your outlook determine your happiness?

• Why would someone’s current happiness be a predictor for their future happiness?

• In what ways are subjective roots more significant predictors than objective roots?

INCREASING HAPPINESS

• How can focused attention on positive things change your outlook?• What are some examples of exercises to focus attention on positive things?

• How and why is happiness linked to good health?

ANGER

• What is anger? An emotional response to a real or imagined threat or provocation.

• Angry people may:• Downplay risks and overlook the dangers of impulsivity

• Fail to consider consequences of actions

• In what ways is anger hurtful?

CAUSES OF ANGER

• How does perceptions of others’ behaviors relate to anger?• What types of behaviors in others may perpetuate greater anger?

• In what ways is anger helpful?• From an evolutionary standpoint, what role does anger play in survival?

HIDING VS. SHOWING ANGER

• In what situations does society encourage people to not show anger?

• What are the drawbacks of venting anger, or exercising vigorously in response to anger?• How can people decrease arousal to reduce anger?• What are some best practices for dealing with anger?

GUILT AND SHAME

• What is the difference between guilt and shame?• Which is constructive? Which is destructive?

• What are the benefits and drawbacks to guilt and shame?• How do apologies and amends represent positive outcomes of guilt?

• How can guilt strengthen relationships?

GUILT AND RELATIONSHIPS

• In what ways is guilt an interpersonal emotion?• Consider survivor guilt• People may try to make others feel guilty

DISGUST

• What is the purpose of disgust?• Consider disgust in men versus women

• How can disgust motivate healthy behaviors?• How can public health officials take advantage of disgust?

• Why do people feel more disgust towards strangers or different groups?• How can disgust influence moral judgments?

WHY DO WE HAVE EMOTIONS?

• Emotions:• Comprise powerful and important feedback system• Promote belongingness• May causes behavior indirectly

• Mood (emotion) doesn’t cause eating (behavior)

• Guide thinking and learning• Affect-as-information hypothesis: if I feel good about something, it must be good

FOOD FOR THOUGHT

• How does mood affect your food?• People who feel bad often eat badly

• Both in terms of type and amount of food• May lead to binge eating

• You want to feel better and eating is a strategy for feeling better

Food Mood

EMOTIONS GUIDE THINKING AND LEARNING

• How do anticipated emotions guide decisions and choices?• What is affective forecasting?

• How do emotions help and hurt decision-making?• How does the risk-as-feelings hypothesis explain biased judgments?

• How do emotions lead to risky behavior?• What effect do emotions have on the way people use probabilities?

POSITIVE EMOTIONS

• Positive emotions are less prevalent, and they are studied less often

• How, according to the broaden-and-build theory, do positive emotions solve problems of personal growth and development?

POSITIVE EMOTIONS (CONT’D.)

• Benefits of being in a good mood• A good mood helps flexibility, creativity, and problem-solving

• People in a good mood perform better, are more persistent, and more motivated

• People in a good mood avoid risks

• Drawbacks of being in a good mood• People in a good mood are less logical, have poorer short-term memory, and more easily distracted by irrelevant information

ARE EMOTIONS DIFFERENT ACROSS CULTURES?

Research conducted by Paul Ekman have identified six basic emotions that can be identified by facial expression

CULTURAL DIFFERENCES IN EMOTION

• Asian Americans place greater emphasis on emotional moderation than European Americans

• How do people in collectivist and individualist cultures find self-worth?

• How does culture teach people to hide emotions? • How might that affect studies on cross-cultural recognition of emotional facial expressions?

ARE WOMEN MORE EMOTIONAL THAN MEN?

• Studies show that men are more emotional, but women are more willing to report emotions

• Why do stereotypes regarding women’s greater emotionality persist, despite research findings to the contrary?

AROUSAL, ATTENTION, AND PERFORMANCE

• Is arousal good or bad for performance?• Under what circumstances can arousal cause an increase in performance? Under what circumstances can it decrease performance?

• How does the strength of arousal affect performance?

• What does this say about the effects of stress?

EMOTIONAL INTELLIGENCE (EI OR EQ)

• Emotional intelligence: the ability to perceive, access and generate, understand, and reflectively regulate emotions• Mayer-Salovey-Caruso Emotional Intelligence Test (MSCEIT)• Perceiving Emotion• Facilitating Thought• Understanding Emotion• Managing Emotions

AFFECT REGULATION STRATEGIES

• What are some things that people can do to alter their mood?

• What are some things people do to deal with the problem?

• How do these approaches differ? What are the strengths and weaknesses of each approach?

GOALS OF AFFECT REGULATION

• What are some affect regulation goals?• In what situations would a positive mood be undesirable? In what situations would a negative mood be desirable?

• How do people regulate their mood prior to social interactions?

• What gender differences exist for mood regulation?

• Is affect regulation a good idea?

WHAT MAKES US HUMAN?

• Human emotion is tied to meaning• Can respond emotionally to ideas and concepts• Leads to a larger range of emotion

• Emotion aids in social acceptance/cognition• Provides feedback• Anticipated emotion used for decision making• EI provides power to regulate emotions

DISCUSSION: EMOTIONAL DIFFERENCES

• What are some of the differences in emotions and emotional regulation between genders, ages, and cultures? What universal similarities exist?

• Are people more alike or more different due to their emotions and the way they express them?

CONCLUSION

• Emotions shape our behaviors and are accompanied by physiological arousal

• Emotions can affect our lives, actions, and performance

• Though there are many strategies for controlling mood, emotions serve an important function in our lives