Emotion, Intuition and “Hot” Thinking

I. Psychological Perspectives on Emotion the role of thinking in emotion

II. Studying Emotion

III. Blink: Thin Slicing Emotions

anger fear happy contempt

Emotion 101

Emotion Families Three Channels of Output

Subjective FeelingExpressionPhysiology

Appraisals of Meaning (aka the role of thinking in emotions)Hot “Cognitions”

“You intentionally demeaned me”

Can we study emotion scientifically?Emotions in the Context of Couple Interactions

Laboratory Based Interaction“Revealed Offense” Task

Videotape ==> Observational Coding

Physiological Indicators of Emotion

VIDEO RECALL

On-line Feelings and thoughts

Affect Rating Slide

“How I felt during this discussion”Wife's Ratings

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Time in Minutes

Aff

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76541 3 82

Wife’s Negative “HAM”

Wife’s Positive “HAM”

Hot Affect Moments (HAM) Questionnaire

not very at all much How much did you feel 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 the following?

1. anger 1 2 3 4 5 6 7

2. irritated 1 2 3 4 5 6 7

3. happy 1 2 3 4 5 6 7

4. sad 1 2 3 4 5 6 7

How much were you trying to achieve the following? I WAS:

1. trying to understand my partner 1 2 3 4 5 6 7

2. trying to control my anger 1 2 3 4 5 6 7

3. trying to avoid appearing weak 1 2 3 4 5 6 7

Does this study show that you can use science to examine emotion?

How do you know emotions when you see them?

What cues do you use?BLINK: Thin Slicing Emotions

Ekman: FACS SYSTEM

page 413 for scorepage 382 for scorepage 382 for scorepage 382 for scorepage 382 for scorepage 381 for score

video 4w4 page 465w0 page 4654ii page 4664i page 4660 page 465

                                                

Action Unit 4 – Brow Lowerer

AngerThe eyebrows and

corners of the mouth are pulled down.

    HappinessThe eyebrows and

corners of the mouth are raised.

 

Specific Affect Coding System (SPAFF)

GOTTMAN (from Blink)Long ManualGestalt Approach

Body LanguageFacial ExpressionSpeech ContentSpeech Qualities (tone, prosody)

Extensive TrainingMultiple emotions coded

SPAFF vs. FACSMore inference, harder to get interrater agreement, more

“subjective”

Our Method of Observing Emotion

View Videotapes

30-second epochs 16 emotions and couple behaviors

e.g., Anger (0=not at all; 9=A lot)

5-6 independent “naïve” observers ratings pooled

Naïve Coder Approach vs. SPAFFMore reliance on intuition, subjective

judgment … thin slicingLess “thinking” and reliance on heuristics in

manual

More or less objective???

Does it Work?

Highly correlated with SPAFF codingEmotional Coding Predicts Marital Quality and Stability83% accuracy in predicting dissolution

Why might be the advantages of naïve coding vs. SPAFF manualized approach?