Chapter 12 Emotions, Health, and Stress

Chapter 12Emotions, Health, and Stress

Emotion • Emotion • Though emotions comprise a significant and crucial part of our individual and social experience, emotion is an elusive concept, difficult to define and measure. • Through scientific research psychologists have learned much about nature of emotions, but some interesting and important questions remain unanswered.

The Crucial Importance of Emotion • It is by no means true that we would make better decisions if we could keep our emotions in check, despite the pop culture lore that promotes this idea. • Brain damaged people with impaired emotions are generally inferior decision-makers. • Emotions are a powerful informer of our decisions, closely related to motivation, as almost any motivation has an emotion tied to it.

Module 12.1 • The Nature of Emotions

Measuring Emotions • Like many other constructs in psychology, measuring emotion poses challenges to psychological scientists. Each method has its strengths and weaknesses. • Self-reports are fast and easy but may have questionable accuracy. • Behavioral observations; especially of facial expressions are useful. Although facial emotions can be suppressed, micro-expressions can be very revealing. • Physiological measures use autonomic nervous activity. These are harder to control or suppress, although their meaning is subject to interpretation.

Excitement and Physiological Arousal • The role of the autonomic nervous system • The autonomic nervous system is the division that controls the functioning of the internal organs. • The ANS has two subdivisions, the sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous systems.

The Autonomic Nervous System • The sympathetic nervous system • The sympathetic nervous system is comprised of two chains of neuron clusters just to the left and right of the spinal cord. • It increases the heart rate, breathing rate, production of sweat, and flow of adrenaline. • It prepares the body for intense activity, “fight or flight” and other stress-related behaviors. It is the “crisis management” center.

The Autonomic Nervous System • The parasympathetic nervous system • The parasympathetic nervous system consists of neurons with axons extending out from the medulla and the lower spinal cord. • These axons connect to neuron clusters near the internal organs. • The parasympathetic nervous system is the long-term survival center, promoting rest by decreasing heart rate, digestion, and other functions that keep an organism alive in the long-term.

The Autonomic Nervous System • The two divisions of the ANS • Both systems are active, and the shifting between the two systems helps to keep the body in a balanced condition called homeostasis. • Emergencies mainly activate the sympathetic nervous system, but also may involve some parasympathetic activity (i.e., being frightened causes an individual to lose bowel or bladder control).

The Autonomic Nervous System • The two divisions of the ANS • We generally cannot directly control autonomic responses, but we can influence them by voluntary cognition and behavior, for example, athletes learn to control breathing and focus their concentration for improved aim.

Concept Check: If you ride on the back of your friend’s brand-new high-powered motorcycle, does your heart rate increase or decrease? During the ride, your heart rate will increase. What happens when the ride is over? When you get off the motorcycle, it will slow down.

Emotion and Perceived Arousal • Which comes first, the psychological experience of emotion or the physiological arousal? • Common sense dictates that one feels sad and therefore one cries, one feels happy and so one laughs.

Emotion and Perceived Arousal • The James-Lange theory of emotions • Two nineteenth century psychologists, working independently, came up with a different interpretation of how emotion and physiological reactions are related. • The James-Lange theory reverses this process. • The theory states that a person’s interpretation of a stimulus evokes the autonomic changes directly. • The psychological experience of emotion is the individual’s perception of those physiological changes.

Emotion and Perceived Arousal • The James-Lange theory of emotions • You decide that you are happy because you are smiling, sad because you are frowning and tears are forming in your eyes. • According to the James-Lange theory, the reactions are not enough to produce the emotions, but you will not have the full experience of the emotions without them.

Concept Check: You arrive at your psychology class and realize that there is a test today and you completely forgot about it. You feel nervous and start to sweat. According to the James-Lange theory, which comes first, the feeling of fear or the sweating? The sweating

The Autonomic Nervous System • Effects of decreased perceived arousal • Some medical conditions cause people to feel little physiological arousal. • In the condition called pure autonomic failure the ANS stops regulating the internal organs. • People who suffer from pure autonomic failure recognize situations that call for strong emotions (fear, elation) but they report that their emotions are much less intense. • This is what the James-Lange theory predicts.

Emotion and Perceived Arousal • Schachter and Singer’s theory of emotions • Another theory proposes that the physiological state is not the same thing as the emotion. • According to the Schachter and Singer theory of emotions, the intensity of the physiological reaction determines only the intensity of the emotion, not the type of emotion.

Emotion and Perceived Arousal • Schachter and Singer’s theory of emotions • It is a person’s cognitive appraisal of the situation that determines the emotion that we experience. • Research studies based on the Schachter and Singer theory leave some unanswered questions about the role of physiological arousal in contributing to the intensity of the emotional states.

Figure 12.4 According to the James-Lange theory, physiological arousal determines the nature of the emotion. According to Schachter and Singer’s theory, physiological arousal determines the intensity of an emotion, but not which emotion is experienced.

Concept Check: According to the Schachter-Singer theory, which comes first, the realization that you forgot about the test, or the feeling of fear? The realization (cognitive appraisal)

The Range of Emotions • Psychologists have yet to agree on a single list of basic emotions but they have agreed on a list of criteria for establishing what a basic emotion should be.

The Range of Emotions • A basic emotion should emerge early in life without requiring a great deal of experience. • The basic emotions should be found across cultures. • Each basic emotion should have a unique biological basis and distinct facial expression.

The Range of Emotions • Producing facial expressions • The function of facial expressions in all primates is communication, especially communication of emotions. • Facial expression of emotion is much more likely to occur in the presence of other people. • Facial expressions of emotion are more likely to indicate a person’s true internal state than simple statements and other indicators.

The Range of Emotions • Producing facial expression • For example, a voluntary smile, such as the one you put on for a photographer, only utilizes the mouth muscles. • A full, spontaneous smile, or Duchenne smile, also involves the eye muscles along with the mouth. • Most people cannot voluntarily produce a Duchenne smile.

The Range of Emotions • Understanding facial expressions • Researchers have found a large amount of evidence that there is indeed a set of basic emotions. • Many facial expressions including smiling, frowning, laughing, and crying occur throughout the world and are even found in children who were born deaf and blind.

The Range of Emotions • Understanding facial expressions • Some of our facial expressions develop in the absence of opportunities to observe and imitate others. • There is evidence that the basic emotions consist of happiness, sadness, fear, disgust, anger and surprise. • Interpretation of these emotions by facial expression is done easily and fairly accurately across cultures.

The Range of Emotions • Understanding facial expressions • But people also rely on gestures, changes in expression, and social situation to make more accurate judgments of others’ emotions. • People of different world cultures do not necessarily agree about which internal states are in fact emotions. • Also, a state that is associated with a recognizable facial expression is not necessarily an emotion.

Concept Check: What six states are currently believed to comprise the six basic emotions? • Happiness • Sadness • Anger • Fear • Disgust • Surprise

Concept Check: What is the evidence that these six may be the basic emotions? Most people in all cultures recognize the facial expressions associated with these states.

Emotions and Moral Decisions • If emotions were not informative in some way, we probably would not have evolved them. • Emotions may influence our moral decisions. • Research studies using the Trolley Dilemma and Footbridge Dilemma, problems that involve making decisions about letting a small number of people die to save a larger number of people, have provided evidence that emotions play a powerful role in deciding the most moral course of action.

Emotion, Decision-Making, and Emotional Intelligence • It makes intuitive sense that good decision-making would require some great degree of emotional control, hence the familiar advice to remain calm and rational when contemplating big decisions. • This in fact is not entirely true. Only extreme emotions interfere with decision-making. • Some degree of emotionality appears to be necessary for good decision-making.

Emotions and Decision-Making • In fact, a number of case studies of patients with brain damage suggest that the ability to experience and express emotions plays a key role in important life and moral decisions. • The case of Phineas Gage and more recently, Antonio Damasio’s case study of “Elliot” both provide evidence that feeling distinctly good or bad is crucial in making decisions of major importance in our lives so that the best outcome is achieved.

Concept Check: A patient experiences a closed head injury, with damage to the prefrontal cortex. What behavioral and emotional problems might result from this injury? Problems with making decisions, expressing and modulating emotions, tendency to impulsive behavior, reduced ability to accurately interpret the emotions of other people.

Emotional Intelligence • Emotional intelligence is defined as the ability to perceive, imagine and understand emotions and to use that information in decision-making. • The idea of emotional intelligence has gained a great deal of popularity over the past few decades, in psychology and related fields.

Emotional Intelligence • The evidence for the existence of a special kind of intelligence related to emotions is still not too strong though. • Measuring this construct poses challenges in assessment that have yet to be well managed. • For example, in constructing items for a test of emotional intelligence, too often the best answer to a question might be “it depends.” • Emotional intelligence is an interesting idea, but researchers still have a long way to go.

Emotions and Decision-Making • The ability to imagine the feeling that we would have pursuing each option presented to us is a big part of good decision-making capability. “Emotions are inseparable from the idea of good and evil.” -- Antonio Damasio

Emotions • The debates described in this module may not strike you as terribly important, but they are part of larger issue of great importance to the science of psychology. • Human behavior seems to be in large part influenced by emotions.

Emotions • Just as the first chemists had to struggle to identify the number and nature of basic elements in order to understand the way the universe works, so we need to keep striving to identify the basic emotions and the relationship of these to human experience and action.

Module 12.2 • A Survey of Emotions

Happiness • It is challenging to measure happiness scientifically, because unlike the negative emotions, it doesn’t really cause any obvious behavioral changes (like running away or attacking). • Most researchers simply ask subjects how happy they think that they are.

Happiness • Martin Seligman and other psychologists have been developing a perspective called positive psychology. • Positive psychology is the study of features that enrich life, such as hope, creativity, courage, spirituality and responsibility. • These features vary cross-culturally.

Happiness • American researchers have focused on the perception of subjective well-being. • Subjective well-being is the individual’s assessment of the degree to which his or her life is pleasant, interesting and satisfying.

Happiness • When surveyed regarding what conditions would cause an increase in happiness, most people answered: • Money • A good job • More leisure time • A boyfriend or girlfriend (or a new one)

Happiness • Other influences on happiness • Some factors do correlate well with happiness including: • Inborn temperament or disposition. • Marital status (being married seems relate to being happy). • Striving towards goals and working for causes. • Having a religious faith. • Being healthy. • Remember that a correlation does not necessarily indicate a causal relationship. There may be more than one explanation or direction for the relationships listed above.

Happiness • How to be a happy person: • Have happy parents. • Think about the long term when you make decisions. • Have strong connections with other people. • Be involved in activities that are important to you.

Happiness • Wealth • Researchers (and almost everyone else) are curious about the degree to which income level influences happiness. • This is challenging because it is difficult to measure happiness, and there are cross-cultural influences and problems of subjective interpretation – a number used for a rating by one person may signify a different level to another person. • The general conclusion drawn from research so far is that wealth does not have a large effect on happiness.

Sadness • Sadness is almost always reported to be a reaction to loss. • Crying is a typical reaction to severe sadness, but as with all other emotions cultures vary in their attitudes and norms about crying. • Crying is usually accompanied by an increase in SNS activity and a feeling of relief or relaxation afterwards.

Sadness • The possible functions of crying • However, research suggests that crying may not actually relieve tension and that those who cry are more likely to report feelings of depression than those who don’t. • Crying may function mainly to draw attention and sympathy. • The shedding of tears occurs exclusively in humans.

Sadness • “Depressive realism” • Despite the good press given to a cheerful outlook, it appears as if those who are sad or mildly depressed make better decisions than those who are happy and optimistic. • They assess their performance, popularity and success more accurately than happy people. • They appear to weigh the evidence more carefully and are more likely to be persuaded by a factual, rational argument than an emotional one.

Fear and Anxiety • Some researchers are investigating the relationship between emotions and brain activity. • There is evidence linking the emotions of fear or anxiety to the amygdala. • When the amygdala is damaged, a person’s ability to experience these feelings may be impaired.

Chapter 12 Emotions, Health, and Stress