Emotion Expression and Regulation: Neurobiology, Aggression, Fear, Resilience
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Presentation Transcript
Chapter 10 Emotional Expression and Regulation
Outline • Biopsychological perspectives of emotional expression • The neurobiology of aggression and fear • Emotional regulation • Emotional temperament and longevity in rats
Emotional Expression • Define emotions as subjective feelings, influenced by activation of CNS/PNS
Emotional Expression • Can you identify all these emotions? • When did you learn them?
Emotional Expression: Microexpressions Would you allow micro-expressions to be used in a court room?
Theories of emotion • James-Lange: bodily reactions cause emotional reactions • Cannon-Bard: The brain is drives of emotions • Sham rage • Schachter-Singer: Context-dependent cognitive interpretation of arousal
Emotional Expression: Limbic system • Papez’s Circuit • Klüver-Bucy syndrome
Emotional Expression • Emotional expression is handled by a network of regions, not a single isolated area • Limbic system • ACC • Insula • Nucleus accumbens • Emotional response affects memory
Neurobiology of fear and aggression • Scientists study fear and aggression more than happy and peaceful behavior • Types of aggression • Reactive-impulsive • Controlled-instrumental
Neurobiology of aggression Lesions Reduce Aggression Lesions Increase Aggression • Anterior hypothalamus • Medial amygdala • Bed nucleus of the striaterminalis • Lateral septum • Orbitofrontal cortex
Neurobiology of aggression Testosterone • Produced by the testes • Castration reduces aggression • Watching sports can increase testosterone • Testosterone and violent crime • Fluctuations may be more important than absolute level
Neurobiology of aggression • Is it always adaptive to fight back? • What happens to an animal that always submits to an aggressor? • Dominance hierarchies
Neurobiology of aggression • Can we apply results from nonhuman aggression to human aggression? • At what scale? • Between individuals, groups, nations?
Neurobiology of fear • The optimal response to a fearful stimulus depends on the context • High road vs. low road for processing fearful stimuli • Why have a slow system and a fast system?
Neurobiology of fear: Courage • What kind of acts are courageous? • How can we measure brain activity during such acts of courage?
Neurobiology of fear • Fear has survival value • How would your life be different if you were never afraid? • How do we decide how much fear is “appropriate” for a given stimulus in a given context?
Emotion Regulation • What happens when we experience extended periods of stress? • Studying resilience • Impact of emotion on health
Emotion Regulation: Resilience • Anxiolytic vs. anxiogenic • Coping strategies • Cognitive reappraisal • Emotions and decision making
Emotion Regulation: Resilience • Why do people react differently to the same stressful situation? • Can coping styles be trained?
Emotion Regulation: Resilience Cognitive reappraisal • Rethinking a situation can change our emotional response • Expressive flexibility • Cool under pressure
Emotion Regulation: Resilience Emotions and decision making • When do we tend to make risky decisions? • Somatic marker hypothesis
Emotion Regulation: Impact on Health • Emotional experiences influence health status • Chronic stress: immunosuppression • Acute stress: immunoenhancement • The immune system can be primed via classical conditioning
