Emotions • Feeling, such as fear, joy, or surprise, that underlies behavior • Essential Questions: – What causes us to feel emotions, both physically and psychologically? – Do emotions differ culturally? – Does emotion (happiness, stress) have any correlates? – How can we be happier?
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Emotions Feeling, such as fear, joy, or surprise, that underlies behavior Essential Questions: – What causes us to feel emotions, both physically and psychologically?
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Emotions• Feeling, such as fear, joy, or surprise, that
underlies behavior• Essential Questions:– What causes us to feel emotions, both physically
and psychologically?– Do emotions differ culturally?– Does emotion (happiness, stress) have any
• Which emotion is the most evolutionarily important? Physically important? Psychologically important?
Opponent-Process Theory
• Emotions have hedonic value- either negative or positive (pleasurable)
• When one is aroused, the opposite will appear to allow us to remain even-keeled– when we are elated we may then feel down or
depressed– fear is replaced with elation (or at least relief )– pain with pleasure– anxiety with calm– Boredom with interest
Solomon’s Opponent Process
Theories of Emotion: How do we know when we are excited vs. stressed?
• James-Lange theory– Environmental stimuli bring on physiological
changes that we interpret as emotions– Your heart is beating fast and your breathing rate
has increased. Your palms are sweaty and your hands are shaking. What emotion might this be?
– Based on the contextual cues, the interpretation of this emotion may be:• Excitement before a competitive race• Fear of an intruder in the house• Nervousness before speech, first date, surgery
Nonverbal Communication of Emotion
• Voice quality• Facial expression and Ekman’s work
– Lie to Me
• Body language– Posture– The way we move communicates
• Stress is the manner in which we respond to events perceived as threatening or challenging– Stress has an impact on our mood, our behavior
and our health– Behavioral medicine integrates what we know of
human behavior and medicine to better understand health and disease
– Health psychology involves the contribution of psychology’s contribution to behaviorla medicine
Arousal Theory
• People are motivated to seek an optimal level of arousal for a given moment
• Yerkes-Dodson law– States that there is an optimal level or arousal for
best performance on any task– The more complex the task, the lower the level of
arousal that can be tolerated without interfering with performance
Yerkes-Dodson Law
Stress Response• Stress Appraisal (Threat or Challenge)• Cannon’s fight-or-flight response– Epinephrine and norepinephrine released from adrenal glands– Sympathetic nervous system kicks in
• Hypothalamus and pituitary control cortisols released from adrenal cortex
• Withdrawal- pull back and become paralyzed• “Tend and befriend” (Shelley Taylor).. Oxytocin?• Gender and stress
– Women more likely to nurture and band together– Men more likely to withdraw and turn to alcohol
• Catastrophes and PTSD• Change and the SRRS• Pressure• Frustration• Conflict– Approach-approach– Approach-avoidance– Avoidance-avoidance
Stress and Health
• “Type A” vs. “Type B” (Friedman and Rosenman)– Type A: reactive, competitive, impatient, motivated, aggressive
and easily angered – susceptible to Coronary Heart Disease– Type B: easy going, mellow – much less susceptible to CHD
• Pessimism makes you twice as likely to develop CHD• Depression also increases CHD risk• Psychoneuroimmunology (PNI)– Studies relationship between nervous, endocrine and immune
systems– Stress and AIDS– Stress and cancer
Coping with Stress
• Perceived feelings of control• Optimism• Social support• Exercise• Relaxation/Meditation• Biofeedback• Spirituality
Positive Psychology
• How do we move away from stress and focus on being happy?