Emotions

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Table of Contents

Basic Emotions
Paul Ekman and Carroll Izard
Insist that there are a limited number of basic emotions
Basic emotions
Emotions that are found in all cultures, that are
reflected in the same facial expressions across cultures,
and that emerge in children according to their
biological timetable
Ekman
Suggested considering emotions as families
The anger family might range from annoyed to
irritated, angry, livid, and, finally, enraged

Expression of Emotion
Range of emotion
Ekman and Friesen
Claim there are subtle distinctions in the facial expression of
a single emotion that convey its intensity

Development of facial expressions

Like the motor skills of crawling and walking, facial
expressions of emotions develop according to a biological
timetable of maturation
Consistency of emotional development across individual
infants and across cultures supports the idea that emotional
expression is inborn

Expression of Emotion
Universality of facial expressions -Darwin
First to study the relationship between emotions and
facial expressions
Believed that the facial expression of emotion was an
aid to survival because it enabled people to
communicate their internal states and react to
emergencies before they developed language
Maintained that most emotions, and the facial
expressions that convey them, are genetically inherited
and characteristic of the entire human species

Expression of Emotion
Universality of facial expressions -Scherer and
Wallbott
Found very extensive overlap in the patterns of
emotional experiences reported across cultures in
37 different counties on 5 continents
Also found important cultural differences in the
ways emotions are elicited and regulated and in
how they are shared socially

Ekmans 6 Basic Emotions

Im surprised

Im disgusted

Experienced Emotion
Infants
naturally
occurring
emotions

What is Emotion?
Emotions are a mix of:
Physiological activation (bodily response)
Expressive actions (behaviors)
Conscious experience (thoughts and feelings)

How Do We Experience
Emotion?
Question: Do our bodily responses come before or
after an emotional experience?
Do we feel sad because we are crying, or do we cry because
were feeling sad?
When you see a snake, your pulse races
Are you feeling afraid because your pulse is racing, or is your
pulse racing because you feel afraid?

William James & Carl Lange

We feel sorry because we cry, angry because we strike,

afraid because we tremble.

Feelings follow your bodys response

In a nutshell
James-Lange Theory - our experience of emotion is
our awareness of our physiological responses to
emotion-arousing stimuli

James-Lange Theory
Your feeling of fear is experienced ________ you
are aware of a physiological response

Sight of
oncoming
car
(perception of
stimulus)

Pounding
heart
(arousal)

Fear
(emotion)

James-Lange Theory
Your feeling of fear is experienced after
you are aware of a physiological response

Sight of
oncoming
car
(perception of
stimulus)

Pounding
heart
(arousal)

Fear
(emotion)

Cannon-Bard Theory
Walter Cannon physiologist
physiologist

& Philip Bard -

Physiological arousal and our emotional experience

occur simultaneously
You see a snake, the information is sent to the thalamus,
which relays the signals simultaneously to the cortex and to
the autonomic nervous system

Your heart begins pounding as you experience fear one does not cause the other

Cannon-Bard Theory
Sight of
oncoming
car
(perception of
stimulus)

Pounding
heart
(arousal)

Fear
(emotion)

Emotion-arousing
stimuli ______________
trigger:
physiological
responses (autonomic
nervous system)
subjective experience
of emotion
(information sent to
the brains cortex)

Cannon-Bard Theory
Sight of
oncoming
car
(perception of
stimulus)

Pounding
heart
(arousal)

Fear
(emotion)

Emotion-arousing stimuli
simultaneously
trigger:
physiological responses
(autonomic nervous
system)
subjective experience of
emotion (information
sent to the brains
cortex)

Schachters Two-Factor
Theory

Stanley Schachter said that emotions have 2

ingredients:
physical arousal
a cognitive label
Our experience of emotion grows from our
awareness of our bodys response to stimuli
(like James-Lange)
Emotions are physiologically similar (like
Cannon-Bard)

Schachter-Singer Two factor theory

A conscious interpretation of the arousal is needed
to experience emotion
A physiological arousal can be experienced as one
emotion or another depending on how we interpret
and label it

The Schacter-Singer Expt

Schachters Theory
Stimulus

Perception

(Tiger)

(Interpretation
of stimulus-danger)

Bodily
arousal
(Pounding
heart)

Emotion
(Fear)

Type

Intensity

Perception and thought about a stimulus

influence the type of emotion felt
Degree of bodily arousal influences the intensity
of emotion felt

Schachters Two-Factor
Theory

To experience emotion one

must:

Pounding
heart
(arousal)
Sight of
oncoming
car
(perception of
stimulus)

be ________________
___________________
Fear
(emotion)

Cognitive
label
Im afraid

Schachters Two-Factor
Theory

To experience emotion one

must:

Pounding
heart
(arousal)
Sight of
oncoming
car
(perception of
stimulus)

be physically aroused
cognitively label the arousal
Fear
(emotion)

Cognitive
label
Im afraid

More Recent Theories of Emotion

Controversy: Do emotions always follow
thought, or can emotion precede thinking? What
comes first, thinking or feeling?
Thinking comes first:
Richard Lazarus, Phoebe Ellsworth.
Emotions can come first:
Robert Zajonc, Joseph LeDoux

Lazarus 1977
1. Cognitive processes determine the quality and
intensity of an emotional reaction.
2. Cognitive processes underlie coping activities,
which, in turn, continually shape the emotional
reaction by altering the on-going relationship
between the person and the environment.

Zajonc (1980) & Le Doux (1999)

Zajoncs blood-flow theory:
a. Changing bodily state change in emotion
b. Face is primary source of emotional change

LeDoux:
there exist specialized brain circuits (neural maps)
for each emotion, each one a short-cut for a kind of
decision making

Facial Feedback Hypothesis

Can smiling make you feel happy?
Yes!
James Laird and others (1989)
Facial Feedback Hypothesis: The
idea that the muscular movements
involved in certain facial
expressions trigger the
corresponding emotions

Facial Feedback Hypothesis

Sylvan Tomkins
Claimed that the facial expression itself triggers both
the physiological arousal and the conscious feeling
associated with the emotion
so the movement of the facial muscles producing the
expression lead to emotion

Facial Feedback - adding a layer

Ekman and colleagues documented the effects of
facial expressions on physiological indicators of
emotion using 16 participants
Reported that a distinctive physiological response
pattern emerged for the emotions of fear, sadness,
anger and disgust, whether the participants
relived one of their emotional experiences or
simply made the corresponding facial expression
Researchers found that both anger and fear
accelerate heart rate, but fear produces colder
fingers than does anger

Theories

Spillover Effect
Spillover Effect - sometimes our arousal
response to one event spills over into our
response to the next event
You may meet someone at the gym after a work out
and while you are talking to the person you recognize
that your heart rate is up, youre flushed, you may
misinterpret this as having feelings for the person,
when in fact you may just still be worked up from your
workout.

 You go to a scary movie with your date and you are

physiologically aroused from the movie; some of this
arousal may linger and you may misinterpret it after the
movie as admiration for your date

Emotional Contagion
Emotional Contagion
Therapists catch clients feelings
Parents communicate their feelings to their children &
vice versa
Friends resonate to each others moods
Hatfield et al. (1993)
Some forms of emotional contagion are far more subtle
and automatic
We catch emotions by unconsciously engaging in motor
mimicry
Automatically imitate other peoples facial
expressions, gestures, and postures
We then come to feel as well as look as others do
Example: smiling faces of others at a party,
expressions of grief during mourning

Emotional Contagion
Evidence that motor mimicry occurs almost
instantaneously
College students able to synchronize their
movements within 21 milliseconds
Adults opening their mouths when babies do
May prove useful in understanding and
advancing communication between romantic
partners, teachers and students, parents and
children, therapists and clients

Two Dimensions of Emotion

People in various cultures place emotions on two
dimensions:
Valence - Pleasant versus Unpleasant
an objects quality of attractiveness to the individual - Positive
emotions are attractive and negative ones are not.

Arousal - Low versus high

Low
arousal

Positive
valence

pleasant
relaxation
sadness

joy
fear
anger

Negative
valence

High
arousal

Do you remember what the

three Elements of
Emotional Experience are?
1. Cognitive Component
2. Physiological Component
3. Behavioral Component

Cognitive Component
Richard Lazarus

First step in an emotional sequence is

cognitive appraisal of the situation

Appraisal determines which emotion you feel.

i.e. What should I be feeling in this situation?

Physiological Component
Occurs through the actions of the autonomic nervous
system
Sympathetic division
directs the adrenal glands to release stress hormones
Epinephrine (adrenaline)
Norepinephrine (noradrenaline)
Increased heart rate, blood pressure, blood sugar

Parasympathetic
Active once crisis has passed
Calms the body

Arousal and Performance

Performance
peaks at
lower levels
of arousal
for difficult
tasks, and at
higher levels
for easy or
well-learned
tasks

Keep in mind
Physiological Component
Difficult to distinguish between the physiological
responses of fear, anger, sexual arousal, and joy
The Limbic system (hypothalamus, hippocampus,
pituitary gland, and amygdala)
Emotion and cognition appear to be separate but
interacting mental functions
Mediated by separate but interacting brain systems

The Amygdala and Fear

A visual stimulus can travel to the amygdala and trigger a
physiological response
The emotion of fear
Feelings
Arise from a second, slower pathway that travels through the amygdala to
the higher cortex
Using information from different parts of the brain, the cortex analyzes
frightening stimuli in detail and sends a message back down to the
amygdala

Double wiring can cause problems

Neural connections from the cortex down to the amygdala are less well
developed than are connections from the amygdala back to the cortex
Amygdala can exert a greater influence on the cortex than vice versa
Once an emotion is turned on, its difficult to turn off

Cognition and Emotion

The brains
shortcut for
emotions

Measures of Physiological
Responses: GSR

Measures of Physiological
Responses: GSR
Galvanic skin response (GSR)
Measures autonomic activation
Assesses the skins electrical conductivity when
sweat gland activity increases
High conductance (sweating) indicates
sympathetic nervous system arousal
Low conductance indicates parasympathetic
activity

Emotion and Physiology

Autonomic nervous system controls
physiological arousal
Sympathetic
(arousing)
Pupils dilate
Decreases
Perspires
Increases
Accelerates
Inhibits
Secrete stress
hormones

Parasympathetic
(calming)
EYES
SALIVATION
SKIN
RESPIRATION
HEART
DIGESTION
ADRENAL
GLANDS

Pupils contract
Increases
Dries
Decreases
Slows
Activates
Decreases
secretion of
stress
hormones

Polygraph (lie detector)

Device that measures

autonomic fluctuations
that accompany emotion
(respiration, heart rate,
perspiration changes,
GSR) while a person is
questioned.
An emotion detector or
fear detection test, in
actuality.

Measuring Physiological
Responses: The
How the polygraph works:
Polygraph
Control Question
Example- Up to age 18, did you ever physically harm
anyone?

Relevant Question
Example- Did [the deceased] threaten to harm you in any
way?

Relevant > Control --> Lie

If physiological arousal to the critical questions are weaker
than to control questions, the examiner infers you are telling
the truth
Assumes that only a thief becomes agitated when denying a
theft

The Polygraph in which

case is the subject lying?
Respiration

Perspiration

Heart rate

Control Relevant
question question

(a)

Control
question

Relevant
question

(b)

Polygraph Tests
Polygraph tests measure emotion, which may or
may not be due to deceit
Inaccurate often enough that they are deemed
too unreliable to be submitted as evidence in
most types of courtrooms
9 out 10 psychologist believe the
polygraph can be beaten
Cannot distinguish between guilty lying
and fearful honesty
Never take a lie detector test if you are
innocent.

Emotion: The Polygraph

50 Innocents
50 Thieves
1/3 of innocent
declared guilty
1/4 of guilty
declared
innocent (from
Kleinmuntz &
Szucko, 1984)

Three Elements of
Emotional Experience
Behavioral Component

Emotions are expressed through body language

and facial expressions
Humans reveal their emotions both verbally
and nonverbally
Expressive Behaviors observable behavioral
indications of emotions
Non-verbal communication (majority of our
communication)
Body language
Facial Expression (primary display of emotion)

Non-Verbal Communication
Can we detect a liar through non-verbal
cues?
Paul Ekman and Maureen OSullivan (1991)

With experience and training people

can detect liars (67% - 86% accurate),
e.g., trained researchers, CIA agents
Intuition alone not very accurate
(near chance)

Expression of Emotion
Cultural rules for displaying emotion
Display rule
Cultural rules that dictate how emotions should be
expressed and when and where their expression is
appropriate

Often, a societys display rules require people to give

evidence of certain emotions that they may not
actually feel or to disguise their true feelings
Cole
Found that 3-year-old girls, when given an unattractive
gift, smiled nevertheless
They had already learned a display rule and signaled an
emotion they very likely did not feel

Expression of Emotion
Cultural rules for displaying emotion
Davis
Found that among first to third graders, girls were
better able to hide disappointment than boys were

Not only can emotions be displayed but not felt,

they can also be felt but not displayed
Most of us learn display rules very early and
abide by them most of the time

Experiencing Emotion
Facial-feedback hypothesis
Izard
Believes that learning to self-regulate emotional
expression can help in controlling emotions
Proposes that this approach to the regulation of emotion
might be a useful adjunct to psychotherapy

Gender differences in experiencing emotion

David Buss
Has reported that women are far more likely to feel anger
when their partner is sexually aggressive
Men experience greater anger than women when their
partner withholds sex

Experienced Emotion
Fear
How is fear adaptive?

An alarm system that prepares our bodies

How is fear learned?

Conditioning (e.g., traumatic event) and

observation
Key brain structure?

Amygdala
Wired to all parts of the brain that produce
bodily symptoms of extreme fear

Experienced Emotion
Anger
Causes of anger?
Most commonly in response to friends or loved ones
perceived misdeeds
Especially common when another persons act
seemed willful, unjustified, and avoidable
Blameless annoyances can also make us angry

Chronic hostility
Linked to heart disease
Controlled expressions of anger are more adaptive
than either hostile outbursts or pent-up angry
feelings

Experienced Emotion
Catharsis Hypothesis? True or False?
Idea that we reduce anger by releasing it through
aggressive action or fantasy
This works provided
-your retaliation is directed against the provoker
-your retaliation is justifiable
-your target is not intimidating

Expressing anger can be temporarily calming if it does

not leave us feeling guilty or anxious
Venting angry feelings often magnifies the underlying
hostility or serves to be habit forming
More often the case that expressing anger leads to more
anger
Can provoke retaliation
Can magnify the anger

Experienced Emotion
How should we handle anger?

Waiting - what goes up must come down

Avoid being chronically angry over every little
annoyance
Do not sulk and continue to think about your reasons
for being angry
Rumination only increases anger

Dont keep all your anger in only to explode at a tiny

provocation

Calm yourself in other ways

Exercising
Hobbies
Confiding feelings to friends

Experienced Emotion: Happiness

Happiness/unhappiness colors everything
Increasing interest in positive psychology
Subjective well-being
Usually assessed as either feelings of happiness (a
high ratio of positive to negative feelings) or as a
sense of satisfaction in life
Measures of subjective well-being are often used
along with objective measures of well-being
(physical and economic indicators) to evaluate
quality of life

Does Money Buy Happiness?

Many people believe they would be happier if
they had more money
Happiness associated with money may be
temporary
The need to belong or have close relationships
with others, not money, appears to distinguish
between happy and unhappy individuals

Why? Because Happiness is

Relative

Adaptation-Level Principle

Happiness is relative to our prior subjective experiences

What makes you happy might not make another person happy

Seeking happiness through material achievements

requires an ever-increasing abundance of things
If our current condition increases, we feel temporary
pleasure. Consequently, we adapt to this new level
which than becomes normal and we require more to
make us happy

Happiness is Relative
Relative Deprivation Principle
We are unhappy if we believe we are worse off than
others with whom we compare ourselves
Middle and upper class individuals feel more satisfied
when they compare themselves to those who are
relatively poor
However, once people reach a certain level of success,
they start to compare themselves to those at the same
level of success or at levels higher than they have attained
e.g. entering college

Happiness and Laughter

A social phenomenon
Often not a reaction to humor or jokes
Occurs in response to humor only 10-15% of the time

Occurs during natural pauses in speech 99% of the time

Speakers laugh more than listeners

Happiness and Laughter

Laughter first appears at 2-3 months of age
Playful tickling causes laughter
One cannot tickle oneself
Might indicate that underlying neural systems are
controlled by social cues and interactions
Being tickled by another person arouses the brain
more than being tickled by oneself
One can later evoke laughter simply through gestures
that imply threats of tickling
Similar anticipatory responses have been observed in
rats

Happiness and
Laughter: Rats
Studying neurobiological underpinnings of
laughter might help identify mental nature of joy
within the brain
Rats also exhibit high-frequency ultrasonic laughtertype chirping in response to tickling
Fundamental neural sources of positive social affect
may be studied in animal models

Young rats find tickling rewarding

Rat laughter can be increased/decreased with
selective breeding
Might reflect a heritable emotional trait

Happiness and Laughter

A connection between laughter and health?
10 minutes of genuine belly laughter had an anesthetic
effect
Laughter provided hours of relief from chronic pain
Humor and laughter might ameliorate pain, alleviate
stress, promote functioning of the immune system