Session 2:

Learning Target:
By the end of the session, you will be able to say
I can identify the basic drive and affect that is
significant to every person.
Psychologist often refer to basic human drives as those that are biologically related such as hunger
and thirst. Affect, on the other hand, is the various emotional experiences such as emotions, moods,
and affective traits (Feist and Rosenberg 2012).

Feelings and Emotions

Feelings, moods, and emotions do not exactly mean one and the same. Paul Ekman of
the University of California identified six basic emotions that human beings experience:
happiness, sadness, fear, anger, surprise, and disgust. However, a recent research study
(2014) conducted by the Institute of Neuroscience and Psychology at the University of
Glasgow and published in a journal, Current Biology, has concluded that there are only four
basic emotions, these are: happy, sad, afraid or surprised, and angry or disgusted.
Emotion is taken from the Latin verb, movare, which means to move or be upset or
agitated. It is defined by Smith (1973) as a descriptive term referring to variations in level of
arousal, affective state or mood, expressive movements, and attitudes (Sanchez Abad, and
Jao 2012). In a state of strong emotion, the person’s physical responses include faster
heartbeat, profuse sweating and dilation of eye pupils, higher blood pressure, and muscular
tremors, affecting the nervous system in general.
 Are feelings the same as emotions? In an online article of Scientific American titled
Feeling our Emotions, the author interviewed noted neurologist, Dr. Antonio R. Damasio
(2005) about the distinction between feelings and emotions. According to Dr. Damasio,
from a neuro-scientific approach, feeling arises from the brain as it interprets an emotion,
which is usually cause by physical sensations experienced by the body as a reaction to a
certain external stimulus. An example of this would be the emotion of being afraid, which
produces a feeling of fear.

Topic: Basic drives and affect

Task 2: Identifying the attitudes and behavior.
Attitudes are a person’s thoughts, feelings, and emotions about another person,
object, idea, behavior, or situation. Attitude is a result of a person’s evaluation of an
experience with another person, object, idea, behavior, or situation based on his or
her values and belief systems. Beliefs and certain values, therefore, affect the
attitude of a person.
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Behavior is a manifestation or acting out of the attitudes an individual has. Take a

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look at the following situation to illustrate how attitude and behavior are related:

Riding an overcrowded MRT couch and My

experiencing all sorts of physical sensations such Attitude
as heat, smell, and body contact can create an
unfavorable attitude that riding the MRT is an
unpleasant and abhorring experience. As a result, Your My
the individual with this attitude will express this Behavior Behavior
disgusting by either avoiding the MRT or totally
shutting down and becoming oblivious to the
distasteful experience or become aggressive and Your
unpleasant to other people while onboard the Attitude
train.
If this individual continues to ride to the MRT with the same attitude and corresponding
behavior, other people will get affected by this individual’s behavior, who in turn, will act
out of a similar aggressive or uncivil behavior onboard thea train. This may affect other
commuters and a chain reaction will follow.
 
Can attitude be changed? Yes. There are ways to change attitude. Behavior can
change attitudes. If the person riding the MRT changes the way he or she behaves, like
remaining calm, smiling, and avoiding jostling and giving dagger looks at those that
irritate him or her, then that person’s attitude about riding the MRT will be different the
next time he or she rides the train. If that person can accept the fact that the train ride is
not exactly a joyful and pleasant ride, but not necessarily a life-threatening situation,
then that person can take an attitudinal change by preparing for what is ahead and
creating a more pleasant picture of the people riding the MRT.