Chapter 13
Emotion
Phineas gage
theories of emotion
Theories of Emotion
• Does your heart pound because you are
afraid... or are you afraid because you
feel your heart pounding?
Emotion
• William James and Carl
Lange came up with the
James-Lange Theory
of Emotion.
• We feel emotion
because of biological
changes caused by
stress.
• The body changes and
our mind recognizes the
feeling.
James-Lange
Theory of Emotion
• Experience of emotion is awareness of
physiological responses to emotion-arousing
stimuli
Sight of
oncoming
car
(perception of
stimulus)
Pounding
heart
(arousal)
Fear
(emotion)
James-Lange (cont.)
• Subjects report
feeling more sad
when viewing scenes
of war, sickness, and
starvation if their
“sad face” muscles
are activated.
• They also find comic
strips funnier if
their “happy face”
muscles are
activated.
Cannon-Bard Theory of Emotion
• The physiological
change and cognitive
awareness must occur
simultaneously.
• They believed it was
the thalamus that
helped this happen.
Cannon-Bard
Theory of Emotion
Sight of
oncoming
car
(perception of
stimulus)
Pounding
heart
(arousal)
Fear
(emotion)
• Emotion-arousing
stimuli
simultaneously
trigger:
– physiological
responses
– subjective
experience of
emotion
Two-Factor Theory of Emotion
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e2qdvELqskc
• Stanley Schachter explains
emotions more completely that the
other two theories.
• They happen at the same time but…
• People who are already
physiologically aroused experience
more intense emotions than
unaroused people when both groups
are exposed to the same stimuli.
• Biology and Cognition interact with
each other to increase the
experience.
Schachter’s Two Factor
Theory of Emotion
Pounding
heart
(arousal)
Sight of
oncoming
car
(perception of
stimulus)
Cognitive
label
“I’m afraid”
• To experience
emotion one
Fear
(emotion)
must:
– be physically
aroused
– cognitively
label the
arousal
Schachter’s Two-Factor
Epinephrine
Study:
Injection
Told
Emotion
Group 1
Epinephrine
Will
increase
arousal
Mild
Group 2
Epinephrine
Will have no
effect /
other side
effects
Strong
Emotional Arousal
http://education-portal.com/academy/lesson/fight-or-flight-response.html#lesson
Autonomic nervous system controls
physiological arousal
Sympathetic
division (arousing)
Parasympathetic
division (calming)
Pupils dilate
EYES
Pupils contract
Decreases
SALIVATION
Increases
Perspires
SKIN
Dries
Increases
RESPIRATION
Decreases
Accelerates
HEART
Slows
Inhibits
DIGESTION
Activates
Secrete stress
hormones
ADRENAL
GLANDS
Decreases
secretion of
stress
hormones
Arousal and Performance
Yerkes-Dodson Law
Performance
level
Difficult tasks
Low
Easy tasks
Arousal
High
• Performance
peaks at lower
levels of
arousal for
difficult tasks,
and at higher
levels for easy
or well-learned
tasks
Yerkes Dodson Law: What type of
motivational level do you need??
TASK
easy
moderate
difficult
MOTIVATIONAL LEVEL
high
moderate
low
Arousal Theory
• We are
motivated to
seek an optimum
level of arousal.
• Yerkes-Dodson
Law
Expressing Emotion
Smiles can show
different
emotions:
A) Mask anger
B) Overly polite
C) Soften
criticism
D) Reluctant
compliance
Experienced Emotion - Fear
• Learning Fear
– Observation / Experience
– Genetic / Evolutionary Predispositions?
• Biology of Fear
– Amygdala – emotions of fear
– Hippocampus – memory of fear
Expressed Emotion
 People more speedily detect an angry
face than a happy one (Ohman, 2001a)
Expressing Emotion
How good are you at detecting emotions?
• Culturally universal expressions
Experiencing Emotion
http://education-portal.com/academy/lesson/categorizing-emotions.html
• The
Amygdala-a
neural key to
fear learning
Experiencing Emotion
• Catharsis
– emotional release
– catharsis hypothesis
• “releasing” aggressive energy (through
action or fantasy) relieves aggressive
urges
• Feel-good, do-good phenomenon
– people’s tendency to be helpful when
already in a good mood
Experiencing Emotion
• Does money buy happiness?
Average
per-person
after-tax income
in 1995 dollars
$20,000
$19,000
$18,000
100%
$17,000
90%
$16,000
$15,000
80%
$14,000
70%
$13,000
Personal income
$12,000
60%
$11,000
50%
$10,000
Percentage very happy 40%
$9,000
30%
$8,000
$7,000
20%
$6,000
10%
$5,000
0%
$4,000
1930 1940 1950 1960 1970 1980 1990 2000
Year
Percentage
describing
themselves as
very happy
Experiencing Emotion
• Adaptation-Level Phenomenon
– tendency to form judgements relative to a
“neutral” level
• Relative Deprivation
– perception that one is worse off relative to
those with whom one compares oneself
– Is Happines Relative (8 min)
Opponent-Process Theory
of Emotion
Strong
Strong
Neutral
Neutral
Strong
Strong
First experience
(a)
After repeated experiences
(b)
Happiness is...
Researchers Have Found That
Happy People Tend to
However, Happiness Seems Not Much
Related to Other Factors, Such as
Have high self-esteem
(in individualistic countries)
Age
Be optimistic, outgoing, and agreeable
Gender (women are more often
depressed, but also more often joyful)
Have close friendships or a satisfying
marriage
Education levels
Have work and leisure that engage
their skills
Parenthood (having children or not)
Have a meaningful religious faith
Physical attractiveness
Sleep well and exercise
Theories of Emotions Review
Reflection
Reflection
• What affects your emotions?
• What theory do you think is
most accurate regarding
emotion? Why?
• How are motivation and
emotion connected?
?