Chloe Gabriel
Psychology
Dr. Mills
10/15/14
3:00
Motivation and Emotion Summary (p. 129-135)
In the early 1970s Paul Ekman and his colleagues found evidence across cultures that people everywhere express and interpret certain emotions in the same way. They did experiments on New Guineans, people with little or no contact with outsiders, and saw that they make the same facial expressions to emotional situations as westerners. Ekman has found evidence for five basic emotions: anger, disgust, fear, happiness, and sadness.
Ekman proposed a list of nine criteria that should be met in order to consider an emotion to be basic: 1) Distinct facial expression, 2) Presence in other primaries, 3) Distinct physiology, 4) Distinct causes, 5) Facial expression is not separable from physiological response, 6) Quick onset, 7) Brief duration, 8) Automatic appraisal, 9) Unbidden occurrence.
Some of Ekman’s criteria for basic emotions are problematic, such as the requirement for a distinct facial expression for each basic emotion. Sexual jealousy doesn’t have a distinct facial expression but is a well-established and understood emotion. Distinct facial expressions are essential if communicating the emotion to others may help solve the problem that caused the emotion. Another problematic criterion is the presence of the emotion in other primates. It’s likely that we will share emotions with our close relatives. Calling certain emotions basic obscures the fact that all emotions solve problems in the world.
Certain emotional expressions by other people may have more immediate importance for our fitness than other emotions. It is easier to detect an angry face than a happy one in a crowd. We’re more focused on situations where we are forced to think critically. One of the most consistent and frustrating observations about happiness is that it is fleeting. The phenomenon of sensory adaptation explains why we can’t be happy all the time. The cooperation with other people increases our chances of survival and reproduction.
Some social emotions evolved to solve the problem of commitment. These emotions promote faithfulness. They are critically significant from a reproductive view.
Honest signals (peacock tail, deep voice of a female toad, lots of displays of love by humans) give reliable evidence of mate quality. In a cooperative relationship we can see that anger and guilt are related. For example, when one person begins to feel angry in a relationship, the second person feels guilty. The role of anger toward the cheater is called moralistic aggression. The social emotions evolved to motivate social behaviors such as can be found in the Prisoner’s Dilemma. The emotion of spite can establish a person’s reputation as someone who must be feared, helping a person to get his or her way in the future.

Outline
A. People everywhere express and interpret certain emotions in the same way
1. Ekman has found evidence for five basic emotions a. anger b. disgust c. fear d. happiness e. sadness
2. Ekman proposed a list of nine criteria that should be met in order to consider an
emotion to be basic: a. distinct facial expression b. presence in other primaries c. distinct physiology d. distinct causes e. facial expression is not separable from physiological response f. quick onset g. brief duration h. autonomic appraisal i. unbidden occurrence
3. Some of Ekman’s criteria for basic emotions are problematic a. Sexual jealousy doesn’t have a distinct facial expression but is a well- established and understood emotion b. Presence of the emotion in other primates c. Calling certain emotions basic
B. Certain emotional expressions by other people may have more immediate importance for our fitness than other emotions
1. It is easier to detect an angry face than a happy one in a crowd a. We’re more focused on situations where we are forced to think
critically
C. Happiness
1. It’s fleeting
2. Sensory Adaptation a. Can’t be happy all the time
D. Social Emotions
1. Evolved to solve the problem of commitment
2. Promote faithfulness
3. Honest signals give reliable evidence of mate quality
4. Prisoner’s Dilemma
5. Spite a. peacock tail b. deep voice of a female toad c. lots of displays of love by humans a. Can establish a person’s reputation as someone who must be feared
E. Anger and Guilt
1. Moralistic aggression

a. The role of anger toward the cheater
Test Questions
1.
Critical Review Question on Article: Do emotional tears have a signaling function? Yes. They are likely to have evolved because they reliably give information about submission, about needs or about social attachments, depending on the social context. An interpretation of excessive tearing as signals of appeasement, need or attachment explains the association between excessive tearing and certain emotions. They also help define emotions.
2.
Multiple choice question: Which of the following is one of Ekman’s five basic emotions? a.
Anger b.
Disgust c.
Fear d.
Happiness e.
All of the above (correct answer)
3.
True/False: Sexual jealousy doesn’t have a distinct facial expression but is a well- established and understood emotion. (True)
Videos http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7SqlilB1w3g http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5cysPPnZEhM http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jYc6PmHI_Y8
Jeff Leder
Psych 100
Dr. Mills
Fall 2014
G&M Chapter 6 Summary (pages 136-142)
Shame and pride. Shame and Pride, commonly referred to as secondary emotions, were developed due to human’s highly social nature. Shame and pride are separated from basic emotion, because they do not always have a certain facial expression. Shame is closely related to guilt, but with one major difference. As the textbook puts it, “guilt involves damage to our reputation as a good cooperator. Shame, on the other hand, involves our place in the hierarchy.” The emotions of shame and guilt typically arise at the same time due to making a mistake, but the shame comes from the social consequence of having made said mistake. Pride is the opposite of shame, it builds up and strengthens our place in the social hierarchy. The cooperation between our pride and shame leads us to the concept of self-esteem. Self-esteem can be understood as our own evaluation of our worth. Self-esteem is our tool that we use to overcome our insecurities

around the groups of people. The higher the self-esteem – the better our chances of reproduction.