Unit 8B, Emotions, Stress and Health Notes 366
(2011 Updates for Chapters 13 and 14 in 2007 book)
Theories of Emotion
What are the components of emotion?
a. Physiological reaction
b. Expressive behaviors
c. Conscious experience
Does your heart pound because you are afraid, or are you afraid because your heart
pounds?
A. James-Lange 367
Emotion is the awareness of physiological responses to emotion producing
stimuli
Ex: sight of oncoming car -> pounding heart -> fear
Comments: 1. every emotion would associated with a different physiological reaction
2. Facial expressions intensify emotional experience
B. Cannon-Bard
Environmental stimuli simultaneously trigger
 pounding heart
Sight on oncoming car  perception of
 fear
Comment: this theory is more cognitive than J-L
And, both body and feeling happen at the same time
C. Cognitive (Schacter-Singer, or two factor theory)
Schacter’s two factor theory of emotion: physical arousal and labeling
Pounding heart
Sight of car
fear, emotion labeled arousal
Label: I’m afraid
1. Zajonc says some emotion occurs before cognition; for example,
likes, dislikes and fears all involve no conscious thinking
Embodied Emotion 369
Emotions and the autonomic nervous system
What is the link between emotional arousal and the autonomic nervous system?
Parasympathetic nervous system: calms
Sympathetic nervous system; arouses
D. Arousal
Brought on by sympathetic nervous system
inc. in respire rate, blood sugar; pupil dilation, slower digest
Pancreas: regulates the level of sugar in blood, releasing insulin, as part of the endocrine
system; also part of the sympathetic nervous system (the arousal system)
Arousal and performance fig. 8B.3, page 370
2. Moderate arousal is best for performances
3. Easy tasks: best performance when arousal is high
E. Physiological Similarities Among Specific Emotions 370
Do different emotions activate different physiological and brain pattern
responses?
1. negative emotions in the right hemisphere/ prefrontal cortex
2. left hem. Activated by positive emotions; rich supply of
dopamine receptors
3. Most researchers agree with the Cannon Bard Theory: our
experienced emotions involve cognition
4. New evidence showing subtle distinct physiological changes
among the emotions gives support to the James Lange theory
Cognition and emotion 372
To experience emotions, must we consciously interpret and label them?
Spillover effect: Schacter and Singer
A stirred up state can be experienced as one emotion or another depending on
how you interpreted the event.
Key point: arousal fuels emotion, cognition channels it.
C. Lie detection measuring human physiology 372
GSR: galvanic skin response: a measure of perspiration in the skin that is
thought to reflect anxiety-related physiological arousal
1. Polygraph: measures breathing, pulse rate, blood pressure, and perspiration
2. Control questions: try to elicit reactions
3. Guilty knowledge test: only the culprit would know the answer to very
detailed questions
4. False positives: occur more often
5. Government and courts are skeptical
6. about 70% accurate
New lie detection techniques
Paul Ekman teaches police to notice changes in micro-expressions
EEG recordings reveal familiarity with crime scenes
FMRI show brains lighting up in places truth tellers’ brains do not
Cognition does not always precede emotion 374
Robert Zajonc: emotions can occur even before we interpret a situation
The brain’s emotional short cut is the amygdala see fig. 8B.6, page 375
Richard Lazarus: we process emotional information without conscious
awareness; then later we analyze it to see if our initial assumption was correct
Zajonc and Joseph LeDoux: some emotional likes and dislikes and fears
involve no conscious thinking; emotional pathway takes the “low road”
bypassing the cortex.
Other emotions that are like depression or complex feelings are greatly
influence by our memories, expectations, and interpretations.
Highly emotional people can personalize events as about them and generalize
an event by blowing it out of proportion.
III.
Expressed emotion 377
A. Nonverbal communication
Thin slicing: Rosenthal and Hall—some are better at detecting emotion in others; some
can read fleeting changes in expression more quickly; a mere 10-secon clip can tell
students whether a teacher should be liked and admired.
Some are more sensitive to these cues and need only 2 seconds of a visual (Rosenthal and
Hall, 1979)
Gender, emotion and Nonverbal Behavior 379
a. women are more empathic
b. people are quicker to see anger on men’s faces
c. empathy: identifying with others and imagining what it
might be like to ‘walk in their shoes’
Mirror neurons are the physiological component of empathy.
2. detecting and computing emotion
a. Paul Ekman classifies lie detectors using facial detection
b. Email leads to problems when meeting people because no
emotional content is usually in the communication until
people meet, gestures, tone of voice and facial expression
having all been absent; emoticons can address this.
B. Culture and emotional expression 380
Are nonverbal expressions of emotion universally understood?
1. Gestures/ hand signals differ from culture to culture
2. Paul Ekman (1975), and others found that all peoples interpret facial
expressions similarly: genetic similarity
3. Culturally interdependent people don’t want negative emotions displayed
4. The level of analysis for emotion is biopsychosocial in application: you look at
cognitive labeling, culture, presence of others, physiological arousal, and the
spillover effect.
C. The Effects of Facial Expressions 383
As William James and Charles Darwin thought, the face influences emotion
1. Better than body movements at detecting signals
2. Charles Darwin on emotion:
b. expressing them helped us survive
c. we used similar facial expressions for basic emotions
Our expressions retain animal facial displays
3. Facial feedback effect:
Holding a pen with your teeth is enough to make you feel that a cartoon is
more amusing
4. Behavior feedback phenomenon: going through motions changes your
emotion
5. Mimicry explains why emotions are contagious.
Experienced Emotion 384
Carroll Izard (1977): there are 10 basic emotions
D. Dimensions
1. valence (pleasant or unpleasant)
2. arousal
E. Fear 385
What is the function of fear, and how do we learn fears?
Most human fears are learned
1. Biology predisposes us to learn some fears quickly
2. Susan Mineka’s experiment with monkeys: they learned fear
through observational learning
The Biology of Fear 386
1. The amygdala associates fear with certain situations
2. A limbic system response deep in the brain (see fig. 8B.17, page 386)
3. Twin studies show a genetic influence
F. Anger 387
What are the causes and consequences of anger?
Perceived misdeeds especially if they are viewed as unjustified, but also small events.
James Averill: most people become angry several times a week.
1. Baring teeth conveys threat: evolutionary perspective, leads to survival
2. Catharsis: anger reduction/emotional expression: expressing can be
calming temporarily only if it does not leave us feeling guilty. Otherwise it usually leads
us to breed more anger, usually because it provokes more aggression. Better: wait, then
divert your attention with an activity you like.
Venting is encouraged in individualistic cultures, but not interdependent ones.
G. Happiness 389
What are the causes and consequences of happiness?
Yearbook photo smiles reveal the outcomes of marriages and jobs years
later (Harker and Keltner, 2001)
1. Not related to education level or intelligence
2. correlated with good marriage/friendship; high self esteem;
religious faith
3. Subjective well being: your self perception of happiness
a. Influenced by genetic predispositions
5. Feel-good, do-good phenomenon
Being helpful when you’re already in a good mood
The Short Life of Emotional Ups and Downs 390
We usually overestimate the duration of emotions and underestimate our
ability to adapt to emotional changes
Even tragedy is not permanently depressing.
Positive emotions are hard to sustain report the Diener brothers (2009).
Wealth and Well-Being 391
Young people now associate these two
Once you have enough money for comfort, piling up more matters less: the
diminishing returns phenomenon
But countries with more wealth aren’t usually happier (see table 8B.21, page
393)
Two Psychological Phenomena: Adaptation and Comparison 393
Happiness and Prior Experience
a. Adaptation level principle
We form judgments based on a neutral level that comes from prior
experience; when something changes for the positive we respond to it but after
a while that becomes normal and we want more
Taking something for granted
b. Relative deprivation principle
Perception that you’re worse off than those you compare yourself with
Other wealthy players became concerned when Alex Rodgriquez inked a $75
million baseball deal.
Happiness predictors 396
High self-esteem, optimism, close friendships and marriage, engaging work,
faith, enough sleep, exercise
Opponent process theory of emotion
Developed by Richard Solomon (1980)
i. with repeated experiences of a pleasurable event, feelings of
pleasure decrease in intensity
ii. with repeated experiences of a painful event, feelings of pain
decrease in intensity
iii. every emotion triggers an opposing emotion that fights it.
Stress and Health 397
Behavioral medicine integrates health and behavior knowledge to treat disease
Health psychology psychology’s contribution to behavioral medicine
I. Stress and Illness
What is stress?
Distress: negative stressors
Eustress: positive stressors
A Stress and Stressors
Stress: process by which we appraise and cope with environment threats and challenges
Stressor: something in the environment causing stress
Stress reaction: how you respond to a stressor
Stress response system
Walter Cannon, 1920s
Stress produces epinephrine and norepinephrine and cortisol, the stress hormones
Sympathetic nervous system
Fight or flight response
Womens’ alternative: tend and befriend. Shelly Taylor and colleagues (2000) found
that seeking and giving support is good for dealing with stress. This releases the stress
moderating hormone, oxytocin.
General adaptation syndrome
a. body’s response to prolonged stress
Hans Selye (1936)
Alarm, resistance, exhaustion
Stressful Life events
What events provoke stress responses?
a.Catastrophes
b. Significant life changes
c. Daily hassles
Burnout: the result of daily hassles
Types of Conflicts
Did you ever hear of the phrase, “Between a rock and a hard place.”? This refers to a
situation in which no matter what you do, you will not like the result. Psychologists call
this an avoid-avoid conflict because either choice leaves you frustrated.
The other types of conflicts are approach-approach, and approach-avoid.
Approach-approach: single event with two attractive choices; can’t decide
Approach-avoid: single event that has an unattractive and attractive feature; keeps you
from deciding
B. Stress and the Heart 401
Why are some of us more prone than others to coronary heart disease?
1. Coronary heart disease, No. 1 American killer
Meyer Friedman & Ray Rosenman research: no type B’s suffered a heart attack in their
study.
a. Type A personality.
Competitive, hard driving, impatient, easily angered
Type A’s toxic core is negative emotions; they are more combat ready; their blood may
contain excess fat and cholesterol that are deposited in the heart.
b. Type B personality
Relaxed and easy going
Pessimism and depression are also significant negative factors.
C. Stress and Susceptibility to Disease 403
How does stress make us more vulnerable to disease?
1. Psychophysiological illness: hypertension and headaches are examples
Not caused by physical disorder; caused by stress.
Psychoneuroimmunology, PNI: how psychology, neural and endocrine systems affect the
immune system.
PNI 403
Lymphocytes white blood cells in immune system
Macrophage kills invading cells
Stress lowers the body’s resistance to infections, cancer, and heart disease.
Stress and AIDS 405
No. 1 killer in Africa
Stress and emotions do correlate with progression of AIDS
Stress and cancer 405
Stress and negative emotions are also correlated with the progression of cancer.
Stress does not create cancer.
Mind and body interact when dealing with stress and health issues.
biopsychosocial systems.
We are
Key Terms: 408 (see study guide)
AP Quiz: 408-409
Classically conditioning the immune system
Robert Ader and Nicholas Cohen experiment (1975)
Ader helped found the field of PNI.
Rats can be conditioned to suppress their immune system.
Saccharine water was conditioned stimulus (CS) that suppressed the immune system
It was originally paired (acting as a NS) with cyclophosphamide, a drug (UCS) that made
the rats feel nauseous (UCR). When the drug was removed; just the saccharine caused
the rats’ immune system to continue to weaken (CR).
Placebos might promote healing
II. Promoting Health
A. Coping with Stress Appendix C
Problem focused coping changing the stressor
Emotion focused coping avoiding or ignoring the stressor
1. Perceived control C-2
The more control you have, the healthier you are
Loss of it suppresses your immune response and elevates stress hormones
Poverty and inequality: economic status influences longevity.
Optimism and Health C-3
If you perceive more control over your life and are more optimistic you are in a better
position to deal with stress or prevent illness
Laughter is also a factor
Optimism/pessimism
Happier nuns lived seven years long in Danner’s study (2001).
3. Social support C-4
People with social assistance better fight against cancer and heart disease, living better
and longer.
Functional marriages lead to longer, healthier living.
Close up: Pets are friends, too. Allen (2003) found they increase survival after a heart
attack.
Suppressing emotions can harm health.
Talking about stressful events calms the limbic system.
B. Managing stress C-6
1. Aerobic exercise decreases depression and hypertension
Increases levels of mood boosting chemicals: epinephrine, norepinephrine, serotonin and
the endorphins.
Exercise and health C-7
Moderate exercise can add two years to your life.
2. Biofeedback, Relaxation and Meditation C-9
Relaxation based on feedback about physiology
Helps control tension
See Table C-1, Alternative therapies: the placebo effect and spontaneous remission may
be at work for some of them.
Acupuncture can act as a placebo
Others: herbal medicine, EM fields, chiropractic, homeopathy, aromatherapy.
3. Meditation relaxation and the relaxation response developed by Herbert Benson
Meditation can influence left frontal lobe activity and improved immune system
functioning.
4. Spirituality and Faith Communities C-11
The faith factors
Better social support
Subscribing to the same world view
Feelings of acceptance
Optimistic view of the future
Healthier immune systems
Longest life expectancies: more than once a week
Lowers coronary heart disease death rates
6. Predictors of mortality
1. not smoking
2. regular exercise
3. weekly religious attendance
Terms to remember: C-13 (see study guide)
AP Quiz Questions: C-13