EMOTION AND
MOTIVATION
IT’S ALL ABOUT YOUR FEELINGS,
MAN…
THEORIES OF
EMOTION
James-Lange theory: stimuli trigger activity in the autonomic
nervous system which in turn produces an emotional
experience in the brain
*You see the bear, THEN you experience fear, which is
simply your experience of your body’s activity
THEORIES OF
EMOTION (2)
Cannon-Bard theory: a stimulus simultaneously triggers
activity in the autonomic nervous system and emotional
experience in the brain
*ANS reacts too slowly to account for the rapid onset
of emotional experience
*People often have difficulty accurately detecting
changes in their own autonomic activity, such as heart rate
*Nonemotional stimuli can cause identical patterns of
ANS activity
*Not enough unique patterns of ANS activity to
account for all emotions
THEORIES OF
EMOTION (3)
Schachter and Singer’s Two-Factor Theory: emotions are
inference about the causes of undifferentiated physiological
arousal
*People misattribute their arousal to other stimuli in
their environments and the inferences people draw about the
causes of their arousal can influence their emotional
experience
EMOTIONAL BRAIN
Klüver-Bucy syndrome: damage to limbic system of the brain
produces lack of fear, hypersexual behavior, willingness to
eat anything
*Limbic system is implicated in the experience of
emotions such as pleasure
*Amygdala: limbic structure that plays a key role I
production of emotion
Appraisal: evaluation of the emotion-relevant aspects of a
stimulus
*Primarily the amygdala’s job
KLÜVER-BUCY!
AMYGDALA, HOLLA
Two pathways of information processing:
1. Fast pathway, which goes straight from the
thalamus to the amygdala
2. Slow pathway, which goes from the thalamus to the
cortex and THEN to the amygdala
Cortex processes information and tells the amygdala whether
to maintain an emotion or decrease it
*Cortex = brakes, Amygdala = gas pedal
REGULATION OF
EMOTION
Emotion regulation: the cognitive and behavioral strategies
people use to influence their own emotional experience
*Cognitive strategies: reappraisal, changing one’s
Emotional Experience by changing the meaning of the
emotion-eliciting stimulus
*Emotions are reactions to the APPRAISAL of the
event, not the event itself, so changes in appraisal bring
about changes in emotion
*Inability to reappraise events lies at the heart of
psychiatric disorders, such as depression
FOR EXAMPLE
EMOTIONAL
COMMUNICATION
Emotional Expression: an observable sign of an emotional
state
Charles Darwin: “People and animals share certain facial and
postural expressions. These serve as a means by which
organisms communicate information about their internal
states to each other”
*E.g. establishing “pecking orders” without spilling
blood
UNIVERSALITY
HYPOTHESIS
Universality Hypothesis: emotional expressions have the same
meaning for everyone
*People are quite accurate at judging emotional
expressions of members of other cultures
*People who have never seen a human face make the
same facial expressions as those who have
Facial Feedback Hypothesis: emotional expression can cause
the emotional experiences they signify
*Observers unconsciously mimic the body postures and
facial expressions of the people they are watching
*Tell what others are feeling simply by making the same
faces
DECEPTIVE
EXPRESSION
Display rules: norms for the control of emotional expression
*Intensification: exaggerating emotion
*Deintensification: muting expression of emotion
*Masking: expressing one emotion while feeling
another
*Neutralizing: feeling an emotion but displaying no
expression
*People are better at recognizing the facial
expression of people from their own cultures  display rules
to blame?
LEAKY BODIES
Morphology: certain facial muscles tend to resist conscious
control
* “Reliable Muscles” reveal emotion involuntarily
Symmetry: sincere expressions tend to be symmetrical
Duration: sincere expressions tend to last between a half
second and 5 seconds
Temporal patterning: insincere expressions tend to have moe
abrupt onsets and offsets
LIE DETECTION
Humans are bad at telling when other humans are lying
Liars are often TOO SMOOTH in their lies
*Sincere speech includes superfluous details,
spontaneous corrections, and expressions of self-doubt
People have a bias towards believing others
People don’t know what to focus on and what to ignore
*Talking quickly and averting gaze are NOT actually
correlated with lying but…
*Speaking too little and repeating words ARE
WHAT MAKES YOU DO
THINGS?
Motivation: the purpose for or cause of an action
Capgras syndrome: temporal lobe (where faces are
identified) and limbic system (where emotions are generated)
*Emotions tell us information about the world
*People use current emotions as information about
the quality of their lives
*Emotions help us make decisions, choose from a
number of options
BUT DEEP, DEEP
DOWN…
Hedonic Principle: the notion that all people are motivated to
experience pleasure and avoid pain
Drive Reduction Theory: action is motivated by the urge to
satisfy drives and return to homeostasis
*Drive: an internal state generated by departures from
physiological optimality
*Homeostasis: the tendency for a system to take
action to keep itself in a particular state
EATING AND
BREEDING
Maslow Pyramid
HUNGRY LIKE THE
WOLF
Hunger: physiologically, controls the urge to eat.
*Leptin is a chemical secreted by fat cells, is an
anorexigenic signal that tells the brain to switch hungers off
*Ghrelin is a chemical produced in the stomach,
sends orexigenic signal that tells the brain to switch hunger
on
*Hypothalamus receives chemical signals about
hunger
EATING DISORDERS
Hunger isn’t just physiological!
Bulimia Nervosa: an eating disorder characterized by binge
eating followed by purging
*Vicious cycle: bulimic people eat to decrease negative
emotions but experience more negative emotions at the thought
of getting fat; these negative emotions lead them to purge
Anorexia Nervosa: disorder characterized by intense fear of
being fat and severe restriction of food intake
*Warped body image
*High levels of ghrelin in blood!
SEX!
Sexual motivations are vital for the continuation of any
species
Humans are weird! Estrogen levels regulate ovulation in
human females but NOT sex drive!
*Testosterone?
Human Sexual Response Cycle: stages of physiological
arousal during sexual activity
*William Masters and Virginia Johnson measured
physical responses of hundreds of volunteers as they had
sex in a laboratory!
KINDS OF
MOTIVATION
Intrinsic Motivation: motivation to take actions that are
themselves rewarding (painting, listening to music, watching
music, eating delicious food)
Extrinsic Motivation: motivation to take actions that lead to
reward
Ability to delay gratification  high grades in school
Overjustification effect
Threats can suggest that forbidden activity is desirable!
MANAGEMENT
THEORY
Theory X: Manager believe that employees will work only if
rewarded with benefits or threatened with punishment
(Behaviorist Management?)
Theory Y: Managers believe that employees are internally
motivated to do good work and policies should encourage
this internal motive (INTERNAL motivation)
Theory Y seems to be more effective management strategy
across cultures
Similarities to your schooling? Grades?
CONFLICTING
MOTIVATIONS!
Approach-Approach Conflicts: two attractive motivations
compete
Avoidance-Avoidance Conflicts: two unattractive motivations
compete
Approach-Avoidance Conflicts: one event or goal has both
attractive and unattractive features
*College selection quandary!
HUMANS ARE TERRIBLE
AT PREDICTING
EMOTIONAL OUTCOMES!
Would you rather: win the lottery or become a paraplegic?
Mysteries create lasting emotional impressions—however
most people want to know the “why” “what” and “how” of
emotional stimuli
HUMANS ARE
EMOTIONALLY
IRRATIONAL
Disgust: a defensive response that ensures improper
substances do not enter our bodies through our mouths,
noses, or other orifices
Irrational rules:
1. The contagion rule suggest that two tings that were once
in contact will continue to share their properties
2. Similarity rule suggests that two things that are similar in
appearance share properties