COGNITIVE
SCIENCE
17
Why Emotions
Are Necessary
Part 1
Jaime A. Pineda, Ph.D.
Emotions
Responses of the whole organism,
involving...



physiological arousal (autonomic/hormonal)
expressive behaviors (behavioral)
conscious experience (cognitive)
Evolutionary Advantage to
Emotion

For example:


Fight or flight response
but can basic emotions
help or overwhelm
rational thinking?
A Biological Purpose for Emotion?



Signaling function (that we might take action)
Provide strong impulse to take action
Promote unique, stereotypical patterns of
physiological change and behavior
Emotions

Negative





Fear
Anger
Grief
Hate
useful as motivation for
moving away from what
one doesn't want
Positive




Love
Empathy
Caring
Joy
useful as motivation for
moving towards what
one does want
Psychological Reasons for
Experiencing Emotion

Catharsis



energy 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
Psychological Reasons for
Experiencing Emotion

Subjective State of Well-Being


self-perceived happiness or satisfaction with
life
used along with measures of objective wellbeing
 physical and economic indicators to
evaluate people’s quality of life
Are Emotions Universal?
Basic Emotions--presumed to be hard wired and
physiologically distinctive






Joy
Surprise
Sadness
Anger
Disgust
Fear
Expressing Emotion

Culturally universal expressions
Expressing Emotion
Smiles can show
different
emotions:
(a)
(b)
(c)
(d)
a) Mask anger
b) Overly polite
c) Soften criticism
d) Reluctant
compliance
Expressing Emotion

Gender and expressiveness
16
Number
of
expressions
14
Women
Men
12
10
8
6
4
2
0
Sad
Happy
Film Type
Scary
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

Values and life satisfaction
0.6
Importance
scores
0.4
Money
Love
0.2
0.0
-0.2
-0.4
1.00
2.00
3.00
4.00
5.00
Life satisfaction
6.00
7.00
Theories of Emotion
Physiological
activation
Appraisal
Emotional
response
Event
Expressive
behavior
Subjective
experience
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)
Cannon-Bard Theory of Emotion
Sight of
oncoming
car
(perception of
stimulus)
Pounding
heart
(arousal)

Emotion-arousing
stimuli
simultaneously
trigger:

Fear
(emotion)

physiological
responses
subjective experience
of emotion
Schacter’s Two-Factor Theory of
Emotion

Pounding
heart
(arousal)
Sight of
oncoming
car
(perception of
stimulus)
Fear
(emotion)
To experience
emotion one
must:


Cognitive
label
“I’m afraid”
be physically
aroused
cognitively
label the
arousal
Physical Arousal
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

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
Cognition Drives Emotion
Cognition
Emotion
Cognition-Emotion Relationship
Cognition: “I’ve
been treated less
than my worth”
Emotion:
Anger
Behavior Drives Emotion
Behavior
Emotion
Behavior Drives Emotions


Facial Feedback
Hypothesis
Activation of “sad
face” muscles
makes subject feel
sadder (from
Larsen, et al., 1992)