Emotions
and
Health
EMOTIONS
Distinct Emotions Approach: 10+ Basic emotions
Joy, Interest/excitement, Surprise, Sadness, Anger,
Disgust, Contempt, Fear, Shame, Guilt
You arrive home late, tired and
slightly irritated after a hard day of
work. You flip on the lights in your
bathroom and glance downward at
your green toothbrush. There,
nestled in the slightly frayed
bristles, lies a cockroach, reluctant
to move, the insect waves its feelers
at you
Disgust
Highly adaptive, often food-related
Marked by aversion towards something distasteful
Ensures people select & reject appropriate food
Facial expression:
* wrinkling nose
* gaping expression
But psychology of disgust extends
beyond role in food recognition
=> model for acquisition of values
Would you use toothbrush again?
….even if it was dropped into boiling water
& sterilized?
Paul Rozin
Thirsty subjects would not drink glass of
juice with sterilized cockroach in it
But some people even refused to drink other juice poured
into a different glass after witnessing this.
“Sympathetic magic”
People believe that when two objects come into contact
they acquire like properties
Contagion
Not a conscious, rational processes
Fundamental, universal process
(although some disgust elicitors are cultural)
Dog Soup
(Korea)
Disgust Elicitors: 4 broad categories
1. Core disgust elicitors
Objects potentially capable of contaminating foods
Roaches, flies, feces
Disgust Elicitors: 4 broad categories
2. Animal-reminder disgust elicitors
Reminders of animal origins
=> threatens sense of mortality
“Terror Management Theory”
E.g., death, poor hygiene, bizarre forms of sexual behavior
Disgust Elicitors: 4 broad categories
3. Sociomoral disgust
Emotional reaction due to moral sense
E.g., rape, violence, murder
Disgust Elicitors: 4 broad categories
4. Interpersonal disgust
From contact with someone of unsavory origins
E.g., would you wear sweatshirt that had
been worn by serial murder Jeffrey Dahmer
Caste system, in India: 3,500-yr-old system
based on degrees of dirt and disgust.
Untouchables perform most disgusting
tasks (gravediggers, street sweepers)
Higher castes reluctant to eat food
handled by lower caste
Fear
Adaptive response
Why so many fears?
* can learn to fear almost anything
* e.g., cars, flying, failure, mice
Fear
Susan Mineka:
Learning by observation
•Wild monkeys afraid of
snakes
• lab monkeys NOT afraid
of snakes
Wild-reared
Lab-reared
Fear
Predisposed to some fears
* Snakes, spiders, cliffs
* But NOT cars, electricity, bombs
Components of emotions
E.g., Fear (experience) associated with
increased heart rate (among other things)
wide eyes, clenched teeth, etc.
E.g., Happiness (experience) associated with
decrease in heart rate (decreased arousal)
smile
But…what comes first?
Do we smile because we are
happy or are we happy because
we smile?
Three theories of emotion provide different answers….
All agree that emotions related to autonomic nervous
system & body in general
1. James-Lange Theory
Sight of
oncoming
car
(perception of
stimulus)
Pounding
heart
(arousal)
Fear
(emotion)
Interpretation of event evokes autonomic changes in body=>emotion
arises from perception of these changes
* contrasts with common sense view!
* e.g,. We decide we are sad because we cry, smiling makes us happy
Different patterns of autonomic response elicit different emotions
(e.g., “butterflies” & anxiety)
But is this plausible?
2. Cannon-Bard Theory
Pounding
heart
(arousal)
Sight of
oncoming
car
(perception of
stimulus)
Fear
(emotion)
• Emotion-arousing stimuli
simultaneously trigger:
– physiological responses
– subjective & cognitive
aspects of emotion
3. Schacter-Singer two-factor theory
Schacter-Singer Experiment
injected student volunteers with hormone epinephrine (mimics
effects of arousal for 20-30 mins.)
 subjects told either:
o would have physiological effect
o would not have physiological effect
 subjects in either:
o euphoria conditon (playful confederate)
o anger condition (insulting questionnaire)
“which member of your immediate family does not bathe or wash
regularly”
“with how many men (other than your father) has your mother had
extramarital relationships? 4 or fewer, 5-9, 10 or more”
 subjects not warned about physiological arousal attributed it to
either euphoria or anger
3. Schacter-Singer two-factor theory
Situation determines cognitive appraisal, which determines
the emotion
Physiological arousal determines intensity of emotion
Dutton & Aron, 1974
“Misattribution of arousal”
Condition 1: High bridge
39% called woman
Condition 2: Low bridge
9% called woman
Implications for horror movies, amusement-park rides, etc.
Facial Feedback Theory (Ekman)
Subjects directed to pose expressions
Sensory feedback from the expression contributes to the
emotional feeling
Facial expressions effect
self-reported anger and
happiness
Facial expressions affect the rest of the body
What are Emotions?
• What are emotions?
– A motivated state consisting of
• Physiological arousal
• Expressive behaviors
• Cognitive/Conscious Experience
• Nature and Nurture side:
– Everyone has emotions  Nature side
– Culture affects how we express them 
Nurture side
The 10 Basic Emotions:
•
•
•
•
•
Joy
Surprise
Anger
Contempt
Shame
• Interest –
Excitement
• Sadness
• Disgust
• Fear
• Guilt
Biopsychology of Emotion:
• The Brain: Key Areas
– Limbic System
• Fighting, Fleeing, Feeding, Mating
– Important Parts:
• Hypothalamus – Changes in breathing/heart rate
during “fight-or-flight”
• Amygdala – Fear and Rage
• Septum – Thin membrane in center of ventricle
– Suppresses negative emotional states (e.g., fear)
– Also: Frontal Lobe – “brake system” for
amygdala
Biology & Emotion:
• With Arousal:
–
–
–
–
Autonomic NS kicks in and
Sympathetic NS activated
Epinephrine and Norepinephrine are released
Heart rate, blood pressure, and blood sugar rise,
preparing us for fight or flight
– When we can calm down, parasympathetic NS
kicks in
Interesting Facts:
• Positive emotions activate the left
hemisphere more, while negative emotions
activate the right hemisphere more.
• Arousal and stress can actually help us, up
to a certain point.
– After we reach that point, performance declines
– The point is different for easy and difficult
tasks
Yerkes-Dodson Curve:
Performance
level
Difficult tasks
Low
Easy tasks
Arousal
High
More Cool Facts:
• Body language can convey a *lot* of
information!
• Body language and gestures mean different
things in other cultures
– Eye contact
– “thumbs up” in Australia, Ghana “Up yours”
– “OK sign” in Brazil  Obscene
• Facial expressions are similar all over the
world – “Nature” component
Health
How do our
emotions affect
our health?
Stress
• Stressor: event or stimulus that threatens an
organism’s physical or psychological wellbeing
• Coping mechanism: response by the
threatened organism to minimize or avoid
the effects of the stressor
• Stressors may elicit the
“fight or flight” repsonse
General Adaptation Syndrome
• Alarm stage: immediate emergency
response
– Fight or flight
• Resistance stage: prepared for longer attack
– Immune system increases to max capacity
• Exhaustion stage: body systems fail
– Physiological and immune systems cannot
maintain elevated response any longer
– Resistance drops below normal levels, leaving
the organism very vulnerable
Cortisol: The Stress Hormone
• Cortisol produces many of the body’s
physiological responses to stress
• Converts protein to glucose for energy
• Regulates inflammation from injury
• Activates sympathetic nervous system
Stress
• Sex differences in
response to stress
– Males: fight or flight
• withdrawal
– Females: tend and
befriend
• nurturing
Stress and Health
• Long term effects of stress
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
Heart disease
Immune deficiency
Decreased sexual interest
Growth problems
Reduced bone density
Reduced muscle mass
Blood sugar imbalances
Cancer
• Caused by chronically
high cortisol levels
How to Cope with Stress:
Boosting Your Immune System
• Get plenty of rest
• Exercise regularly, outdoors when possible
– At least 4 times a week for 30 minutes
• Practice meditation or yoga
• Laugh as much as possible
• Eat lots of fruits and vegetables
– At least one a day from each of the seven color
groups
– One serving per 20 lbs of body weight
Eat for Immunity
• Purple/Red: Grapes, grape products (red wine, grape juice),
prunes, cranberries, blueberries, blackberries, strawberries, red
peppers, plums, cherries, eggplant, red beets, raisins, red apples,
red pears
• Red: Tomatoes, pink grapefruit, watermelon
• Orange: Carrots, mangos, apricots, cantaloupes, pumpkin, acorn
squash, winter squash, sweet potatoes
• Orange/Yellow: Orange juice, oranges, tangerines, yellow
grapefruit, lemon, line, peaches, papaya, pineapple, nectarines
• Yellow/Green: Spinach, collard, mustard greens, turnip greens,
yellow corn, avocado, green peas, green beans, green peppers,
yellow peppers, cucumber, kiwi, romaine lettuce, zucchini,
honeydew melon, muskmelon
• Green: Broccoli, brussel sprouts, cabbage, cauliflower, Chinese
cabbage, bok choi, kale
• White: Bananas, garlic, onions, leeks, celery, asparagus,
artichoke, endive, chives, mushrooms
The Importance of Touch
Evolutionary perspective
• Most primate species spend about
20% of their time grooming each
other
– Hygienic and social functions
• In humans, language replaced
grooming about 50,000 years
ago
– We spend 20% of our day
talking
The Importance of Touch
• Language is very recent; the vast majority of human
evolution occurred prior to the development of
language
• Our immune systems (and endocrine systems)
evolved in a context of constant contact with other
(grooming)
• Touching other humans boosts the immune system
(particularly skin to skin contact)
• Also regulates growth, hormones, and development
The Importance of Touch
• Psychosocial dwarfism
– “Failure to thrive”
– Condition in which infants who are not touched
and held fail to develop
– Orphanages
• Modern lifestyles
• Kangaroo care
Touching and Psychological Health
• Societies which have higher levels of affection between
parents and children and which do not punish premarital
sex have much lower levels of violence than societies
which are less affectionate and in which premarital sex
is punished
– A study of 49 modern hunter-gatherer societies found that in
48 of them, the levels of violence and aggression could be
accurately predicted by levels of affection and whether
premarital sex is permissible
– Among industrialized nations, high touch cultures such as
France have much lower violence/homicide rates than low
touch cultures such as the United States
• The homicide rate in the U.S. is up to 22 times as high as the rate in
France!
Massage Therapy
• Reduces aggression, hostility, and anxiety
• Reduces chronic pain (back, legs, etc.)
• Improves attentiveness and cognitive
performance
• Improves neuromuscular function
• Improves sleep patterns
• Improves immune system functioning
• Reduces the likelihood of relapse in cancer
patients
Why Massage Therapy Works
• Massage therapy helps regulate serotonin and
dopamine levels
– Dopamine regulates motivation and pleasure
– Serotonin decreases substance P (pain) and regulates
sleep and mood
• Massage therapy decreases cortisol levels
– High cortisol levels kill natural killer cells, the front
line of the immune system
– Decreased cortisol → increased natural killer cells
→ better immune functioning
What to focus on from Chapter 10
•
•
•
•
How emotions are adaptive
Facial expressions
Theories of emotion
Physiological and neurological components
of emotions (sympathetic nervous system)
• Stress
• The immune system
• Behaviors affecting health (smoking, diet,
exercise, etc.)