Arousal and Emotion
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High Arousal
Arousal response - pattern of
physiological change that helps prepare
the body for “fight or flight”
muscles tense, heart rate and breathing
increase, release of endorphins, focused
attention
can be helpful or harmful
in general, high arousal is beneficial for
instinctive, well-practiced or physical tasks
and harmful for novel, creative, or careful
judgment tasks
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 Some arousal is
necessary
 High arousal is
helpful on easy tasks
 As level of arousal
increases, quality of
performance
decreases with task
difficulty
 Too much arousal is
harmful
Quality of performance
Yerkes-Dodson Law
Easy task
Moderately
difficult task
Very difficult task
Degree of arousal
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Concept of Emotion
A class of subjective feeling elicited
by stimuli that have high significance
to an individual
stimuli that produce high arousal
generally produce strong feelings
are rapid and automatic
emerged through natural selection to
benefit survival and reproduction
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Theories of Emotion
Common-Sense Theory
Stimulus
Perception
Emotion
(Tiger)
(Interpretation
of stimulus-danger)
(Fear)
Bodily
arousal
(Pounding
heart)
Common sense might suggest that the
perception of a stimulus elicits
emotion which then causes bodily
arousal
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James’s Peripheral
Feedback Theory
James’s Theory
Stimulus
(Tiger)
Perception
(Interpretation
of stimulus-danger)
Bodily
arousal
Emotion
(Fear)
(Pounding
heart)
perception of a stimulus causes bodily
arousal which leads to emotion
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Schachter’s CognitionPlus-Feedback Theory
Schachter’s Theory
Stimulus
(Tiger)
Bodily
arousal
Perception
(Interpretation
of stimulus-danger)
(Pounding
heart)
Emotion
(Fear)
Type
Intensity
 Perception and thought about a stimulus
influence the type of emotion felt
 Degree of bodily arousal influences the
intensity of emotion felt
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Ekman’s Facial Feedback
Theory
Each basic emotion is associated
with a unique facial expression
Sensory feedback from the
expression contributes to the
emotional feeling
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1.80
1.80
1.60
1.60
Average anger score
Average happiness score
Ekman’s Facial Feedback
Theory
1.40
1.20
1.00
0.80
0.60
0.40
0.20
0.00
1.40
1.20
1.00
0.80
0.60
0.40
0.20
0.00
Frown
Smile
Facial expression
Frown
Smile
Facial expression
Facial expressions have an effect on self-reported
anger and happiness
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Heart rate change
(beats per minute)
Temperature change
(degrees C)
Ekman’s Facial Feedback
Theory
(a)
(b)
Facial expressions can produce effects on the rest of
the body
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Brain-Based Theory of
Emotions
Amygdala
evaluate the significance of stimuli and
generate emotional responses
generate hormonal secretions and
autonomic reactions that accompany
strong emotions
damage causes “psychic blindness” and
the inability to recognize fear in facial
expressions and voice
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Brain-Based Theory of
Emotions
Frontal lobes
influence people’s conscious emotional feelings
and ability to act in planned ways based on
feelings (e.g., effects of prefrontal lobotomy)
Frontal
Parietal
Occipital
Temporal
left frontal lobe
may be most
involved in
processing
positive emotions
right frontal lobe
involved with
negative emotions
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