Understanding Emotions
Davitz 1970 found 556 words and phrases that are emotion related.
Universal emotional expressions are:Happiness, Anger, Sadness, Disgust, Fear and Surprise
What is Emotion?
 ‘Emotion is a transitory, valenced
experience that is felt with some intensity as
happening to the self , generated in part by a
cognitive appraisal of situations and
accompanied by both learned and innate
physical responses.’
Components
 1. Subjective experience of the emotion
 2. Internal bodily reaction
 3. cognitions about the emotion and situations
 4. facial expression
 5. a global reaction
 6. action tendency)
4 Theoretical Research Traditions
on Emotions:
 ‘Darwinian’ - (Darwin, 1972) Emotions
have adaptive functions - are universal
 ‘Jamesian’ - (James, 1884) Emotions =
bodily responses
 ‘Cognitive’- (Arnold, 1960) Emotions are
based on appraisals
 ‘Social Constructivist’ - (Averill, 1980)
Emotions are social constructions and serve
social purposes
The brain and emotion
 The amygdala
 The orbitofrontal cortex
 Animal studies
The Darwinian Tradition
EMOTION IS INNATE
 Emotional expression is ADAPTIVE


readiness to face challenges
communicates intentions to others
Evidence:
 Universal facial expressions
 Infants
 Basic emotions (e.g.: Ekman’s ‘Big Seven’)
The Jamesian Tradition
BODILY CHANGES = EMOTION
‘We are afraid because we run’
 Experience of emotion
due to peripheral
responses. Conscious
aspect arises later when
brain observes the
response
 Distinguishable patterns
of arousal for each
emotion
Evidence supporting James
 Pattern of autonomic changes DOES vary
with different emotional states
 People reliving emotional experiences show
different patterns of autonomic activity
 Hohmann (1966) spinal cord injuries reduce
peripheral responses - less intense emotion
The Facial Feedback Hypothesis
 Emotional experience is determined in part
by feedback from facial expressions
 It should be possible to manipulate how a
person feels by manipulating their face
 Movements of face provide sufficient
peripheral information to fuel experience of
emotion
The Cannon Bard Theory
 Two criticisms to James-Lange theory
Physiological mechanisms are too slow
 Not specific enough
 Instead - direct CNS experience of emotion,with
or without feedback : thalamus indicated

More recent :
Various parts of CNS involved
Strong emotions CAN bypass cortex (thalamus to
amygdala)
Physiology of Emotions
 Autonomic Nervous System
 Either branch can be activated during an
emotion


Sympathetic branch excites organs under its
control - increase heart rate when angry/in fear
Parasympathetic branch inhibits organs - causes
tears to flow when grieving
Emotions - Brain Mechanisms
Studies with animals and brain damage patients tell
us there are:
3 basic feature of brain’s control of emotion:
 Cerebral hemisphere
 Limbic system (amygdala)
 Papez Loop (anatomical circuit beginning and
ending in the hippocampal formation that he
proposed subserved emotional experience (Papez,
1937).
The Schacter-Singer Theory
AROUSAL + COGNITION = EMOTION
 The Misattribution Paradigm
 Excitation Transfer Studies
 Conclusion: Cognitive factors
important in generation of emotion
The Cognitive Perspective
EMOTIONS ARE BASED ON APPRAISALS
 Emotions are responses to the meaning of
events - associated with goals & motivations
 Different emotions are associated with
different patterns of appraisal
 Change the way an event is appraised &
change the emotion e.g. :Lazarus
Conclusions
 ‘Peripheral autonomic responses (including
facial responses) and the cognitive
interpretation of those responses play a role
in the experience of emotion. In addition
there is some direct experience of emotion
by CNS, independent of physiological
responses.’
Social Constructivism
EMOTIONS ARE CULTURAL PRODUCTS
 Cultural variation in emotion
recognition/emotion words/tone of voice
 Emotion Culture (e.g.: Ifaluk tribe/medical
students)
 Categorisation of emotion
differs across cultures
 Social Referencing
Personality may affect mood or
internal emotional state
 Mild head injury can produce emotional changes
 Heller (1990)  >60% of people with left frontal-lobe lesions
met DSM III criteria for depression.
 Damage to the left frontal region associated
with major or minor depression as found in 60%
stroke victims.
 The probability of depression is much higher
in the left than the right - belittles argument
Euphoria
 Right hemisphere damage may result in euphoria and lack of
concern about physical and psychological consequences of
damage. may also show inappropriate affect, bursting into tears
for no reason as so happy when told of a sad event eg a death.

 Rehabilitation of emotional functioning is especially
important - a long-term study suggests that individuals who
sustain head injury are most disabled by emotional and
personality disturbances (Lezak, 1987).

Disease
 Huntington's disease typically is manifested by
changes in emotional functioning (Lieberman
1979) 50% have major depressive episodes.
Behaviour is reminiscent of the inappropriate
behaviour of individuals with frontal lobe damage
(Cummings & Benson, 1988).
Inappropriate sexual behaviour
 Laughter Therapy
EMOTIONS & HEALTH
LOOKING AT APPLIED VALUE
Emotion, Stress & Health
Hans Selye
 Psychological factors influence physical
health through stress response
 In short term stress response is adaptive helps us cope
 Long term - changes can be maladaptive
and lead to ill health
Stress & Infections
 Emotional events can cause stress
 Neural & hormonal activity linked to stress
may influence immune function
Stress & Infections - Evidence
 Lab animals kept in stressful circumstances
(e.g.: overcrowding, loud noise etc) show
depressed immune function
Stress has similar effects on humans
 Glaser et al (1987) Students have more
respiratory infections during finals
 Parkes & Brown (1972) Bereavement
Stress & Positive Emotions
 Positive affective states appear to facilitate the
body’s natural regenerative processes.
 Possible to teach techniques to self-generate
positive emotional states in order to have
beneficial effects on health
 Improvements have been seen in several patient
groups