Emotion
What is Emotion?




A conscious feeling of pleasantness/unpleasantness accompanied by
biological activation and expressive behavior
Includes both biological and cognitive components
Two Dimensions:
1. Arousal (intensity)
 The greater the arousal the more intense the emotion
2. Valence (positive/negative quality)
Basic Inborn Emotions:
 Joy, fear, anger, sadness, surprise and disgust (Ekman’s Research;
Microexpressions)
Emotion is Multifaceted

Emotion refers to the mix of:
1. Physiological Arousal
2. Expressive Behaviors (how you
react to the physiological arousal)
3. Conscious Experience (how you
cognitively interpret environment)
Theories of Emotions

Evolutionary Theory

James-Lange Theory

Cannon-Bard Theory

Opponent-Process Theory

Schachter-Singer Two-Factor Theory

Cognitive Appraisal Theory
Evolutionary Theory (Paul Ekman)

Emotions are developed because of adaptive values, allowing
the organism to survive by avoiding danger
 Animals/humans
showing expressions of anger allows us to
avoid conflict with them

Knowing how we feel before we know what we think
Facial Expressions Are Universal

No matter what part of the world you are from,
facial expressions indicating 6 basic emotions
tend to be universal.
Facial Expressions Are Universal

The six universal emotions are:
1.
Happiness
2.
Anger
Interest (not an emotion)
3.
Disgust
4.
Surprise
5.
Sadness
6.
Fear
Paul Ekman’s 6 Micorexpressions
Detecting Emotion/Lies With Facial
Expressions

With experience and training it is possible to detect
microexpressions which indicate guilt, despair, and
fear.

Paul Ekman developed a system for classifying
deception within emotional expression.

Must play close attention to facial muscles which are
nearly impossible to control.
expressing emotion
James-Lang Theory (William James & Karl Lange)

Proposed that our awareness of our physiological arousal leads to our conscious
experience of emotion

Believe that we can change our feelings by changing our behavior

Facial-feedback hypothesis: our facial expressions affect our emotional
experiences


Smilingpositive moods

Frowningnegative moods
External stimuli activate our automatic nervous systems, producing specific
patterns of physiological changes for different emotions that create different
emotional experiences

See a mean dogwe run (SNS kicks in)then we realize we are afraid
James-Lange
Theory of Emotion
A Physiological Response causes the Emotion
Sight of
oncoming
car
(perception of
stimulus)
Pounding
heart
(arousal)
Fear
(emotion)
Support for James-Lange
Subjects report feeling more
sad when viewing scenes of
war, sickness, and
starvation if their “sad face”
muscles are activated.
 They also find comic strips
funnier if their “happy face”
muscles are activated.

This is called the facial
feedback effect
Criticism of James-Lange
Sight of
oncoming
car
(perception of
stimulus)
Sight of
Your secret crush
Pounding
heart
(arousal)
Pounding
heart
(arousal)
Fear
(emotion)
LOVE
(emotion)
Cannon-Bard Theory (Walter Cannon & Phillip Bard)

Disagreed with James-Lang Theory

Conscious experience of emotion accompanies physiological responses
because the thalamus sends information to the limbic system & the cerebral
cortex simultaneously interact

See a mean dogrun because we recognize we are afraid (happens at the
same time)

*the thalamus does not directly cause emotional responses, it relays sensory
info. to the amygdala and hypothalamus
Cannon-Bard
Theory of Emotion
Sight of
oncoming
car
(perception of
stimulus)
Pounding
heart
(arousal)

The Physiological Response and the
Emotion
are experienced at
the SAME TIME
Fear
(emotion)
Cannon-Bard Theory of Emotion

Says James-Lange theory is full of
crap.

The physiological change and the
emotion occur simultaneously.

They believed it was the thalamus
that helped this happen.
Think – Two cannons firing at the same time.
Physiological change (heart rate, breathing)
Emotion
Opponent-Process Theory (Solomon and Corbit)

When we experience an emotion, an opposing emotion will
counter the first emotion, lessening the experience of that
emotion

During repeated occasions, the opposing emotion becomes
stronger
 When
we go bungee jumping the first time, we feel extreme fear
and high levels of a “rush”…after multiple jumps, we become less
fearful & don’t experience as strong of a “rush”
Schachter-Singer Two-Factor Theory
(Stanley Schachter & Jerome Singer)

We infer emotion from arousal and then label it according to
our cognitive explanation of the arousal

If we feel aroused and someone is yelling at us, we must be
angry
Schachter’s Two Factor Theory
of Emotion
Pounding
heart
(arousal)
Sight of
oncoming
car
(perception of
stimulus)
Fear
(emotion)

We experience the
Physiological Response
and give it a Cognitive
Label and this produces
our emotions
Cognitive
label
“I’m afraid”
Reviewing the three theories
Emotion occurs at the same time as arousal
Cannon-Bard
Emotion follows (lags behind) arousal
James-Lange
Arousal + Cognitive label  Emotion
Schachter’s Two Factor
Cognitive-Appraisal Theory (Richard Lazarus)

Our emotional experience depends on our interpretation of the situation we are
in

Primary appraisal: Assess potential consequences of the situation

Secondary appraisal: We decide what to do

We can change our emotions if we learn to interpret the situation differently

Counter Arguments:

Evolutionary Psychologists: Disagree that emotions depend on evaluation of
the situation (emotional response is developed before complex thinking)

Robert Zajonc: thinks we often know how we feel before we know what we
think about the situation
If you are in a falling vehicle heading toward the ground at 60 mph, your
autonomic reaction would include heart racing and screaming. But if your
cognitive appraisal says you are on a rollercoaster, then you have the
emotion of “fun.”
Biology of Emotions

Sympathetic Nervous System (SNS): Hormonal secretion

Amygdala: influences aggression and fear which interacts with
the hypothalamus

Hypothalamus: sets emotional states such as rage

Cerebral cortex & frontal lobe: interpretation of emotions

Left hemisphere: Positive emotions

Right hemisphere: Negative emotions

Body language & vocal qualities change for different emotions
Biology of Fear
 The
body’s control
center for
learning/enacting fear is
the amygdala.
 Loss or damage to one’s
amygdala has lead to
fearlessness in some
patients.
Must Cognition Precede all Emotions?
 Some
pathways,
especially ones involving
amygdala (fear), bypass
cortical areas involved in
thinking.
 Certain likes, dislikes, and
fears do ignore
conscious thinking.
Two Routes to Emotion
Physiological
activation
Appraisal
Emotional
response
Event
Expressive
behavior
Subjective
experience
The Physical Arousal of Emotion is
Controlled by The Autonomic Nervous
System
 It
is very difficult to differentiate the physical
arousal associated with many emotions
(criticism of James-Lange Theory) even
though they definitely feel different.
 The
arousal associated with emotions are
controlled by the autonomic nervous
system’s divisions the sympathetic and
parasympathetic nervous systems.
Autonomic Nervous System’s Division
Autonomic nervous system controls
physiological arousal
Parasympathetic
Sympathetic
division (calming)
division (arousing)
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