11 Overview. 11 Emotion

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1 Emotion Overview A. Defining emotion B. The 3 Elements of emotion 1: Body 2: Mind 3: Culture C. The 3 Elements Together: Emotion and Gender Emotions Emotion and Cognition are not opposites with one being irrational and the other rational. As we have seen in our past discussions of Thinking(Chapt 9) and Memory (Chapt 10) human cognition is not always rational; it involves many biases in what we see and remember. Conversely, emotion is not always irrational, Emotions bind people together, regulate relationships, and help people achieve their goals. Emotion Emotion is: a state of arousal involving facial and bodily changes, brain activation, cognitive appraisals, subjective feelings, and tendencies toward action, all shaped by cultural rules. 1

2 Element 1: The body Primary and secondary emotions The face of emotion Hormones and emotion Does the body lie? Primary emotions Emotions considered to be universal and biologically based, usually thought to include fear, anger, sadness, joy, surprise, disgust, and contempt Secondary emotion All the variations and blends of emotion that develop with cognitive maturity and vary across individuals and cultures Universal of emotion Universal (Surprise, Disgust, Happiness, Sadness, Anger, Pride, Fear, Contempt) Facial for primary emotions are universal. Even members of remote cultures can recognize facial in people who are foreign to them. 2

3 Facial feedback Facial muscles send messages to the brain about the basic emotion being expressed. When people are told to smile and look happy; their positive feelings actually increase. Similarly, when they are told to look angry or disgusted, positive feelings decrease. Babies are able to read parental and emotional tone. Across many cultures (Americans, Greeks, Japanese, Trobriand Islanders, Yanamamo) mothers all infect their babies with happy moods by displaying happy. Tiny newborns will suck longer on a pacifier if it produces a happy face versus an angry or neutral expression. Finally, Facial can actually generate these same in others, creating mood contagion. Have you even been in a fine mood and had lunch with a depressed friend and gone away feeling a little down yourself? Have you ever stopped by the desk of a anxious workmate and left feeling vaguely rattled yourself? That s mood contagion. Facial Expressions and non-verbal behavior create rapport. If you are trying to create rapport with someone, you will, perhaps without realizing it, start mimicking their facial and body language.. YOU are more likely to help someone if that person mimics your and body language. 3

4 The brain and emotion The brain and emotion The Amygdala plays a crucial and central role in emotional experience The source of fear related emotions appears to be the amygdala The cortex allows us to override emotional responses Triggered by the amygdala. Mirror neurons play a critical role in empathy and imitation A class of neurons, distributed throughout the brain, that fire when an animal sees or hears an action and carries out the same action on its own Far more evolved and varied in humans than in other animals Help us recognize others intentions The mind in emotion Explanations of events predict emotion better than the event itself. Many emotions cannot be experience without a sense of self and an understanding of social expectations. Your thoughts about something are intimately connected to how you feel about it. How thoughts create emotions Perceptions and attributions are involved in emotions. How one reacts to an event depends on how he/she explains it. For example, how one reacts to being ignored (what is the reason? They are busy? They just don t like you? or Winning the silver instead of the gold medal. Who is usually happier? The winner of the silver or the winner of the gold? Why? Philosophy of life is also influential. (Most people are basically good? Most People cannot be trusted?) 4

5 Facial in a Social and Cultural context However, Despite the apparent Universality of basic Facial there are important social and cultural influences on how well people recognize them. 1. Familiarity 2. Can mean different things at different times 3. Cultures differ in the attention they pay to context People use to lie about their feelings Culture and emotion Culture determines what people feel angry, sad, lonely, happy, ashamed or disgusted about. Some cultures have words for specific emotions unknown to other culture. e.g., schadenfreude in German, hagaii in Japan There are some cultures that don t have words for emotions that seem universal to others. Tahitians and sadness Differences in secondary emotions appear to be reflected in differences in languages. Rules of emotional regulation Display rules When, where, and how emotions are to be expressed or when they should be squelched Emotion work Acting out an emotion we do not feel or trying to create the right emotion for the occasion. Ex: Flight attendants. Body language The nonverbal signals of body movement, posture, and gaze that people constantly express Sensitivity to others emotions Factors influencing one s ability to read emotional signals The sex of the sender and receiver How well the sender and receiver know each other How expressive the sender is Who has the power Stereotypes and expectations 5

6 Emotional Expressiveness Factors influencing emotional sending or expressiveness Cultural norms and social roles The specific situation Gender Roles Personality Emotion and gender Physiology and intensity Women recall emotional events more intensely and vividly than do men. Men experience emotional events more intensely than do women. Conflict is physiologically more upsetting for men than for women. Possible reasons Males autonomic nervous system is more reactive than females. Men are more likely to rehearse angry thoughts, thus maintaining anger. Women are more likely to ruminate, thus maintaining depression. Sensitivity to others emotions Factors influencing one s ability to read emotional signals The sex of the sender and receiver How well the sender and receiver know each other How expressive the sender is Who has the power Stereotypes and expectations 6

7 Cognitions Men and women appear to differ in the types of everyday events that provoke anger. Women become angry over issues related to their partners disregard. Men become angry over damage to property or problems with strangers. Expressiveness In North America women... smile more than men. gaze at listeners more. have more emotionally expressive faces. use more expressive body movements. touch others more. acknowledge weakness and emotions more. Compared to women, men only express anger to strangers more. Emotion work and gender Women work hard at appearing warm, happy, and making sure others are happy. Research shows that If women do NOT smile when others expect them too, they are more often disliked, even if they are smiling as much as a man. Girls learn this early-between the ages of 6 & 10. Men work hard at persuading others they are stern, aggressive, and unemotional. Why? Gender roles, norms, expectations. 7