AP Psych ~ Emotion

• response of the whole organism, involving psychological arousal, expressive behaviors, and conscious experience
• Components:
• 1) Physiological arousal
• 2) Expressive behaviors
• 3) Conscious experience

• experience of emotion is our awareness of our physiological responses to emotion-arousing stimuli
• Physiology -> expressive behaviors -> conscious experience
• William James and Carl Lange

• the theory that an emotion-arousing stimulus simultaneously triggers physiological responses and the subjective experience of emotion
• Physiology + expressive behaviors = conscious experience
• Walter Cannon and Philip Bard

• theory that to experience emotion one must be physically aroused and cognitively label the arousal
• Physical + cognitive label = conscious experience
• Stanley Schachter and Jerome Singer

machine commonly used in attempts to detect lies, measures physiological responses accompanying emotion

• emotional release
• catharsis hypothesis "releasing" aggressive energy relieves aggressive urges **expressing anger breeds more anger, and through reinforcement is habit forming**

people's tendency to be helpful when already in a good mood

• self-perceived happiness or satisfaction with life
• used along with measures of objective well-being to evaluate people's quality of life

our tendency to form judgements relative to a neutral level defined by our prior experience

the perception that one is worse off realtive to those with whom one compares oneself

• Sympathetic - adrenal glands = kidneys -> adrenaline and non adrenaline; increase heart rate, blood pressure, and blood sugar
• Parasympathetic - inhibits further release of hormones; gradual decrease in arousal

• Easy tasks - high arousal = best performance
• Difficult/Unrehearsed tasks - moderate/low arousal = best

• Similarities - fear, anger, and sexual arousal
• Differences - facial expressions

• Left Frontal Lobe = happy, positive personalities *dopamine receptors*
• Right Frontal Lobe = depressed/negative personalities

• Arousal from one event effects another
• Interpreting info./labeling affects what emotion we feel

short cut to amygdala, more to cortex than from cortex

Some emotions (likes and dislikes) are NOT conscious processes

Complex emotions are greatly effected by cognition

• On face, by body, voice intonation
• Nonverbal communication
• Gender and Emotion -> women better at nonverbal
• Detecting and Computing Emotion -> difficult to detect
• Culture and Emotional expression -> culturally diverse; people shown basic expressions easily recognize
• Emotions are adaptive

Biological, psychological and social-cultural influences

• Learned - conditioned or observation
• Biology - Amygdala

• 1) Willful, unjustified, avoidable who commit wrongdoings
• 2) Foul odors, high temperatures, traffic jam, aches and pains

• 1) Boys move away from anger, girls want to talk about it
• 2) Anger breeds prejudice (EX. 9/11 -> intolerance to Muslims)
• 3) Anger expression more encouraged in cultures that do not promote group behaviors

• Perceive world as being safer, make decisions easily, more cooperative, rate job applicants more favorable
• Live healthier, energized and more satisfied lives

• Positive moods rise to maximum within 6-7 hours of waking up
• Negative moods stay more or less the same throughout the day
• Emotional ups and downs tend to balance; grave diseases may bring people emotionally down, but most adapt

• Belief that being wealthier makes one happier
• Data suggests happiness is only temporary
• 1) Affluent Societies - people with more money are happier than people who struggle for basic needs
• 2) People in rich countries are happier than people in poor countries
• 3) A sudden rise in financial conditions makes people happy.
• **People who live in poverty or in slums are also satisfied with their life
• **Money is not a guarantee of happiness

Subjective well-being (happiness and satisfaction) shows poor countries at top of list

Students who value love more than money report higher life satisfaction

Comparisons with others effects happiness