Emotions II.

Cognitive Dimension
What is an emotion?
It involves positive or negative feelings; an intense
mental states that arises subjectively rather than
through conscious effort and evokes either a positive
or negative psychological response to move an
organism to action.
It is a feeling or affect that can involve physiological
arousal (e.g. fast heartbeat), conscious experience
(e.g. thinking about being in love with someone) and
behavioral expression (e.g. smile or grimace).
Emotion always has a cognitive component. Body and
thought are involved in emotion.
A. Zajonc’s Affective Primacy Theory
(“Feeling Before Thinking”)
In some situations, a person feels an emotion before
he/she has time to interpret or appraise the situation.
According to Robert Zajonc, emotions are primary and
our thoughts are a result of them.

Dimensions of Emotions B. Lazarus’ Cognitive Apraisal Theory

(“Thinking Before Feeling”)

I. Biological Dimension
A physiological component of emotion is arousal.
According to Richard Lazarus, cognitive activity is a
Arousal is determined by the activities of the
precondition for emotion.
sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous system.
We cognitively appraise ourselves and our social
circumstances.
Role of the Nervous System in Emotions This theory assumes that our interpretation or
appraisal of a situation is often the primary cause of
Sympathetic Activity Parasympathetic
emotions.
NS NS
These appraisals include values, goals, commitments,
Increases Blood flow to the Decreases beliefs and expectations that determine our emotions.
brain
Dilate Pupils of the eye Constrict III. Behavioral Dimensions
Faster Breathing rate Slower The behavioral component of emotions can be verbal
or non-verbal.
Faster Heartbeat Slower
Psychologists have been more interested in the non-
Increases Skin perspiration Decreases verbal component of emotions.
Decreases Digestive activity Increases They believe that people has the ability to detect the
Release stress Adrenal gland Inhibit stress emotion a person is experiencing on the basis of
hormones activity hormones his/her facial expressions.

Six Basic Emotions

Biological Theories of Emotions
Psychologists have developed a number of theories
about the role of arousal in emotion.
Example:
 You and your date are enjoying a picnic at
the park. As you prepare to eat, a bull runs
across the field towards you. Why would you
be afraid?
A. James-Lange Theory
This theory suggests that emotion results from
physiological states that occurs as a response to
stimuli in the environment.
As such, emotions occurs after physiological
reactions.
A person perceives the stimulus, the body responds
and the person interprets the body’s reaction as
emotion.
B. Cannon-Bard Theory
This theory suggests that emotion and physiological
reactions occur simultaneously.
The perceived stimuli causes the hypothalamus of the
brain to do two things simultaneously:
 It stimulates the autonomic nervous system
to produce physiological changes involved in
emotion.
 It sends message to the cerebral cortex
where the experience of emotion is
perceived.
1. Happiness
2. Anger
3. Sadness
4. Surprise
5. Disgust
6. Fear
Facial Feedback Hypothesis
This theory states that facial expressions can
influence emotions as well as reflect them.
According to this view, facial muscles send a signal to
the brain that helps individuals recognize the emotion
they are experiencing.
IV. Socio-Cultural Dimensions
According to Charles Darwin, facial expressions of
human beings are innate, they are not learned. They
evolved from the emotions of animals.
These facial expressions of the basic emotions are
the same in all cultures around the world.
Today, psychologists still believe that emotions,
especially facial expressions, have strong biological
ties.
How does culture influence the expression of emotions?
Facial expressions are universal.
However, display rules for emotions are not culturally
universal.
Display rules—are socio-cultural standards or norms
that determine when, where and how emotions are
expressed and how much is appropriate.
 Emotions are also expressed in many other non-
verbal signals of body movement, posture and
gesture.
Many non-verbal signals of emotions vary from one
culture to another.

What role does gender play in emotions?

Females and males are often more alike in the way
they experience emotions.
They often use the same facial expressions, adopt the
same language and describe their emotional
experiences similarly.

Three Important Functions of Emotions:

1. To send powerful signals about how we feel—
facial expressions that go with emotions communicate
personal feelings and provide social signals that may
elicit a variety of responses from people around us.
2. To help adapt and survive in the world—The
psycho-evolutionary theory of emotions says that we
inherit the neural structure and physiology to express
and experience emotions and that we evolved
emotional patterns to adapt to our environment and
solve problems important for our survival.
3. To arouse and motivate many human behaviors—
The Yerkes-Dodson Law says that performance on
task is an interaction between the level of
physiological arousal and the level of difficulty of the
task.