Specific Emotions

EmotionEmotion

• Emotion is a reaction, both psychological and physical, subjectively experienced as strong feelings, many of which prepare the body for immediate action.

• In contrast to moods, which are generally longerlasting, emotions are transitory, with relatively well-defined beginnings and endings. They also have valence, meaning that they are either positive or negative.

• Subjectively, emotions are experienced as passive phenomena.

Emotional arousalEmotional arousal• Elated excitement

and panicky fear involve similar physiological arousal.

• That allows us to flip rapidly between the two emotions.

Emotions, Stress, and Health

• Emotion is made up of three components; physiological arousal, expressive behaviors, and conscious experience. One of the oldest theoretical controversies regarding emotion focuses on the timing of our feelings in relation to the physiological responses that accompany emotion.

• William James and Carl Lange proposed that we feel emotion after we notice our physiological responses.

The spillover effectThe spillover effect• Arousal from a

soccer match can fuel anger, which can descend into rioting or other violent confrontations.

Classification of emotions• According to subjective status there are positive and

negative emotions. Negative emotions are sthenic (aggression, affect) that stimulate human activity and asthenia (horror, sadness, depression) that inhibit behaviour.

• Lower or elementary emotions are caused by organic needs of man or animal as hanger, thirst and survival, so on). In humans even lover emotions undergo to cortical control and are brining up. Social, historical and cultural customs cause also formation of higher emotions that regulates public and private relations in society. Higher emotions appear due to consciousness and may inhibit lower emotions.

Biological importance of emotions

• Emotions are important element of human behaviour, creation of conditioned reflexes and mentation. Negative emotions give fusty evaluation of current situation does it useful or not.

• Mobilizing of efforts helps then to satisfy current needs of person. Positive emotions help to put in memory scheme of behaviour, which was useful and have lead to success.

Structure of behavioural act • According to theory of functional systems

(Anochkin) there are such stages of behavioural act: 1) afferent synthesis; 2) taking of decision; 3) acceptor of result of action; 4) efferent synthesis (or programming of action); 5) performing of action; 6) evaluation of final result of action.

• Due to converging and processing of both sensory information and memory traces afferent synthesis in the brain is performed. Taking of decision is based on afferent synthesis by choosing optimal variant of action.

Neuronal mechanisms of behaviour

• In the very lowest animals olfactory cortex plays essential roles in determining whether the animal eats a particular food, whether the smell of a particular object suggest danger, and whether the odour is sexually inviting, thus making decisions that are of life-or-death importance.

• The hippocampus originated as part of olfactory cortex.

The brain’s shortcut for emotionsThe brain’s shortcut for emotions

In the two-track brain, sensory input may be routed (a) directly to the amygdala (via the thalamus) for an instant emotional reaction or (b) to the cortex for analysis.

Theories of Emotion• Three theories support different combinations of

these responses. The James-Lange theory maintains that our emotional feelings follow our body’s response to the emotion-inducing stimuli.

• The Cannon-Bard theory proposes that our body responds to emotion at the same time that we experience the emotion (one does not cause the other). The two-factor theory holds that our emotions have two ingredients: physical arousal and a cognitive label.

Emotions and the Autonomic Nervous System

• Emotions are both psychological and physiological. Much of the physiological activity is controlled by the autonomic nervous system’s sympathetic (arousing) and parasympathetic (calming) divisions. Our performance on a task is usually best when arousal is moderate, though this varies with the difficulty of the task.

• Emotions are both psychological and physiological. Much of the physiological activity is controlled by the autonomic nervous system’s sympathetic (arousing) and parasympathetic (calming) divisions. Our performance on a task is usually best when arousal is moderate, though this varies with the difficulty of the task

The brain’s sensitivity to threatsThe brain’s sensitivity to threats

Even when fearful eyes (left) were flashed too briefly for people to consciously perceive them, fMRI scans revealed that their hypervigilant amygdala was alerted.

Ways of expressing emotionWays of expressing emotionss

• Ways of expressing emotion may be either innate or culturally acquired. Certain facial expressions, such as smiling, have been found to be universal, even among blind persons, who have no means of imitating them.

• Other expressions vary across cultures.

Example of dual processing:Example of dual processing:two routes to emotiontwo routes to emotion

Zajonc and LeDoux have emphasized that some emotional responses are immediate, before any conscious appraisal. Lazarus, Schachter, and Singer emphasized that our appraisal and labeling of events also determine our emotional responses.

CulturalCultural forcesforces• In addition to the ways of communicating

various emotions, people within a culture also learn certain unwritten codes governing emotional expression itself—what emotions can be openly expressed and under what circumstances.

• Cultural forces also influence how people describe and categorize what they are feeling.

A silent language of A silent language of emotionemotion

Hindu classic dance uses the face and body to effectively convey 10 different emotions.

An emotion that is commonlyAn emotion that is commonly recognized in one societyrecognized in one society

• An emotion that is commonly recognized in one society may be subsumed under another emotion in a different one.

• Some cultures, for example, do not distinguish between anger and sadness. Tahitians, who have no word for either sadness or guilt, have 46 words for various types of anger.

Importance of emotions for Importance of emotions for bechaviorbechavior

• In daily life, emotional arousal may have beneficial or disruptive effects, depending on the situation and the intensity of the emotion. Moderate levels of arousal increase efficiency levels by making people more alert.

• However, intense emotions—either positive or egative— interfere with performance because central nervous system responses are channeled in too many directions at once. The effects of arousal on performance also depend on the difficulty of the task at hand; emotions interfere less with simple tasks than with more complicated ones.

Negative emotionsNegative emotions

Emotional intelligenceEmotional intelligence• Emotional intelligence is the ability to perceive

and constructively act on both one’s own emotions and the feelings of others.

• Emotional intelligence (EI) is sometimes referred to as emotional quotient or emotional literacy. Individuals with emotional intelligence are able to relate to others with compassion and empathy, have well-developed social skills, and use this emotional awareness to direct their actions and behavior.

AApplicationspplications• The concept of emotional intelligence has found a

number of different applications outside of the psychological research and therapy arenas.

• Professional, educational, and community institutions have integrated different aspects of the emotional intelligence philosophy into their organizations to promote more productive working relationships, better outcomes, and enhanced personal satisfaction.

• In the workplace and in other organizational settings, the concept of emotional intelligence has spawned an entire industry of EI consultants, testing materials, and workshops.

The four areas of emotional The four areas of emotional intelligence, as identifiedintelligence, as identified by Mayer and by Mayer and

Salovey, are as follows:Salovey, are as follows:

• Identifying emotions. The ability to recognize one’s own feelings and the feelings of those around them.

• Using emotions. The ability to access an emotion and reason with it (use it to assist thought and decisions).

• Understanding emotions. Emotional knowledge; the ability to identify and comprehend what Mayer and Salovey term “emotional chains”—the transition of one emotion to another.

• Managing emotions. The ability to self-regulate emotions and manage them in others.

Which of Paul Ekman’s smilesWhich of Paul Ekman’s smilesis feigned, which natural?is feigned, which natural?

The smile on the right engages the facial muscles of a natural smile

TTests or assessmentsests or assessments• A number of tests or assessments have been

developed to “measure” emotional intelligence, although their validity is questioned by some researchers.

• These include the Mayer-Salovey-Caruso Emotional Intelligence Test (MSCEIT), the Multifactor Emotional Intelligence Scale (MEIS), the Emotional Competence Inventory 360 (ECI 360), the Work Profile Questionnaire-emotional intelligence version (WPQ-ei), and the Baron Emotional Quotient Inventory (EQ-i). Other psychometric measures, or tests, such as the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children, Revised (WISC-R), a standard intelligence test, are sometimes useful in measuring the social aptitude features of emotional intelligence.

Culture-specific or culturally universalCulture-specific or culturally universalexpressions?expressions?

• As people of differing cultures and races, do our faces speak differing languages? Which face expresses disgust? Anger? Fear? Happiness? Sadness? Surprise?

Emotional developmentEmotional development• Emotional development is the

process by which infants and children begin developing the capacity to experience, express, and interpret emotions.

• To formulate theories about the development of human emotions, researchers focus on observable display of emotion, such as facial expressions and public behavior.