Developing individual in society Lecture 13: 12/04/2021 Emotions Lecturer: Annemieke van den Tol Emotions: A subjective sensation experienced as a type of psycho-physiological arousal. - Largely a conscious phenomenon. - However, can involve bodily manifestations more often than other conscious states. - Large variety of emotions along a number of dimensions. o Arousal o Intensity o Type o Origin o Value o Self-regulation - Central place in moral education and life, through empathy, conscience, and moral emotions like shame, guilt or remorse. Emotions can result from: - Perception of the stimuli in your environment. - A cognitive appraisal of a situation. - Neural and hormonal responses to perceptions. Functions of emotion: - Behavioural emotions can: o Prepare us for action o Shape behaviour o Allow us to respond to our environment with flexibility - Social emotions can: o Facilitate non-verbal communication o Regulate our social interactions o Facilitate adult-child relations, and therefore, development Definitions related to Emotion Affect: Also known as feeling states, this is an overarching term including emotions and moods. Emotions: These reflect the environmental states and cognitive appraisal. Often accompanied by facial expressions and physiological changes/processes.
Moods: In comparison to emotions, are lower in intensity, but usually longer lasting and less focused. Theories of Emotion James-Lange theory of emotion Cannon-Bard theory of emotion Schachter-Singer theory of emotion James-Lange theory of emotion - Theory states emotional feelings are a result of an individual becoming aware of a physiological response to an emotionally provoking stimulus. - Requires a separate and distinct physiological activity for each emotion. - Emotion is simply a physiological change which we recognise and label as an emotion. Such as fear, or anger. We realise what the emotion was only AFTER an event. Stimuli/ Event Arousal and Physiological response/change S Aware of Physiological changes Emotion Cannon-Bard theory of emotion - This theory declares that an emotion-provoking stimulus is transmitted simultaneously to the brain. - This provides the feeling of emotion. - As well as to the sympathetic nervous system, causing physiological arousal. - Emotion and physiological state are separate and are processed at the same time by the brain upon perceiving the emotion-provoking stimulus. - Physiological change is like a part of the emotion. Stimuli/ Event Brain (thalamus -> cortex & nervous system) Arousal and Physiological changes Emotion
Schachter-Singer theory of emotion - Two stage theory, for an emotion to occur there has to be: o Physiological arousal (Stage 1) o Explanation for the arousal (Stage 2) - Theory accounts for subjective interpretation, so a misattribution of arousal. - So sometimes, an individual may experience an event and has drunk a lot of coffee. They notice their heart is beating fast, but attribute that to the drinking of the coffee, and not due to an emotion. - Whereas, if they hadn't drunk the coffee, they may attribute a fast heartbeat to an emotion such as nervousness. Stimuli/ Event Arousal and Physiological response/change S Attribution of arousal Emotion Evidence for the Schachter-Singer theory - PPs injected with