Defining Emotion

Defining Emotion

• Emotions are psychological states characterized by subjective feelings and patterns of physiological arousal, thought, and behavior
• Emotions typically relate to a specific event or circumstance in the past, present or future

Emotions and Terms

• Early emotion research focused on "hedonic capacity," or the ability to feel good
• Current research focuses on "affectivity," which is the extent of positive/negative emotions experienced
• Positive affect refers to experiences of joy and contentment
• Negative affect involves feelings like sadness or fear

Difference in Affective Style

• Individual differences in the brain can lead to varied emotional responses to the same event, these are termed "affective style"
• Affective style is a broad range of individual differences in emotional reactivity parameters
• Parameters of emotional reactivity include threshold to respond, magnitude of response, rise time to peak response, recovery function, and the duration of response
• Resilient individuals tend to have less brain activity in areas associated with worry (orbitofrontal cortex)

Emotion vs. Mood

• Moods differ from emotions because they are free-floating, objectless, longer-lasting, and occupy background consciousness
• Moods are typically unfocused and enduring, unlike emotions

The Need for Positive Emotions

• Fredrickson's ‘broaden-and-build’ theory of positive emotions explains positive emotions
• Fredrickson began her work on this theory in the early 1990s
• Positive emotions broaden thought-action repertoires, undo negative emotions, and build resilience

Positive Emotions

• Positive emotions are emotional reactions that express positive affect
• Positive emotions express happiness from achieving a goal
• Positive emotions express relief when a danger has passed
• Positive emotions express contentment when satisfied with a situation

Broaden-and-Build Theory: Broadening Effect

• Fredrickson's lab has consistently tested the broadening effects of positive emotions
• Positive emotions broaden minds, leading to thinking 'outside the box'
• This broadened perspective allows for alternative solutions to tasks
• Positive emotions enhance verbal creativity

Broaden-and-Build Theory: Building Effect

• The experience of positive emotions coupled with broadening effect builds personal resources
• Personal resources include intellectual, physical, social, and psychological resources
• Intellectual resources include problem-solving skills and openness to learning
• Physical resources include cardiovascular health and coordination
• Social resources include relationship maintenance and creation
• Psychological resources include resilience, optimism, sense of identity, and goal orientation
• Resources developed through positive emotions induce more positive emotions

Case Study: Building Resilience

• Sarah is a 30-year-old stressed corporate professional struggling with work demands, well-being, and job satisfaction
• Sarah seeks therapy and learns about the broaden-and-build theory
• The therapist encourages Sarah to practice gratitude, mindfulness, meditation, and spending time with loved ones
• Sarah incorporates these activities into her routine and notices a positive shift in her mindset and focus on the present
• Sarah experiences the benefits of building psychological resources
• Sarah notices improvements in resilience, creativity, and problem-solving skills
• Sarah then maintains a calm perspective in difficult situations
• Over time, Sarah's positive emotions improve well-being and job satisfaction
• Sarah becomes more resilient, is able to navigate the stressors of her job, and has a positive outlook

Source of Positive Emotions

• Positive emotions stem from our material brains
• There is a link between the anterior left-side prefrontal cortex (PFC) and positive affect
• Positive emotions develop from our rate of progress towards important goals

"What Went Well" Activity

• This activity teaches cognitive reappraisal
• It also teaches how positive emotions broaden thinking
• Method trains the prefrontal cortex to shift focus from negative to positive aspects
• Strengthens emotional regulation skills

Positive Emotions Benefits

• Positive emotions are important for ability to thrive and flourish
• Monitoring positive-to-negative ratio and aiming for 3:1 is advantageous
• It is important to use www.positivityratio.com to calculates positivity ratio
• Documenting the ratio daily gives better judgement than one-day judgement

Key Positive Emotions

• Joy, gratitude, serenity, interest, hope, pride, amusement, inspiration, awe, and love are key

Positive Emotion and Health Benefits

• Writing about positive experiences for 20 minutes a day leads to fewer health center visits
• Positive emotions can result in a stronger heart
• There is a connection between a healthy heart rate and positive social emotions
• Wellbeing is related to good cardiovascular functioning, general health, and longevity

Positive Emotions and Connection To Others

• Positive emotions increase connection and openness to others
• Positive emotions improve cross-cultural perspective taking
• Positive emotion increases ability to take a larger perspective
• Positive emotion helps exhibit greater sympathy and compassion

Attenuation to Positive Emotions

• People who experience positive emotions and have resilient tendencies are still able to feel sadness and anxiety
• Positive attenuation is essential in protecting against depressive symptoms
• By pursuing positive emotion-eliciting activities, we accrue psychological, social, to enhance survival
• Higher levels of positive affect correlate with better marriages, job satisfaction, physical activity, and sleep

The Desire to Control Negative Emotions

• Emotional intelligence (EI) states that cognition and emotion are interrelated.
• Emotions influence decision making, relationship building, and everyday behavior
• Intense feelings of anger due to injustice can be managed

Emotional Intelligence (EI)

• EI is the ability to monitor one's own and others' feelings and emotions
• EI is to discriminate and use this information to guide one's thinking and action
• There are two distinct groups of models including ability EI models and mixed EI models

The Ability Model

• John Mayer and Peter Salovey, in collaboration with David Caruso, developed the Mayer-Salovey-Caruso EQ Model
• The Mayer-Salovey-Caruso EQ Model is a 141-item, task-based emotional intelligence test (MSCEIT)
• EI is a set of competencies or mental skills with four stages following this model

Stages of the Ability Model

• Perceiving emotions: Being able to identify and label different emotions
• Using emotions to facilitate thought: Using emotions to guide thinking and behavior
• Understanding emotions: Being able to understand the meaning of emotions
• Managing emotions: Being able to regulate emotions in oneself and others

Case Study:

• John is a project manager known for technical expertise, facing interpersonal conflicts, and communication breakdowns
• The scenario is that John's team is working on a high-stakes project with a tight deadline
• Tensions escalate between two team members
• Other team members start to feel uncomfortable and disengaged.

Application: Perceiving Emotions

• John recognizes the escalating tension and frustration through nonverbal cues
• John acknowledges the emotional states understanding their reactions from stress and differing perspectives

Application: Using Emotions

• John remains calm to avoid impulsively escalating the conflict
• He channels concern and empathy to facilitate constructive dialogue and problem-solving

Application: Understanding Emotions

• John recognizes the conflict stems from miscommunication, differing work styles, and stressors
• He understands unresolved conflicts undermine collaboration and productivity

Application: Managing Emotions

• John intervenes diplomatically
• John engages a private conversation providing a supportive environment with support
• John facilitates a team discussion to address the root causes, goals and strategies to improve communication

Mixed Models of El

• El is the ability to ‘adaptively perceive, understand, regulate, and harness emotions in the self and others’
• Goleman’s theory of intelligence has five main areas including self areness, self-regulation, motivation, social awareness and social skills

Mixed Model Breakdown

• Self-Awareness: Recognizing and understanding one’s emotions and accurately assessing confidence.
• Self-Regulation: Managing emotions effectively, especially in stressful situations plus adaptability and trustworthiness.
• Motivation: Driven to stay goal-focused with optimism, resilience, and intrinsic motivation
• social awareness (Empathy): Understanding others' emotions by responding appropriately with compassion, and service orientation
• Social Skills: Managing interpersonal relationships effectively through leadership, teamwork, and conflict resolution

Case Study

• Sarah is a project manager at a software development company with expertise; however, she has faced interactions which led to team conflicts
• Sarah is leading team with tight deadline where she notices some team members show reluctance and expresses concerns
• Sarah presents a new strategy where she is met with resistance where her leadership abilities questioned
• Sarah has frustration which leads her to doubt leadership and finds in challenging to maintain composure which effects her ability to work with team

Application for the Above Case

• Self-Awareness: Sarah recognizes her emotions including negative feedback from the team, her tendency, defense and insecurity when leadership questioned
• Self-Regulation: Even-though upse,t, Sarah restrains impulses to gather composure before concerns are raised
• Motivation: Sarah maintains a positive attitude to face challenges
• Empathy: Sarah seeks other team input
• Social Skills: Sarah engages open dialogue to foster a supportive team environment where everyone valued

Measurement Tools

• Positive and Negative Activation Schedule (PANAS) (Watson et al., 1988)
• Scale of Positive and Negative Experience (SPANE) (Diener et al., 2009)