Emotion Theories and Clever Hans Phenomenon

Task 1: Love Language

• Three theories of emotion: common sense, James', and Schachter's

• Common Sense Theory: stimulus -> perception -> emotion -> bodily arousal

• James' Theory: stimulus -> perception -> bodily arousal -> emotion

• Schachter's Theory: stimulus -> perception -> bodily arousal -> emotion -> intensity

• Bridge experiment, jealousy experiment, and roller coaster experiment used to demonstrate arousal transfer

• Excitation transfer theory proposes that residual arousal from a prior experience can influence emotional responses to new stimuli. This theory was introduced by Dolf Zillmann in the 1970s.

Task 2: Clever Hans

• Facts are objective statements agreed upon by observers
• Example: Horse's hoof taps appearing to answer questions
• Theories explain existing facts and make predictions about new ones
• Example: Osten's theory of horse intelligence, Pfungst's theory of visual cues
• Hypotheses are predictions about new facts based on a theory
• Example: Hans could answer verbally stated problems correctly
• Skepticism and careful observation are crucial in science. The simpler explanation is preferable when multiple options exist.

Task 3: My Brain and Me

• Brain structure is complex with specialized regions for specific functions
• Brain regions handling different cognitive and sensory functions include the brainstem, cerebellum, and cerebral hemispheres (occipital, parietal, temporal, frontal lobes).
• Wrinkles (gyri and sulci) increase surface area of the brain to maximize neuron density
• Cerebrospinal fluid cushions the brain and spinal cord, and helps maintain consistent pressure
• Brainstem controls vital functions (breathing, heart rate), cerebellum is for motor learning, hypothalamus regulates bodily drives
• Cerebral hemispheres support higher cognitive functions like perception, language, and problem-solving.
• Limbic areas include the amygdala and hippocampus
• Brain imaging techniques are Electroencephalography (EEG), magnetoencephalography (MEG), positron emission tomography (PET), magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI), computed tomography (CT).
• Split-brain patients provide insight into hemisphere specialization

Task 4: Making Sense of the World

• Sensory process: Stimulus -> physiological response -> Sensory experience
• Weber/Fechner's law: Perception of stimulus magnitude is related to its physical magnitude.
• Psychophysics relates sensations to physical stimuli
• Sensory thresholds refer to the lowest intensity of stimulus detected
• Absolute threshold is the lowest detectable intensity, different threshold (jnd) is the smallest detectable difference.
• Bottom-up processing works from senses to the brain, top-down processing uses knowledge to influence perception
• Gestalt principles (proximity, similarity, continuity, closure) help group elements together in perception
• Sensory coding: stronger stimuli produce larger receptor potentials and quicker rates of firing in neurons
• Sensory experience results from physiological responses to physical stimuli
• Sensory receptors convert physical stimuli into electrical changes (transduction)
• Adaptation: reduced responsiveness of sensory systems with continuous stimulation

Task 5: Blank stares and Bobo Dolls

• Classical conditioning: learning through association (Pavlov)
• Operant conditioning: learning through consequences (Thorndike)
• Operant Conditioning
  • Law of Effect; Shaping; Extinction; Partial Reinforcement; Continuous Reinforcement; Fixed-ratio Schedules; Variable-ratio Schedules; Fixed-interval Schedules; Variable-interval Schedules; Reinforcement (negative & positive); Punishment (negative & positive); Discriminative Stimuli.
• Evaluative conditioning: associating a stimulus with a positive or negative response
• Conditioned hunger, sexual arousal, and drug reactions are types of learned responses

Task 6: The Smell of Cookies

• Encoding: transforming sensory input into a brain-readable format
• Attention & Levels of processing: Focus and depth of analysis affect memory
• Memory storage: short term and long term memory.
• Sensory memory: very brief storage of sensory information (iconic and echoic)
• Chunking: organizing information into meaningful units
• Elaborative rehearsal: using existing knowledge to form connections to new information to create stronger memories
• Retrieval: accessing the stored information to use it in the present

Task 7: Brief History of Yourself

• Developmental psychology studies how people change over time, studying milestones in infants and children
• Infant abilities include habituation/dishabituation, which means babies show increasingly less time focusing on a stimulus once they are used to it, and increasingly more when a new stimulus is shown.
• Assimilation and accommodation are key concepts used to explain how children develop.
• Assimilation: adding new experiences into existing schemas/thought patterns.
• Accommodation: adjusting existing schemas/thoughts to fit with new experiences (requires adaptation)
• Cognitive development is explained through schemas.
• Cognitive Development: 4 stages (piaget): -sensorimotor, preoperational, concrete operational, and formal operational. Each stage describes children and their mental abilities at a particular age.

Task 8: Help!

• Bystander effect: less likely to help when in the presence of others
• Diffusion of responsibility: individuals may not feel personally responsible for intervening
• Pluralistic ignorance: if no one else intervenes, a situation may be seen as non-emergent, and people do not help
• Kin selection: altruistic behavior that benefits close relatives helps genes to survive
• Reciprocity: altruistic behavior among non-kin, may provide hidden advantage via future cooperation
• Social dilemma: individual vs group interests
• Residential mobility: length of residence correlates to community-oriented behavior
• Altruism: helping another individual at the possible expense of self-preservation
• Helping behavior may help survival and reproductive success

Task 9: I'm Different

• Personality is a person's general style of engaging with the world
• Traits = enduring predispositions, states = temporary behaviors
• Five Factor Model describes personality features (Openness, Conscientiousness, Extraversion, Agreeableness, Neuroticism)
• Traits are relatively stable in adults and are influenced by both genetics and environment
• Heritability vs. Environment: genetics, social, cultural, forces influence personality

Task X: Additional Concepts

• Theory of Mind (ToM) involves understanding one's own thoughts and the beliefs/feelings of others.
• Autism has difficulties with social communication and social interaction.

Explore the fascinating world of emotion theories, including the Common Sense, James', and Schachter's theories. Additionally, delve into the story of Clever Hans, a horse that appeared to answer questions, and the theories behind his behavior. Test your understanding of emotional arousal and the principles of scientific observation.