Psychology Chapter 12: Emotions and Health

Emotions are a complex aspect of human experience, difficult to precisely define and measure.

Emotions are crucial for sound decision-making; individuals with impaired emotions often make poor decisions.

Measuring emotions presents various challenges to psychologists, with different approaches offering strengths and weaknesses.

The autonomic nervous system controls internal organ functions, playing a role in emotional responses.

A quick and easy method to gauge emotions, but sometimes inaccurate.

Observing facial expressions (including micro-expressions) is a crucial approach to assess emotions.

Measuring autonomic nervous system activity provides insights into emotions, but interpretations can be challenging.

Part of the autonomic nervous system that activates the body for intense activity, such as "fight or flight" responses, characterized by increased heart rate, breathing, sweating, and adrenaline production.

Part of the autonomic nervous system that promotes rest and long-term survival functions, including decreased heart rate, digestion, and other bodily processes crucial for a calm, sustained state.

Part of the nervous system responsible for involuntary functions, such as heart rate, digestion, and breathing. It consists of the sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous systems.

The balanced state of the body's internal environment that the ANS helps maintain.

A physiological reaction to a perceived threat or danger, characterized by increased heart rate, breathing, and adrenaline production, preparing the body for action.

The two main components of the ANS are the sympathetic & parasympathetic nervous systems. They work together to regulate bodily functions and respond to different demands.

Six emotions (happiness, sadness, anger, fear, disgust, surprise) widely recognized across cultures, often communicated through facial expressions.

Emotions significantly influence moral judgments, such as decisions in the Trolley/Footbridge dilemmas. These choices aren't solely rational.

Emotional control is important for good decisions. However, emotions are not always obstacles; a degree of emotional response can improve decision quality, avoiding extreme emotional states.

Patients with prefrontal cortex damage (like Phineas Gage and Elliot) demonstrate issues with emotional response impacting their decisions.

Injury to the prefrontal cortex, a part of the brain, can lead to behavioral and emotional problems, interfering with important life decisions.

Ethical decision-making scenarios (like saving more lives by sacrificing one) showing that emotion plays a vital role in deciding what is seen/felt as a moral action.

A model that describes emotions using two dimensions: valence (positive or negative) and activity (active or passive).

The positivity or negativity of an emotion.

The degree to which an emotion is experienced actively or passively.

Six emotions frequently believed to be universal and fundamental across different cultures.

A way to understand emotions by considering two or more important qualities.

A model that maps emotions in a two-dimensional space based on valence and activity.

Emotions thought to be shared across people regardless of culture, including anger, fear, sadness, happiness, disgust, and surprise.

The pleasantness or unpleasantness of an emotion.

The degree to which an emotion is experienced physically or mentally active or passive.

The body's nonspecific response to any demand placed upon it.

A short-term, high-arousal phase where the sympathetic nervous system prepares the body for action.

A prolonged but moderate arousal phase of the body's response to a sustained stressor.

A depleted immune system due to intense and ongoing stress, leading to vulnerability to illness, fatigue, and weakness.

Going away to college can be considered a stressful event, based on Selye's definition.

Remaining in an unhappy marriage of over 30 years is NOT considered a stressful event, according to the provided text.

Selye's model describes three stages of stress response: alarm, resistance, and exhaustion.

Measuring stress and health is difficult because existing methods (questionnaires) have low reliability and validity.

A detailed interview can provide a more accurate assessment of stress by examining individual stressors and positive aspects in life.

Examples of stressors include noise, loss, work problems, poverty, and discrimination.

People approach stress with preferred styles, each having benefits depending on the situation.

Subjective feelings with physiological and behavioral components, crucial for decision-making.

Challenges exist in precisely measuring emotions; self-reports, behavioral observations, and physiological measures all have limitations.

Division of the nervous system controlling involuntary functions like heart rate and digestion, crucial in emotional responses.

Emotions significantly influence decisions, even if logic seems to prevail. People with impaired emotions often make poor decisions.

Easy but potentially inaccurate approach to assess emotions as people may not always report their feelings honestly.

Observing facial expressions (including micro-expressions) can reveal emotional states, though these can be controlled.

Assessing autonomic nervous system activity offers insights into emotions; meaning is subject to interpretation.

Riding a motorcycle causes an increase in heart rate.

After the motorcycle ride, heart rate slows down.

Emotional reaction is a response to physical sensations. It suggests we feel an emotion because of our physical reactions.

According to the James-Lange theory, physiological reactions (like sweating) come before the emotional experience (like fear).

According to the James-Lange theory, the physical sensation of sweating comes before the feeling of fear in a test-anxiety situation.

Part of the autonomic nervous system that prepares the body for intense activity, like "fight or flight", with increased heart rate, breathing, and adrenaline.

Part of the autonomic nervous system that promotes rest and long-term survival functions, like decreased heart rate and digestion.

The part of the nervous system controlling involuntary functions like heart rate and digestion, consisting of the sympathetic and parasympathetic systems.

The balanced internal state of the body that the ANS helps maintain.

The sympathetic and parasympathetic systems working together to maintain a balanced body state.

The physiological reaction to a perceived threat, preparing the body for action by activating the sympathetic branch of the autonomic nervous system.

A medical condition where the autonomic nervous system stops regulating internal organs.

The theory that physiological arousal determines the nature of emotion.

The theory that physiological arousal determines the intensity of emotion, but not the type.

The interpretation of a situation that determines the emotion experienced.

The Schachter-Singer theory emphasizes that a person's cognitive appraisal of a situation determines the emotion they experience; physiological arousal influences the emotion's intensity.

The intensity of physiological arousal influences emotional intensity; how a situation is interpreted determines the emotional type experienced.