Understanding Emotion: Components and Theories

• The components of an emotion include physical manifestations, specific behaviors, mimicry and gestures, and cognitive processes.

Difference Between Affect and Mood

• Mood involves a weakly pronounced emotion, is long-lasting, and influences perception and thinking.
• Affect is particularly strong, arises suddenly, fades quickly, and can lead to rash actions.

Origin of Emotional Expression - Innate vs. Learned

• Innate: Infants respond more readily to smiles than to angry faces, blind children express emotions similarly to sighted children, and basic emotions are displayed similarly worldwide.
• Learned: Cultural differences exist in the expression of emotions.

Origin of Emotions

• Emotions as a reaction to physiological arousal: Emotions arise through the perception of bodily reactions (e.g., heartbeat → fear).
• James-Lange Theory: Emotions occur after we perceive our physical reaction.
• Cannon-Bard Theory: Emotions and physical reactions occur simultaneously.
• Two-Factor Theory (Schachter): Emotions arise from physiological arousal and cognitive appraisal.
• Neuroscientific Theories: The limbic system plays a central role in the origin of emotions.

Purpose of Emotions

• Emotions serve to: evaluate situations, aid in social interaction (e.g., empathy), and provide motivation (e.g., fear as a warning signal).

Frustration

• Frustration arises from unmet expectations, desires, and needs, and from unattainable goals.
• Reasons for frustration include futile efforts, missed opportunities, professional under/overload, lack of recognition, and traumatic past experiences.

Positive Effects of Overcoming Frustration

• Overcoming frustration can lead to a sense of accomplishment, stimulate creativity, and teach coping mechanisms.
• Frustration tolerance is the ability to constructively deal with frustration and to postpone needs.

Managing Frustration

• One has to learn to endure unpleasant situations, tolerate when others do not conform to one's own ideas, and accept when not everything succeeds.
• Coping mechanisms include increased effort, lowering expectations, changing goals, and adopting behaviors that facilitate managing frustration.

Consequences of Frustration

• Uncontrolled emotional outbursts, depression, and passive behavior can result.

Aggression

• Aggressive behavior occurs
• According to the frustration-aggression hypothesis, frustration increases the predisposition to aggressive behavior.
• Freud states that aggression is an innate drive as a reaction to negative stimuli.
• Aggression can manifest in various ways:
  • Positively: redirection through sports, competitions, etc.
  • Negatively: Aggressive behavior towards others.

Development of Aggressive Behavior

• Children imitate aggressive behavior when they observe it being rewarded.
• Parents should:
  • Not overreact to aggressive outbursts.
  • Develop solutions and alternative behaviors together with the child.
  • Offer opportunities for children to release energy (e.g., through exercise).

Violence

• Violence is the extreme form of aggression and can be physical (injuries) or psychological (insults, threats).

Causes of Violence

• Childhood trauma, lack of education and values, familial stress, negative group dynamics, and glorification of violence (in films, games, etc.) are all causes

Mitigating Violence

• Prevention of violence is possible through clear rules, conflict resolution strategies, positive role models, and social training.