Emotion - Experimental Psychology Course PDF

Emotion Experimental Psychology Course Prof. Federica Biassoni A.Y. 2024/2025 What is an Emotion? “… everyone knows what an emotion is until asked to give a definition. Then, it seems, no one knows…” (Fehr & Russell, 1984*) Fehr, B., & Russell, J. A. (1984). Concept of emotion viewe...

Emotion Experimental Psychology Course Prof. Federica Biassoni A.Y. 2024/2025 What is an Emotion? “… everyone knows what an emotion is until asked to give a definition. Then, it seems, no one knows…” (Fehr & Russell, 1984*) Fehr, B., & Russell, J. A. (1984). Concept of emotion viewed from a prototype perspective. Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, 113(3), 464–486 What is an Emotion? «All genuine poetry takes its origin from emotion recollected in tranquillity”. There is a vital relationship of present to past experience; the emotion is reproduced and purified in poetic form so that a second emotion is generated.» William Wordsworth, 1807 What is an Emotion? Mind Vol. 9, No. 34 (Apr., 1884), pp. 188-205 Emotion vs Motives Both of them can activate direct behaviour; emotions may also accompany motivated behaviour, but… MOTIVES EMOTIONS Are triggered from within (internal Are triggered from the outside (person- circumstances) environment relationship) Usually elicited by a specific need Can be elicited by a wide variety of stimuli Are naturally directed toward particular Emotional reactions are directed toward objects in the environment (such as food, external cumstances water, or a mate) Please note: these distinctions are not absolute. Emotion vs Moods EMOTIONS MOODS Tend to have a clear cause, are usually about Are often free-floating and diffuse affective something or someone states Are typically brief (few seconds or minutes) Moods can last for hours or even days Implicate multiple component systems Can be salient only at the level of subjective experience Are often conceptualized as discrete categories Are often conceptualized as varying along the dimensions of pleasantness and arousal What is an Emotion? An emotion is a brief, complex, multi-component response to some change in the way people interpret – or appraise – their current circumstances. Components of Emotion An emotion is a multi-component episode that creates a readiness to act (e-motion) An emotion is a complex system involving multiple components While the presented model outlines the typical way an emotional process unfolds (through cognitive appraisal), laboratory experiments highlighted that introducing another component can jump-start the entire process. Components of Emotion Cognitive Appraisal For a situation to produce an emotion in you, you need to interpret such situation as relevant to your personal goals and well-being. This interpretation process is called cognitive appraisal. Cognitive appraisal It is the interpretation of the personal meaning of current circumstances à does the current person-environment relationship impinges on your goals and well-being? If it does, the appraisal process translates the objective circumstance in a personally meaningful one. Cognitive appraisal is largely responsible for differentiating emotions. Cognitive Appraisal An obstacle on my way A dangerous situation An opportunity to test my learning process Disappointment Anxiety Optimism  Given a state of physiological arousal for which an individual has no explanation, he will label this state in terms of the cognitions available to him. S. Schachter & J. Singer Cognitive Appraisal The central role of appraisals Two-factor theory of emotions (Schacter & Singer, 1962) à emotions are the result of a combination of an initial state of unexplained arousal & cognitive explanation (appraisal) for that arousal. In Schachter & Singer study informed participants (who had a physiological explanation for their arousal) appeared to be less influenced by the situation than those uninformed (who had no explanation for their arousal). Misattribution of arousal (Zillman & Bryant, 1974)à lingering physiological arousal can be erroneously attributed to subsequent event and intensify our emotional reactions to those circumstance. Participants engaged in strenuous physical exercise – that created a physiological arousal that was neutral but persisted – responded more aggressively to the provocation of those who did not. Cognitive Appraisal The central role of appraisals Two-factor theory of emotions has been called a psychological constructionist approach to emotions, because it describes how emotions arise from recipes that combines more basic ingredients (arousal and appraisal). Another constructionist approach is Barrett’s Conceptual Act model (2012), that calls out three basic ingredients that, in combinations, yield the wide range of emotions: sensations from the inner body, sensations from outside the body and prior experience, that gives meaning to internal and external sensations. Cognitive Appraisal Themes & dimensions of appraisals Cognitive appraisals precede and cause the components of emotions: people’s appraisals of situations lead to the subjective experience of emotions, the associated arousal & other components of the emotional response. Minimalist appraisal theories: Reduce the number of appraisal dimensions to a minimum, often based on fundamental themes Emphasize the importance of emotion-specific core relational themes (e.g., irrevocable loss for sadness), that represent the personal meaning that results from a particular pattern of appraisals about a specific person-environment relationship. Dimensional appraisal theories: Identify a range of appraisal dimensions thought sufficient for differences among emotions (e.g., desirability of event & whether it occurs); usually numerous dimensions are involved. Cognitive Appraisal: Minimalist appraisal theories Cognitive Appraisal: Dimensional appraisal theories Cognitive Appraisal Conscious & unconscious appraisals Appraisals can occur at unconscious levels – people experience an emotion without understanding why (Zajonc, 1984, “Preferences needs no inferences”) Cognitive appraisals in emotion processes are similar to other types of cognition: results in part from automatic processing and in part from controlled processing Appraisals in the brain Amygdala (in lower brain) is capable of responding to an alarming situation before the cortex does à sometimes we can experience an emotion before we know why Amygdala plays a key role in automatic appraisals à supports the idea of appraisals occurring both unconsciously & consciously  Subjective Experiences Although the initial appraisal process may occur outside consciousness awareness, the subjective experience of emotion is by definition within awareness. Emotions can occur without any conscious feelings, nevertheless when subjective experience is present, it makes a difference. Subjective experience of emotion Affective state colors private experience One outcome of the appraisal process is the change in subjective experience What function for subjective experience? These feelings serve as a feedback about the personal relevance of the current circumstances The feeling component of emotion is thought to guide behaviour (à see also thought- action tendencies), decision making and information-processes Subjective Experiences Feelings modify attention & learning We tend to pay more attention to events that fit our current feelings à Current feelings guide attention automatically Current feelings direct attention to events that match our feelings. As a result, we learn more about those events Feelings influence which memories are more accessible & those memories influence what is easy to learn at the moment, since it relates to information already present in memory  Subjective Experiences Feelings modify evaluations and judgments Our feelings can affect evaluations of other people, and of inanimate objects à Emotions activate tendencies to reproduce the same cognitive appraisals that initially produced the emotion à Appraisal Tendency Framework Feelings also affect our judgements of risk If fearful, more likely to see world as uncertain & uncontrollable à more pessimistic risk assessement If angry/happy, more likely to see world as certain & controllable à more optimistic risk assessement Thought & Action Tendencies Thought-action urges One way that feelings guide behavior & information processing With most negative emotions, people’s thought-action tendencies become narrow & specific With most positive emotions, people’s thought-action tendencies become broad & more open to possibilities Whether urges become actions depends on the complex interplay of impulse control, cultural norms, and other factors. Thought & Action Tendencies Thought-action urges Thought-action tendencies is what made emotions evolutionary adaptive For negative emotions: specific thought-action tendencies represent those actions that are best in preserving well-being and survival. For positive emotions: broadened thought-action tendencies are aimed at building enduring personal resources, like health, optimism & social support. Thought & Action Tendencies Emotions and their associated Thought-action tendencies (urges) Emotion Thought-action tendency Anger Attack Fear Escape Disgust Expel Guilt Make amends Shame Disappear Sadness Withdraw Joy Play Interest Explore Contentment Savor and integrate Pride Dream big Gratitude Be prosocial Inspiration Become a better person Bodily Changes Intense negative emotions involve physiological arousal caused by the activation of the sympathetic nervous system. SNS prepare the body for emergency action and is responsible for changes like: blood pressure and heart rate, respiration become more rapid, the pupils dilate, perspiration increases, secretion of saliva decreases, blood-sugar level increases to provide more immediate energy, blood is diverted from stomach & intestines to the brain & skeletal muscles. Sympathetic nervous system Parasympathetic nervous system Gears up the organism for energy input Energy conserving system, takes over when an emotion Fight-or-flight response subsides, to take the organism back t the normal state Calm-and-connect response Hypothalamus & amygdala à nuclei in the brain stem à autonomic nervous system à muscles & internal organs Positive emotions undo lingering arousal from negative (undoing effect). Bodily Changes Intensity of emotions Visceral perception (that is our perception of our own arousal) plays a role in the experience of emotion & in the intensity of emotions. People with spinal chord injuries (limited feedback from autonomic nervous system, reduced autonomic arousal) report less intense emotions. Bodily Changes “The emotion here is nothing but the feeling of a bodily state, and it has a purely bodily cause. “ Williams James Differentiation of emotions James–Lange theory holds that autonomic arousal differentiates the emotions. Bodily Changes Cannon (1927) criticized James-Lange theory pretending that: Internal organs are relatively insensitive and internal changes occur too slowly to be a primarily source of feeling. Artificially inducing the body changes does not produce the experience of a true emotion. The pattern of autonomic arousal does not seem to differ much from one emotional state to another. Many theorists believe that something other than autonomic arousal differentiates the emotions: Cognitive appraisal (appraisal theories, Arnold, Lazarus, Scherer). The way the brain categorizes current external & internal sensations based on the prior experiences (Conceptual model act, Barrett). The recipe of emotions: Comparing theories Facial Expression The facial movements that sometimes accompany an emotion serve to communicate the sender’s emotion, often eliciting emotions in those who make eye contact with the sender. In Darwin’s work The Expression of Emotion in Man and Animal (1872) communication of emotions is acknowledged an important function, that has survival value for the species. Other research suggest a second function to facial (and bodily) expression of emotions: contributing to the subjective experience of emotion (just as appraisal and bodily changes) à facial movements might even jump-start the whole emotion process.  Facial Expression Communications of emotion through facial expressions Certain facial expressions seem to be universal in meaning, regardless of the culture an individual is raised. Despite the facial musculature varies from individual to individual, the muscles involved in the production of emotion expressions seem to be basic and constant across people, suggesting that à human face has evolved to transmit emotion signals and human brain has evolved to decode these signals. The universality of the facial muscle movements recognized as expression of certain emotions supports Darwin’s claim that the basic emotion expressions are innate responses with an evolutionary history. According to Darwin, indeed, many of the ways in which we communicate emotions are inherited patterns that originally had some survival value. An example. The expression of disgust «… as if to push away or to guard oneself against the offensive object; movements around the mouth like preparatory to the act of vomiting; partial closure of eyelids (or turning away of the eyes) are expressive that the object is not worth looking at.» Facial Expression Communication of emotion through facial expressions Facial expressions of one person can influence or change the behavior of another (e.g. mother/child & visual cliff). Although facial muscle movements seem to be innately associated with particular emotions, certain aspects of facial expression are learned à display rules. Display rules specify which types of emotions people should express in certain situations, which emotion intensity is acceptable, and appropriate behavior for particular emotions. Display rules are culturally featured and conveyed, so that emotion expression can be looked at a kind of language recognized by other members of the culture but potentially misunderstood by people from other cultures. Facial Expression The facial feedback hypothesis Facial feedback hypothesis: the idea that facial expressions, in addition to their communicative function, also contribute to our subjective experience of emotions. Runs parallel to James-Lange hypothesis à as we receive feedback (or perceive) our arousal, analogously we receive feedback from our facial muscles, and this feedback can cause or intensify the emotion experience. Facial movements are so a further element that can jump-start an emotion, as appraisal and bodily changes. The facial feedback hypothesis In this experiment participants are instructed to hold a pen in their mouth either with their lips or with their teeth. The Pen-in-Mouth-Paradigm Holding the pen with the teeth is (Strack et al., 1988) supposed to activate the muscles involved in smiling (zygomaticus major). Holding the pen with the lips prevents smiling. In Study 1, participants were shown several cartoons and asked to rate how funny each cartoon was. According to FFH, inducing smiling by holding a pen with teeth should induce amusement and amplify the funniness of cartoons. The average rating of funniness was consistent with this prediction (teeth M = 5.14 vs. lips M = 4.33 on a 0 to 9 scale). Responses to Emotion: Emotion Regulation Emotion regulation refers to people’s responses to their own emotions and to the goals they have about what they would like to feel and express. Sometimes people have the goal of intensifying emotion while other times people want to minimise emotion. Ability to do so predicts social success Emotion regulation strategies have been classified based on: The timing: antecedent-focused strategies vs response-focused strategies Cognitive vs behavioural Diversion vs engagement tactics Responses to Emotion: Emotion Regulation People develop different strategies to control/regulate emotions. Insert Table 11.5 Responses to Emotion: Emotion Regulation Different strategies yield different effects. Suppression of facial muscle movements has been shown to increase both autonomic nervous system activation and amygdala activation. Reappraisal (à change your interpretation of the situation) doesn’t appear to take a physiological toll and reduces amygdala activation (à the emotion is changed rather than stifled, because the antecedent is reframed & restructured). Moreover, the effort to suppress facial muscles movements has proved to take a toll on cognitive functioning too, because may impair people’s ability to navigate their social world. Distraction techniques have proved better strategies than rumination (à keeping to re-think about the circumstance that triggered the negative emotion) techniques, since rumination heightens negative emotions, whereas distraction tends to lessen them. Reappraisal seems the better strategy to regulate emotions. Responses to Emotion: Emotion Regulation Different strategies can deliberately be chosen with regard to a specific situation or, with repeated use, they can become automatic responses, outside of conscious awareness. People’s responses to their emotions can influence the other components of the emotion process, either directly and indirectly. This influence underscore that an emotion is a process, that unfolds and change over time. Emotions, Gender & Culture Emotions, gender & culture We can conceptualise differences in emotion by gender & culture as either “front-end” (those that begin with or precede the appraisal process) or “back- end” (those linked to responses to emotion). Middle components (subjective experience, though-action tendencies, bodily changes and facial muscle movements). Are relatively less influenced by gender & culture differences, but… Since response to emotions can produce differences in each component of the emotion process, differences in the middle components may be secondary to differences in front-end or back-end processes. Emotions, Gender & Culture Gender differences We hold strong beliefs about gender differences in emotions (stereotypes) Gender differences concern more the expression of emotions (both verbal and facial) than the subjective experience of emotions. Gender differences in reported emotion vanish when men & women are asked how they feel in the moment. Gender differences may stem mainly from back-end processes - ways in which men & women regulate & express emotions. Emotions, Gender & Culture Emotions may be a medium through which men and women “do gender” ( = behave in the way that is believed to be appropriate for their gender). The link between gender and power has led to a gender hierarchy where man are more powerful than women Hence, as lower status, women express the “powerless” emotions (sadness, fear, anxiety) that work to make them appear weak and helpless) and men, as higher status, express the “powerful” emotions (anger, pride, contempt), that work to maintain control & dominance Men appear angrier because they express anger in more prototypical ways; moreover, women report to feel less comfortable when expressing anger. To sum up: gender differences in emotion may stem from the back-end of the emotion process, but most likely stem from gender differences in the way males and females are raised and socialized to conform to gender stereotypes. So, gender-specific lessons about appropriate emotion regulation (back-end of the emotion process) may represent a way to learn to be masculine or feminine, and powerful or powerless. Emotions, Gender & Culture Cultural differences Cultural differences in emotion relate to how values associated with collectivism & individualism shape the emotional experiences. Collectivist culture focuses more on relationships and emphasizes connectedness and interdependence, individualist culture emphasizes separateness and independence of individuals, which affect both appraisal processes (front-end) and regulation strategies (back-end) in the experience of emotions. Cultural focus affects both appraisal processes (front-end) and regulation strategies (back-end) in the experience of emotions. People in different cultures differ in theirs personal goals, especially regarding interpersonal relationships, hence they differ in their appraisal of the same circumstance (front-end) à people’s sources of happiness depend on the way their culture values relationships. Emotions, Gender & Culture Cultural differences Individualism vs collectivism also influence the back-end of the emotional process, by prescribing which emotion can be expressed, when, and with which intensity. In addition, people’s fundamental believes about emotions may differ in collectivistic and individualistic cultures. To sum up, emotions may also reinforce and sustain important cultural themes: emotions appear to bind people together in collectivist cultures, and define individual uniqueness in individualist cultures. Positive Psychology From a disease model of human functioning, typical of medical sciences, to the understanding of human flourishing. People’s development toward their full potential, to flourish in life and ripe with possibilities People’s resilience to adversity Positive emotions, positive subjective experiences, positive personality traits, positive institutions Positive psychology à empirical methods Positive Psychology Positive emotions trigger upwards spirals toward psychological growth & flourishing Several studies has shown a link between positive emotions and healthy longevity. Positive emotions produce success in life as much as they reflect success in life. Positive Psychology – Broaden & built theory of positive emotions Broaden & built theory of positive emotions (Fredrickson, 1998, 2013): states that pleasant emotional states are psychological adaptations that evolved because they had a survival value. They did so creating a form of consciousness marked by a broader scope of awareness, that includes a wider array of though t & action tendencies: they broaden our thinking & actions, pushing us to be more creative, curious, to discovery new knowledge, new alliances, new skills; thereby helping to build reserves of personal resources that make the difference between surviving or succumbing; resources built through positive emotions also increased the possibility to experience subsequent positive emotions, with their additional broaden & built benefits, thus creating an upward spiral toward improved odds for survival, health and flourishing. Positive Psychology – Broaden & built theory of positive emotions Positive Psychology – Broaden & built theory of positive emotions Negative emotions narrow our mindset to select thoughts and actions. Positive emotions have a complementary effect à they broaden our mindset by expanding our typical repertory of thinking and behaving, and so push us to be more curious, more creative and more connected to others. Positive emotions expand the scope of people’s visual apperception, but also widening circles of trust, perspective-taking, compassion and even body posture. Their outcomes endure long after the initial positive emotion has vanished à in this way, positive emotions build up your store of resources (physical, intellectual, psychological & social resources) to be drawn in times of troubles. Finally, positive emotions have also been shown to build resilience and mindfulness.