Chapter 4: Thinking & Emotions PDF

CHAPTER 4 THINKING & EMOTIONS PART 1  What are thoughts? Can they be good or bad? Can we help our thoughts? How? Is our thinking biased?  Our thoughts control how we feel about ourselves and the world around us. Positive thoughts lead to us feeling good and negative th...

CHAPTER 4 THINKING & EMOTIONS PART 1  What are thoughts? Can they be good or bad? Can we help our thoughts? How? Is our thinking biased?  Our thoughts control how we feel about ourselves and the world around us. Positive thoughts lead to us feeling good and negative thoughts can put us down. Sometimes our thoughts happen so quickly that we fail to notice them, but they can still affect our mood. These are called automatic thoughts.  EXAMPLES OF THOUGHTS You are asked to take part in a competition which involves designing a local intervention for climate change backed by good research “This is too hard.” “I think I can do this” “I may be good at this, but I am not sure if I can actually take part” “I may not be able to master this.” “This doesn’t feel comfortable to me.” “What if I try it and it doesn’t work?”  EXAMPLES OF BEHAVIOURS You are asked to take part in a competition which involves designing a local intervention for climate change backed by good research Taking part in the competition- starting work related to building the intervention Not taking part in the competition- involving in your daily activities as usual  EXAMPLES OF EMOTION Depending on how you think about it Take any situation/event that happened recently and write down your thoughts, emotions and behaviours related to it  Not linear but cyclic WHICH ONE IS EASIEST TO MODIFY? What happens when these are not in sync?  You believe that cheating is not correct, but you may copy in the exam You know for a fact that smoking is harmful to health, but you may continue to do so You know that you must drink 2-3 litres of water in a day but you don’t do so You know that fried food is bad for health, but you eat it because it’s tasty WHY DOES THIS HAPPEN? OR HOW DO WE DEAL WITH THIS?  Change behaviour- you put an alarm to drink water every 2 hours Change thought- you repeatedly read about the benefits of drinking more water or the disadvantages of drinking less water Change emotion- you stop feeling bad about not drinking enough water  COGNITIVE DISSONANCE THEORY Inconsistencies tend to create emotional distress, whereas changing beliefs or attitudes to bring them more in line with each other reduces or eliminates this discomfort (Aronson, Wilson, & Akert, 2004; Jones, 1998) Cognitive dissonance theory holds that people are motivated to resolve discrepancies between their behavior and their attitudes or beliefs by making them more compatible Ways to reduce Cognitive Dissonance Change belief (smoking isn’t really all that harmful) Change behaviour (quitting smoking) Self justification (cancer doesn’t run in my family) Ignore inconsistency (I’ll think about quitting when I get older)  PART-2 CHANGING THOUGHTS  COGNITIVE DISTORTIONS/THINKING ERRORS Although some automatic thoughts are true, many are either untrue or “If I’m not a total have just a grain of truth. Typical mistakes in thinking include: success, I’m a failure.” 1. All-or-nothing thinking (also called black-and-white, polarized, or dichotomous thinking): You view a situation in only two categories instead of on a continuum. “I’ll be so upset, I 2. Catastrophizing (also called fortune-telling): You predict the futurewon’t be able to function at all.” negatively without considering other, more likely outcomes. “I did that project well, 3. Disqualifying or discounting the positive: You unreasonably tell but that doesn’t mean yourself that positive experiences, deeds, or qualities do not count. I’m competent; I just got lucky.” 4. Emotional reasoning: You think something must be true because you “feel” (actually believe) it so strongly, ignoring or discounting evidence “I know I do a lot of to the contrary. things okay at work, but I still feel like I’m a 5. Labeling: You put a fixed, global label on yourself or others without failure.” considering that the evidence might more reasonably lead to a less disastrous conclusion. “I’m a loser”.“He’s no good.”  COGNITIVE DISTORTIONS/THINKING ERRORS 5. Labeling: You put a fixed, global label on yourself or others without considering that the evidence might more reasonably lead to a less disastrous conclusion. “I am a loser”. “He’s no good.” 6. Magnification/minimization: When you evaluate yourself, another person, or a situation, you unreasonably magnify the negative and/or minimize the positive. Example: “Getting a mediocre evaluation proves how inadequate I am. Getting high marks doesn’t mean I’m smart.” 7. Mental filter (also called selective abstraction): You pay undue attention to one negative detail instead of seeing the whole picture. Example: “Because I got one low rating on my evaluation [which also contained several high ratings] it means I’m doing a lousy job.” 8. Mind reading: You believe you know what others are thinking, failing to consider other, more likely possibilities. Example: “He thinks that I don’t know the first thing about this project.”  COGNITIVE DISTORTIONS/THINKING ERRORS 9. Overgeneralization: You make a sweeping negative conclusion that goes far beyond the current situation. Example: “[Because I felt uncomfortable at the meeting] I don’t have what it takes to make friends.” 10. Personalization: You believe others are behaving negatively because of you, without considering more plausible explanations for their behavior. Example: “The repairman was curt to me because I did something wrong.” 11. “Should” and “must” statements (also called imperatives): You have a precise, fixed idea of how you or others should behave, and you overestimate how bad it is that these expectations are not met. Example: “It’s terrible that I made a mistake. I should always do my best.” 12. Tunnel vision: You only see the negative aspects of a situation. Example: “my son’s teacher can’t do anything right. He’s critical and insensitive and lousy at teaching.”  GETTING RID OF NEGATIVE THOUGHTS 1. Challenging negative thoughts What makes me think the thought is true? What makes me think the thought is not true or not completely true? What is the evidence? Replace with alternative thought  GETTING RID OF NEGATIVE THOUGHTS 2. Reframing What’s another way to look at this? EXAMPLE: I made a mistake at work. Negative thought:“I’m probably going to be fired. I always mess up. This is it. I’m no good at this job.” Reframing: “I messed up, but mistakes happen. I’m going to work through this, like I always do.” Reframing is modifying the thought by identifying the thinking error  GETTING RID OF NEGATIVE THOUGHTS 3. SO WHAT QUESTIONING Keep asking yourself: What is the worse that could happen? “so what?” Negative thought:“If I do badly in the competition I won’t win” So what?: “I will feel embarrassed.” So what?: “My friends will think I am no good” So what?: “I won’t be comfortable.” So what? “I will think I am a failure” So what? “…..”  GETTING RID OF NEGATIVE THOUGHTS 4. JUST TREAT IT LIKE A THOUGHT! Prefix it with- “I am getting a thought….”  PART-3 UNDERSTANDING EMOTIONS  EMOTIONS AND EXPRESSIONS Evidence supports the view that six basic emotions are universally recognized on the basis of facial expressions: anger, fear, disgust, sadness, happiness, and surprise How we appraise events also depends on what the events mean to us personally. The same event, such as a pregnancy or a change of jobs, can lead to feelings of joy, fear, or even anger depending on the meaning the event has for the individual and its perceived importance Paul Ekman- Facial analysis tools - being used in airports screeners Facial expressions of emotion are hardwired into the brain, rather than learned as the result of visual experience (Matsumoto & Willingham, 2009) Studying sighted and blind judo atheletes EMOTIONS AND EXPRESSIONS  CULTURAL DIFFERENCES Akin to non-verbal accents Srinivasan and Martinez analyzed more than 7 million images of candid facial expressions across a people are generally more accurate when variety of cultures from 31 different countries based recognizing facial expressions of emotions in people on snapshots and other real-world photos of their own national, ethnic, and regional groups "We find that of the 16,384 possible facial Japanese: fureai (feeling closely linked to others) and configurations that people can theoretically produce, oime (an unpleasant feeling of indebtedness to only 35 are successfully used to transmit emotive others)- a greater cultural emphasis on communal information across cultures.” values and mutual obligations The study also showed that we have four ways to DISPLAY RULES- In East Asian cultures, people are convey surprise, five facial expressions for sadness, expected to suppress their feelings in public; a five cross-cultural facial expressions that convey failure to keep their feelings to themselves reflects anger, and 17 ways to convey happiness poorly on their upbringing. The Japanese tend to hide negative emotions through smiling, which is one reason they tend to judge emotions in others based more on their tone of voice than their facial expressions (Tanaka et al., 2010). They tend to listen for emotional cues rather than read faces.  GENDER DIFFERENCES In many cultures, women are given greater thought. Recent evidence showed that latitude than men in expressing such as joy, women were better at recognizing happy or love, fear, and sadness, whereas men are sad faces, but men held the advantage in permitted more direct displays of anger discerning angry faces Women are generally better at expressing Men aren’t supposed to cry or show their their feelings through words and facial emotions, or even to smile very much. expressions and recognizing feelings in others However, the ideal of the stoic unemotional male epitomized by Hollywood action heroes Investigators suspect that women’s brains may be giving way to a new ideal: the may be wired differently, al- lowing them to “sensitive” male character. better perceive and recall emotional cues (Canli et al., 2002). Listening to music However, gender differences in expressing emotions may be more complex than first HAPPINESS, LOVE AND FEAR SO WHAT MAKES PEOPLE HAPPY? WEALTH? HEALTH? MARRIAGE? FRIENDS? RELIGION?  APPLYING POSITIVE PSYCHOLOGY TO BECOME HAPPIER Martin Seligman (2003) suggests three kinds of human happiness: (1) pleasure of doing things (2) gratification (being absorbed and engaged in life activities) ALL IN ALL, HAPPINESS IS NOT SO MUCH A FUNCTION OF WHAT YOU’VE GOT AS WHAT YOU (3) meaning (finding personal fulfillment in life activities). MAKE OF IT. HAPPINESS IS MOST LIKELY TO BE FOUND IN MEANINGFUL WORK, INVESTMENT IN Seligman offers advice people can use in their daily lives to FAMILY AND COMMUNITY LIFE, AND increase personal happiness. Here are a few of these suggestions DEVELOPMENT OF STRONG SPIRITUAL OR PERSONAL VALUES. (adapted from Seligman, 2003; Seligman et al., 2005): Gratitude visits Three blessings One door closes, another opens Savorings  THE FACIAL-FEEDBACK HYPOTHESIS According to the facial- feedback hypothesis, mimicking facial movements associated with an emotion induces the corresponding feelings. Evidence shows that practicing smiling can induce more positive feelings, whereas frowning can bring your mood down  LOVE- THE DEEPEST EMOTION Psychologists consider love to be both a motive (a need or want that drives us) and an emotion (or feeling state). Psychologist Robert Sternberg’s (1988) triangular model of love conceptualizes love in terms of three basic components 1. Intimacy, the close bond and feeling of attachment between two people, including their desire to share their innermost thoughts and feelings 2. Passion, an intense sexual desire for the other person 3. Decision/commitment, the recognition that one loves the other person (decisional component) and is committed to maintaining the relationship through good times and bad (commitment component).Decision and commitment need not go hand in hand. A person may acknowledge being in love but not be ready or willing to make a lasting commitment Sternberg believes that different combinations of these three basic components characterize different types of loving relationships  FEAR- DUAL-PATHWAY MODEL OF FEAR According to the dual-pathway model of fear formulated by psychologist Joseph LeDoux, the brain uses two pathways to process fear messages. An environmental stimulus (e.g., seeing a car barreling down on you) is first processed by the thalamus. From there the information branches off, with one pathway (the “high road”) leading to the cerebral cortex, where it can be processed more carefully. Another pathway (the “low road”) leads directly to the amygdala in a few thousandths of a second, allowing for a more immediate response to danger cues than if the signal were to first pass through the cortex. The “low road” thus allows a faster response to danger cues.  Suppose you are walking in the woods and see a curved object in the bush. This visual image is first processed by the thalamus, which makes a rough appraisal of the object as potentially dangerous (possibly a snake). The thalamus transmits this information directly to the amygdala via the “low road,” which prompts an immediate bodily response. Heart rate and blood pressure jump, and muscles throughout the body contract as the body prepares to respond quickly to a possible threat. The cortex, slower to respond, processes the information further. (“No, that’s not a snake. It’s just a stick.”) From the standpoint of survival, it is better to act quickly on the assumption that the suspicious object is a snake and to ask questions later. Responding without thinking can be a lifesaver. As LeDoux puts it, “The time saved by the amygdala in acting on the thalamic information, rather than wait- ing for the cortical input, may be the difference between life and death. It is better to have treated a stick as a snake than not to have responded to a possible snake”. Whether the cortex interprets the object as a snake or a stick determines whether a fear response continues or is quickly quelled.  5 CHARACTERISTICS OF EMOTIONAL INTELLIGENCE: HOW WELL DO YOU MANAGE YOUR EMOTIONS? 1. Knowing your emotions. Self-awareness, or knowing your true feelings, is a core feature of emotional intelligence. 2. Managing your emotions. Emotionally intelligent people are able to handle their emotions in appropriate ways. They can soothe themselves in difficult times, and they bounce back quickly from disappointments and setbacks. 3. Motivating yourself. People with a high level of emotional intelligence can marshal their emotions to pursue their goals. They approach challenges with enthusiasm, zeal, and confidence, which makes them better equipped to attain high levels of achievement and productivity. They also are able to delay gratification and constrain their impulses as they pursue long-term goals. 4. Recognizing emotions in others. Empathy, the ability to perceive emotions in others, is an important “people skill.” It not only helps build strong relationships but also contributes to success in teaching, sales, management, and the helping professions. 5. Helping others handle their emotions. The ability to help others deal with their feelings is an important factor in maintaining meaningful relationships. Evidence links emotional intelligence to many positive outcomes, including higher levels of emotional well- being and life satisfaction, better health, happier marriages, higher GPAs in college, and better job performance