Psychology Chapter 11 PDF

SUBJECT : INTRODUCTION TO PSYCHOLOGY SUBJECT CODE : FAMG 1023 LECTURER : ATIQAH JANI (K.B.,P.A.) FACULTY : CENTRE FOR FOUNDATION, LANGUAGES & GENERAL STUDIES  CHAPTER 10 Emotion, Stress & Health COURSE LEARNING OUTCOME CHAPTER LEARNING OUTCOMES: Understand and Evalu...

SUBJECT : INTRODUCTION TO PSYCHOLOGY SUBJECT CODE : FAMG 1023 LECTURER : ATIQAH JANI (K.B.,P.A.) FACULTY : CENTRE FOR FOUNDATION, LANGUAGES & GENERAL STUDIES  CHAPTER 10 Emotion, Stress & Health COURSE LEARNING OUTCOME CHAPTER LEARNING OUTCOMES: Understand and Evaluate Theories of Emotion Assess Methods of Measuring Emotions and Stress Analyze the Role of Emotions in Human Behavior Understand Stress, Its Effects, and Coping Strategies Measuring Emotion. This chapter will close with a discussion of emotion. You will learn about several theories that have been proposed to explain how emotion occurs, the biological underpinnings of emotion, and the universality of emotions.. Measuring Emotions  Psychologists measure emotions by:  Self-reports  Behavioral observations  Microexpressions – very brief, sudden emotional expressions  Physiological measures  Autonomic nervous system – the section of the nervous system that controls the organs  Sympathetic nervous system – chains of neuron clusters just to the left and right of the spinal cord, which arouses the body for vigorous action ► Figure 1 The autonomic nervous system consists of the sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous systems, which sometimes act in opposing ways and sometimes cooperate. The sympathetic nervous system readies the body for emergency action. The parasympathetic nervous system supports digestive and other nonemergency functions. The James-Lange Theory of Emotions James-Lange theory – the idea that perception of bodily changes provides the feeling aspect of emotion Situation → Appraisal → Actions → Perception of the actions = cognitive = physiological = feeling aspect of the emotion aspect of the and behavioral emotion aspects Schachter and Singer’s Theory of Emotions Schachter and Singer’s theory of emotions – statement that the degree of sympathetic nervous system arousal determines the intensity of the emotion, but a cognitive appraisal of the situation identifies the type of emotion Do We Have a Few “Basic” Emotions? Some psychologists have proposed we have the following six “basic” emotions: 1. Happiness 2. Sadness 3. Anger 4. Fear 5. Disgust 6. Surprise To decide what is a basic emotion, psychologists have proposed the following criteria: ○ Basic emotions should emerge early in life without requiring much experience. ○ Basic emotions should be similar across cultures. ○ Each basic emotion should have a distinct physiology. ○ Each basic emotion might have its own facial expression. ▲ Figure 2 Paul Ekman has used these faces in experiments testing people’s ability to recognize emotional expressions. Can you identify them? (From Ekman & Friesen, 1984) Understanding Facial Expressions People throughout the world can recognize certain emotional expressions. However, we seldom recognize an emotion from facial expression alone; we also consider posture, context, tone of voice, and other information. Do Facial Expressions Indicate Basic Emotions? In everyday life, most expressions show a mixture of emotions. The ability of people to recognize expressions of joy, sadness, fear, anger, disgust, and surprise cannot tell us whether people have precisely six basic emotions. ○ We can also identify additional states, such as contempt and pride. The fact that we recognize expressions of disgust and surprise is not decisive for calling them emotions, because we also recognize expressions of sleepiness and confusion, which most people do not regard as emotions. ◄ Figure 12.15 According to the circumplex model of emotion, emotional feelings occur along a continuum of arousal and another continuum of pleasure. (Figure 1 from “A circumplex model of affect,” by J. A. Russell, 1980. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 39, pp. 1161–1178.) Usefulness of Emotions (slide 1 of 2) Emotions call our attention to important information and adjust our priorities to our situation in life. Broaden-and-build hypothesis – idea that a happy mood increases your readiness to explore new ideas and opportunities Emotions and Moral Reasoning When we face a moral decision, we often react emotionally. ○ Those quick emotional feelings may be an evolved mechanism to steer our behavior toward what is usually the right choice. Usefulness of Emotions (slide 2 of 2) Decisions by People with Impaired Emotions People with brain damage that impairs their emotions have trouble making good decisions, especially in situations related to moral treatment of others. Emotional Intelligence People need skills to judge other people’s emotions and the probable emotional outcomes of their own actions. The ability to handle such issues may constitute “emotional intelligence.” ○ Emotional intelligence – the ability to perceive, imagine, and understand emotions and to use that information in making decisions However, it is not clear that current measurements of emotional intelligence predict much that we could not already predict based on academic intelligence and certain aspects of personality. Survey of Emotion. As we move through our daily lives, we experience a variety of emotions. An emotion is a subjective state of being that we often describe as our feelings. The words emotion and mood are sometimes used interchangeably, but psychologists use these words to refer to two different things. Typically, the word emotion indicates a subjective, affective state that is relatively intense and that occurs in response to something we experience. Fear and Anxiety Measuring Anxiety Anxiety – an increase in the startle reflex Anxiety can be measured objectively by variations in the startle reflex after a loud noise. Variations in fear and anxiety relate to activity of the amygdala. Anxiety, Arousal, and Lie Detection Polygraph – or “lie-detector test,” device that records sympathetic nervous system arousal, as measured by blood pressure, heart rate, breathing rate, and electrical conduction of the skin Fear and Anxiety (cont.) Alternative Methods of Detecting Lies Guilty-knowledge test – a modified version of the polygraph test that produces more accurate results by asking questions that should be threatening only to someone who knows the facts of a crime Ask better questions. Ask detailed, unexpected questions. Anger and Related Emotions Anger arises when we perceive that someone has done something intentionally that blocks our intended actions. Disgust – a reaction to something that would make you feel contaminated if it got into your mouth Contempt – a reaction to a violation of community standards Happiness, Joy, and Positive Psychology Positive psychology – study of the features that enrich life, such as happiness, hope, creativity, courage, spirituality, and responsibility ○ It includes not only momentary happiness, but also subjective well- being. Subjective well-being – a self-evaluation of one’s life as pleasant, interesting, satisfying, and meaningful Happiness, Joy, and Positive Psychology (cont.) Happiness correlates positively (though not in all cases strongly) with: ○ Being wealthy ○ Having good health ○ Living in a country that tolerates minority groups and gives high status to women ○ Having close personal relationships ○ Having goals in life ○ Having substantive conversations ○ Being religious ○ Having happy friends ○ Expressing gratitude ○ Helping others Happiness, Joy, and Positive Psychology (cont. Happiness level is usually fairly stable over time. ○ However, it decreases for years, sometimes permanently, after the death of a close loved one, a divorce, the loss of a job, or a disability. On average, people report increased happiness and life satisfaction as they grow older. In the United States, people born in recent decades tend to report more happiness than people born in previous decades. Sadness Sadness is a reaction to a loss. Crying Crying is a way of communicating sadness or distress to others. Other Emotions It is often helpful to distinguish several types of positive emotion such as pride, awe, and amusement. Surprise occurs when events do not match expectations. Embarrassment, shame, guilt, and pride occur when you think about how other people regard you or might regard you if they knew what you had done. ○ Embarrassment – emotional reaction to mistakes, being the center of attention, or “sticky situations” Stress, Health, and Coping. Scientific interest in stress, including how we adapt and cope, has been longstanding in psychology; indeed, after nearly a century of research on the topic, much has been learned and many insights have been developed. This chapter examines stress and highlights our current understanding of the phenomenon, including its psychological and physiological natures, its causes and consequences, and the steps we can take to master stress rather than become its victim. Selye’s Concept of Stress Stress – the nonspecific response of the body to any demand made upon it According to Hans Selye, any event, pleasant or unpleasant, that brings about change in a person’s life produces some measure of stress. However, Selye’s definition does not include the effects of anything unchanging—such as poverty, racism, or a lifelong disability. An alternative definition of stress is “an event or events that are interpreted as threatening to an individual and which elicit physiological and behavioral responses.” Selye’s Concept of Stress (cont.) General adaptation syndrome – the body’s response to stressful events of any type ○ Three stages: 1. Alarm 2. Resistance 3. Exhaustion Measuring Stress To measure stress, one approach is to give you a checklist of stressful experiences, have you rate how stressful each event would be, and then a psychologist totals your points to measure your stress. ○ Checklists have serious problems. It assumes that many small stressors add up to the same as one large stressor. Many items are ambiguous. A given event has different meanings depending on how people interpret the event and what they can do about it. It considers all types of stressors to be equivalent, except in amount. The best way to measure someone’s stress is through a careful, well- structured interview that evaluates all the pluses and minuses in someone’s life. How Stress Affects Health Indirect Effects Stress affects health indirectly because people exposed to stressful events often change their eating, sleeping, and drinking habits. Direct Effects Stress causes increased secretion of the hormone cortisol. ○ Brief, moderate elevations of cortisol enhance memory and immune system responses. ○ Prolonged cortisol damages health by impairing the hippocampus and by exhausting the immune system. Heart Disease Type A personality – tendency to be highly competitive, impatient, and often hostile Type B personality – tendency to be more easygoing, less hurried, and less hostile Research has found only a small link between emotional responses and the onset of heart disease. People who learn techniques for managing stress decrease their risk of heart disease. Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) – a condition marked by prolonged anxiety and depression After traumatic experiences, some people (not all) have long- lasting changes in their emotional reactions. ○ Apparently some people are more predisposed to PTSD than others are. Coping with Stress Coping with stress is the process of developing ways to get through difficult times. Most strategies for dealing with stress fall into three major categories: 1. Problem-focused coping – doing something to improve a stressful situation 2. Reappraisal – reinterpreting a situation to make it seem less threatening 3. Emotion-focused coping – regulating one’s emotional reaction Resilience Resilience – an ability to handle difficult situations with a minimum of distress COURSE LEARNING OUTCOME THANK YOU