Psychology and Life - Gerrig - Emotions (20th Ed) PDF

S uppose you walk into class and a friend asks, “How are all of these components are necessary, you should imagine a you feeling?” How would you answer that question? situation in which you would feel a surge of happiness. Your There are at le...

S uppose you walk into class and a friend asks, “How are all of these components are necessary, you should imagine a you feeling?” How would you answer that question? situation in which you would feel a surge of happiness. Your There are at least three different types of information physiological arousal might include a gently beating heart. you might provide. First, you might reveal the mood Your feeling would be positive. The associated cognitive proc- you are in—the emotions you are feeling. Are you happy because esses include interpretations, memories, and expectations that you know you can finish reading this chapter in time to go to a allow you to label the situation as happy. Your overt behav- party? Are you angry because your boss just yelled at you over ioral reactions might be expressive (smiling) and/or action- the telephone? Second, you might say something more general oriented (embracing a loved one). about the amount of stress you are experiencing. Do you feel Before I provide an account that unites arousal, feel- as if you can cope with all the tasks you have to get done? Or ings, thoughts, and actions, you need to learn the distinction are you feeling a bit overwhelmed? Third, you might report on between emotions and moods. As you’ve just seen, emotions your psychological or physical health. Do you feel some illness are specific responses to specific events—in that sense, emo- coming on? Or do you feel an overall sense of wellness? tions are typically relatively short lived and relatively intense. This chapter will explore interactions among these three By contrast, moods are often less intense and may last several ways in which you might answer the question “How are you days. There’s often a weaker connection between moods and feeling?”—in relation to your emotions, stress, and health. triggering events. You might be in a good or bad mood without Emotions are the touchstones of human experience. They knowing exactly why. Keep this distinction between emotions give richness to your interactions with people and nature, and moods in mind as you meet the theories that explain them. and significance to your memories. This chapter will discuss the experience and functions of emotions. But what happens if the emotional demands on your biological and psychologi- Basic Emotions and Culture cal functioning are too great? You may become overwhelmed and unable to deal with the stressors of your life. This chapter Suppose you could gather together in one room representatives will also examine how stress affects you and how you can from a great diversity of human cultures. What would be combat it. Finally, the focus will broaden to consider psychol- common in their experiences of emotion? For an initial answer, ogy’s contributions to the study of health and illness. Health you might look to Charles Darwin’s book The Expression of Emo- psychologists investigate the ways in which environmental, tions in Man and Animals (1872/1965). Darwin believed that social, and psychological processes contribute to the develop- emotions evolve alongside other important aspects of human ment of disease. Health psychologists also use psychological and nonhuman structures and functions. He was interested in processes and principles to help treat and prevent illness while the adaptive functions of emotions, which he thought of not as also developing strategies to enhance personal wellness. vague, unpredictable, personal states but as highly specific, coor- We begin now by looking at the content and meaning of dinated modes of operation of the human brain. Darwin viewed emotions. emotions as inherited, specialized mental states designed to deal with a certain class of recurring situations in the world (Hess & Thibault, 2009). Suppose, for example, you find yourself in a situation in which another individual is making it impossible EMOTIONS for you to achieve your goals. Our evolutionary ancestors might have undertaken combat to resolve the situation. Now, a facial Just imagine what your life would be like if you could think and expression of anger communicates your mental state and sig- act but not feel. Would you be willing to give up the capacity to nals your readiness to take action. Communication through experience fear if you would also lose the passion of a lover’s emotions may avert direct conflict. kiss? Would you give up sadness at the expense of joy? Surely Over the history of our species, humans have been attacked these would be bad bargains, promptly regretted. We will soon by predators, fallen in love, given birth to children, fought each see that emotions serve a number of important functions. Let’s other, confronted their mates’ sexual infidelity, and witnessed begin, however, by offering a definition of emotion and by the death of loved ones—innumerable times. We might ex- describing the roots of your emotional experiences. pect, therefore, that certain types of emotional responses would Although you might be tempted to think of emotion as emerge in all members of the human species. Researchers have only a feeling—“I feel happy” or “I feel angry”—we need a tested this claim of the universality of emotions by looking at more inclusive definition of this important concept that the emotional responses of newborn children as well as the involves both the body and the mind. Contemporary psy- consistency of facial expressions across cultures. chologists define emotion as a complex pattern of bodily and mental changes that includes physiological arousal, feelings, Are Some Emotional Responses Innate? If the evolu- cognitive processes, visible expressions (including face and tionary perspective is correct, we would expect to find much posture), and specific behavioral reactions made in response the same patterns of emotional responses in children all over to a situation perceived as personally significant. To see why the world. Silvan Tomkins (1911–1991) was one of the first psychologists to emphasize the pervasive role of immediate, unlearned affective (emotional) reactions. Tomkins (1962, 1981) pointed out that, without prior learning, infants respond Watch the Video Thinking Like a Psychologist: Affective Forecasting on MyPsychLab to loud sounds with fear or with difficulties in breathing. They emotion A complex pattern of changes, including physiological arousal, seem “prewired” to respond to certain stimuli with an feelings, cognitive processes, and behavioral reactions, made in emotional response general enough to fit a wide range of response to a situation perceived to be personally significant. circumstances. Emotions 323  Charles Darwin was one of the first to use photographs in the study of emotion. These plates are from The Expression of Emotions in Man and Animals (1872/1965). Why did Darwin believe that emotions were the product of evolution? Early accounts of emotional development focused on their language” (Ekman, 1984, 1994). Ekman and his associates have facial expressions and suggested that infants produce facial demonstrated what Darwin first proposed—that a set of emo- expressions to convey specific emotions (Izard, 1994). How- tional expressions is universal to the human species, presumably ever, contemporary research suggests that infants start life with because they are innate components of our evolutionary herit- facial expressions that are just broadly positive and negative age. Before you read on, take a look at Figure 12.1 to see how (Camras & Shutter, 2010). For example, 11-month-old infants well you can identify these seven universally recognized expres- from the United States, Japan, and China produce the same sions of emotion (Ekman & Friesen, 1986). facial expression when they are experiencing fear and anger There is considerable evidence that these seven expres- (Camras et al., 2007). Apparently, children’s ability to display sions are recognized and produced worldwide in response to distinct facial expressions for negative emotions emerges after the emotions of happiness, surprise, anger, disgust, fear, sad- the first year of life. Note, however, that infants’ emotional re- ness, and contempt. Cross-cultural researchers have asked sponses are not restricted to facial expressions; they can indicate people from a variety of cultures to identify the emotions asso- emotions through other types of motor activity. For example, ciated with expressions in standardized photographs. Individu- 11-month-olds are more likely to increase their breathing rate als are generally able to identify the expressions associated with as an indication of fear versus anger (Camras et al., 2007). That the seven emotions. behavioral response was similar for infants from the United States, Japan, and China. These results suggest that infants may Featured Study In one study, members of a preliterate culture in New begin to differentiate emotions through other behavioral means, Guinea (the Fore culture), who had had almost no exposure before they mark the emotions clearly with facial expressions. to Westerners or to Western culture prior to this experi- Infants may nonetheless have an innate ability to interpret ment, accurately identified the emotions expressed in the the facial expressions of others. In one experiment, 5-month- White faces shown in Figure 12.1. They did so by referring to old infants habituated—they showed decreasing interest—to situations in which they had experienced the same emotion. repeated presentations of an adult face showing smiles of dif- ferent intensities (Bornstein & Arterberry, 2003). The infants were subsequently shown two new photographs: One photo- graph showed the same adult with a novel smile (that is, a smile with a different intensity); the second photograph showed the same adult with a fearful expression. The infants consistently spent more time looking at the fearful expression—suggesting both that they experienced the fearful expression as something new and also that they sorted the different smiles into the same category. Other research has demonstrated that patterns of brain activity for 7-month-old infants are different in response to angry and fearful expressions (Kobiella et al., 2008). Thus, infants have distinctive responses to facial expressions that, as we just saw for 11-month-olds, they are not yet able to produce. Are Facial Expressions Universal? We have seen that infants are able to interpret standard emotional expressions. If that is so, we might also expect to find adult members of even vastly different cultures showing reasonable agreement in the way they believe emotion is communicated by facial expressions. According to Paul Ekman, the leading researcher on the Why do researchers believe that some emotional responses nature of facial expressions, all people share an overlap in “facial are innate? 324 Chapter 12 Emotion, Stress, and Health  FIGURE 12.1 Judgments of Emotional Expressions Match these seven emotion terms with the faces shown at left: fear, disgust, happiness, surprise, contempt, anger, and sadness. The answers are given at the end of the chapter (see p. 354). For example, photo 5 (fear) suggested being chased by a they view a face: People from Eastern cultures are more likely to wild boar when you didn’t have your spear, and photo 6 focus attention on the eyes whereas people from Western cul- (sadness) suggested your child had died. Their only confu- tures spread their attention across the whole face (Jack et al., sion came in distinguishing surprise, photo 2, from fear, per- 2009). These habitual differences in examining faces may lead haps because these people are most fearful when taken by people from different cultures to have different expectations for surprise. how faces will look when they are conveying particular emo- Next, researchers asked other members of the culture tional expressions (Jack et al., 2012). (who had not participated in the first study) to model the expressions that they used to communicate six of the emo- How Does Culture Constrain Emotional Expression? tions (excluding contempt). When U.S. college students We’ve just seen that some aspects of emotional expression may viewed videotapes of the facial expressions of the Fore peo- remain constant across cultures. Even so, different cultures ple, they were able to identify their emotions accurately— have different standards for how emotion should be managed. with one exception. Not surprisingly, the Americans had Some forms of emotional response, even facial expressions, are difficulty distinguishing between the Fore poses of fear and unique to each culture. Cultures establish social rules for when surprise, the same emotions that the Fore had confused in people may show certain emotions and for the social appropri- the Western poses (Ekman & Friesen, 1971). ateness of certain types of emotional displays by given types of people in particular settings (Mesquita & Leu, 2007). Let’s look Other research has compared judgments of facial expres- at three examples of cultures that express emotions in manners sions across individuals in Hungary, Japan, Poland, Sumatra, different from the Western norm. the United States, and Vietnam—high agreement was found The Wolof people of Senegal live in a society where sta- across these diverse populations (Biehl et al., 1997). Still, tus and power differences among people are rigidly defined. Japanese adults were worse at identifying anger than were U.S., High-caste members of this culture are expected to show Hungarian, Polish, and Vietnamese adults. Vietnamese adults great restraint in their expressions of emotionality; low- were worse at identifying disgust than the participants from all caste individuals are expected to be more volatile, particu- the other countries. larly a caste called the griots. The griots, in fact, are often These cross-cultural differences support the hypothesis called upon to express the “undignified” emotions of the that cultures have different dialects for facial expressions (Dailey nobility: et al., 2010; Elfenbein et al., 2007). For languages, dialects are One afternoon, a group of women (some five nobles regional or social variation in, for example, pronunciation and two griots) were gathered near a well on the edge and word use. Within the domain of emotions, proponents of town when another woman strode over to the well of a dialect theory argue for similar cultural variation in the and threw herself down it. All the women were shocked production of facial expressions. In fact, there are consistent at the apparent suicide attempt, but the noblewomen cross-cultural differences in the specific movements of facial were shocked in silence. Only the griot women muscles people perform to create different facial expressions. screamed, on behalf of all. (Irvine, 1990, p. 146) Furthermore, people find it easier to recognize facial expressions when they are produced by members of their own culture Can you imagine how you would respond in this situation? It (Dailey et al., 2010; Elfenbein et al., 2007). Culture also has an might be easier to put yourself in the place of the griots rather impact on the way in which people gather information when than in the place of the noblewomen: How could you help but Emotions 325 In what ways do cultures constrain emotional expressions in situations like funerals? scream? The answer, of course, is that the noblewomen have Theories of Emotion acquired cultural norms for emotional expression that require them not to show any overt response. Theories of emotion generally attempt to explain the As a second example, consider the practice of Mẽbengokre relationship between physiological and psychological aspects women in Central Brazil (Lea, 2004). When the women experi- of the experience of emotion. This section begins by discussing ence loss they engage in ceremonial wailing. The wailing uses a the responses your body gives in emotionally relevant particular high-pitched tone but also special words that are not situations. It then reviews theories that explore the way these used in other circumstances. As you might imagine, the women physiological responses contribute to your psychological wail in response to family deaths. However, wailing occurs in experience of emotion. other circumstances as well: “The theme uniting all situations that give rise to wailing is the feeling of separation and loss that Physiology of Emotion What happens when you experi- is canonically associated with death” (p. 114). So, for example, ence a strong emotion? Your heart races, your respiration goes Mẽbengokre women wail when a close relative is leaving on an up, your mouth dries, your muscles tense, and maybe you even extended trip. shake. In addition to these noticeable changes, many others For a third example, let’s turn to a cross-cultural difference occur beneath the surface. All these responses are designed to in norms for emotional displays related to pain. Recall from mobilize your body for action to deal with the source of the Chapter 4 that psychological context has a major impact on the emotion. Let’s look at their origins. extent to which people experience pain. Similarly, the cultural The autonomic nervous system (ANS) prepares the body context has an impact on the extent to which it is considered for emotional responses through the action of both its sympa- appropriate for people to perform behaviors that reveal they thetic and parasympathetic divisions (see Chapter 3). The bal- are experiencing pain. For example, one study demonstrated a ance between the divisions depends on the quality and intensity contrast between what people in the United States and Japan of the arousing stimulation. With mild, unpleasant stimulation, consider proper behavioral displays for pain (Hobara, 2005). the sympathetic division is more active; with mild, pleasant Participants in both cultures completed the Appropriate Pain stimulation, the parasympathetic division is more active. With Behavior Questionnaire (APBQ) that includes such items as more intense stimulation of either kind, both divisions are “Women should be able to tolerate pain in most circumstances” increasingly involved. Physiologically, strong emotions such and “It is acceptable for men to cry when in pain.” In general, as fear or anger activate the body’s emergency reaction system, Japanese participants provided lower scores on the APBQ: They which swiftly and silently prepares the body for potential dan- indicated less approval for open emotional expressions of pain. ger. The sympathetic nervous system takes charge by direct- In addition, both cultural groups suggested more approval for ing the release of hormones (epinephrine and norepinephrine) women’s emotional displays than men’s displays. The researcher from the adrenal glands, which in turn leads the internal organs attributed the cultural difference to the “traditional stoicism... to release blood sugar, raise blood pressure, and increase sweat- of many Asian cultures” (Hobara, 2005, p. 392). ing and salivation. To calm you after the emergency has passed, When you think about the types of emotional patterns the parasympathetic nervous system inhibits the release of the that may have evolved over the course of human experience, activating hormones. You may remain aroused for a while after always bear in mind that culture may have the last word. an experience of strong emotional activation because some of Western notions of what is necessary or inevitable in emotional the hormones continue to circulate in your bloodstream. expression are as bound to U.S. culture as those of any other Particular emotional experiences give rise to distinct pat- societies. Can you see how different standards for emotional terns of activity in the autonomic nervous system (Friedman, expression could cause misunderstandings between people of 2010). Consider a cross-cultural study in which a team of different cultural origins? researchers measured autonomic responses such as heart rate Let’s turn now to theories that explore the link between and skin temperature while men and women from the United different aspects of emotions. States and Minangkabau men from West Sumatra generated 326 Chapter 12 Emotion, Stress, and Health How does the brain respond differently to experiences of puppies and spiders? emotions and emotional expressions. Members of the Minang- approach-related and withdrawal-related emotional responses kabau culture are socialized not to display negative emotions. (Davidson et al., 2000; Maxwell & Davidson, 2007). Consider Would they, even so, show the same underlying autonomic puppies and spiders. It is likely that most people would want to patterns for negative emotions as did the U.S. participants? The approach the puppies but withdraw from the spiders. Research data revealed a high level of similarity across the two cultures, suggests that different brain circuits—apportioned to the differ- leading the researchers to suggest that patterns of autonomic ent hemispheres of the brain—underlie those responses. activity are “an important part of our common evolved biologi- We have seen so far that your body provides many cal heritage” (Levenson et al., 1992, p. 986). responses to situations in which emotions are relevant. But Let’s move now from the autonomic nervous system to the how do you know which feeling goes with which physiologi- central nervous system. Integration of both the hormonal and cal response? Let’s now consider three theories that attempt an the neural aspects of arousal is controlled by the hypothalamus answer to this question. and the limbic system, control systems for emotions and for patterns of attack, defense, and flight. Neuroanatomy research James–Lange Theory of Body Reaction You might think, has particularly focused on the amygdala as a part of the lim- at first, that everyone would agree that emotions precede bic system that acts as a gateway for emotion and as a filter for responses: For example, you yell at someone (response) memory. The amygdala does this by attaching significance to because you feel angry (emotion). However, over 100 years the information it receives from the senses. It plays an especially ago, William James argued, as Aristotle had much earlier, that strong role in attaching meaning to negative experiences—the the sequence was reversed—you feel after your body reacts. As amygdala serves as a “threat detector” to make us aware of dan- James put it, “We feel sorry because we cry, angry because we gers in our environment (Kim et al., 2011). strike, afraid because we tremble” (James, 1890/1950, p. 450). The cortex is involved in emotional experiences through its This view that emotion stems from bodily feedback became internal neural networks and its connections with other parts of known as the James–Lange theory of emotion (Carl Lange was the body. The cortex provides the associations, memories, and a Danish scientist who presented similar ideas the same year as meanings that integrate psychological experience and biological James). According to this theory, perceiving a stimulus causes responses. Research using brain-scanning techniques has begun autonomic arousal and other bodily actions that lead to the ex- to map particular responses for different emotions. For example, perience of a specific emotion (see Figure 12.2 on page 328). The positive and negative emotions are not just opposite responses James–Lange theory is considered a peripheralist theory because in the same portions of the cortex. Rather, opposite emotions it assigns the most prominent role in the emotion chain to lead to greatest activity in quite different parts of the brain. visceral reactions, the actions of the autonomic nervous system Consider a study in which participants underwent fMRI scans that are peripheral to the central nervous system. while viewing positive pictures (such as puppies, brownies, and sunsets) and negative pictures (angry people, spiders, and guns). The scans showed greater activity in the brain’s left hemisphere James–Lange theory of emotion A peripheral-feedback theory of for positive pictures and in the right hemisphere for negative emotion stating that an eliciting stimulus triggers a behavioral pictures (Canli et al., 1998). In fact, researchers have suggested response that sends different sensory and motor feedback to the that there are two distinct systems in the brain that handle brain and creates the feeling of a specific emotion. Emotions 327  Stimulus First response Second response James-Lange theory FEAR “I’m afraid because I’m shaking.” ANS arousal, Snarling dog changes in body Conscious fear FIGURE 12.2 The James–Lange Theory of Emotion In the James–Lange theory, events trigger both autonomic arousal and behavioral action, which are perceived and then result in a specific emotional experience. From Ciccarelli, Saundra; White, J. Noland, Psychology, 3rd Edition, © 2012. Printed and electronically reproduced by permission of Pearson Education Inc., Upper Saddle River, New Jersey. Cannon–Bard Theory of Central Neural Processes Phys- The Cannon–Bard theory predicts independence between iologist Walter Cannon (1927, 1929) rejected the peripheralist bodily and psychological responses. We will see next that theory in favor of a centralist focus on the action of the central contemporary theories of emotion reject the claim that these nervous system. Cannon (and other critics) raised a number of responses are necessarily independent. objections to the James–Lange theory (Leventhal, 1980). They noted, for example, that visceral activity is irrelevant for emo- Cognitive Appraisal Theories of Emotion Because arousal tional experience—experimental animals continue to respond symptoms and internal states are similar for many different emotionally even after their viscera are separated surgically emotions, it is possible to confuse them at times when they from the CNS. They also argued that ANS responses are typi- are experienced in ambiguous or novel situations. Stanley cally too slow to be the source of split-second elicited emotions. Schachter (1922–1997) originated the two-factor theory of According to Cannon, emotion requires that the brain inter- emotion to explain how people deal with such uncertainty. cede between the input stimulation and the output response. According to Schachter (1971a), the experience of emotion is Another physiologist, Philip Bard, also concluded that the joint effect of the two factors of physiological arousal and visceral reactions were not primary in the emotion sequence. cognitive appraisal. Both parts are necessary for an emotion Instead, an emotion-arousing stimulus has two simultaneous to occur. In this view, all arousal is assumed to be general and effects, causing both bodily arousal via the sympathetic nervous undifferentiated, and arousal is the first step in the emotion system and the subjective experience of emotion via the sequence. You appraise your physiological arousal in an effort cortex. The views of these physiologists were combined in the to discover what you are feeling, what emotional label best fits, Cannon–Bard theory of emotion. This theory states that an emotion stimulus produces two concurrent reactions, arousal and experience of emotion, that do not cause each other (see Cannon–Bard theory of emotion A theory stating that an emotional Figure 12.3). If something makes you angry, your heartbeat stimulus produces two co-occurring reactions—arousal and increases at the same time as you think “I’m ticked off!”—but experience of emotion—that do not cause each other. neither your body nor your mind dictates the way the other two-factor theory of emotion The theory that emotional experiences responds. arise from autonomic arousal and cognitive appraisal. Stimulus First response Second response Cannon-Bard theory “I’m shaking and feeling ANS arousal, afraid at the same time.” changes in body FEAR Subcortical Snarling dog brain activity Conscious fear FIGURE 12.3 The Cannon–Bard Theory of Emotion In the Cannon–Bard theory, events are first processed at various centers in the brain, which then direct the simultaneous reactions of arousal, behavioral action, and emotional experience. From Ciccarelli, Saundra; White, J. Noland, Psychology, 3rd Edition, © 2012. Printed and electronically reproduced by permission of Pearson Education Inc., Upper Saddle River, New Jersey. 328 Chapter 12 Emotion, Stress, and Health  Stimulus First response Second response Cognitive appraisal theory Cognitive appraisal FEAR “This snarling dog is dangerous Conscious fear and that makes me feel afraid.” Snarling dog ANS arousal, changes in body FIGURE 12.4 The Cognitive Appraisal Theory of Emotion In the cognitive appraisal theory, both stimulus events and physiological arousal are cognitively appraised at the same time using situational cues and contextual factors. The emotional experience results from the appraisal of the arousal. From Ciccarelli, Saundra; White, J. Noland, Psychology, 3rd Edition, (c) 2012. Printed and electronically reproduced by permission of Pearson Education Inc., Upper Saddle River, New Jersey. and what your reaction means in the particular setting in which the men themselves appraised the situation to assess the source it is being experienced. of their arousal, they made a misattribution: They believed it Richard Lazarus (1922–2002) was another leading was caused by the attractive woman. Based on this appraisal, proponent of the importance of cognitive appraisal. Lazarus the men made an emotional judgment (“I am interested in this (1991, 1995; Lazarus & Lazarus, 1994) maintained that “emotional woman”). This study supports the idea that people appraise en- experience cannot be understood solely in terms of what happens vironmental cues to interpret their physiological arousal. in the person or in the brain, but grows out of ongoing transac- However, some of the specific aspects of the cognitive tions with the environment that are evaluated” (Lazarus, 1984a, appraisal theory have been challenged. For example, you p. 124). Lazarus also emphasized that appraisal often occurs with- learned earlier that arousal states—the activity of the auto- out conscious thought. When you have past experiences that link nomic nervous system—accompanying different emotions are emotions to situations—here comes that bully I’ve clashed with not identical (Friedman, 2010). Therefore, interpretations of at before!—you need not explicitly search the environment for an least some emotional experiences may not require appraisal. interpretation of your arousal. This position has become known as the cognitive appraisal theory of emotion (see Figure 12.4). To test this theory, experimenters have sometimes created situations in which environmental cues were available to pro- vide a label for an individual’s arousal. Featured Study An attractive female researcher interviewed male participants who had just crossed one of two bridges in Vancouver, Canada (Dutton & Aron, 1974). One bridge was a safe, sturdy bridge; the other was a wobbly, precarious bridge. The researcher pre- tended to be interested in the effects of scenery on creativity and asked the men to write brief stories about an ambigu- ous picture that included a woman. She also invited them to call her if they wanted more information about the research. Those men who had just crossed the dangerous bridge wrote stories with more sexual imagery, and four times as many of those men called the female researcher than did those who had crossed the safe bridge. To show that arousal was the independent variable influencing the emotional misinterpreta- tion, the research team also arranged for another group of What emotions would you be likely to feel if people all around men to be interviewed 10 minutes or more after crossing you were wildly cheering your favorite team? the dangerous bridge, enough time for their physical arousal symptoms to be reduced. These nonaroused men did not show the signs of sexual response that the aroused men did. cognitive appraisal theory of emotion A theory stating that the experience of emotion is the joint effect of physiological arousal and In this situation, we can see that the main source of arousal is cognitive appraisal, which serves to determine how an ambiguous the danger the men feel from the wobbly bridge. However, when inner state of arousal will be labeled. Emotions 329 Furthermore, experiencing strong arousal without any obvi- impact on participants’ ability to make correct judgments of ous cause does not lead to a neutral, undifferentiated state, as guilt: Participants in sad moods performed better than chance the theory assumes. Stop for a moment and imagine that, right whereas participants in neutral and happy moods did not. In now, your heart suddenly starts beating quickly, your breath- discussing their results, the researchers suggested that negative ing becomes fast and shallow, your chest muscles tighten, and moods may make people less gullible. Think about your own your palms become drenched with sweat. What interpretation life: Are you more skeptical when you are in a sad mood? would you put on these symptoms? Are you surprised to learn Your mood will also have an impact on the way in which that people generally interpret unexplained physical arousal as information gets committed to memory. Negative moods negative, a sign that something is wrong? In addition, people’s sharpen the focus of attention whereas positive moods tend to search for an explanation tends to be biased toward finding broaden that focus. For that reason, people who are in positive stimuli that will explain or justify this negative interpretation moods may find it harder to ignore irrelevant information. In (Marshall & Zimbardo, 1979; Maslach, 1979). fact, people have better implicit memory (see Chapter 7) for Another critique of the cognitive appraisal theory of irrelevant information when they perform tasks in positive emotion comes from researcher Robert Zajonc (pronounced (versus neutral) moods (Biss & Hasher, 2011). Can you see how Zy-Onts). Zajonc demonstrated conditions under which people this mood-driven change in focus could have both negative and have preferences—emotional responses to stimuli—without positive consequences? When you are in a positive mood it’s knowing why (Zajonc, 2000, 2001). In an extensive series of hard for you to concentrate on just critical information. If you experiments on the mere exposure effect, participants were pre- need to keep your focus tight, you might want to keep yourself sented with a variety of stimuli, such as foreign words, Chinese in a slightly negative mood. However, because positive moods characters, sets of numbers, and strange faces. These stimuli produce a broader and more flexible processing style, people in were flashed so briefly that participants could not consciously positive moods produce more creative thinking and problem recognize the items. Later on, participants were asked how solving than people in neutral moods (Baas et al., 2008). much they liked particular stimuli, some of which were old Thus, if you need to be creative, you should try to maintain a (that is, those stimuli previously had been flashed below the positive mood! threshold of consciousness) whereas some were new. The par- Let’s turn from long-lasting moods to more acute emo- ticipants tended to give higher ratings to the old items. Because tions. Suppose you view a crime in which the perpetrator wields participants experienced these positive emotions without con- scious awareness of their origins, the emotional response could not emerge from an appraisal process. It is probably safest to conclude that cognitive appraisal is an important process of emotional experience but not the only one (Izard, 1993). Under some circumstances, you will, in fact, look to the environment (at least unconsciously) to try to interpret why you feel the way you do. Under other circum- stances, however, your emotional experiences may be under the control of the innate links provided by evolution. The physi- ological response will not require any interpretation. These dif- ferent routes to emotional experiences suggest that emotions may have a variety of impacts on your day-to-day experiences. We will now consider some of those consequences of moods and emotions. The Impact of Mood and Emotions Let’s begin with the impact of moods. The moods you expe- rience have a strong effect on how you process information (Clore & Huntsinger, 2007; Forgas, 2008). In particular, peo- ple in negative moods tend to process information in a more detailed and effortful fashion than their peers in positive moods. This difference in processing style has a number of conse- quences. Consider judgment and decision making. You would probably agree that you will often make different judgments and decisions depending on the amount of effort you expend. In that light, think about the consequences of people’s moods on the ways they made judgments of guilt or innocence. In one study, participants watched short films that put them in happy, neutral, or sad moods (Forgas & East, 2008). Once the mood was established, participants watched four videotapes of peo- ple denying that they had stolen a movie ticket; some of the people were lying. After watching each videotape, the partici- Why might you worry that a positive mood could make you pants judged the person’s guilt or innocence. Mood had a major more gullible? 330 Chapter 12 Emotion, Stress, and Health  a gun. You are likely to have negative emotional arousal! That are you feeling about your life in general?” This question negative emotional arousal will often cause you to fall prey to addresses subjective well-being—individuals’ overall evalu- an effect known as weapon focus (Fawcett et al., 2012). Let’s see ation of life satisfaction and happiness. In recent years, psy- what that means. chologists have paid considerable research attention to the factors that contribute to people’s judgments about their own subjective well-being (Kesebir & Diener, 2008; Tay & Diener, Featured Study Students in a study watched a video of a crime unfolding 2011). This research focus reflects, in part, the emergence of (Pickel, 2009). In one version of the video, the perpetra- positive psychology as an important movement within the tor was holding a 9-mm handgun; in the other version, profession of psychology. The goal of positive psychology is the perpetrator held a music CD in a plastic case. After to provide people with the knowledge and skills that allow watching the video, the students completed a question- them to experience fulfilling lives. Positive psychology asks naire that tested their ability to recall the perpetrator’s this question: “Can psychologists take what they have learned appearance. Participants’ recall was much lower when about the science and practice of treating mental illness the perpetrator was holding the handgun. In different ver- and use it to create a practice of making people lastingly hap- sions of the video, the perpetrator was male or female. pier?” (Seligman et al., 2005, p. 410). Much of the research Participants performed worst when a female was holding on subjective well-being focuses on trying to determine the gun. why some people are happier than others. As is true in most psychological domains, researchers have tried to assess the Why might the female perpetrator have increased weapon impact of genetics and environment. focus? To answer that question, we need to take a step back to To understand the impact of genetics, researchers consider the more general impact of emotional arousal. Any have conducted studies using the classic methodology of time you look at the world, some aspects of it are more promi- behavior genetics: They have examined the extent to which nent (because of perceptual properties you learned about in monozygotic (MZ) twins and dizygotic (DZ) twins show simi- Chapter 4) or more important to you (because of your goals lar reports of subjective well-being. For example, in one study, in the moment). Let’s call those types of stimuli high prior- researchers obtained measures of subjective well-being from ity. Emotional arousal causes people to focus more mental re- 4,322 Norwegian twins (Nes et al., 2006). Comparisons between sources on high-priority stimuli (Mather & Sutherland, 2011). MZ and DZ twins revealed that genetic factors accounted for That will generally make memory for those stimuli better and 51 percent of the variance in subjective well-being for men memory for other stimuli worse, explaining why the presence and 49 percent of the variance for women. The researchers of a weapon impairs memory for other details. So, why does also gathered subjective well-being judgments at two points in a female perpetrator increase weapon focus? A woman hold- time, six years apart. Genetic factors accounted for 85 percent ing a gun may be a higher-priority stimulus, a more arousing of the correlation across time for men and 78 percent of that stimulus, or both. In any case, when you have a strong emo- correlation for women. Research with a sample of 973 U.S. twin tional response to a particular situation, you should expect pairs also indicated a large impact of genetics on subjective your perception of and memory for the situation to be quite well-being (Weiss et al., 2008). However, those data also sug- different than when you have no strong arousal. gested that personality plays an important role in these genetic Still, it’s important to acknowledge that you have some effects. Chapter 13 will discuss the evidence that personality control over the impact your emotions will have on you and on traits are highly heritable. Results from the U.S. twin sample sug- others. You have the capacity for emotion regulation, which gest that differences in subjective well-being are consequences of are processes through which people change the intensity and the personality traits people inherit at birth. For example, people duration of the emotions they experience (Gyurak et al., 2011). who are high in emotional stability and social engagement are Consider what it’s like to be frightened while watching a horror also more likely to report high subjective-well being. movie. You may remind yourself, “This is only a movie! This We have just seen that genetics has an important impact is only a movie!” This strategy has two effects. First, you are on individual differences in subjective well-being. Still, life distracting yourself from the events on screen that are making experiences also matter. An important component of people’s you anxious. Second, you are engaging in a reappraisal of the judgments of subjective well-being is the balance of positive source of the arousal. Both distraction and reappraisal are suc- and negative emotions in their lives. cessful strategies for emotion regulation (McCrae et al., 2010). Meanwhile, by making yourself seem less frightened, your suc- Featured Study A team of researchers obtained data from 8,557 participants cessful emotion regulation will change how other people per- across 46 countries (Kuppens et al., 2008). Participants ceive your reaction to the movie. provided ratings of their life satisfaction by responding to To complete this exploration of emotions, let’s turn to re- statements such as “In most ways, my life is close to my search that addresses individual differences in people’s long- term feelings of happiness. emotion regulation The processes through which people change the Subjective Well-Being intensity and duration of the emotions they experience. subjective well-being Individuals’ overall evaluation of life satisfaction At the outset of the chapter, you addressed the question, “How and happiness. are you feeling?” So far, the focus has been on the present positive psychology A movement within psychology that applies moment: What mood or emotion are you experiencing now? research to provide people with the knowledge and skills that allow However, the question can also apply over time, to ask “How them to experience fulfilling lives. Emotions 331  ideal” (p. 71) on a 7-point scale that ranged from “strongly What is the main claim of the Cannon–Bard theory disagree” to “strongly agree.” They used a 9-point scale— of emotion? ranging from “not at all” to “all the time”—to indicate how What is the general impact of mood on information often they had felt positive emotions (such as pride, grati- processing? tude, and love) and negative emotions (such as guilt, shame, and jealousy) in the last week. The researchers’ analyses What might be the single most important source disclosed consistent relationships among these measures. of happiness? In general, participants reported higher levels of life satisfac- tion when they had more positive emotional experiences CRITICAL THINKING Recall the study that examined and fewer negative emotional experiences. However, posi- weapon focus. Why might the researcher have chosen to tive emotions had about twice as much impact on life sat- test memory for the perpetrator’s appearance? isfaction judgments as did negative emotions. The analyses Study and Review on MyPsychLab also revealed somewhat different patterns across cultures. For example, cultures differ with respect to the amount of effort people need to expend to ensure their day-to-day survival. For cultures in which survival is an issue, judg- ments of life satisfaction depended less on positive emo- tional experiences. STRESS OF LIVING Suppose I asked you to keep track of how you are “feeling” over You can probably relate these results to your own feelings the course of a day. You might report that for brief periods, you of subjective well-being: As you cast your thoughts over the felt happiness, sadness, anger, astonishment, and so on. There last week, what types of emotional experiences come readily is one feeling, however, that people often report as a kind of to mind? background noise for much of their day-to-day experience, and You might also think about the features of your life that is stress. Modern industrialized society sets a rapid, hectic that gave rise to that particular assortment of emotional ex- pace for living. People often have too many demands placed on periences. Researchers have tested a variety of hypotheses their time, are worried about uncertain futures, and have little about life events that may affect subjective well-being. For time for family and fun. But would you be better off without example, major negative life events, such as the loss of a job stress? A stress-free life would offer no challenge—no difficul- or the death of a spouse, often have a damaging impact on ties to surmount, no new fields to conquer, and no reasons subjective well-being (Lucas, 2007). Researchers have also to sharpen your wits or improve your abilities. Every organ- looked at ongoing differences in the circumstances of peo- ism faces challenges from its external environment and from ple’s lives. For example, researchers have suggested that “the its personal needs. The organism must solve these problems to single most important source of happiness” is good social survive and thrive. relationships (Kesebir & Diener, 2008, p. 122). That conclu- sion should be familiar from earlier sections of Psychology and Life; later in this chapter you’ll see that social support is an important resource for coping with stress. Research- ers have also tried to understand the relationship between wealth and subjective well-being. When people struggle to meet their basic needs, they often report low levels of life satisfaction and happiness (Diener et al., 2010; Howell & Howell, 2008). However, once people pass the threshold at which those basic needs are secure, the correlation between wealth and subjective well-being is quite modest. If you must make a choice between more money and more friends, the results of positive psychology suggest that you should most often opt for more friends. We have now explored important short- and long-term consequences of moods and emotions. The next section turns to the topic of stress and how to cope with it. You will learn how to take cognitive control over how you are “feeling.” Whether at work or play, individuals in contemporary society are likely to encounter a stressful environment. What situations Stop and Review in your life do you find most stressful? What has cross-cultural research revealed about the recognition of facial expressions? What role does the autonomous nervous system play in experience of emotions? Watch the Video The Basics: Stress and Your Health on MyPsychLab 332 Chapter 12 Emotion, Stress, and Health Psychology in Your Life CAN YOU ACCURATELY PREDICT YOUR FUTURE EMOTIONS? Suppose you’re about to submit an assignment. A researcher had actually missed a train by either a narrow margin (one stops you and asks you to look into the future. First, he minute) or a wide margin (five minutes). They indicated how asks you to predict what grade you think you’ll get. Next, he regretful they felt by providing a rating on a scale ranging asks you to predict how you imagine you will feel—on the from “not at all” to “extremely.” Participants cast in the role dimensions of rejoicing and regret—if your actual grade were of Forecasters used the same scale to predict how regretful higher or lower than that prediction or pretty much accurate. they imagined they would feel had they missed the train by How might you respond? a narrow or wide margin. (Each Forecaster answered the When researchers conducted this experiment, their goal question for just one margin.) was to compare students’ predictions about their emotional Forecasters predicted that people would experience responses to their actual responses (Sevdalis & Harvey, 2007). more regret for the narrow margin than for the wide margin. After the students received their grades, the researchers However, the Experiencers actually reported nearly the same found them again to ask them how the outcomes made them regret for the narrow margin and the wide margin. Once again, feel. On average, the students did somewhat better on their we see that people’s predictions about their future feelings assignments than they had predicted. However, those better- aren’t very accurate. than-expected outcomes didn’t make them nearly as happy as Why do people have difficulty predicting how they might they thought they would: The students experienced much less respond to particular outcomes? In large part, it seems that rejoicing than they anticipated. people are better than they anticipate at putting outcomes Let’s consider a second example of people’s predictions into a broader perspective (Kermer et al., 2006). When people about future emotions. Suppose, as a city dweller, you dash actually miss a subway train, they are able to take that outcome down a stairway just in time to watch the doors close on in stride by putting it in the larger context of their unfolding day. your subway car. How would you feel? Suppose instead you They don’t dwell on the isolated event in a way that makes missed the train by a wider margin of time. Now how would them continue to feel negative emotions. By contrast, when you feel? people predict how they’re going to feel, they aren’t able to A team of researchers conducted exactly that study interpret the outcome in the fuller context. The same is true (Gilbert et al., 2004). They approached people on a subway for positive emotions. You might not rejoice as much as you platform and offered them $1 to fill out a brief questionnaire. predict to a better-than-expected grade because that outcome One group of participants were Experiencers. Those people occurs as part of your whole ongoing life. Stress is the pattern of responses an organism makes to section begins by considering general physiological responses stimulus events that disturb its equilibrium and tax or exceed to stressors. its ability to cope. The stimulus events include a large variety of external and internal conditions that collectively are called stressors. A stressor is a stimulus event that places a demand Physiological Stress Reactions on an organism for some kind of adaptive response: a bicyclist How would you respond if you arrived at a class and discovered swerves in front of your car, your professor moves up the due that you were about to have a pop quiz? You would probably date of your term paper, you’re asked to run for class president. agree that this would cause you some stress, but what does that An individual’s response to the need for change is made up of mean for your body’s reactions? Many of the physiological re- a diverse combination of reactions taking place on several lev- sponses that occur for emotional situations are also relevant to els, including physiological, behavioral, emotional, and cogni- tive. People typically associate stress with distress—and assume that all stress is bad. However, you also experience eustress. (Eu is an ancient Greek suffix meaning “good.”) As you’ll see by the end of this section, in many circumstances stress can bring Simulate the Experiment How Stressed Are You? on MyPsychLab about positive changes in your life. stress The pattern of specific and nonspecific responses an organism Figure 12.5 on page 334 diagrams the elements of the makes to stimulus events that disturb its equilibrium and tax or stress process. The goal for this section is to give you a clear exceed its ability to cope. understanding of all the features represented in this figure. The stressor An internal or external event or stimulus that induces stress. Stress of Living 333  Cognitive Cognitive appraisal appraisal Stressor Resources Type Physical Environment Person Money Psychological Medical care Social Physiological characteristics Physical health Personal Dimensions Constitutional vulnerability Skills Intensity Coping style Duration Psychological characteristics Mental health Social Rate Temperament Support networks Predictability Self-concept, sense of Professional help self-efficacy, self-esteem Cultural characteristics Cultural definitions, meanings Expected response style Possible reactions Physiological Behavioral Emotional Cognitive (e.g., John suffers (e.g., Paula puts in (e.g., Georgia has (e.g., Rick can’t from insomnia) longer hours trouble controlling keep his mind at work) her anger) on his coursework) FIGURE 12.5 A Model of Stress Cognitive appraisal of the stress situation interacts with the stressor and the physical, social, and personal resources available for dealing with the stressor. Individuals respond to threats on various levels: physiological, behavioral, emotional, and cognitive. Some responses are adaptive, and others are maladaptive or even lethal. day-to-day instances of stress. Such transient states of arousal, away to safety. Cannon called this dual stress response the with typically clear onset and offset patterns, are examples of fight-or-flight response. At the center of this stress response acute stress. Chronic stress, in contrast, is a state of enduring is the hypothalamus, which is involved in a variety of emotional arousal, continuing over time, in which demands are perceived responses. The hypothalamus has sometimes been referred to as greater than the inner and outer resources available for dealing as the stress center because of its twin functions in emergen- with them. An example of chronic stress might be a continuous cies: (1) It controls the autonomic nervous system (ANS) and frustration with your inability to find time to do all the things you (2) it activates the pituitary gland. want to do. Let’s see how your body responds to these different The ANS regulates the activities of the body’s organs. types of stresses. In stressful conditions, breathing becomes faster and deeper, heart rate increases, blood vessels constrict, and blood pres- Emergency Reactions to Acute Threats In the 1920s, sure rises. In addition to these internal changes, muscles open Walter Cannon outlined the first scientific description of the the passages of the throat and nose to allow more air into the way animals and humans respond to danger. He found that lungs while also producing facial expressions of strong emo- a sequence of activity is triggered in the nerves and glands to tion. Messages go to smooth muscles to stop certain bodily prepare the body either to defend itself and struggle or to run functions, such as digestion, that are irrelevant to preparing for the emergency at hand. Another function of the ANS during stress is to get adrenaline flowing. It signals the inner part of the adrenal Explore the Concept Virtual Brain: Emotion, Stress, and Health on glands, the adrenal medulla, to release two hormones, epine- MyPsychLab phrine and norepinephrine, which, in turn, signal a number acute stress A transient state of arousal with typically clear onset and of other organs to perform their specialized functions. The offset patterns. spleen releases more red blood corpuscles (to aid in clotting chronic stress A continuous state of arousal in which an individual if there is an injury), and the bone marrow is stimulated to perceives demands as greater than the inner and outer resources make more white corpuscles (to combat possible infection). available for dealing with them. The liver is stimulated to produce more sugar, building up fight-or-flight response A sequence of internal activities triggered when an organism is faced with a threat; prepares the body for combat body energy. and struggle or for running away to safety; recent evidence suggests The pituitary gland responds to signals from the hypotha- that the response is characteristic only of males. lamus by secreting two hormones vital to the stress reaction. 334 Chapter 12 Emotion, Stress, and Health  Blood vessels in skin, skeletal muscles, brain, and viscera constrict. Pupil dilates and ciliary muscle relaxes for Sweating increases. far vision. Bronchi dilate. Skin and body hair produce Heart accelerates; rate of beating increases “goose bumps.” strength of contraction. Adrenal glands stimulate adrenaline Digestive tract decreases peristalsis. secretion, increasing blood sugar, blood pressure, and heart rate. Liver releases sugar into the bloodstream. Secretions of the pancreas decrease. Secretions of digestive fluids decrease. Anal sphincter closes. Blood vessels in external genitalia dilate. Urinary sphincter closes. Urinary bladder relaxes. FIGURE 12.6 The Body’s Reaction to Stress Stress produces a wide range of physiological changes in your body. The thyrotropic hormone (TTH) stimulates the thyroid gland, Unfortunately, neither the fight-or-flight nor the tend- which makes more energy available to the body. The adreno- and-befriend response is entirely useful for contemporary lives. corticotropic hormone (ACTH), known as the “stress hor- Many of the stressors both men and women experience on a mone,” stimulates the outer part of the adrenal glands, the day-to-day basis make the physiological stress responses fairly adrenal cortex, resulting in the release of hormones that control maladaptive. Suppose, for example, you are taking a difficult metabolic processes and the release of sugar from the liver into exam and the clock is swiftly ticking away. Although you might the blood. ACTH also signals various organs to release about value the heightened attentiveness brought about by your stress 30 other hormones, each of which plays a role in the body’s ad- response, the rest of the physiological changes do you no good: justment to this call to arms. A summary of this physiological There’s no one to fight or to tend, and so on. The responses stress response is shown in Figure 12.6. that developed in the species as adaptive preparations for deal- An analysis by health psychologist Shelley Taylor and ing with external dangers are counterproductive for dealing her colleagues (2000; Taylor, 2006) suggests that these physi- with many contemporary types of psychological stressors. This ological responses to stress may have different consequences is particularly true because, as you will see next, many people for females than for males. Taylor and her colleagues suggest live their lives under circumstances of chronic stress. that females do not experience fight-or-flight. Rather, these researchers argue that stressors lead females to experience a The General Adaptation Syndrome (GAS) and Chronic tend-and-befriend response: In times of stress, females ensure Stress The first modern researcher to investigate the the safety of their offspring by tending to their needs; females effects of continued severe stress on the body was Hans Selye befriend other members of their social group with the same (1907–1982), a Canadian endocrinologist. Beginning in the late goal of reducing the vulnerability of their offspring. You can 1930s, Selye reported on the complex response of laboratory see how this analysis of sex differences in stress responses fits animals to damaging agents such as bacterial infections, toxins, with the earlier discussions of evolutionary perspectives on hu- trauma, forced restraint, heat, cold, and so on. According to man behavior. For example, the discussion in Chapter 11 of Selye’s theory of stress, many kinds of stressors can trigger the human sexual behaviors noted that men and women’s mating same reaction or general bodily response. All stressors call for strategies differ, in part, because of the relative roles men and adaptation: An organism must maintain or regain its integrity women have played—over the course of evolution—in child rearing. The idea here is very much the same: Because of men and women’s different evolutionary niches with respect to nur- tend-and-befriend response A response to stressors that is turing offspring, the same initial physiological responses to hypothesized to be typical for females; stressors prompt females to stress ultimately produce quite different behaviors. protect their offspring and join social groups to reduce vulnerability. Stress of Living 335  &

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!"$  'cce%%' resistance resistance !%% Death Alarm reaction Resistance Exhaustion FIGURE 12.7 The General Adaptation Syndrome (GAS) Following exposure to a stressor, the body’s resistance is diminished until the physiological changes of the corresponding alarm reaction bring it back up to the normal level. If the stressor continues, the bodily signs characteristic of the alarm reaction virtually disappear; resistance to the particular stressor rises above normal but drops for other stressors. This adaptive resistance returns the body to its normal level of functioning. Following prolonged exposure to the stressor, adaptation breaks down; signs of alarm reaction reappear, the stressor effects are irreversible, and the individual becomes ill and may die. and well-being by restoring equilibrium, or homeostasis. The production of “stress hormones” compromises the integrity of response to stressors was described by Selye as the general the immune system. This application of the general adapta- adaptation syndrome (GAS). It includes three stages: an tion syndrome has proven valuable to explain psychosomatic alarm reaction, a stage of resistance, and a stage of exhaustion disorders—illnesses that could not be wholly explained by (Selye, 1976a, 1976b). Alarm reactions are brief periods of physical causes—that had baffled physicians who had never bodily arousal that prepare the body for vigorous activity. If a considered stress as a cause for illness and disease. What serves stressor is prolonged, the body enters a stage of resistance—a the body well in adapting to acute stress impairs the body’s re- state of moderate arousal. During the stage of resistance, the sponse to chronic stress. organism can endure and resist further debilitating effects of Selye’s research makes disease seem an inevitable response prolonged stressors. However, if the stressor is sufficiently long to stress. We will see, however, that your psychological inter- lasting or intense, the body’s resources become depleted and pretation of what is stressful and what is not stressful—the the organism enters the stage of exhaustion. The three stages way in which you appraise potentially stressful events—has an are diagrammed and explained in Figure 12.7 impact on your body’s physiological response. To give a full Selye identified some of the dangers associated with the account of the effect of stress on your body, we will have to stage of exhaustion. Recall, for example, that ACTH plays a combine Selye’s foundational physiological theory with later role in the short-term response to stress. In the long term, research on psychological factors. however, its action reduces the ability of natural killer cells to destroy cancer cells and other life-threatening infec- tions. When the body is stressed chronically, the increased Psychological Stress Reactions Your physiological stress reactions are automatic, predictable, built-in responses over which you normally have no conscious general adaptation syndrome (GAS) The pattern of nonspecific control. However, many psychological reactions are learned. adaptational physiological mechanisms that occurs in response to continuing threat by almost any serious stressor. They depend on perceptions and interpretations of the world. psychosomatic disorder Physical disorder aggravated by or primarily This section will discuss psychological responses to different attributable to prolonged emotional stress or other psychological categories of stressors, such as major life events and traumatic causes. experiences. 336 Chapter 12 Emotion, Stress, and Health  to rate the stress of life events as compared to marriage (Miller & Rahe, 1997). In this update, the LCU estimates went up 45 percent over the original values—that is, participants in the 1990s reported that they were experiencing overall much higher levels of stress than their peers had in the 1960s. Women in the 1990s also reported experiencing more stress in their lives than did men. Researchers continue to relate reports on the SRRS to mental and physical health outcomes. Consider a study in which 268 people completed the scale (Lynch et al., 2005). There was a positive correlation between SRRS scores and participants’ total number of medical visits in the following six months: In general, the participants who had the highest SRRS scores also visited their doctors most often. Researchers have found a variety of ways to examine the relationship between life events and health outcomes. For ex- What are the physiological consequences of chronic stress? ample, one study followed 16,881 adults for two years (Lietzén et al., 2011). At the beginning of the study, none of the par- ticipants had been diagnosed with asthma. Two years later, Major Life Events The influence of life events on subsequent participants who had experienced high numbers of stressful mental and physical health has been a target of considerable life events (such as the illness of a family member or mari- research. It started in the 1960s with the development of the tal problems) were considerably more likely to have developed Social Readjustment Rating Scale (SRRS), a simple measure asthma. Consider another study that should have immediate for rating the degree of adjustment required by the various life relevance to the choices you make about how to organize your changes, both pleasant and unpleasant, that many people expe- schoolwork. rience. The scale was developed from the responses of adults, from all walks of life, who were asked to identify from a list Featured Study those life events that applied to them. These adults rated the When a professor gives you an assignment—a stressful amount of readjustment required for each change by compar- life event in every student’s life—do you try to take care of ing each to marriage, which was arbitrarily assigned a value it as soon as possible, or do you put it off to the very last of 50 life-change units. Researchers then calculated the total minute? Psychologists have developed a measurement number of life-change units (LCUs) an individual had under- gone, using the units as a measure of the amount of stress the individual had experienced (Holmes & Rahe, 1967). life-change unit (LCU) In stress research, the measure of the stress The SRRS was updated in the 1990s (see Figure 12.8). levels of different types of change experienced during a given The researchers used the same procedure of asking participants period. Death of a close family member Fired from work Major personal injury or illness Pregnancy Change in financial state Sexual difficulties Event Change in living conditions Begin or end school Outstanding personal achievement Trouble with boss Change in social activities Change in sleeping habits 0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100 Life-Change Units FIGURE 12.8 Life-Change Units for Some Major Life Events Students may have to adapt to a number of important changes during their school years. Researchers have calculated the number of life- change units associated with such major life events. Data from M. A. Miller and R. H. Rahe. Life changes scaling for the 1990s. Journal of Psychosomatic Research, 43(3): 279–292, Copyright (1997), with permission from Elsevier. Stress of Living 337 (Many) 9 These conditions hold especially true in the case of traumatic Procrastinators events. Some traumatic events, such as rape and automo- 8 bile crashes, affect individuals. Others, such as earthquakes, 7 tornadoes, and terrorist attacks, have a broader impact. On 6 September 11, 2001, attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon with commercial aircraft led to the deaths of Symptoms 5 Nonprocrastinators almost 3,000 people. With the goal of providing appropriate 4 mental health care, researchers moved swiftly to assess the psychological aftermath of the attacks. 3 One particular focus was on the prevalence of posttrau- 2 matic stress disorder (PTSD). PTSD is a stress reaction in 1 which individuals suffer from persistent reexperiences of the traumatic event in the form, for example, of flashbacks or (Few) 0 nightmares (DSM-IV, 1994). Sufferers experience an emotional Early Late semester semester numbing in relation to everyday events and feelings of aliena- tion from other people. Finally, the emotional pain of this re- FIGURE 12.9 The Health Costs of Procrastination action can result in an increase in various symptoms, such as Researchers identified students who were, generally, sleep problems, guilt about surviving, difficulty in concentrat- procrastinators and nonprocrastinators. The students were ing, and an exaggerated startle response. asked to report, early and late in the semester, how many A team of researchers wished to assess the long-term im- symptoms of physical illness they had experienced. By late pact