Emotion

1
Emotion

• Chapter 18
• Monday, November 24, 2003

2
Emotion and Motivation

• Motivation that which gives energy and
  direction to behavior.
• Inferred from goal-directed behavior.
• Emotion
• A process which evaluates the significance of
  events with respect to important goals.
• A means of communicating with others.
• A motive in its own right.

3
Obsolete Theories

• Concerned with the relationship between
  experience, emotion and behavior
• James-Lange emotion is epiphenomenal to
  physiological changes.
• Cannon-Bard physiological changes and emotion
  occur at the same time, emotion can occur
  independent of physiology.

4
Limbic System

• Includes the cingulate gyrus and hippocampus.
• Broca (1878)
• Originally thought to be unrelated to emotion
  forms a ring around the brain stem.
• MacLean (1952) thought to be the primary
  circuit for emotion.

5
Papez Circuit (1937)

• Merging of different streams of feeling, thought,
  and sensation in limbic areas.
• Links the hypothalamus with the cortex.
• Includes the cingulate gyrus, hippocampus,
  fornix, hypothalamus, and anterior nuclei of
  thalamus.

6
Emotion Doesnt Map Well

• No one-to-one relationship between brain
  structure and function.
• Emotion is diverse.
• Some of the structures in the limbic system are
  involved in emotion but others are not.
• Other areas of the brain are important beyond the
  limbic system.

7
Not a Single System?

• Basic or discrete emotions fear, anger,
  disgust, sadness, joy, surprise.
• Moods (anxiety, depression, happiness, peace or
  calm).
• Preferences and evaluation negative, positive,
  like or dislike, approve, reject.
• Cognitive emotions curiosity, interest,
  confusion.

8
Kluver-Bucy Syndrome

• Kluver-Bucy Syndrome results from bilateral
  removal of temporal lobe
• Psychic blindness didnt recognize objects
• Oral tendencies put everything in mouth
• Hypermetamorphosis run around and touch
  everything
• Altered sexual behavior x-rated
• Emotional changes -- fearlessness

9
Importance of Amygdala

• Some Kluver-Bucy symptoms related to removal of
  cortex, but most due to removal of amygdala.
• Amygdala active with fear and anger.
• Amygdala communicates with hypothalamus and
  hippocampus.
• Emotionally important memories and classical
  conditioning (learning).
• LeDouxs research.

10
Kinds of Aggression

• Predatory aggression attacks against a
  different species to obtain food.
• Few vocalizations
• Aimed at head and neck of prey
• Affective aggression attacks against members of
  the same species.
• For show displays and vocalization
• Sympathetic ANS arousal.

11
Affective Aggression

• Competitive aggression for place in a dominance
  hierarchy.
• Defensive aggression inescapable threat.
• Irritative aggression aversive stimulus
  (pain-induced aggression).
• Territorial aggression defensive.
• Maternal aggression protect young.
• Sex-related and female social aggression.

12
Testosterone

• Males are more aggressive than females in most
  species.
• Testosterones effect appears to be prenatal
  unrelated to fluctuations in adult hormones.
• Testosterone is related to dominance and
  achievement, task-persistence, success-related
  behaviors.

13
Neurotransmitters

• Lower levels of serotonin were found in more
  aggressive strains of mice.
• Animals with less serotonin more likely to attack
  neutral targets.
• Depressed humans who commit suicide may have
  lower levels of serotonin.
• Children with conduct disorder have less
  serotonin.

14
Pain and Pleasure

• Both have an affective component.
• Sensory pathways involved in pain are complex,
  involve multiple areas of the brain, and not well
  understood.
• Pain and pleasure play a major role in operant
  learning and classical conditioning.

15
Emotion and Pain

• Pain is a metaphor for discussing negative
  affect.
• Emotion (and especially sympathetic arousal)
  amplifies the subjective experience of pain.
• Cognitive activity (distraction of attention)
  decreases subjective awareness of pain.
• Placebos can decrease the experience of pain.

16
Pleasure vs. Well-Being

• Emotion may operate using a homeostatic mechanism
  with a set point, just as hunger does.
• Well-being appears unrelated to intense pleasure
  and unrelated to events in ones life.
• Lottery winners vs paraplegics (Brickman)
• More negative affect than positive.

17
Stress and Anxiety

• Stress is the response of the body to any demand.
• Stress is not harmful.
• Prolonged stress in a situation where one is
  helpless is harmful (lack of control).
• Stress contributes to disease.
• Cortisol as a measure of stress.
• Stress changes brain chemistry.

18
Social Attachment

• Social species have greater emotion.
• Attachment permits essential learning.
• Attachment permits individuals to regulate their
  affect (control emotion).
• Emotional expressions generate empathy and
  regulate interpersonal behavior.

19
Emotion Regulation

• Anger motivates instrumental behavior to change
  things.
• However, people must conform to social
  expectations about expression.
• Controlling emotion is not psychologically
  damaging but is what people must learn to do from
  infancy.

20
Venting is Ineffective

• Staying angry is harmful.
• Venting (expressing affect) is ineffective at
  decreasing or eliminating negative affect if
  the person stays angry.
• Venting prolongs negative affect.
• Venting does not defuse hostility but escalates
  it in relationships.
• Distraction helps.

21
Rumination Perseveration

• Perseveration obsessively returning to thoughts
  about ones problems.
• Ruminating (brooding) prevents active problem
  solving.
• Rumination decreases likelihood someone will
  engage in mood-changing activities.
• Rumination biases thinking, leading to a vicious
  circle of depression.