Emotions

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Emotions
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Cross-cultural similarities

• Similar emotions across cultures

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Emotions are not taught
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Cross-cultural similarities

• 7 Basic Emotions
• Fear
• Anger
• Sadness
• Disgust
• Happiness
• Surprise
• Shame / Guilt

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Cross-cultural similarities

• Display Rules Differ Across Cultures
• Different rules for when an emotion is
  appropriate (e.g., anger, jealousy)
• Different rules for how to show an emotion (i.e.,
  facial display)

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3 parts to emotions

• Affective Component
• Immediate positive or negative feeling
• Develops very quickly (maybe even before event is
  understood)
• Difficult to change from positive to negative or
  negative to positive

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3 parts to emotions

• Physiological Component
• Physical reaction
• Heart rate, blood pressure, breathing rate, blood
  flow to skin (blush), alertness of eyes, facial
  display
• Caused by chemical changes in nervous system
• Relatively fast, but difficult to interpret
  there are not different patterns of response for
  different emotions

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3 parts to emotions

• Cognitive Component
• How people think about what they are feeling
• Depends on affective component, physiological
  component, and situational factors

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Schacter-Singer Theory 1962

• First step in experiencing emotion Arousal
  occurs (affective and physiological components).
• Arousal is similar for all emotions
• Second step in experiencing emotion Label is
  applied, depending on the situation (Cognitive
  components).

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Experiment to test Schacter-Singer

• Give 1/2 participants shot of adrenaline other
  1/2 dont get shot.
• Also, tell 1/2 participants that the shot might
  cause side effects, such as jitteriness tell 1/2
  participants that the shot will have no side
  effects.

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Experiment to test Schacter-SingerLevel of
Arousal
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Schacter-Singer what you should find
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Schacter-Singer what you should find
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Schacter-Singer what you should find
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Schacter-Singer what you should find
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Experiment to test Schacter-Singer

• Participants then waited while the shot took
  effect with another participant (actually, a
  confederate).
• For 1/2 participants, C was euphoric.
• For 1/2 participants, C was furious.
• Question what emotion would the participants
  feel?

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Experiment to test Schacter-SingerChange in
Emotion
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Experiment to test Schacter-SingerChange in
Emotion
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Experiment to test Schacter-SingerChange in
Emotion
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Experiment to test Schacter-SingerChange in
Emotion
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Schacter-Singer Theory

• Moral of the story People feel some emotion, and
  look to the situation to explain it.
• This is how excitation transfer works.
• Moral 2 It is not easy to convert one emotion
  to another. Once you come up with a label, the
  label sticks.
• Minor exception to the rule if people
  underestimate their reactions, then the label
  might be more changeable.

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Functions of Emotion

• Action Control
• People feel emotions to change their own
  behaviors
• E.g., fear, happiness
• Interpersonal Regulator
• People feel emotions to change the behaviors of
  the people close to them.
• E.g., guilt, anger

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Functions of Anger

• Action Control
• To change the behaviors of people close to you
• You dont respect me! Well, Ill show you!
• If you do that again, Ill
• Interpersonal Regulator
• Anger at self to change ones own actions
• I cant believe I did that, Im so angry.
• Anger functions to maintain relaitonships

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Functions of Guilt

• Action Control
• Im so disappointed in you
• Interpersonal Regulator
• I cant believe I did that, Im so sorry
• Guilt is relationship-enhancing tool
• Key to guilt Power imbalance!
• Powerful person gets to use anger to effect
  behavior
• Less powerful person gets to use guilt to effect
  behavior

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Self-Conscious Emotions

• Refers to Embarrassment, Guilt, Shame, and Pride.
  
• Why would we want to feel these?
• They involve an appraisal of how ones behavior
  has been evaluated by self and others.
• These are good for action control!
• You want to feel pride, so you wil act in a
  socially appropriate manner.
• Likewise, you dont want to feel embarrassment

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Function of Embarrassment

• Embarrassment is not an irrational impulse
  breaking through socially prescribed behavior but
  part of the orderly behavior itself.
• Goffman, 1956

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Function of Embarrassment

• Why would you feel embarrassment?
• To increase socially appropriate behavior in the
  future
• To make reparations for past inappropriate
  behavior
• Embarrassment behaviors trigger forgiveness
• Embarrassment also triggers liking and trust
• To smooth out the beginnings of intimate
  relationships

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Affective Forecasting

• People use cognitive restructuring to
  subjectively optimize the outcomes that occur,
  thus making potentially negative outcomes seem
  less negative.
• People are accurate in estimating valence and
  intensity of emotion, but inaccurate in
  estimating duration of emotion.
• This is usually a good thing We make the best
  of a bad situtation.

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Affective Forecasting

• Affective forecasting is bad in two ways
• Decisions are based on valence, intensity, and
  duration of emotions
• Affective forecasting works for positive emotions
  too!