SUSS PSY 108
PSYCHOLOGY Study Unit 2

Emotions

Definition
It is a four-part process that involves:

  • physiological arousal
  • subjective feelings
  • cognitive interpretation
  • behavioural expression.

Emotions help us to attend and respond to an important situation and to convey our intentions to others.

Emotional Expressions

Cultural Universals in
Emotional Expression

Cultural Differences in
Emotional Expression


Robert Plutchik’s emotion wheel arranges eight primary emotions on the inner ring:

  • love
  • awe
  • disappointment
  • remorse
  • submission
  • contempt
  • aggressiveness
  • optimism

Two Emotion-Processing Pathways

Emotions in the unconscious - From Lymbic System

Conscious emotional processing - From the Prefrontal cortex

Quick response to cues before consciousness

Brain circuitry that operates automatically

Slower generation of emotion

Theories of Emotions.
There are three general theories of Emotions:

  • A. James-Lange Theory
  • B. Cannon-bard Theory
  • C. Schater's Two factor Theory.

B. Cannon-bard theory

  • An emotional feeling and an internal physiological response occur at the same time
  • One is not the cause of the other, Both results from cognitive appraisal of the situation

C. Schacter’s Two-Factor Theory
Emotions arise from both cognitive interpretations of the stimulus and physiological arousal.

A. James-Lange theory

  • An emotion-provoking stimulus produces a physical response that, in turn, produces an emotion

Motivation

Motivation Theories

How psychologists use the concept of
motivation:

Freud’s Psychodynamic Theory

Instinct theory

  • The now-outmoded view that certain behaviours are completely determined by innate factors (Instinct). I.e The motivation to feed and reproduce which is driven by biological instincts.

  • This theory has its roots in darwinian evolution


  • The instinct theory was flawed because it overlooked the effects of learning and because it employed instincts merely as labels rather than as explanations for behaviour.


Motivation arises from the unconscious (id); developmental changes in these urges appear as we mature

A modern term for Instinct would be: Fixed action pattern

  • unlearned behaviour patterns that are triggered by identifiable stimuli and that occur throughout a species.

  • The concept of fixed-action patterns has replaced the older notion of instinct

Drive Theory

  • Developed as an alternative to instinct theory, drive theory explains motivation as a process in which a biological need produces a drive that moves an organism to meet the need.
  • For most drives, this process returns the organism to a balanced condition, known as homeostasis

McClelland’s Theory

Need for Affiliation

Need for Power

Need for Achievement In McClelland’s theory, a mental state that produces a psychological motive to excel or to reach some goal.

Maslow’s Humanistic Theory 'Hierachy of needs'

The notion that occur in priority order, with the biological needs as the most basic

Esteem - Needs for confidence

Affiliation - Needs to belong

Safety - Comfort

Self Actualization - Needs to fulfill a purpose or goal

Biological needs - Food

Self-transcendence - Needs to further beyond self

Social Behaviour

Social Psychology
The branch of psychology that studies the effects of social variables and cognition
on individual behaviour and social interactions.

Social psychologists try to understand behaviour within its social context.

Social Context
The combination of

  • people
  • the activities and interactions of people,
  • the setting in which behaviour occurs
  • the expectations and social norms governing behaviour in that setting.

How Does the
Social Situation
Affect our Behaviour

Situationalism
The view that environmental conditions may influence people’s behaviour as much as or more than their personal dispositions do under some circumstances

Disposition
A view that focuses primarily on the inner characteristics of individuals, such as personality dispositions, values, character, and genetic makeup. Contrasted with situationism, the focus is on external causes of behaviour.


Social Role
A socially defined pattern of behaviour that is expected of persons in a given setting or group.

Social norm
A group’s expectations regarding what is appropriate and acceptable for its members’
attitudes and behaviors.

Conformity
The tendency for people to adopt the behaviors, attitudes, and opinions of other members of a group.

Why we conform

Neurosciences

different brain regions involved in
independent judgments vs. conformity

Psychological experiments relating to conformity

Normative influence

Informational influence

Sherif Experiment


An experiment which suggest the autokinetic effect
i.e. The perceived motion of a stationary dot of light in a totally dark room; used by Muzafir Sherif to study the formation of group norms.

Conformity to the Majority - Asch Conformity Experiment

  • Asch Effect A form of conformity in which a group majority influences individual judgments of unambiguousous stimuli, as with line judgments.

Conformity to Authority - Milgram’s obedience experiments

Interpersonal Attaraction

Reward theory of attraction
People prefer relationship which is beneficial.

Expectancy-value theory


A social psychology theory that states how people decide whether to pursue a relationship by weighing the potential value of the relationship against their expectation of success in establishing the relationship. (Think utiliterianism)

Cognitive Dissonance Theory


  • Developed by Leon Festinger. A highly motivating state in which people have conflicting cognitions (Inconsistencies), especially when their voluntary actions conflict with their attitudes or values.
  • Leon Festinger states that this state creates an uncomfortable internal state called: Dissonance

Similarity principle
The notion that people are attracted to those who are most similar to themselves
on significant dimensions.

Self Disclosure
The sharing of personal information and feelings with another person as part of the process of developing trust.


The principle of proximity.
The notion that people at work will make more friends among those who are nearby—with whom they have the most contact. Proximity means “nearness.”

Physical attractiveness tendency to be attracted to physically attractive others

Festinger explains that we act in order to reduce this tension or dissonance. Tension can be reduced by changing behaviour or changing cognitions – People often reduce the conflict (tension) by changing their thinking to fit their behaviour.

Zimbardo’s prison experiment

Participants randomly assigned to be prisoners or guards
• Chosen from the large pool of volunteers
• No systematic differences between groups before the experiment
• Dramatic differences during the experiment
• Guards- behaved aggressively
• Prisoners- behaved pathologically passive
• A new social reality was created
• Forced the experiment to end

Paul Ekman - people everywhere can recognize at least seven basic emotions:

  • sadness
  • fear
  • anger
  • disgust
  • contempt
  • happiness
  • surprise.

Huge differences exist across cultures in both the context and intensity of emotional displays—because of display rules.


E.g. In many Asian cultures, for example, children are taught to control emotional responses—especially negative ones—while many American children are encouraged to express their feelings more openly

Display rules
The permissible ways of displaying emotions in a particular society.

Relies on The Cerebral Cortex’s

  • Plays a key role in the conscious emotion pathway, where it both interprets events and associates them with memories and feelings.
  • The two frontal lobes have complementary roles in controlling our emotions. Just as distinct patches of cortex produce different sensations, positive and negative emotions are associated with opposite hemispheres, an effect called lateralization of emotion.

lateralization of emotion
The two brain hemispheres process different various emotions. The left hemisphere apparently focuses on positive emotions (for example, happiness), while the right hemisphere deals primarily with negative emotions (such as anger).

Where the Cortex Meets the Limbic System


  • The ventromedial prefrontal cortex (VMPFC). Located on the floor of the brain’s frontal lobes, just behind the eyes, connects with both the amygdala and the hippocampus. There, the VMPFC mixes external stimulation with the body’s reaction and converts the result into an emotional memory: i.e. Was it positive or negative?

The Autonomic Nervous System’s Role in Emotion For example, in an accident

  • Signals along the sympathetic pathways direct the adrenal glands to release stress hormones.
  • When the emergency passes, the parasympathetic division takes over, carry- ing instructions that counteract the emergency orders of a few moments earlier. You may, remain aroused for some time after experiencing a strong emotional activation because hormones continue to circulate in the bloodstream.
  1. Stimuli (i.e. Snake)
  1. Physiological Arousal (i.e. trembling
    increased heart rate)
  1. Emotion (i.e. Fear)
  1. Cognitive appraisal of situation
  1. Stimuli (i.e. Snake)

Physiological Arousal (i.e. trembling
increased heart rate)

Emotion (i.e. Fear)

  1. Stimuli (i.e. Snake)
  1. Physiological arousal
    -trembling
    -increased heart rate
  1. Cognitive interpretation
    “I feel afraid!”
  1. Emotion (i.e. Fear)

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Measured using Thematic Apperception Tests (TAT). I.e. stories people would tell to describe a series of ambiguous pictures

A cooperative, rather than competitive, environment is best for those high in the need for affiliation.

For those high in power, give them the opportunity to manage projects or work teams.

Biological drive

  • A motive, such as a thirst, that is based primarily in biology.
  • A drive is a state of tension that
    motivates an organism to satisfy a biological need.

Homeostasis

  • The body’s tendency to maintain a biologically balanced condition, especially with regard to nutrients, water, and temperature

Need

  • In drive theory, a need is a biological imbalance (such as dehydration) that threatens survival if the need is left unmet. Biological needs are believed to produce drives

Two basic desires

eros, the erotic desire;

thanatos, the aggressive or destructive impulse.

To avoid mental problems, we must continually seek acceptable outlets for our sexual and aggressive needs.

Cognitive Theory

Locus of control
The key concept that emerges from the Cognitive Theory is the locus of control which refers to whether we believe our actions are controlled by internal or external factors

If, for example, a child believes that his exam results will depend on his academic ability or his efforts in studying, the child is said to have an internal locus of control

If, on the other hand, the child believes that the outcome of his exam is dependent on luck or difficulty of the exam questions, then the child is said to have an external locus of control

No single theory accounts for all forms of motivation, because each motive involves its own mix of biological, mental, behavioural, and social/cultural influences

Depending on the theory applied, motivation could:

Accounts for variability in behaviour

Relates biology to behaviour

Connects observable behaviour to internal states

Explains perseverance despite adversity

The Bystander effect

  • The more people present in a crisis, the less likely it is that anyone bystander will intervene.

Group Think

  • The term for the poor judgments and bad decisions made by members of groups that are
    overly influenced by perceived group consensus or the leader’s point of view.
  • Five conditions likely to promote groupthink are:

Lack of norms requiring methodical procedures for evidence collection/evaluation

Homogeneity of members’ social background and ideology

High group cohesiveness, with an absence of dissenting views

High stress from external threats with low hope of a better solution than that of
the group leader

Directive leadership, a dominant leader

  • Conditions that encourages conformity according to Asch Experiment

Unanimity of the majority

Size of the group

Making a public commitment rather than a private one.

Ambiguity

Makeup of the majority.

Self-esteem.

Power of an ally.

independents.

Pluralistic Ignorance

  • pluralistic ignorance is a situation in which a majority of group members privately reject a norm, but incorrectly assume that most others accept it, and therefore go along with it

Diffusion of responsibility

  • Dilution or weakening of each group member’s obligation to act when responsibility is perceived to be shared with all group members
  • Milgram’s obedience research and the Stanford Prison Experiment illustrated the power of situations over behaviour.
  • However, the obedience studies were about individual authority power, while the prison experiment is about the power of an institution, a system of domination.

Example
The woman in an abusive relationship can resolve her cognitive dissonance in one of two ways

  • by changing her behaviour, i.e. leaving the relationship
    or
  • by adjusting her thinking (self-justification), i.e. convincing herself that she needs to stay in the relationship for her children’s sake

Definition

  • Motivation refers to all the processes involved in initiating, directing, and maintaining physical and psychological activities.
  • They can be influenced by multiple factors, both internal and external

Types

Extrinsic Motivation
The desire to engage in an activity to achieve an external consequence, such as a reward

Intrinsic Motivation
The desire to engage in an activity for its own sake rather than for some external consequence, such as a reward.

Rosenthal Effect or Pygmalion Effect
higher expectations lead to an increase in performance

Rosenthal's Experiment

  • Rosenthal randomly selected 20% of students and informed the teachers that those students were 'bloomers'.
  • Teachers provided positive feedback on these 'bloomers' in addition to providing more attention. As a result, the 'bloomers' did, in fact, perform well.
  • There was a negative correlation in regard to non-bloomers. Those non-bloomers who score high IQ points were rated negatively by teachers (i.e. the student is not well adjusted)

While the students experienced the Rosenthal effect, the teachers were experiencing what Rosenthal calls this: self-fulfilling prophecy i.e. Observations or behaviours that result primarily from expectations.