Aspects of Emotion

Chapter 13
 Two Aspects of Emotion

Cognitive Aspects

Biological Aspects

Biological Aspects Cognitive Aspects

1. Autonom ic nervous 1. Appraisals
system
2. Knowledge
2. Subcortical brain
circuits 3. Attributions

3. Facial feedback

1. Autonomic nervous 1. Appraisals

system
2. Knowledge
2. Subcortical brain
circuits 3. Attributions

3. Facial feedback
 James-Lange Theory of Emotion

Stimulus → Bodily Reaction → Emotion

(I see a dog, my heart races, I feel
fear)
Theory rested on two assumptions.
1. The body reacts uniquely to different
1 . T h e b o d y r e a c ts u n iq u e ly to d iff e r e n t
e m o tio n -e lic itin g e v e n ts .
D iff e r e n t p a tte r n s o f a c tiv ity c a u s e
d iff e r e n t e m o tio n s

emotion-eliciting events.
Different patterns of activity cause
different emotions
2. The body does not react to nonemotion-
2 . T h e b o d y d o e s n o t r e a c t to n o n e m o tio n -
e lic itin g e v e n ts .
If b o d y c h a n g e s d o N O T o c c u r, th e n th e
e m o tio n d o e s N O T o c c u r.

eliciting events.
If body changes do NOT occur, then the
emotion does NOT occur.
James-Lange Theory of Emotion

Instantaneous
Significa bodily reactions
Emotion
nt (autonomic &
endocrine systems)
Life
Event
Different life events activate different patterns of
bodily reaction. Different patterns of bodily
reaction CAUSE the different emotions.
UNIQUE patterns of bodily reaction → UNIQUE
 Criticisms: James-Lange Theory

1. Bodily reactions were actually part of

1. Bodily reactions were actually part of
the body’s fight-or-flight response;
importantly, they did NOT vary from one
emotion to the next, emotion.

the body’s fight-or-flight response;

importantly, they did NOT vary from one
emotion to the next, emotion.
2. The emotional experience (“felt”
emotion) was quicker than the
physiological reaction.

2. The emotional experience (“felt”

emotion) was quicker than the
physiological reaction.
3. The role of physiological arousal is to
increase (the intensity) – rather than
cause – the emotion.

3. The role of physiological arousal is to

increase (the intensity) – rather than
cause – the emotion.
 Facial Feedback Hypothesis (FFH)
1.Felt emotion arises from (a) movements in
musculature (facial) (b) changes in facial
temperature (c) glandular activity in the facial
skin. Smiling MAKES you happy!
2. Emotion is the awareness-of (sensitivity-to)
muscular, glandular and temperate feedback
from facial expressions (*proprioceptive
feedback).
3.Facial feedback activates an emotion
through a) cognitive reactions, and b) bodily
reactions.
4.Humans display similar facial expressions
 FFH: Sequence of Emotional Activation

Significa
nt Life
Event
Feedback

Facial Action
Felt
Emotio
n
Facial
Facial Musculature: Expression

Eight
Major
Facial
Muscles
involved
in
Copyright © 2018 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All rights reserved Emotiona
Facial Expressions of Emotion
 FFH: Strong vs Weak Version
Strong Version of FFH (evidence: mixed)
a. Facial feedback causes emotion.
b. Controlling facial musculature into an emotion-
display will cause the activation of that emotional
experience.
Weak Version of FFH (evidence: sound
support)*
c. Facial Feedback modifies intensity of the
emotion. Facial Feedback: modest contribution
to emotional experience
d. Managing your facial musculature into a particular
emotion-display will exaggerate the emotional
experience caused by the significant life event,
just as suppressing that emotion display will
 Facial Muscle Exercise
Feel the emotion of ? Feel the emotion of ?

1.Raise your brows a. Imagine you have a

couple of golf tees
and pull them protruding out from
together. the inner corners of
your eyebrows.
b. Imagine touching the
2.Now, raise your point of the tees
upper eyelids. together, as you move
your eyebrows inward.
c. Now, keeping the tees
3.Now, also stretch touching, raise them a
your lips couple of millimeters
by raising your
horizontally, back eyebrows together.
toward your ears. d. Now, pout out you
 Complex Emotions
1.The cognitive perspective on emotion
affirms that basic emotions (e.g., anger,
fear, disgust) have biological origins –
at least, to some extent.
2.But biology cannot explain “complex”
emotions — emotions that are rooted
within cognitive, social, and cultural
understandings, such as hope, pride,
envy, gratitude, and pity.
3.To understand complex emotions, you
need to ADD a cognitive (appraisals,
interpretation, evaluation), social and
 Arnold’s Appraisal Theory of Emotion

Early (1960’S) cognitive theorist (three

questions):
1.How does perception of an object or event
produce a good or bad appraisal?
2.How does the appraisal generate emotion?
3.How does felt-emotion express itself in action?
SITUATI ACTION
ACTION
Approach
vs.
Avoid/
Withdrawa
l
SITUATI
APPRAISAL
ON Good or
Bad
Life (beneficial
Event vs. harmful)
EMOTION
S
Liking vs.
Disliking

APPRAISAL EMOTION
ON Approach
Good or S vs.
Bad Liking vs. Avoid/
Life (beneficial Disliking Withdrawa
Event vs. harmful) l

Magda Arnold’s Appraisal Theory of

Emotion:
appraisal → emotion → action
 Problem: Complexity of Emotions

• Arnold’s Appraisal Theory was a simplistic

(hedonic-tone/good-bad) appraisal model: a) stimulus
cues a subcortical appraisal (amygdala;
hedonic/good vs bad — emotional significance), b)
further cognitive (cortical) appraisal wrt beliefs,
goals memories. Result: Overall sense of
good/benefit vs bad/harm event, follow by
emotional experience of “liking or disliking” (i.e., felt-
emotion).
• Problem: How do you explain the complexity of
emotion (joy, hope, pride compassion, anger guilt,
shame, sadness, disgust, envy, etc)?
• Solution: Richard Lazarus (1990’s) expanded
Arnold’s simplistic (hedonic-tone) appraisal model.
His complex appraisal model. An event’s impact
 Lazarus: Complex Appraisal
1.Arnold's theory says that cognitive appraisals signal emotional
and physiological responses. Lazarus believed that cognitive
appraisals determine emotional and physiological
responses.
2.Lazarus theory provides a sequence for how humans
experience emotion: he proposed that humans respond to
experiences a) cognitively first, b) emotionally second, and
c) physically last.
3.If this looks familiar, it’s foundational to cognitive-
behavioral therapy in particular. The theory helps explain
why people sometimes react differently to the same
situation. Cognitive appraisals and emotional responses are
entirely subjective and differ from one person to another even
when stimulus is the same
4.Lazarus’ theory is called Cognitive-Motivational-Relational
Theory: a) cognitive (appraisal), b) motivational (personal
goals & well-being), and c) relational (emotions arise from
appraised impact of event on self — benefit/harm/threat).
Emotion: Cognitive Perspective
PREMISE: cognitive appraisal is REQUIRED for the
activation or experience of an emotion (ie no appraisal, no
emotion)
1.Events do NOT cause emotions; instead, one’s appraisal
that the event might have an impact on one’s well-being
(what you care about), elicits an emotional reaction.
2.Emotions covary with cognitive appraisals: if you
change the appraisal, then the emotion changes
a. Is the event good, bad, or neutral?
b. Is there any potential benefit or gain from the event?
c. Is there any potential harm or loss from the event?
d. Is there is potential threat within the event?
e. Can you cope well with the situation or is it potentially
overwhelming?
 Lazarus’ Appraisal Theory of Emotion

Which situations are appraised as Happiness

Pride
significant? Hope
Situations that affect the well-being of Love
self OR the well-being of a loved one: Compassion
Gratitude
1. Health at stake in the event? Anger
2. Self-esteem at stake in the event? Guilt
Shame
3. Goal at stake in the event? Sadness
4. Financial-state at stake in the Disgust
event? Anxiety
Fright
5. Respect at stake in the event? Envy
Jealousy
 Lazarus’ Appraisal Theory of Emotion

Which situations are appraised as

There are several types of good
“significant”?
appraisals;
Situations that affect the well-being Types of benefit to self & loved
of self OR the well-being of a loved ones.
one:
1. Health at stake in the event? There are several types of bad
2. Self-esteem at stake in the event? Appraisals
appraisals; cause emotion
3. Goal at stake in the event? Types of appraisal:
Primary harm/threat to self
Is this & a
event
4. Financial-state at stake in the loved ones.
personal threat, harm or benefit?
event?
5. Respect at stake in the event? Secondary Appraisal: Can I cope
well with the potential threat,
harm or benefit?
 Primary APPRAISAL EMOTION
Appraisal Types of Benefit
and • Making progress toward a goal
• Happines
Emotion • Taking credit for an achievement
s
• Improving on a distressing condition
• Pride
• Believing a desired outcome is
• Pride
possible
• Desiring or participating in affection
• Hope
• Being moved by another’s suffering • Love
• Appreciating an altruistic gift • Compassi
SITUATION
ENVIRONM
ENT

Life Event

on
SITUATION Types of Harm • Gratitude
ENVIRONM • Being demeaned by a personal
ENT offense • Anger
• Transgressing a moral imperative • Guilt
• Failing to live up to an ego ideal • Shame
Life Event
• Experiencing an irrevocable loss • Sadness
• Taking in an indigestible object or idea • Disgust

Types of Threat • Anxiety

• Facing an uncertain, unspecific threat • Fright
• Facing immediate, overwhelming • Envy
danger • Jealousy
• Wanting what someone else has
• Resenting a rival for one’s own loss
Primary appraisal involves Appraisal Types
one’s estimate of whether one
has anything at stake in the & Emotion
encounter.

Secondary appraisal involves

one’s assessment of coping
potential with the possible
benefit, harm, or threat.
 Cognitive Aspects of Emotion
• Appraisal: evaluating the significance of the
event in terms of one’s well-being (“Is this situation
significant to me?”)
• Emotion Differentiation: capacity to experience
discrete emotions to same event (fear, shame,
guilt, embarrassment)
• Emotion Knowledge: learn to discriminate shades
of the same emotion (rage vs anger vs irritation vs
annoyance etc.)
• Attribution: reason used to explain why an outcome
to a life event occurred (internal/external,
stable/unstable, controllable /uncontrollable).
Examples: ability, effort, task difficulty, luck
• Social Interaction: most frequent source of
emotion (direct). Indirect: emotional mimicry,
feedback and contagion.
 Emotional Differentiation
1. The most significant contribution of Appraisal Theory is
emotional differentiation: the experience of
different emotions for the same event.
2. We appraise events for (a) goal congruence (+ive/-
ive), (b) un/expectedness, (c) agency/causal
source (self/others/ situation) and (d) compatibility with
standards (self/norm)
a. Anger: important goal was at stake; the goal was
lost; another person blocked my goal attainment;
and the loss was undeserved/illegitimate (e.g.,
opponent cheated).
b. Pride: important goal was at stake; the goal was
attained; the self was the causal agent in bringing
the positive outcome to fruition
Caveat: Appraisal theories CANNOT explain
emotional reactions with 100% accuracy. Biology
matters as well as causal attributions.
 Emotion Knowledge: Shades of
Anger

Greater emotion knowledge = greater well-being & better emotion-

regulation strategies
 Attribution Theory of Emotion
1. Cognitive appraisals are not restricted to situational events. We
cognitively appraise the OUTCOMES of those life events.
2. Attribution is the causal explanation for WHY the
outcome occurred; the REASON one uses to EXPLAIN the
outcome (eg “Why did you win? Why were you fired from your
job?”)
3. IF you change the attribution for the outcome, THEN the
emotion experienced will change (see next slide).
TAKE-AWAY: The most important contribution that Weiner’s
(1982/86) Attribution Theory makes to the study of emotion is
that post-outcome appraisals of why an outcome occurred can
explain variations in emotional reactions to the same
outcome. [win scholarship → 1Pride (earned), then
2
Gratitude (inside-job)
Attribution Theory of Emotion

Attribution Theory of Emotion

Attribution: post-outcome The attributional
appraisal of why an roots to the seven
outcome occurred. emotions

Figure 13.10
 Attributional Analysis of Emotion
Causal attributions determine emotional reactions.
Attributions are classified along three causal dimensions: 1)
locus of control (internal /external) 2) stability (vs fixed)
and 3) controllability (yes/no)
Scenario: Date calls last minute & breaks the date
because (a) they just don’t feel like it (internal locus,
controllable cause), OR (b) s/he suddenly became ill (external
locus, uncontrollable). Q: How do you feel about the negative
outcome in each case? ANGER? SYMPATHY?
On EXCUSES: When providing excuses for failing to appear at
an appt or engagement, uncontrollable causes tend to be
communicated (e.g., "My car had a flat tire") rather than
controllable ones (e.g., "I decided to do something else). One
does this in order to defuse anger and prompt the other’s
emotional reaction to sympathy (pity)
 Social Aspect: Emotional Contagion

We experience more emotions with others than

alone. Moreover, the emotional expressions of
others fosters an instinctive synchrony of emotional
reaction to them.
Emotional contagion: the tendency to
1. unconsciously mimic others’ facial expressions,
movements, vocalizations, posture & synchronize
w other’s emotions
2. unconsciously experience emotion-related
feedback from our own postural, facial & vocal
movements → facial (proprioceptive) feedback.
3. spontaneous spread of emotions, wherein we
“catch” the other’s emotion; as-if the emotion
 Social Sharing of Emotion
1. While emotions may appear fleeting & private,
many of our emotional experiences are shared &
discussed with others. We recognize this as self-
disclosure.
2.Social sharing of emotion is undertaken for a
variety of reasons: to solicit from another
validation, engagement, attention, support,
comfort, acceptance, reassurance, empathy,
understanding & advice/guidance. Doing so
fosters a sense of closeness/intimacy,
perspective/sense -making & shared-experience.
3. The benefits of sharing help us regulate our
emotions.
4. The recipient of our social sharing experiences an
 Two Mode Theory of Social
Sharing
Two-Mode Theory of Social Sharing states that a)
socio-affective sharing will only temporarily
alleviate emotional distress, whereas b)
cognitive sharing will contribute to emotional
recovery.
Social-Affective Sharing: listening,
understanding, positive regard; comforting,
consolation, caring, reassuring, empathy,
perspective-taking, validating self-esteem; provide
concrete help & assistance. Fosters bonds & shared-
experience.
Cognitive Sharing; reframing the event;
reappraising the emotional episode; creating
Dynamics of Social Sharing
 Culture & Emotional Management
1. Culture — as a group with shared beliefs, practices & values
— impacts our emotional experience and expression.
2. Cultural norms may differ (eg Western vs Eastern),
promoting or discouraging emotional expressiveness in
public. Cultures socialize their members’ emotional
experience and expression
3. Microcultures are specialized subgroups that impose
social pressures to manage a member’s emotional
expressiveness
4. Emotion Management is the process wherein one learns to
a. manage one’s private, spontaneous emotions &
feelings,
b. in a situationally-adaptive, publicly-scripted &
socially-desirable way
End of Chapter 13

Copyright © 2018 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All rights reserved