emotions, stress, and health
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AHHHHH!!!. Emotions, Stress, and Health. Emotions!. Its Just Emotions…. Emotions: a response of the whole organism involving (1) physiological arousal, (2) expressive behaviors, and (3) conscious experience . The All Important Question. Which came first: chicken or egg?. - PowerPoint PPT PresentationTRANSCRIPT
Emotions, Stress, and Health
AHHHHH!!!
Emotions!
Its Just Emotions…
Emotions: a response of the whole organism involving (1) physiological arousal, (2) expressive behaviors, and (3) conscious experience
The All Important Question Which came first: chicken or egg?
But really… the important question How do we fit the three areas of
emotions together? Physiological arousal precede or
follow emotional experience? So which came first, physical arousal or
emotional experience?
Theories on Emotions
James-Lange Theory (William James and Carl Lange) Theory that states: first there is a
distinct physiological response, then comes our emotional experience
FEAR
Theories on Emotions
Cannon-Bard Theory Theory that an emotion-arousing
stimulus simultaneously triggers (1) physiological response and (2) the subjective experience of emotions▪ Emotion and physical experience happen at
the same time
FEAR
Theories on Emotions
Two-Factor Theory (Stanley Schachter and Jerome Singer) Theory that to experience emotion one
must be (1) physically aroused and (2) cognitively level the arousal▪ Emotions grow from our awareness of our
body’s arousalI’M
AFRAID FEAR
Physiology of Emotions
Emotions involve the body Emotions and the Autonomic
Nervous system ANS- mobilizes your body for action and
calms it when crisis has passed
Physiology of Emotions
Physiology of Emotions
▪ Sympathetic division directs adrenal glands to release the stress hormones ephinephrine (adrenaline) and norepinephrine (noradrenaline)▪ Parasympathetic division takes over
after crisis has passed calming your body▪ Inhibits further release of stress hormones
Physiology of Emotions
Physiological similarities among specific emotions: Some emotions appear to be the same
based on physiological expression internally▪ Fear, anger, sexual arousal
Physiology of Emotions
Physiological differences among specific emotions Body Temp (finger temps) and hormone
secretions differ Facial expressions differ
Physiology of Emotions Emotions activate different areas of the brain’s cortex▪ Negative emotions linked to right hemisphere
and positive to the left hemisphere▪ Disgust triggered activity in right prefrontal cortex
▪ Positive people show more activity in the left hemisphere and left prefrontal cortex▪ Brain damage to right hemisphere can also affect
emotional mood May be due to left hemisphere’s high level of
dopamine receptors
Physiology of Emotions
With knowledge of physiological response and emotions, does this information support James-Lange Theory? Psychologist George Homann (1966)▪ Studied observations of 25 soldiers with severed
spinal cords▪ Found that those with lower spine injuries reported little
change in emotions▪ Those with high spinal cord injuries experience emotions
above the neck Some researchers feel that our feelings are shadows of
bodily response
FEAR
Physiology of Emotions
Does this mean that Cannon and Bard were wrong?
FEAR
Physiology of Emotions
Cognition and Emotion Spill over effect▪ Schachter and Singer aroused college men
with injections of epinephrine (adrenaline) ▪ Found that a stirred up state can be experienced as
one emotion or another very different emotion depending on how we interpret and label it Ex. Insult someone who has just been aroused by
pedaling an exercise bike or watching rock videos. Their anger will exceed that of people who are similarly provoked but not previously aroused.
Physiology of Emotions
Cognition does not always precede emotions Robert Zajonc has stated that we
actually have many emotional reactions apart from our interpretations of a situation
We are acutely sensitive to emotionally significant responses
Subliminally flashed stimulus can prime a mood or specific emotion and lead us to feel better or worse about a follow-up stimulus
Physiology of Emotions
Low road pathway (bypass the cortex) Shortcut enables emotional response
before our intellect intervenes
High road pathway (goes through the cortex) Amygdala sends more neural projections
up the cortex than it receives back▪ Makes it easier for emotions to hijack our
thinking
Simple likes, dislikes, and fears involve no conscious thinking
Other, more complex, emotions are influenced by our memories
Expressing Emotions
How do we know how someone is feeling? What do we look for when someone is angry or sad or even happy?
Does nonverbal language vary from culture to culture or is it a set thing?
Expressing Emotions
We can pick up on facial expressions Abused children can more quickly pick
up on the look of anger▪ Shown a face that is 60% fear and 40%
anger, they will likely see anger
Expressing Emotions
Emotions also give off involuntary movement which are difficult to conceal Lifting inner part of your eyebrows
reveals distress or worry Eyebrows raised and pulled together
show fear What is the difference between a fake
and real smile?
Expressing Emotions
Genuine smiles last, typically, less than 5 seconds and are activated by the muscles under the eyes
Expressing Emotions
Spotting deceiving expressions? Research shows that people are only
54% accurate in discerning truth from lies which is slightly better than a coin toss
Introverts are better at reading others, whereas extroverts are more readable
Expressing Emotions
One study found when given a choice between possibilities of emotions (thin slices) people tend to excel in deciphering emotions
Physiology of Emotions May be due to left hemisphere’s high level of
dopamine receptors Nucleus accumbens: cluster of neurons that light
up when people experience natural or drug induced pleasure
Gender, emotions, and nonverbal behavior Do females have “women’s
intuition”? Judith Hal said that when women are
given “thin slices” they generally surpass men at reading people’s emotional cues
Women also have in edge in spotting lies Women tend to express more complex
emotions than men
Gender, emotions, and nonverbal behavior Women tend to have extremely
strong perception of emotionality With the exception of anger▪ Anger is seen as a masculine emotion▪ If a gender neutral face is smiling it is seen as
female, but if it is an angry face it is seen as a male
Gender, emotions, and nonverbal behavior Women are more likely to experience
empathy You identify with others and imagine
what is must be like to walk in their footsteps
Physiological measures shows a much smaller gap than surveys show
Culture and Emotional Expressions The meaning of gestures varies from
culture to culture Otto Klineberg observed Chinese
literature and noticed:▪ Clapped their hands when worried▪ Laughed a great “Ho-Ho” to express anger▪ Stuck out their tongue when they were
surprised
Culture and Emotional Expressions President Richard Nixon faced issues
with different meanings of expressions Nixon did the A-OK sign in Brazil, which
there means “Let’s have sex”
Culture and Emotional Expressions However, regardless of cultural
background, Paul Ekman found simple facial expressions are the same around the world Happy=smile Etc.
Culture and Emotional Expressions Even blind children show facial
expressions Children who are blind from both still
exhibit the same facial expressions as their seeing counterpart▪ Charles Darwin theorized that prior to spoken
language, ancestors would display emotions and communicate through facial expressions
Culture and Emotional Expressions While facial expressions are typically
constant world wide, they differ in how much emotion they show In many Western Cultures people show
more emotion because these cultures encourage individuality
In many Eastern Cultures the same is not true
The Effects of Facial Expressions James-Lange Theory is supported
In studies, people have been asked to smile and then scowl. After the scowl they were asked how they felt and the typical answer is angry▪ The face feeds our feelings
The Effects of Facial Expressions Students induced to smile have
happier moods and recalled happier memories Studies also show that just by activating
one of the smiling muscles by holding a pen in the teeth is enough to make cartoons seem more amusing
The Effects of Facial Expressions Two recent studies
Tiffany Ito (2006) used the pencil-in-lip procedure to induce happieness while showing pictures of peoples’ faces▪ If viewed black rather than white faces, the
later exhibited lessened racial bias against blacks
A second study used botox injections to paralyze frowning muscles on ten depressed patients▪ Two months after treatment, 9 out of 10 were
no longer depressed
Homework
Paul Ekman article…already posted online
Experienced Emotion
Its Just Emotions…
Emotions: a response of the whole organism involving (1) physiological arousal, (2) expressive behaviors, and (3) conscious experience
Experienced Emotion
Carroll Izard isolated 10 basic emotions▪ Joy, interest-excitement, surprise, sadness,
anger, disgust, contempt, fear, shame, and guilt
Jessica Tracey and Richard Robins believe that pride is also a distinct emotion
Phillip Shaver believed that love was a basic emotion▪ Izard argued that love is a combination of joy
and excitement
Experienced Emotion
Two-Dimensions of Emotions
Experienced Emotion
Emotion of Fear Fear can be poisonous and contagious Fear is designed to help our bodies flee
from danger Fearful expressions improve peripheral
vision and speed eye movement
Experienced Emotion
Learning Fear We learn fear through conditioning
▪ Little Albert▪ These fears can be conditioned and
morph into several fears Learn fear socially▪ Susan Mineka and monkeys▪ Humans learn fear by watching other as well
Experienced Emotion
Biology of Fear Amygdala▪ Plays a key role in associating various
emotions with certain situations. Hippocampus▪ Plays a key role in the development of new
memories, therefore remembering fearful situations.
Experienced Emotion
There are people who fall out of the normal range of fear Phobias: an intense fear of specific
objects or situations that disrupt their ability to cope
There are also those that are opposite and have few fears
Experienced Emotion
Anger What makes us angry?▪ Depends on the person▪ However, chronic hostility is linked to heart disease
How do we relieve anger?▪ Varies from person to person and culture to
culture▪ Cultures that focus on the group will typically
withhold anger because it can affect the group
Experienced Emotion
Western idea of venting your anger presumes that through aggressive actions or fantasy we can achieve emotional release or catharsis▪ Can help in some cases as long as we
don’t feel guilt▪ Ebbesen’s study showed that in some
cases venting can lead to more aggressions and hostility
Experienced Emotion
What is the best way to handle anger? First: Wait! Second: Talk it over with the person or
someone with counseling experience
Experienced Emotion
Happiness “How to gain, how to keep, how to
recover happiness is in fact for most men at all times the secret motive for all they do.” - William James▪ Feel-good, do-good phenomenon: people’s
tendency to be helpful when already in a good mood
Subjective well-being▪ Self perceived happiness or satisfaction with
life
Experienced Emotion
Short Life of Emotional Ups and Downs Watson and Kahneman found that
positive emotion rises over the early to middle part of most days
Also found that stressful events that bring a person down are typically gone the next day along with the associated bad mood
Stress and Health
How often do you experience stress? Gallup Poll 3 in 4 said they feel
stress “sometimes” to “frequently”▪ 50% of those under the age of 55 also said
they generally did not have enough time
Stress and Health
Stress and Illness Stress: the process by which we receive
and respond to certain events called stressors, that we appraise as threatening or challenging▪ Arises less from events themselves than from
how we appraise them▪ When perceived as a challenge stressors can
have positive effects
Stressful Event (tough math test)
Threat(Yikes! This is beyond me!)
Stressed to distraction
Challenge (I’ve got to apply what I know
Aroused, focused
Appraisal
Response
Stress and Health
Stress Response System Medical interest dates back to
Hippocrates (460-377 b.c.)▪ Walter Cannon (1929) confirmed that the
stress response is part of a unified mind-body system
Stress and Health
Fight or Flight: Adrenal glands trigger epinephrine and
norepinephrine ▪ Also secretes glucocorticoid stress hormones
such as cortisol
Stress and Health
Other stress responses Withdrawal:▪ Occurs in men more than women
Tend and befriend▪ Occurs in women more than men▪ Oxytocin- stress moderating hormone
associated with pair-bonding in animals and released by cuddling, massage, and breast feeding in humans
Stress and Health
General Adaptation Syndrome (GAS) Hans Selye’s concept of the body’s
adaptive response to stress in three states:▪ Alarm- activated by sympathetic nervous
system (heart rate increases, blood diverts to skeletal muscles)▪ Resistance- outpouring of hormones▪ Exhaustion- body’s tired after the depletion of
body’s hormone reserves
Stress and Health
Stressful Life Events Catastrophes Significant Life Changes Daily Hassles
Stress and Health
Stress and the Heart Coronary Heart Disease▪ Clogging of the vessels that nourish the heart
muscle; leading cause of death in many developed nations▪ Stress predicts heart attack risks
Stress and Health
Friedman and Rosenman’s Study Study done on 3000 men ages 35-59 Looked at Type A and Type B
personalities and heart attacks/disease
Stress and Health
Stress and Disease Psychophysiological Illness▪ Literally “mind-body” illness; any stress-
related physical illness, such as hypertension and some headaches
Psychoneuroimmunology (PNI)▪ The study of how psychological, neural, and
endocrine process together affect the immune system resulting in health
Stress and Health
Lymphocytes The two types of white blood cells that
are part of the body’s immune system: B lymphocytes form in bone marrow and release antibodies that fight bacterial infections; T lymphocytes form in the thymus and other lymphatic tissue and attack cancer cells, viruses, and foreign substances
Stress and Health
Immune system can err Respond too strongly it attacks body
tissue Under reacting it may allow dormant
viruses to erupt or cancer cells multiply Stress depresses the immune system▪ Surgical wounds heal more slowly in stressed
humans▪ Stressed filled lives show increase
susceptibility to catching disease▪ Managing stress may be life sustaining
Stress and Health
Stress and AIDS Stress correlates with a progression from
HIV to AIDS and the speed of decline in those infected
Homework
Read Friedman and Rosenman’s Study found online and answer the questions that go along with it