🧠 EMOTION - Complete Study Notes

📋 LEARNING OUTCOMES

1. Define emotion and aggression
2. Define and describe different components in the physiology of emotion
3. Compare and contrast the three theories of emotion
4. Determine the role of emotion in health
5. Describe emotional intelligence

SECTION 1 - DEFINITION OF EMOTION

What is Emotion?

• Emotion gives colour, meaning, and intensity to our lives
• Makes art, films, poetry, and novels enjoyable and relatable
• Plutchik (1982) defined emotion as:

  "An inferred complex sequence of reactions to a stimulus including cognitive evaluations, subjective changes, autonomic and neural arousal, impulses to action, and behavior designed to have an effect upon the stimulus that initiated the complex sequence."

• This definition is useful but not complete - emotion is difficult to define with precision

How Many Emotions Are There?

• There are many named emotions (joy, fear, sadness, anger, surprise, disgust, etc.)
• The list is considered endless

Map of Emotion (Tellegen, Watson & Clark, 1999)

• Emotions are related to one another and can be mapped on a grid
• Key dimensions:
  • Level of neuronal arousal (high vs. low)
  • Valence (pleasant vs. unpleasant)
• Example: high arousal + unpleasant = fear/anger; high arousal + pleasant = excitement/joy

SECTION 2 - PHYSIOLOGY OF EMOTION

Action Tendency and States of Arousal

• Every emotional state includes a readiness for action (called "action tendency")
  • Anger → readiness to attack
  • Joy → readiness to jump up and hug people
• Getting ready for action requires activation of the Sympathetic Nervous System (SNS)
  • Highly active SNS = intense/high arousal
  • Inactive SNS = low arousal

Role of the Nervous System in Emotional States

The Polygraph (Lie-Detector Test)

• A device that measures physiological responses: blood pressure, heart rate, breathing rate, sweating
• Based on the assumption that lying causes emotional arousal and therefore physiological changes
• Uses the Guilty Knowledge Test (GKT):
  • Asks questions only the guilty party would know the answers to
  • Monitors physiological response to identify guilt
• Limitations:
  • People respond differently to questions (some innocent people show arousal, some guilty people do not)
  • It is inaccurate and therefore no longer used in courts

SECTION 3 - THEORIES OF EMOTION

The 4 Basic Elements of Emotion

1. Stimulus - a person, creature, event, or situation
2. Conscious experience - what we feel (positive or negative)
3. Physiological arousal - produced by the nervous system
4. Behaviour - the action produced

Theory 1 - Common Sense View

• The "everyday" understanding: something happens, we feel it, then we act
• Psychologists challenged this linear view

Theory 2 - James-Lange Theory (1880s)

"We feel sorry because we cry, angry because we strike, afraid because we tremble."

• The physical response comes first - the emotion (feeling) is the brain's interpretation of the body's reaction

Theory 3 - Cannon-Bard Theory

Event → Action (behaviour & bodily reactions)
     ↘ Feelings

• Both the bodily response AND the emotional feeling happen at the same time, triggered by the same event
• Critiqued James-Lange by arguing you don't need to feel the body react first to feel emotion

Theory 4 - Cognitive Theory

• It is not the event itself, but what the stimulus and body arousal MEAN to you that produces emotion
• Two people can experience the same event and feel different emotions based on their interpretation

Comparison of the Three Main Theories

SECTION 4 - ANGER AND AGGRESSION

What is Anger?

• Anger is an example of an emotion
• It is an emotional state associated with a desire to hurt someone or drive them away
• It is a response to events or conditions that are:
  • Unpleasant
  • Unfair
  • Potentially changeable
• People who habitually interpret events as malicious or hostile tend to get angry more often, which can lead to aggression

What is Aggression?

Reducing Violence/Aggression:

• Freud suggested catharsis (releasing aggression in a safe way, e.g., exercise or venting)
• Recent research supports the Social Learning Theory - the best way to reduce violence is to reduce violent environments (e.g., less exposure to violent media, role models)

SECTION 5 - ROLE OF EMOTION IN HEALTH

What is Health?

• WHO Definition of Health:

  "Health is a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity."

• WHO Definition of Mental Health:

  "A state of well-being in which every individual realizes his or her own potential, can cope with the normal stresses of life, can work productively and fruitfully, and is able to make a contribution to her or his community."

How Emotion Affects Health:

• Inability to manage emotion leads to a life full of anger, sadness, or fear → STRESS
• Stress can negatively affect both mental and physical health
• Managing emotions is therefore critical to living a healthy life

SECTION 6 - EMOTIONAL INTELLIGENCE

Are Emotions Bad?

• Old view: Emotions are disruptive and dangerous and drive us toward undesirable behaviours
• Modern view: Emotions are also helpful - they:
  • Help us make quick and useful decisions
  • Help us remember better
  • Enable empathy, which is necessary in caring professions (medicine, nursing, counselling)
• The challenge is knowing when to follow gut feelings and when to discard them

What is Emotional Intelligence?

"The ability to recognise the meanings of emotions and their relationships and to use emotions effectively in reasoning and problem solving."

Three Components of Emotional Intelligence:

Outcomes of High Emotional Intelligence:

• Fewer conflicts and less frustration
• More likeable to others
• Better relationships and decision-making

📝 TAKE HOME MESSAGE (Summary)

1. Emotion is a complex reaction - its components include: stimulus, physiological reaction, behaviour, and conscious experience of feeling
2. The three main theories of emotion are: James-Lange Theory, Cannon-Bard Theory, and Cognitive Theory
3. Anger is one important example of emotion that can lead to aggression - three main theories explain aggression (Freud, Frustration-Aggression, Social Learning)
4. To live healthily, we need to learn to handle our emotions - this is emotional intelligence

Quick Exam Tip: The most commonly tested area is the comparison between the three theories of emotion - know the order of events and key thinker for each. Also memorize the three components of emotional intelligence (Perceiving, Understanding, Managing).