EMOTIONS I:Defining Emotions, Behavioral component, Cognitive component

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Introduction to Psychology PSY101

Lecture No. 27

EMOTIONS I

Defining Emotions

· Derived from the Latin word "Emovere" emotion means "to excite, stir up or agitate".

· A response that includes feelings such as happiness, fear, sadness, grief, sorrow etc: it is the

amalgamation of:

Physiological arousal,

ii.

Expression of and

iii.

The conscious or the cognitive experience of the situation that influence behavior.

In psychology, emotion is considered a response to stimuli that involves characteristic physiological

changes--such as increase in pulse rate, rise in body temperature, greater or less activity of certain

glands, change in rate of breathing--and tends in itself to motivate the individual toward further

activity.

As human beings, we have all experienced a range of emotions from happiness, sadness, love, hate, to

indifference along with many other emotions.

Emotions are feelings, highly subjective personal tendencies to respond to internal and external

variables. Emotions have cognitive, physiological and behavioral components. Our cognitive

appraisals and evaluations of events in our lives are key determinants to our emotional responses.

Emotions are accompanied by physiological arousal of the automatic nervous system that leads to

physical symptoms such as increase in respiration and heart rate. The behavioral component of

emotions is expressed in our nonverbal body language including facial expressions.

Components of emotional experience

Physiological

Cognitive

Behavioral

Physiological/ physical component

The physical component of emotion is a psychological arousal that usually accompanies the emotion the

body is feeling. If the body did not experience this arousal, the intensity of this emotion would be greatly

decreased. During the arousal, the body experiences a surge of powerful feelings known as emotions.

People who can detect changes in their arousal level experience their emotions much more intensely than

those who cannot detect the changes in their arousal level.

Behavioral component

This component has been called the outward expression of our emotions. Body gestures, posture, facial

expressions, and our tone of voice display what emotions we are feeling. Many of our facial expressions are

universal. For instance, if somebody has a mad look on their face, it doesn't matter what language they

speak or where they are from, chances are... they're mad. However, some emotional expressions are

influenced by our cultures and society's rules for displaying emotions. For example, the guards outside of

Buckingham Palace are not allowed to display any emotion on their face. Some people have described them

as looking mad when in reality they are not.

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Cognitive component

The cognitive component is how we interpret certain situations or stimulations. This determines which

emotion our body will feel. For example; if you are alone, sitting in the dark, watching a scary movie, and

you hear a loud noise, you may become scared... fearing that there is an immediate threat or that you are in

danger. This emotional response to this imaginary threat is just as powerful as it would be to a real threat.

Our perception to the imaginary threat is what makes it feel real to us and causes the emotion in our body.

Mc Dougall divided "Emotions" into three types:

1. Primary: Simple emotions as fear, happiness, anger, disgust etc.

2. Secondary Mixture of various instincts as curiosity, escape etc.

3. Derived Learn through experiences such as sadness, boredom etc.

· Have you ever thought why your heart pounds and you burst into tears on hearing dreadful news?

· Why people become afraid on seeing the snake?

· Why heart beats at a very high speed while you do jogging/ exercise?

· Why people face reddened on hearing the good news?

YOU THINK IT IS A SIMPLE PHENOMENON AND YOU KNOW THE ANSWERS

BUT IT IS NOT THAT SIMPLE!!!!

· Our heart may pound even at the sight of someone we hate. Also, before an interview or

presentation. Or when we are scared.

· AND

· Our face may blush and turn red when we are self conscious, or embarrassed, or angry.

So!!!!

· Same bodily changes may be manifest in different emotional experiences.

What makes the experience different is the accompanying expression and cognition.

Assessing Emotions: Expressions in Emotions

· Vocal, verbal and facial expressions play a vital role in determining emotions as well as our

interaction with the physical world. In interpreting emotion, the important things are;

· Acquaintance with the other person.

· Type of association with that person.

· Deriving clues from own emotional experiences in order to understand other's experiences as

well.

· Facial expressions clearly reflect the intensity of emotional experiences such as happiness, sadness,

anger, and sorrow: all can be understood from emotional expressions. However these vary from

person to person.

An adult's voice pattern clearly reflects their emotions. Variations in pitch or loudness express different

types of emotions.

Emotions and Cognition: Understanding Emotions

· Some psychologists believed that memory and cognition are entirely separate systems that functions

independently; some argue that we emotionally respond to the situation and then understand it

cognitively.

· On the other hand, other believed that we first cognitively evaluate the situation and then exhibit

the emotional experience we are facing at that time.

· Both point of view are somehow supported by the studies and the debate is still unresolved___ this

may be due the fact that emotional experiences varies from situation to situation and so the

cognitive appraisal and the emotional experiences.

Role of Emotions in Every Day Life

· Emotions make our life bright and enlightened, because without the experience of emotions, our

life would be dull, uninteresting, gloomy and without any purpose

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Psychologists identified number of functions of emotions that have a vital role in our daily life.

They are:

Stirred up for the fight or flight action After seeing a snake or after an un usual incident as

natural disaster; the body is prepared to stirred up our bodies to face and deal them.

Modifying the future responses and behavior Learning take place after the emotional state that

prepares us to manifest appropriate behaviors in future, i.e., strategies should be adopted to

minimize the aftermath of disasters and avoid us to face the snake.

Social interactions are enhanced As emotions are both verbal and non-verbal so they help

people to better understand the responses whether they are being expressed or not.

Common Emotions: Range of Emotions

There are number of basic emotion that have been identified by people in instance. They are:

· Happy

· Anger

· Fear

· Disgust

· Surprise

· Sadness.

J.B.Watson talked about three main emotions:

· Anger

· Love

· Fear

He proved in his experiments that infants are capable of these three primary emotions.

Psychologists have also identified other emotion or related expressions such as contempt, shame, and

startle.

Robert Plutchik (1984)

Robert Plutchik (1984) become able to determine the basic emotions and their relationship through his

studies; identified eight fundamental emotions. They are; joy, anger, sadness, surprise, fear, acceptance,

disgust and anticipation. He named it as Plutchik's emotional wheel.

· The emotions nearer to one another are closely related, while those that are opposite to each

other are conceptually opposites.

· The existence of only these emotions is the major short coming of this model; believed that

emotions can better be understood by breaking them into components/ elements.

Physiological component of emotions

Many physiological changes take place in an emotional state, in the form of changes in:

· Heart rate

· Pulse rate

· Respiration

· Blood pressure

· Digestion and appetite

· Muscular activity

· Body temperature

· Perspiration

· Endocrine and neurotransmitter secretions

· Blood sugar

· Salivary gland activity

· Pupil dilation.

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Role of the Nervous System in Emotions

· All the emotional experiences and their expressions are controlled and regulated by the autonomic

or visceral nervous system.

· A.N.S. is an integral part of peripheral nervous system.

PERIPHERAL NERVOUS SYSTEM

SKELETAL/SOMATIC

AUTONOMIC

(Sensory Input,

(Self-Regulatory/

Self-Governing)

Motor Output)

A. Peripheral Nervous System

i. Autonomic (Self Regulatory / Self

Governing)

Sympathetic

Parasympathetic

· Sympathetic

Nervous

Nervous System

Nervous system

System (arousing).

(Arousing)

(Calming)

· Parasympathetic Nervous

system (calming).

ii. Skeletal/Somatic (Sensory Input, Motor Output)

B. Autonomic Nervous System (A.N.S)

· Considered as the "self governing or self-regulatory mechanism" because of our involuntary

control over it.

· Control the glands and muscles of our internal organs such as heart (heart beat), stomach

(digestion) and glandular activity.

· A.N.S. has a dual function; i.e. both arousing and calming.

Sympathetic Nervous System (S.N.S)

· This part of A.N.S. arouses us for defensive action.

· If something alarms or enrages someone, the sympathetic nervous system will accelerates heart

beat, slow digestion, raises the sugar level in blood, dilates the arteries and cool the perspiration,

making one alert and ready for action.

Parasympathetic Nervous System

When the stressful situation subsides, parasympathetic nervous system started its activity.

It produces opposite effect to that of sympathetic nervous system.

It conserves energy by decreasing heartbeat.

Lowering blood pressure.

Lowering blood sugar and so on.

In daily life situation, both sympathetic and parasympathetic systems work together to keep us in

steady internal state (homeostasis).

Areas for Emotions in the Brain

· A.N.S. is the only center of emotions in P.N.S.

· Cortical and sub- cortical structures are involved in emotions.

· Cerebral cortex is involved in relating the present and past emotional experiences; others involved

in speed up the heart beat and, in learning emotional experiences

· Whereas sub- cortical regions are involved in organizing the emotional expressions.

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Besides that, the right hemisphere is the most active in recognizing and expressing the emotions we

are feeling. It also responds to emotions being conveyed by another person's body language or

tone of voice. For example, an employer sarcastically says to an employee who comes to work late,

"Glad to see you could make it today". If the employee had damage to his right hemisphere, he

may only understand the words and not the sarcastic undertones, whereas a person, whose right

hemisphere is functioning normally, would usually have a sarcastic response.

The right hemisphere helps in our expression through our tone of voice and by controlling our

facial expression. Since the right hemisphere controls the left side of the face, the left side usually

portrays stronger emotion than the right side of the face. Research continues to accumulate

information showing the mechanisms in the brain responsible for negative emotions reside in the

right hemisphere, while the left hemisphere is believed to control positive emotions. Research has

shown that patients who suffer from manic depression or major depression have decreased activity

in the left prefrontal cortex where the positive emotions are produced.

Much of the frontal lobes consists of areas that are involved with motivation, thinking, positive

emotion, impulse control, and other emotional responses. Any damage that occurs to the frontal

areas usually produces deficiencies in the ability to anticipate the results of our actions.

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