What are the differences between emotion, affect, and mood?
-Emotion: a specific (conscious?) evaluative reaction to some event =I am afraid of alligators-Mood: general disposition or state =I'm in a bad mood-Affect: valence of evaluation toward an event =I have a negative affective response to alligators
How does affect motivate behavior and why does it do this?
-It motivates behavior by spiking physiological arousal-Controls how you feel about a given behavior and helps you decide whether you'll engage in that behavior or not.
Are affective responses automatic or controlled and what are the implications of this? Are affective responses weak or strong?
-Automatic and strong
How does affect contribute to learning and decision making? How does the Iowa Gambling Task study demonstrate this?
-You don't learn how to feel about things so you repeat decisions-People without the ability for affect repeat mistakes-Iowa Gambling Task =Control participants learn to avoid risky decks +Felt twinges of affect =Brain damaged patients never learned +Don't learn to anticipate loss (punishment)
What were the different theories of emotion discussed in class? How do each of them explain how we reach our emotions? Which is the currently accepted theory and why?
-James-Lange Theory of Emotion =Stimulus --> Physiological Arousal --> Emotion =Wrong-Cannon-Bard Theory of Emotion =Stimulus (separately leads to) -->Physiological Arousal -->Emotion =Wrong-Schacter-Singer Theory of Emotion =Stimulus (separately leads to) -->Physiological Arousal -->Cognitive Appraisal *these two interact and lead to* -->Emotion =Currently accepted
What is misattribution of arousal and what were the methods and findings of the study examples we discussed in class?
-Considering your arousal is from one thing when, in reality, it's from another-White et al. (1981) =Men ran in place for 15 seconds vs.
120 seconds =Saw a video of an attractive woman or unattractive woman they expected to meet =How attracted to the woman were they? -The 120 second joggers felt a significantly larger amount of arousal for the attractive woman than for the unattractive woman. The amount of attraction for the attractive woman was higher than that felt by 15 second joggers, and the amount of attraction they felt for the unattractive woman was lower than that felt by the 15 second joggers. Your propensity for arousal increases as your physical activity increases. Sometimes humans think one thing is arousing them when it's actually another.
What is the domain specificity theory of emotions?
-Effect of emotion is dependent upon specific emotion
What are the specific functions of specific emotions discussed in class?
-Disgust - Avoid disease-Sadness - Seek social support-Sexual Arousal - Find a romantic partner-Love - Maintain relationship
What were the methods and findings of the study on attention and love?
-Maner, Rouby, & Gonzaga (2008) =Think about a time you were happy vs.
in love =How do we direct our attention? =Write essay about happy & love =Look at pictures of attractive and average members of both genders =The results of the study confirmed the proposed hypothesis as it was discovered that individuals thinking about their romantic partner paid less attention to attractive alternatives at early stages of visual processing. In fact, instead of paying attention, the participants thinking about their romantic partner seemed to be repelled by images of attractive members of opposite sex. +So, emotions play a role in our perception of reality.
How do we know that emotional expressions are universal and automatic?
-Expressions are universal because: =Communication for survival? (e.g., strangers, babies) =Expressions are functional (e.g., disgust, anger, fear)-People are very good at identifying emotions (usually) =Cross culturally =Cross species?
What factors affect how we perceive emotions? What factors affect how we express emotions?
-Perceptions: =Expectations =Stereotypes =Our own emotional states +Fear can influence our perceptions of anger in others (Maner et al., 2005) =Our own gender +Women are quicker and better able at identifying other's emotions-Expressions: =Cultural differences =Power differences =Gender differences
What are the gender differences in emotion, if there are any?
-There are no differences in the emotions we feel, just the way that we display them
