Unit 9 – Emotion, Stress and Health

Do we smile because we’re happy?

Are we happy because we smile?

OR

Comic Test

• Materials: two writing utensils and the comic sheet

• Left side of room: hold one writing utensil between your nose and upper lip

• Right side of room: hold one writing utensil in your teeth, with your lips never touching

• Rate the following cartoons in terms of their humor on a scale of 1 (not funny at all) to 7 (extremely funny) • use the other utensil to write with on the comic sheet provided

How you think determines how you feel

The Spillover Effect

James-Lange Theory

Cannon-Bard Theory

• Disagreed with James-Lange• emotions occur simultaneously in the brain and body. • The brain routes the sensory message to both at the same time.

• Cannon Bard’s theory explains how the same physiological arousal can cause different emotions.

Schacter’s Two Factor theory(AKA Two Factor, Schacter-Singer Two Factor, etc)

• Combines the other two.• physical arousal is fuel that intensifies the

emotion.• after arousal occurs, the brain then puts a label

thru cognition, deciding what the emotions should be.

Zajonc: response may precede cognition

LeDoux’s Dual Pathways

Summing it all up -

• Arousal fuels emotion• Cognition channels it

Physiology of Emotion

• Emotions caused an aroused physiological state: • automatic/sympathetic nervous system.

• Glucose released• Respiration increased• Blood clotter released• Adrenaline: epinephrine, norepinephrine • Blood pressure up.

Emotion and the Brain

•Different emotions flow through different brain circuits.•Disgust/sadness = right brain circuits•Happiness/positive emotions = left frontal lobe

activities

Expressing Emotion• Feeling emotion and expressing emotions are two very

different things.• Much of communication is nonverbal: body, face and

gestures.

• Staring into eyes can give good “love” information.• People are very good at reading nonverbal cues. You can tell a

happy face from 100 yds.• Angry faces tend to leap out of the crowd at you.• Women are better at perceiving lies, loves, and emotional

cues.

Reading Emotions

• Introverts are better at reading nonverbal cues •extraverts are better at expressing them.•Females are better than males.

Expressiveness

•Behavior Feedback phenomenon. • Expressions not only communicate emotion but

they regulate it:

• Smiling will make you happier.•Walking boldly will make you more confident.•Pull up on your desk, push down on it, which

feels better?

Paul Ekman: Expressiveness and Culture• However, facial expressions for various expressions are universal.

(Ekman)• For instance, Japanese rarely show self-aggrandizing and negative emotions

• but likely to show happiness, as means of social glue.