Emotion, Stress & health

Ekman found 6 facial expressions that could be recognized around

the world

• What 6 emotions do you suppose those are that are expressed with the same ‘face’ around the world?

Can you draw a picture for each?

• Surprise• Disgust• Happiness• Sadness• Anger• Fear• Pride• Contempt

Ekman knows which muscles you need for each of these emotions

Can you imagine a different “feeling” for each?

• Sadness

• Anger

• Fear

• Pride

Why do we need emotion?

• What purpose does it serve?

Brain and body: Experience + physiological activity

• Amygdala – QUICK response, straight from thalamus –

arousal in ANS– SLOW response from thalamus via cortex –

ok to turn off the fear? Or not….

• Pre-frontal Cortex*– Approach! Good!– Avoid this! Bad!

*When damaged in “frontal lobotomy,” people do neither – they do nothing.

Mirror neurons, facial feedback, empathy and “contagious” moods

• A happy brain makes us smile, but a smile can make our brain happier, too

• When we see others smile, our smiling neurons fire, too… so…

• Smiling is “contagious”

Try this….

If your last name begins A-L

• Hold the end of your pen between your teeth

If your last name begins M-Z

• Hold the end of your pen between your lips

Gender Differences in Emotion

• Feeling or Expression?

Can stress make you sick?

• Stressors very likely to affect the immune system:– Work related: unemployment and colds!– Noise: airports and blood pressure,

hormones, learning problems – Bereavement/loss: Widowed men’s mortality

rate rises– Poverty, powerlessness, low status

Is the glass half full?

• How do optimists approach problems?

• How do pessimists approach problems?

Which is more likely to lead to a heart attack…

• Anger?

• A heavy workload?

Who benefits from forgiveness?

Who benefits from holding a grudge?