PowerPoint® Presentation by Jim Foley

© 2013 Worth Publishers

Chapter 12Emotions, Stress, and

Health

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I face a stranger, and my heart is pounding. Is it fear? Excitement? Anger? Lust? Or did I have too much caffeine? The label completes the emotion.

Schachter-Singer “Two-factor” Theory:Emotion = Body Plus a Cognitive Label

The Schachter-Singer “two-factor” theory suggests that emotions do not exist until we add a label to whatever body sensations we are feeling.

In a study by Stanley Schachter and Jerome Singer in 1962, subjects experienced a spillover effect when arousal was caused by injections of what turned out to be adrenaline. The subjects interpreted their agitation to whatever emotion the others in the room appeared to be feeling; the emotional label “spilled over” from others.

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Robert Zajonc, Joseph LeDoux,and Richard Lazarus:

Emotions without Awareness/CognitionTheory: some emotional reactions, especially fears, likes, and dislikes, develop in a “low road” through the brain, skipping conscious thought.

In one study, people showed an amygdala response to certain images (above, left) without being aware of the image or their reaction.

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When Appraisal Affects EmotionStanley Schachter and Jerome Singer highlighted the role of appraisal in labeling consciously experienced emotions: “this agitation is fear.”

Richard Lazarus noted that even in emotional responses that operate without conscious thought, “top-down” cognitive functions such as appraisal of stimuli (is that a threat or something I would enjoy?) can be involved .

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Detecting Emotion in Others People read a great deal of

emotional content in the eyes (“the window to the soul”) and the faces.

Introverts are better at detecting emotions; extroverts have emotions that are easier to read.

We are primed to quickly detect negative emotions, and even negative emotion words.

Those who have been abused are biased toward seeing fearful faces as angry, as in the test below.

These faces morph from fear to anger. Raise your hand when you first see anger under the red box.

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Detecting Lies and Fakes

Polygraphs (detecting physiological arousal) fail sometimes at correctly identifying when people are lying.

Visible signs of lying: eye blinks decrease, and other facial movements change.

Brain signs of lying:

In which image is Paul Ekman “lying” with a fake smile? A real smile uses involuntary muscles around the eyes.

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Culture and Emotional Expression:Are There Universally Recognized Emotions?

There seem to be some universally understood facial expressions.

People of various cultures agree on the emotional labels for the expressions on the faces on the right.

People in other studies did have more accuracy judging emotions from their own culture.

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Emotion Detection and Context Cues

What emotions do you see below? How can you tell what emotions he is feeling? Because the faces are exactly the same, our detection of

emotion must be based on context: the situation, gestures, and the tears.

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Carroll Izzard suggested that there are ten basic emotions: those evident at birth (seen here) plus contempt, shame, and guilt.

Is Experienced Emotion as Universal as Expressed Emotion?

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A flash of anger gives us energy and initiative to fight or otherwise take action when necessary.

Persistent anger can cause more harm than whatever we’re angry about.

Some ways to keep anger from persisting: distraction, constructive action, problem-solving, exercise, verbal expression, and allowing others to be wrong.

The catharsis myth refers to the idea that we can reduce anger by “releasing” it, and we do this by acting aggressively (yelling, punching a pillow).

In most cases, expressing anger worsens it, and any “release” reinforces the aggression, making it a conditioned habit.

Sometimes, releasing anger causes harm, and results in guilt.

Instead, try calming down and moving on.

Closer Look at a Particular Emotion: Anger

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There also may be a genetic basis for a predisposition to happiness. Whether because of genes, culture, or personal history, we each seem to develop a mood “set point,” a level of happiness to which we keep returning.

There are behaviors that seem to go with happiness.

Researchers have found that happy people tend to:

However, happiness seems not much related to other factors, such as:

Have high self-esteem (in individualistic countries)

Be optimistic, outgoing, and agreeable Have close friendships or a satisfying

marriage Have work and leisure that engage their

skills Have an active religious faith Sleep well and exercise

Age (example: the woman at the laptop in the picture)

Gender (women are more often depressed, but also more often joyful)

Parenthood (having children or not)

Physical attractiveness

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Closer Look at a Particular Emotion: Happiness

Stress: A Focus of Health Psychology Many people report being affected by “stress.” Some terms psychologists use to talk about stress:

a stressor is an event or condition which we view as threatening, challenging, or overwhelming. Examples include poverty, an

explosion, a psychology test, feeling cold, being in a plane, and loud noises.

appraisal refers to deciding whether to view something as a stressor.

stress reaction refers to any emotional and physical responses to the stressor such as rapid heartbeat, elevated cortisol levels, and crying.

Stress refers to the process of appraising and responding to events which we consider threatening or challenging.

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Stressors

There may be a spectrum of levels of intensity and persistence of stressors.We can also see stressors as falling into one of three categories:

catastrophes.significant life changes.chronic daily hassles.

Stressors refer to the events and conditions that trigger our stress response, because they are perceived/ appraised as overwhelmingly challenging, threatening, and/or harmful.

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When encountering a sudden trauma or other stressor, our body acts to increase our resistance to threat and harm.

The Body’s Stress Response System

Phase 1: The “fight or flight” sympathetic nervous system responds, reducing pain and increasing the heart rate.The core of the adrenal glands produces norepinephrine and epinephrine (adrenaline).This system, identified by Walter Cannon (1871-1945), gives us energy to act.

Phase 3: Exhaustion.

Phase 2: The brain sends signals to the outer part of the adrenal glands to produce cortisol and other stress hormones. These focus us on planning adaptive coping strategies and resisting defeat by the stressor.Hans Selye (1907-1982) indentified this extended “resistance” phase of the stress response, followed by:

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General Adaptation Syndrome [GAS](Identified by Hans Selye):

Our stress response system defends, then fatigues.

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Effects of Prolonged Stress The General Adaptation Syndrome [GAS] works well

for single exposures to stress. Repeated and prolonged stress, with too much Phase

3 time, leads to various signs of physical deterioration and premature aging: the production of new neurons declines neural circuits in the brain break down DNA telomeres (chromosome tips) shorten,

cells lose ability to divide, cells die, tissue stops regenerating, early aging and death

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Health Consequences of Chronic Stress: The Repeated Release of Stress Hormones The stress hormone cortisol

helps our bodies respond to brief stress.

Chronically high cortisol levels damage the body.

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Female and Male Stress Response

In response to a stressor such as the death of a loved one, women may “tend and befriend”: nurture themselves and others, and bond together.

The bonding hormone oxytocin may play a role in this bonding.

Women show behavioral and neurological signs of becoming more empathetic under stress.

Men under stress are more likely to socially withdraw and numb themselves with alcohol.

Men are also more likely to become aggressive under stress.

In either case, men’s behavior and brains show LESS empathy and less tuning in to others under stress.

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Type A PersonalityStressHeart Disease

Some personality traits tend to cluster into personality types.

People with a type A personality are impatient, verbally aggressive, and always pushing themselves and others to achieve.

People with a type B personality are more relaxed and go with the flow.

In one study, heart attacks ONLY struck people with Type A traits.Accomplishing goals is healthy, but a compulsion to always be working, with little time spent “smelling the flowers,” is not.19

Pessimism and Heart Disease

It can be helpful to realistically anticipate negative events that may happen, and to plan how to prevent or cope with them.

Men who are generally pessimistic are more likely to develop heart disease within ten years than optimists.

Pessimism refers to the assumption that negative outcomes will happen, and often facing them by complaining and/or giving up.

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Stress factor: Perceived Level of Control Only the

middle, subordinate rat had increased ulcers.

It is not the level of shock, but the level of control over the shock, which created stress.

Experiment: the left and middle rats below received shocks. The rat on the left was able to turn off the shocks for both rats. Which rat had the worst stress and health problems?

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Promoting Health: Social Support Having close relationships is

associated with improved health, immune functioning, and longevity.

Social support, including from pets, provides a calming effect that reduces blood pressure and stress hormones.

Confiding in others helps manage painful feelings.

Laughter helps too.

“Well, I think you’re wonderful.” 22

Aerobic Exercise and Health

Aerobic exercise triggers certain genes to produce proteins which guard against more than 20 chronic diseases and conditions.

Aerobic exercise reduces the risk of heart disease, cognitive decline and dementia, and early death.

Aerobic exercise refers to sustained activity that raises heart rate and oxygen consumption.

Aerobic exercise reduces depression and anxiety, and improves stress management, and is correlated with high confidence, vitality, and energy, and good mood.

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