Welcome to the exciting world of Social Psychology!
Today I will be talking about one of the most essential factors that drive our social behaviour: emotions. I will go through different theories of emotions as well as some of the most important studies; I will then touch upon some criticism of tese theories which suggest that there is still a field for further research.
Today I will be talking about one of the most essential factors that drive our social behaviour: emotions. I will go through different theories of emotions as well as some of the most important studies; I will then touch upon some criticism of tese theories which suggest that there is still a field for further research.
Defining emotions
Firstly, how do we define emotions? It actually can be quite tricky if you think about it. Some try to define them in terms of the functions that they perform. Thus, emotions are either socially or evolutionarily adaptive. Keltner & Haidt (2001) created a taxonomy of evolutionary and social problems and emotions that help to solve them which well demonstrates the point. In their table, for example, problem like predation is addressed by emotions of fear and rage, which activate flight or fight system, allowing human to escape the danger. Similarly, problem of reproduction is addressed by emotions of love and desire, etc.
Others define emotions in relation to their components, such as: psychological experience, physiological changes, behaviours, cognition (thoughts) that they provoke. Most of the theories of emotion are based on this definition; however, there are many disagreements as to which components are influenced by emotions (or, on the contrary, are provoked by them).
Others define emotions in relation to their components, such as: psychological experience, physiological changes, behaviours, cognition (thoughts) that they provoke. Most of the theories of emotion are based on this definition; however, there are many disagreements as to which components are influenced by emotions (or, on the contrary, are provoked by them).
Theories of emotions
1. James-Lange theory
J-L theory was inspired by Darwin. The idea is that elicitor provokes physiological changes (dryness in mouth, increased heartbeat, sweat...) which then causes psychological experience (emotion). For example, we see a tiger (elicitor) - it causes us to sweat and our heart to beat faster - we experience fear. Such theory produced a Facial Feedback hypothesis: that purely physiological change (such as moving facial muscles) can induce emotion.The idea was that the brain interprets signals that it receives from face as an actual emotion, and the whole boy then becomes aroused, reacting to such signal.
Is there an evidence for it?
Strack et al. (1988) developed an experiment in which they made the participants to hold a pen in their mouths while watching funny cartoons; group 1 held a pen between their lips, preventing contraction of smiling muscles, while group 2 - between their teeth, thus contracting smiling muscles. Control group simply held a pen in a hand. What Strack found was that participants from the group 2 rated the cartoon as being much more humorous than the group 1!
2. Cannon-Bard theory
Cannon & Bard disagreed with James-Lange theory for several major reasons:
1) Time-course is wrong. They argued that sympathetic nervous system (the one that causes psychological reaction) switched on/off too slowly in their theory.
2) Same physiological changes occur in different emotions (fear and sexual arousal both cause increased heartbeat for example).
Thus, Cannon-Bard theory states that physiological and psychological changes occur simultaneously in our body as a reaction to external elicitor.
3. Schacter-Singer 2-factor theory
This theory suggests that an elicitor provokes physiological change first. It causes cognitive process (reasoning), during which people identify the reason for it - and only then they are able to experience and interpret their emotion.
Is there any evidence for it?
Duton & Aron (1974) devised a bidge experiment in which male participants were approached by either female or male confederate on one of the two bridges. Bridge A was 'fear-arousing suspension bridge'; another one - 'non-fear-arousing' stable bridge. The confederate asked participants to fill in a questionnaire containing Thematic Apperception Test, and further gave them his/her number in case participants wanted to contact them with questions about the study. What they found was that sexual imagery was much more apparent in the stories written by participants on the scary bridge; number of those who called a female confederate was also significantly higher among those approached on the scary bridge. This finding supports the theory that physiological arousal needs to be interpreted to cause an emotion; in this case, arousal from being on a scary bridge was misinterpreted as a sexual arousal in what is now called Misattribution of Arousal.
4. Cognitive Appraisal Theory
According to this school, physiological arousal is not always involved in emotional experience. Type of emotion that people experience depends on how they interpret an event. Thus, in this theory, elicitor is followed by cognition (reasoning) which then causes an appropriate emotion to occur; it then may or may NOT be followed by a physiological change.
Factors which determine the emotion include a) good/bad implication of an event and b) what caused an event - was it person him/herself? was it done on purpose/by accident?
Richard Lazarus (1982) suggested that there are three cognitive stages which determine emotions.
1) Primary Appraisal. Brief, basic analysis of an event happens at this stage: is it positive or negative? What are the implications for a perceiver?
2) Secondary Appraisal. In this stage people determine whether they have appropriate resources to cope with a situation - or can it be disregarded?
3) Re-Appraisal. This is when monitoring of a situation and coping strategies; modification of appraisal follows if needed.
However, there is a lot of criticism of the appraisal theory. Firstly, many of the studies seem artificial; it is quite clear in a real world, that direction of causality might actually go in reverse, and emotions could influence appraisals. Also, appraisals are very hard to monitor as they may occur subconsciously.
J-L theory was inspired by Darwin. The idea is that elicitor provokes physiological changes (dryness in mouth, increased heartbeat, sweat...) which then causes psychological experience (emotion). For example, we see a tiger (elicitor) - it causes us to sweat and our heart to beat faster - we experience fear. Such theory produced a Facial Feedback hypothesis: that purely physiological change (such as moving facial muscles) can induce emotion.The idea was that the brain interprets signals that it receives from face as an actual emotion, and the whole boy then becomes aroused, reacting to such signal.
Is there an evidence for it?
Strack et al. (1988) developed an experiment in which they made the participants to hold a pen in their mouths while watching funny cartoons; group 1 held a pen between their lips, preventing contraction of smiling muscles, while group 2 - between their teeth, thus contracting smiling muscles. Control group simply held a pen in a hand. What Strack found was that participants from the group 2 rated the cartoon as being much more humorous than the group 1!
2. Cannon-Bard theory
Cannon & Bard disagreed with James-Lange theory for several major reasons:
1) Time-course is wrong. They argued that sympathetic nervous system (the one that causes psychological reaction) switched on/off too slowly in their theory.
2) Same physiological changes occur in different emotions (fear and sexual arousal both cause increased heartbeat for example).
Thus, Cannon-Bard theory states that physiological and psychological changes occur simultaneously in our body as a reaction to external elicitor.
3. Schacter-Singer 2-factor theory
This theory suggests that an elicitor provokes physiological change first. It causes cognitive process (reasoning), during which people identify the reason for it - and only then they are able to experience and interpret their emotion.
Is there any evidence for it?
Duton & Aron (1974) devised a bidge experiment in which male participants were approached by either female or male confederate on one of the two bridges. Bridge A was 'fear-arousing suspension bridge'; another one - 'non-fear-arousing' stable bridge. The confederate asked participants to fill in a questionnaire containing Thematic Apperception Test, and further gave them his/her number in case participants wanted to contact them with questions about the study. What they found was that sexual imagery was much more apparent in the stories written by participants on the scary bridge; number of those who called a female confederate was also significantly higher among those approached on the scary bridge. This finding supports the theory that physiological arousal needs to be interpreted to cause an emotion; in this case, arousal from being on a scary bridge was misinterpreted as a sexual arousal in what is now called Misattribution of Arousal.
4. Cognitive Appraisal Theory
According to this school, physiological arousal is not always involved in emotional experience. Type of emotion that people experience depends on how they interpret an event. Thus, in this theory, elicitor is followed by cognition (reasoning) which then causes an appropriate emotion to occur; it then may or may NOT be followed by a physiological change.
Factors which determine the emotion include a) good/bad implication of an event and b) what caused an event - was it person him/herself? was it done on purpose/by accident?
Richard Lazarus (1982) suggested that there are three cognitive stages which determine emotions.
1) Primary Appraisal. Brief, basic analysis of an event happens at this stage: is it positive or negative? What are the implications for a perceiver?
2) Secondary Appraisal. In this stage people determine whether they have appropriate resources to cope with a situation - or can it be disregarded?
3) Re-Appraisal. This is when monitoring of a situation and coping strategies; modification of appraisal follows if needed.
However, there is a lot of criticism of the appraisal theory. Firstly, many of the studies seem artificial; it is quite clear in a real world, that direction of causality might actually go in reverse, and emotions could influence appraisals. Also, appraisals are very hard to monitor as they may occur subconsciously.
Facial Expressions of Emotions
Darwin suggested that facial expressions are directly linked to our emotions. According to his theory emotions have concomitant facial expressions which:
1) Have once been evolutionary functional (now - mostly vestigal)
2) Are innate
3) Are species specific
4) Are universally understood within species
Darwin's early work is still influential and is finding evidence in modern studies. In the next section, I will look at three approaches which scientists took to assess universality of facial expressions suggested by Darwin.
1) Have once been evolutionary functional (now - mostly vestigal)
2) Are innate
3) Are species specific
4) Are universally understood within species
Darwin's early work is still influential and is finding evidence in modern studies. In the next section, I will look at three approaches which scientists took to assess universality of facial expressions suggested by Darwin.
Universality of Facial Expressions
1. Studies of those born blind. There has been a great study of blind paralympic participants. The following video describes the study.
2. Members of various cultures were being observed when spontaneously making facial expressions and when asked to make them on request - it was found repeatedly that they matched across cultures.
3. Photographs of facial expressions have been shown to people of different cultures who then were asked to identify those emotions. Ekman & Friesen (1971) located an isolated group of people in Fore New Guinea, who had not been disposed to Western culture. Participants were shown 3 pictures with different facial expressions on them; they then heard a story involving an emotion depicted on one of them and then asked to identify it. For all emotions - except fear - 64-100% participants answered correctly. Fear scored lower, which is an interesting finding, as it has been believed to be a basic emotion for survival.
3. Photographs of facial expressions have been shown to people of different cultures who then were asked to identify those emotions. Ekman & Friesen (1971) located an isolated group of people in Fore New Guinea, who had not been disposed to Western culture. Participants were shown 3 pictures with different facial expressions on them; they then heard a story involving an emotion depicted on one of them and then asked to identify it. For all emotions - except fear - 64-100% participants answered correctly. Fear scored lower, which is an interesting finding, as it has been believed to be a basic emotion for survival.
Cross-cultural variations
Although emotions themselves are arguably universal, culture and society does influence encoding and decoding of emotions via display rules. In 1973, Ekman observed participants from the US and Japan while those watched a film, and found that the Japanese tended to show much less negative emotions - such as fear and sadness. Matsumoto (1990) explained these differences in terms of collectivist/individualist cultures. While for collectivist (typically Eastern) societies it is important to reflect positively upon a group, people there are less likely to show negative emotions in public. On a contrary, in individualist (typically, Western) cultures people are less likely to mask their emotions.