CCAP Hoorcolleges
College 1: Emotion theories
Emotions in folk psychology (huis tuin en keuken psychologie)
- You should be rational, not act upon your emotions
- My heart says one thing, but my head says something else
- Emotions come over me, they happen to me
- You need to vent your anger
- Time heals
Emotions: helpful or harmful? Emotions are a signal. Like pain tells you that something
needs to be looked after in your body. Emotions tell you that something meaningful has
happened.
Emotions = communication
The functionalistic view on emotions (Frijda, 1986)
- Concern is at stake
- Changes in action readiness
Primary appraisal
- Defines good/not good
- Quasi automatic
- Focus on event
- Physiological arousal
o Primary function of physiological changes is provision of energy, mobilization
of the organism prepare for action
o Little evidence that specific patterns underlie specific emotions (e.g. heart
rate, blood flow)
Before you react: latency time
Secondary appraisal
- Previous experiences
- Own abilities
- Which strategy
- Different responses possible
- Determines which emotion
What is an emotion?
Based on functionalistic view on emotions (Scherer, 2000)
1. Physiological arousal
2. Motor expression
3. Cognitive processing (appraisal)
4. Subjective feeling state
5. Action tendency
Which emotion?
Emotions don’t ‘just’ happen
,The outcome one wants to achieve, or one thinks one is able to achieve, determines the
emotional rection
Influenced by social context and focus
How would you feel? (Rieffe et al., 2005)
Interpretation determines emotion
Deaf children & emotions research
- >90% grows up in hearing environment
- Consequences:
o Fewer communication means
o Little communication time
- Problems in social-emotional development
Anger or sadness?
Sadness
- Focus on consequence
- Evaluation: reinstatement desired situation is impossible
Anger
- Focus on cause
- Evaluation: reinstatement desired situation is possible
Imagine your friends drops your tablet, it doesn’t work well anymore Angry / sad?
Deaf children: most children experience sadness and less anger
Hearing children: more anger than in deaf children
Emotions have interpersonal function: communication! And we do this strategically.
Interpersonal function of
1. Fear: avoiding harm
2. Anger: stop another from harming you
3. Love: strengthens relationship with other
4. Jealousy: protecting what’s mine
5. Shame: failed to live up to ego-ideal in context of social norms and values
6. Pride: reinforces behavior valued positively within social context
James-Lange Theory
Perception of an event physiological arousal subjective feeling
- Emotion is our feeling (awareness) of the bodily changes as the occur
- Thus, subjective feeling state is a consequence rather than a cause
Problem James-Lange theory
Open to misinterpretation
Blushing is a sign of:
Room is too warm?
Upcoming flu?
Embarrassment?
, Emotions and mood states
- Emotion direct link with specific event / situation / memory
- Mood state not linked to specific situation
o Cause unclear
o Longer duration
o Lower intensity
Innate or learned?
Everyone experiences emotions
When these emotions are experienced and how they are expressed is learned: socialization
Emotion socialization
Different sources of information teach children about emotions
- Self observation
- Observation of others
- (Verbal) passing on
Distinguishing emotions (Wiefferink et al., 2013)
A non-verbal task
Deaf children & hearing children
Importance verbal information
Deaf children with CI < NH
Conclusion: verbal passing on also essential for interpretation of facial emotion expressions
Emotional Intelligence; what do we need?
- Emotion recognition
- Emotion awareness
- Regulation emotions
- Others’ emotions, empathy
- Emotion vocabulary
- Moral emotions
Access to the social world emotional intelligence mental health/social functioning
College 1: Emotion theories
Emotions in folk psychology (huis tuin en keuken psychologie)
- You should be rational, not act upon your emotions
- My heart says one thing, but my head says something else
- Emotions come over me, they happen to me
- You need to vent your anger
- Time heals
Emotions: helpful or harmful? Emotions are a signal. Like pain tells you that something
needs to be looked after in your body. Emotions tell you that something meaningful has
happened.
Emotions = communication
The functionalistic view on emotions (Frijda, 1986)
- Concern is at stake
- Changes in action readiness
Primary appraisal
- Defines good/not good
- Quasi automatic
- Focus on event
- Physiological arousal
o Primary function of physiological changes is provision of energy, mobilization
of the organism prepare for action
o Little evidence that specific patterns underlie specific emotions (e.g. heart
rate, blood flow)
Before you react: latency time
Secondary appraisal
- Previous experiences
- Own abilities
- Which strategy
- Different responses possible
- Determines which emotion
What is an emotion?
Based on functionalistic view on emotions (Scherer, 2000)
1. Physiological arousal
2. Motor expression
3. Cognitive processing (appraisal)
4. Subjective feeling state
5. Action tendency
Which emotion?
Emotions don’t ‘just’ happen
,The outcome one wants to achieve, or one thinks one is able to achieve, determines the
emotional rection
Influenced by social context and focus
How would you feel? (Rieffe et al., 2005)
Interpretation determines emotion
Deaf children & emotions research
- >90% grows up in hearing environment
- Consequences:
o Fewer communication means
o Little communication time
- Problems in social-emotional development
Anger or sadness?
Sadness
- Focus on consequence
- Evaluation: reinstatement desired situation is impossible
Anger
- Focus on cause
- Evaluation: reinstatement desired situation is possible
Imagine your friends drops your tablet, it doesn’t work well anymore Angry / sad?
Deaf children: most children experience sadness and less anger
Hearing children: more anger than in deaf children
Emotions have interpersonal function: communication! And we do this strategically.
Interpersonal function of
1. Fear: avoiding harm
2. Anger: stop another from harming you
3. Love: strengthens relationship with other
4. Jealousy: protecting what’s mine
5. Shame: failed to live up to ego-ideal in context of social norms and values
6. Pride: reinforces behavior valued positively within social context
James-Lange Theory
Perception of an event physiological arousal subjective feeling
- Emotion is our feeling (awareness) of the bodily changes as the occur
- Thus, subjective feeling state is a consequence rather than a cause
Problem James-Lange theory
Open to misinterpretation
Blushing is a sign of:
Room is too warm?
Upcoming flu?
Embarrassment?
, Emotions and mood states
- Emotion direct link with specific event / situation / memory
- Mood state not linked to specific situation
o Cause unclear
o Longer duration
o Lower intensity
Innate or learned?
Everyone experiences emotions
When these emotions are experienced and how they are expressed is learned: socialization
Emotion socialization
Different sources of information teach children about emotions
- Self observation
- Observation of others
- (Verbal) passing on
Distinguishing emotions (Wiefferink et al., 2013)
A non-verbal task
Deaf children & hearing children
Importance verbal information
Deaf children with CI < NH
Conclusion: verbal passing on also essential for interpretation of facial emotion expressions
Emotional Intelligence; what do we need?
- Emotion recognition
- Emotion awareness
- Regulation emotions
- Others’ emotions, empathy
- Emotion vocabulary
- Moral emotions
Access to the social world emotional intelligence mental health/social functioning
