Emotions
Lecture 1 (chapter 1+2) 3
Approaches to emotion 3
Evolutionary perspective 3
Evolution and the mind 4
Emotion constructs 4
Lecture 2 (chapter 6) 6
Appraisal 6
Words and concepts 6
Emotional experience 7
Emotion regulation 7
Lecture 3 (chapter 8) 9
Theories of emotional development 9
Emotion recognition 9
Emotion regulation 10
Lecture 4 (chapter 11) 11
Emotionality over the life span 11
Biological contributions to temperament 11
Attachment and emotionality 11
Parental behaviors beyond attachment 12
Siblings, peers and the broader social context 12
Lecture 4 (chapter 14) 14
Mindfulness 14
Knowledge clip: emotional disorders and therapy 15
Lecture 5 (chapter 5) 16
Cognitive processes 16
Theories of emotion and bodily changes 16
The autonomic nervous system 17
Autonomic nervous system theories 17
Neuroendocrine system 18
Lecture 6 (chapter 7+10) 19
Neuroscience of emotion 19
Brain systems 19
Cortical processes 20
Chapter 10 21
Cognition and emotions 21
Lecture 7 (chapter 12) 23
Emotional functioning 23
Risk factors and psychopathology 23
, Disorder trajectories 24
Child and adolescent psychopathology interventions 24
Lecture 8 (chapter 13+14) 25
Depression 25
Anxiety disorders 25
Causes of disorders 25
Meaning in life 26
Psychological therapy 26
Lecture 8.2 27
Emotion focused therapy 27
Crying 28
Lecture 9 (chapter 3) 30
Lecture 10 (chapter 4 + 9) 31
Facial expression of emotion 31
Transmitting information 31
Emotions in intimate relationships 32
Emotions in friendships 32
Emotions in hierarchical relationships 32
Emotions in groups 33
Mentalization based treatment 33
,Lecture 1 (chapter 1+2)
Approaches to emotion
- Darwin: evolutionary theory. Emotions have a survival function and are reflexes.
- William James: the bodily approach. Our bodily sensations as reactions to stimuli
are interpreted as emotions.
- Sigmund Freud: psychoanalytic approach. Certain events are damaging and leave
emotional scars. Emotions are the core of many mental illnesses.
- Aristotle: we are responsible for our emotions.
- Katharsis: the clarification of obstacles to understanding.
- Epicureanism: one should lie in a sample way
- Stoicism: emotions derive from desires, first movements of emotions are
automatic and second movements are with mental and involve judgments.
- Descartes: six fundamental emotions are called the soul.
- Eliot: emotions are what relationships are made of.
Brain science, psychology, sociology and anthropology
Harlow and Singer: Singer studied empathy, someone feels physical pain when their loved
one is shocked. Sympathy and compassion activates nurturant behavior.
Arnold and Tomkins:
- Arnold: emotions are based on appraisals of events, they involve a double reference,
to the object and to the self-experiencing object.
- Tomkins: affect is the primary motivational system, emotions are amplifiers of drives
(sex, hunger, breathing). Eg panicking in oxygen reduction causes us to struggle to
breathe again (circle).
Emotions as moral dramas involving selves and others.
- Goffman: we give dramatic presentation of ourselves to each other, we have certain
social roles we take on and create certain performances.
- Hochschild: investigated tension when person is in conflict about the role he or she
plays.
Ethology: studying animals and people as they live their own lives (no controlled
experiments).
Split-brain: done in patients with epilepsy. Two hemispheres don’t communicate.
Emotion
Emotion: psychological state that relates an event (outside world or in mind), called a
concern. It prepares the person for action.
- Tomkins: emotion gives priority to one goal over others (urgency to specific concern).
- Frijda: emotions mediate or connect the individual’s pressing context specific
concerns with potential courses of action within the social environment.
Affective phenomena are not the same as emotions (preferences, mood, attitudes).
Function of emotions is helping us display optimal behavior in a certain situation, like
accurate appraisal, prioritizing goals, high emotional intelligence.
Emotions are modes of functioning that coordinate physiological, cognitive, motivational,
behavioral and subjective responses in patters that increase the ability to meet the adaptive
challenges of situations, they are shaped by natural selection.
Evolutionary perspective
3 main characteristics of evolution:
1. Large importance of genetic material: superabundance for animals to reproduce.
2. Variation
3. Natural selection: survival of te fittest.
, Adaptations: genetically based traits that allow the individual to respond efficiently.
Emotions allow for important solutions to survival (avoiding eating toxins, share costs of
raising offspring).
Epigenetics: the turning on or off genes depending on the environment.
Strategies of reproduction:
- Statistical: strategy of reproducing the most, the male strategy
- Investment: strategy of raising offspring, often in females.
Sexual selection:
- Intrasexual selection: males evolve traits to compete with other males (muscles).
- Intersexual selection: individuals of one sex evolve traits that are preferred by
members of opposite sex (nice feathers).
Evolutionary history of human emotions
1. Hunter gatherers: highly social environment, collaboration is important
2. Nonhuman primates: chimpz and bonobos share social tendencies and elicit similar
emotions as humans.
Similar social dimensions:
1. Attachment between infants and their mother.
2. Hierarchies, which provide solutions to problems of distributing resources. Humans
are more dependent on social context.
3. Affiliation and caregiving is core in chimpz and bonobos.
4. Preference of one’s own group and hostility tward other groups.
Evolution and the mind
Crucial social motivations: to enhance survival changes of the genes in social animals,
strong social motivations emerged:
1. Attachment: protection. Love, sympathy, desire.
2. Hierarchy: power motivation. Pride, anger, triumph.
3. Affiliation: cooperation. Affection, love, sadness, guilt.
4. In-group preference: social benefit. Joy, collective pride.
To meet an evolutionary threat recurrent situation or condition:
1. Cues that signal the presence of the situation
2. Situation-detecting algorithms
3. Algorithms that assign priorities
4. An internal communication system
5. Orchestrated response.
Two different strategies:
1. Male strategy tends to be statistical because sperm are expendable.
2. Female strategy tends to be investment because eggs are so precious.
Example: jealousy
Men over evolutionary history have risked investing in children who were not their own.
Men should be more jealous in response to cues to a sexual infidelity.
Women become more distressed over a partner’s emotional infidelity.
Methods to study evolutionary psychology and emotions:
- Zoology: our near relatives, chimpanzees and bonobos
- Archeology: human ancestry
- Anthropology: contemporary societies in an earlier stage of development
Emotion constructs
Language is important in expressing and feeling emotions.
No clear boundaries between emotions because they often overlap in characteristics.
Lecture 1 (chapter 1+2) 3
Approaches to emotion 3
Evolutionary perspective 3
Evolution and the mind 4
Emotion constructs 4
Lecture 2 (chapter 6) 6
Appraisal 6
Words and concepts 6
Emotional experience 7
Emotion regulation 7
Lecture 3 (chapter 8) 9
Theories of emotional development 9
Emotion recognition 9
Emotion regulation 10
Lecture 4 (chapter 11) 11
Emotionality over the life span 11
Biological contributions to temperament 11
Attachment and emotionality 11
Parental behaviors beyond attachment 12
Siblings, peers and the broader social context 12
Lecture 4 (chapter 14) 14
Mindfulness 14
Knowledge clip: emotional disorders and therapy 15
Lecture 5 (chapter 5) 16
Cognitive processes 16
Theories of emotion and bodily changes 16
The autonomic nervous system 17
Autonomic nervous system theories 17
Neuroendocrine system 18
Lecture 6 (chapter 7+10) 19
Neuroscience of emotion 19
Brain systems 19
Cortical processes 20
Chapter 10 21
Cognition and emotions 21
Lecture 7 (chapter 12) 23
Emotional functioning 23
Risk factors and psychopathology 23
, Disorder trajectories 24
Child and adolescent psychopathology interventions 24
Lecture 8 (chapter 13+14) 25
Depression 25
Anxiety disorders 25
Causes of disorders 25
Meaning in life 26
Psychological therapy 26
Lecture 8.2 27
Emotion focused therapy 27
Crying 28
Lecture 9 (chapter 3) 30
Lecture 10 (chapter 4 + 9) 31
Facial expression of emotion 31
Transmitting information 31
Emotions in intimate relationships 32
Emotions in friendships 32
Emotions in hierarchical relationships 32
Emotions in groups 33
Mentalization based treatment 33
,Lecture 1 (chapter 1+2)
Approaches to emotion
- Darwin: evolutionary theory. Emotions have a survival function and are reflexes.
- William James: the bodily approach. Our bodily sensations as reactions to stimuli
are interpreted as emotions.
- Sigmund Freud: psychoanalytic approach. Certain events are damaging and leave
emotional scars. Emotions are the core of many mental illnesses.
- Aristotle: we are responsible for our emotions.
- Katharsis: the clarification of obstacles to understanding.
- Epicureanism: one should lie in a sample way
- Stoicism: emotions derive from desires, first movements of emotions are
automatic and second movements are with mental and involve judgments.
- Descartes: six fundamental emotions are called the soul.
- Eliot: emotions are what relationships are made of.
Brain science, psychology, sociology and anthropology
Harlow and Singer: Singer studied empathy, someone feels physical pain when their loved
one is shocked. Sympathy and compassion activates nurturant behavior.
Arnold and Tomkins:
- Arnold: emotions are based on appraisals of events, they involve a double reference,
to the object and to the self-experiencing object.
- Tomkins: affect is the primary motivational system, emotions are amplifiers of drives
(sex, hunger, breathing). Eg panicking in oxygen reduction causes us to struggle to
breathe again (circle).
Emotions as moral dramas involving selves and others.
- Goffman: we give dramatic presentation of ourselves to each other, we have certain
social roles we take on and create certain performances.
- Hochschild: investigated tension when person is in conflict about the role he or she
plays.
Ethology: studying animals and people as they live their own lives (no controlled
experiments).
Split-brain: done in patients with epilepsy. Two hemispheres don’t communicate.
Emotion
Emotion: psychological state that relates an event (outside world or in mind), called a
concern. It prepares the person for action.
- Tomkins: emotion gives priority to one goal over others (urgency to specific concern).
- Frijda: emotions mediate or connect the individual’s pressing context specific
concerns with potential courses of action within the social environment.
Affective phenomena are not the same as emotions (preferences, mood, attitudes).
Function of emotions is helping us display optimal behavior in a certain situation, like
accurate appraisal, prioritizing goals, high emotional intelligence.
Emotions are modes of functioning that coordinate physiological, cognitive, motivational,
behavioral and subjective responses in patters that increase the ability to meet the adaptive
challenges of situations, they are shaped by natural selection.
Evolutionary perspective
3 main characteristics of evolution:
1. Large importance of genetic material: superabundance for animals to reproduce.
2. Variation
3. Natural selection: survival of te fittest.
, Adaptations: genetically based traits that allow the individual to respond efficiently.
Emotions allow for important solutions to survival (avoiding eating toxins, share costs of
raising offspring).
Epigenetics: the turning on or off genes depending on the environment.
Strategies of reproduction:
- Statistical: strategy of reproducing the most, the male strategy
- Investment: strategy of raising offspring, often in females.
Sexual selection:
- Intrasexual selection: males evolve traits to compete with other males (muscles).
- Intersexual selection: individuals of one sex evolve traits that are preferred by
members of opposite sex (nice feathers).
Evolutionary history of human emotions
1. Hunter gatherers: highly social environment, collaboration is important
2. Nonhuman primates: chimpz and bonobos share social tendencies and elicit similar
emotions as humans.
Similar social dimensions:
1. Attachment between infants and their mother.
2. Hierarchies, which provide solutions to problems of distributing resources. Humans
are more dependent on social context.
3. Affiliation and caregiving is core in chimpz and bonobos.
4. Preference of one’s own group and hostility tward other groups.
Evolution and the mind
Crucial social motivations: to enhance survival changes of the genes in social animals,
strong social motivations emerged:
1. Attachment: protection. Love, sympathy, desire.
2. Hierarchy: power motivation. Pride, anger, triumph.
3. Affiliation: cooperation. Affection, love, sadness, guilt.
4. In-group preference: social benefit. Joy, collective pride.
To meet an evolutionary threat recurrent situation or condition:
1. Cues that signal the presence of the situation
2. Situation-detecting algorithms
3. Algorithms that assign priorities
4. An internal communication system
5. Orchestrated response.
Two different strategies:
1. Male strategy tends to be statistical because sperm are expendable.
2. Female strategy tends to be investment because eggs are so precious.
Example: jealousy
Men over evolutionary history have risked investing in children who were not their own.
Men should be more jealous in response to cues to a sexual infidelity.
Women become more distressed over a partner’s emotional infidelity.
Methods to study evolutionary psychology and emotions:
- Zoology: our near relatives, chimpanzees and bonobos
- Archeology: human ancestry
- Anthropology: contemporary societies in an earlier stage of development
Emotion constructs
Language is important in expressing and feeling emotions.
No clear boundaries between emotions because they often overlap in characteristics.
