Download Physiological bases of behavior emotions

Physiological bases
of behavior:
emotions
Emotion
• Emotion is a reaction, both psychological
and physical, subjectively experienced as
strong feelings, many of which prepare
the body for immediate action.
• In contrast to moods, which are generally
longerlasting, emotions are transitory,
with relatively well-defined beginnings and
endings. They also have valence, meaning
that they are either positive or negative.
• Subjectively, emotions are experienced as
passive phenomena.
Emotional experience
• Areas of the
brain that
play an
important role
in the
production of
emotions
include the
reticular
formation, the
limbic
system, and
the cerebral
cortex.
Nervous structures
and emotional
reactions
• The reticular
formation,
within the
brain stem,
receives and
filters
sensory
information
before
passing it on
the limbic
system and
cortex.
The reticular
formation
• The limbic system
includes the
hypothalamus,
which produces
most of the
peripheral responses
to emotion through
its control of the
endocrine and
autonomic nervous
systems; the
amygdala, the
hippocampus; and
parts of the
thalamus.
• The frontal lobes of
the cerebral cortex
receive nerve
impulses from the
thalamus and play
an active role in the
experience and
expression of
emotions.
The limbic
system
The brain and emotional
learning
• The amygdala, a structure of the limbic system
(the behavioral center of the brain) located near
the brainstem, is thought to be responsible for
emotional learning and emotional memory.
• Studies have shown that damage to the
amygdala can impair the ability to judge fear and
other emotions in facial expressions (to “read”
the emotions of others), a skill which is critical to
effective social interaction. The amygdala serves
as an emotional scrapbook that the brain refers
to in interpreting and reacting to new
experiences. It is also associated with emotional
arousal.
The prefrontal cortex
• The ability to understand the thoughts
and feelings of others is also regulated by
the prefrontal cortex of the brain,
sometimes called “the executive center.”
This brain structure and its components
store emotional memories that an
individual draws on when interacting
socially.
• Research studies have demonstrated that
individuals with brain lesions in the
prefrontal cortex area have difficulties in
social interactions and problem-solving
and tend to make poor choices, probably
because they have lost the ability to
access past experiences and emotions.
The physiological changes
associated with emotions
• While the physiological changes associated
with emotions are triggered by the brain,
they are carried out by the endocrine and
autonomic nervous systems.
• In response to fear or anger, for example,
the brain signals the pituitary gland to
release a hormone called ACTH, which in
turn causes the adrenal glands to secrete
cortisol, another hormone that triggers
what is known as the fight-or-flight
response, a combination of physical
changes that prepare the body for action
in dangerous situations.
The autonomic response to
emotional excitation
• The heart beats faster, respiration is more rapid,
the liver releases glucose into the bloodstream to
supply added energy, fuels are mobilized from
the body’s stored fat, and the body generally
goes into a state of high arousal. The pupils
dilate, perspiration increases while secretion of
saliva and mucous decreases, hairs on the body
become erect, causing “goose pimples,” and the
digestive system slows down as blood is diverted
to the brain and skeletal muscles.
• These changes are carried out with the aid of the
sympathetic nervous system, one of two divisions
of the autonomic nervous system. When the
crisis is over, the parasympathetic nervous
system, which conserves the body’s energy and
resources, returns things to their normal state.
Autonomic reaction to
ideferent information
Autonomic reaction to
important information
Ways of expressing emotions
• Ways of expressing emotion may be either innate or
culturally acquired. Certain facial expressions, such
as smiling, have been found to be universal, even
among blind persons, who have no means of
imitating them. Other expressions vary across
cultures.
• In addition to the ways of communicating various
emotions, people within a culture also learn certain
unwritten codes governing emotional expression
itself—what emotions can be openly expressed and
under what circumstances. Cultural forces also
influence how people describe and categorize what
they are feeling.
• An emotion that is commonly recognized in one
society may be subsumed under another emotion in
a different one. Some cultures, for example, do not
distinguish between anger and sadness. Tahitians,
who have no word for either sadness or guilt, have
46 words for various types of anger.
Importance of emotions for
bechavior
• In daily life, emotional arousal may have
beneficial or disruptive effects, depending on the
situation and the intensity of the emotion.
Moderate levels of arousal increase efficiency
levels by making people more alert.
• However, intense emotions—either positive or
egative— interfere with performance because
central nervous system responses are channeled
in too many directions at once. The effects of
arousal on performance also depend on the
difficulty of the task at hand; emotions interfere
less with simple tasks than with more
complicated ones.
Negative emotions
Emotional intelligence
• Emotional intelligence is the ability to perceive
and constructively act on both one’s own
emotions and the feelings of others.
• Emotional intelligence (EI) is sometimes
referred to as emotional quotient or emotional
literacy. Individuals with emotional intelligence
are able to relate to others with compassion and
empathy, have well-developed social skills, and
use this emotional awareness to direct their
actions and behavior.
Applications
• The concept of emotional intelligence has found a
number of different applications outside of the
psychological research and therapy arenas.
• Professional, educational, and community
institutions have integrated different aspects of
the emotional intelligence philosophy into their
organizations to promote more productive
working relationships, better outcomes, and
enhanced personal satisfaction.
• In the workplace and in other organizational
settings, the concept of emotional intelligence
has spawned an entire industry of EI consultants,
testing materials, and workshops.
The four areas of emotional
intelligence, as identified by Mayer and
Salovey, are as follows:
• Identifying emotions. The ability to recognize
one’s own feelings and the feelings of those
around them.
• Using emotions. The ability to access an emotion
and reason with it (use it to assist thought and
decisions).
• Understanding emotions. Emotional knowledge;
the ability to identify and comprehend what
Mayer and Salovey term “emotional chains”—the
transition of one emotion to another.
• Managing emotions. The ability to self-regulate
emotions and manage them in others.
Tests or assessments
• A number of tests or assessments have been
developed to “measure” emotional intelligence,
although their validity is questioned by some
researchers.
• These include the Mayer-Salovey-Caruso
Emotional Intelligence Test (MSCEIT), the
Multifactor Emotional Intelligence Scale (MEIS),
the Emotional Competence Inventory 360 (ECI
360), the Work Profile Questionnaire-emotional
intelligence version (WPQ-ei), and the Baron
Emotional Quotient Inventory (EQ-i). Other
psychometric measures, or tests, such as the
Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children, Revised
(WISC-R), a standard intelligence test, are
sometimes useful in measuring the social aptitude
features of emotional intelligence.
Emotional development
• Emotional development is the
process by which infants and children
begin developing the capacity to
experience, express, and interpret
emotions.
• To formulate theories about the
development of human emotions,
researchers focus on observable
display of emotion, such as facial
expressions and public behavior.
Emotional development
• Between six and ten weeks, a social smile
emerges, usually accompanied by other pleasureindicative actions and sounds, including cooing
and mouthing.
• During the last half of the first year, infants begin
expressing fear, disgust, and anger because of
the maturation of cognitive abilities.
• Caregivers supply infants with a secure base from
which to explore their world.
• During the second year, infants express emotions
of shame or embarrassment and pride. During
this stage of development, toddlers acquire
language and are learning to verbally express
their feelings. This ability, is the first step in the
development of emotional self-regulation skills.
Toddlerhood (1-2 years)
Emotional expressivity
• In toddlerhood,children begin to develop skills to
regulate their emotions with the emergence of
language providing an important tool to assist in
this process.
• Empathy, a complex emotional response to a
situation, also appears in toddlerhood, usually by
age two.
• The development of empathy requires that
children read others’ emotional cues, understand
that other people are entities distinct from
themselves, and take the respective of another
person (put themselves in the position of
another).
Preschool (3-6 years)
Emotional expressivity
• Parents help preschoolers acquire skills to cope
with negative emotional states by teaching and
modeling use of verbal reasoning and
explanation.
• Beginning at about age four, children acquire the
ability to alter their emotional expressions. For
example, in Western culture, we teach children
that they should smile and say thankyou when
receiving a gift, even if they really do not like
the present.
• It is thought that in the preschool years, parents
are the primary socializing force, teaching
appropriate emotional expression in children.
Middle childhood
(7-11 years)
• Children ages seven to eleven display a wider
variety of self-regulation skills. Sophistication in
understanding and enacting cultural display rules
has increased dramatically by this stage, such
that by now children begin to know when to
control emotional expressivity as well as have a
sufficient repertoire of behavioral regulation skills
allowing them to effectively mask emotions in
socially appropriate ways.
• During middle childhood, children begin to
understand that the emotional states of others
are not as simple as they imagined in earlier
years, and that they are often the result of
complex causes, some of which are not externally
obvious.
Adolescence
(12-18 years)
• Adolescents have become sophisticated at
regulating their emotions. They have developed a
wide vocabulary with which to discuss, and thus
influence, emotional states of themselves and
others.
• Research in this area has found that in early
adolescence, children begin breaking the
emotionally intimate ties with their parents and
begin forming them with peers. Another factor
that plays a significant role in the ways
adolescents regulate emotional displays is their
heightened sensitivity to others’ evaluations of
them, a sensitivity which can result in acute selfawareness and self-consciousness as they try to
blend into the dominant social structure.
Coping With Stress
CBS News Online
• http://www.cbsnews.com/secti
ons/i_video/main500251.shtml?
id=2379111n
• Coping With Stress CBS News Online
• How Your Brain Handles Stress
Stress
• Stress is the physiological and psychological
responses to situations or events that disturb the
equilibrium of an organism.
• Stress results when demands placed on an
organism cause unusual physical, psychological,
or emotional responses. In humans, stress
originates from a multitude of sources and causes
a wide variety of responses, both positive and
negative.
• Despite its negative connotation, many experts
believe some level of stress is essential for wellbeing and mental health.
Person’s needs
Stressors
• Stressors—events or situations that cause
stress— can range from everyday hassles such as
traffic jams to chronic sources such as the threat
of nuclear war or overpopulation.
• Much research has studied how people respond
to the stresses of major life changes. The Life
Events Scale lists these events as the top ten
stressors: death of spouse, divorce, marital
separation, jail term, death of close family
member, personal injury or illness, marriage, loss
of job through firing, marital reconciliation, and
retirement.
• It is obvious from this list that even good
things—marriage, retirement, and marital
reconciliation— can cause substantial stress.
Fazes of stress reaction
TOP TEN STRESSFUL
EVENTS
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Death of spouse
Divorce
Marital separation
Jail term or death of close family member
Personal injury or illness
Marriage
Loss of job due to termination
Marital reconciliation or retirement
Pregnancy
Change in financial state
Reactions to stress
• Reactions to stress vary by individual and the
perceived threat presented by it.
• Psychological responses may include cognitive
impairment—as in test anxiety, feelings of anxiety,
anger, apathy, depression, and aggression.
• Behavioral responses may include a change in
eating or drinking habits.
• The “fight or flight” response involves a complex
pattern of innate responses that occur in reaction to
emergency situations. The body prepares to handle
the emergency by releasing extra sugar for quick
energy; heart rate, blood pressure, and breathing
increase; muscles tense; infection-preventing
systems activate; and hormones are secreted to
assist in garnering energy. The hypothalamus,
often called the stress center of the brain, controls
these emergency responses to perceived lifethreatening situations.
Stress and pathology
• A relatively new area of behavioral medicine,
psychoimmunology, has been developed to study
how the body’s immune system is affected by
psychological causes like stress.
• While it is widely recognized that heart disease
and ulcers may result from excess stress,
psychoimmunologists believe many other types
of illness also result from impaired immune
capabilities due to stress. Cancer, allergies, and
arthritis all may result from the body’s weakened
ability to defend itself because of stress.
Coping with stress
• Coping with stress is a subject of great interest
and is the subject of many popular books and
media coverage.
• One method focuses on eliminating or mitigating
the effects of the stressor itself. For example,
people who experience extreme stress when they
encounter daily traffic jams along their route to
work may decide to change their route to avoid
the traffic, or change their schedule to less busy
hours.
• Instead of trying to modify their response to the
stressor, they attempt to alleviate the problem
itself. Generally, this problem-focused strategy is
considered the most effective way to battle
stress.
Biological feedback for
coping stress
Emotion-focused methods
• Another method, dealing with the effects of the
stressor, is used most often in cases in which the
stress is serious and difficult to change. Major
illnesses, deaths, and catastrophes like
hurricanes or airplane crashes cannot be
changed, so people use emotion-focused
methods in their attempts to cope. Examples of
emotion-focused coping include exercise,
drinking, and seeking support from emotional
confidants.
• Defense mechanisms are unconscious coping
methods that help to bury, but not cure, the
stress. Sigmund Freud considered repression—
pushing the source of stress to the unconscious—
one way of coping with stress. Rationalization
and denial are other common emotional
responses to stress.
Discovering of stress in
experiment