Emotions, Health, & Happiness

Emotions, Health, &
Chapters 10 & 14
Happiness
Kinds of Affect
• Emotion: An affective
response that is
characterized by loosely
linked changes in conscious
subjective experience (how
we feel), physiology (how
our bodies respond), and
behavior (how we act)
• Mood: An affective
response that is typically
longer-lasting than emotions
and less likely to have a
clear causal object or event
The Biology of Emotion
Emotions & Physiological Arousal
Lie Detection
• Polygraphs only measure
signs of physiological
arousal
• Blood pressure
• Respiration
• Heart rate
• Skin conductance
• Assumes that people will

become physiologically
aroused if and only if they
are lying
If-And-Only-If Statements
• Lie detectors assume people

will become physiologically
aroused if and only if they are
lying
• If you become physiologically

aroused, you must be lying
• If you are lying, you will

become physiologically
aroused
Theories of Emotion
“Common Sense” Explanation
• Physiological arousal immediately follows our subjective

emotional experience
James-Lange Theory
• We become aware of our emotions after we notice our

physiological reactions to external stimuli and events
• Supported by the facial feedback hypothesis

Cannon-Bard Theory
• Awareness of our emotions reflects both our level of

physiological arousal and our cognitive appraisal of the
situation, both of which are determined by activity in the
thalamus
Schachter-Singer Theory
• Emotional awareness
is based on the
interaction between
changes in our levels
of physiological
arousal and how we
cognitively interpret
that arousal
• Also known as the

two-factor theory
The Schachter-Singer Study
• College students were injected with epinephrine (adrenaline),

under the guise of being administered a drug for their eyesight
and split into three groups
• Informed (“This drug has side effects A, B, and C.”)

• Misinformed (“This drug has side effects X, Y, and Z.”)
• Ignorant (No mention of potential side effects.)
• Afterwards, they interacted with a confederate in the waiting

room who acted either euphoric or irritated
• Did their emotions depend on what they were told about the
drug?
The Schachter-Singer Study
• Results by group
• Informed: Didn’t report feeling any

emotions because they attributed
their arousal to the drug
• Misinformed/ignorant: Behaved
similarly to the confederate
• Take-home message: A state of

physiological arousal can be
subjectively experienced as more
than one emotion, depending on
how we interpret it
Theories of Unconscious Emotion
• Robert Zajonc: Emotion doesn’t require cognition
• Mere-exposure effect: Positive attitudes

toward novel stimuli can be instantiated after
just repeated exposure
• Richard Lazarus: Our mindsets/appraisals (which

can be conscious or unconscious) influence our
emotions
• Joe LeDoux: There are two neural pathways for

emotion processing
• The conscious, cortical “high road”

• The unconscious, subcortical “low road”
Review: Theories of Emotion
Theory What is Emotion? Example
Awareness of our specific bodily We notice our heart racing after a

James-Lange response to certain stimuli threat and then feel afraid
Bodily response + simultaneous Our heart races while we

Cannon-Bard subjective experience experience fear
Two factors: General arousal + Arousal could be labeled as fear or

Schachter-Singer a conscious cognitive label excitement, depending on context
Instant in some circumstances;

We automatically react to a sound
Zajonc & LeDoux can occur before cognitive
in the forest before appraising it
appraisal
Defined by appraisal, either with or

Lazarus without conscious awareness
The sound is “just the wind”
Experiencing and Communicating Emotions
Emotion Regulation Strategies
• Suppression: Inhibiting emotionally expressive behavior
• Occurs at a cost to the sympathetic nervous system

• Interferes with memory
• Cognitive reappraisal: Changing your emotional

response to a situation by changing how you interpret it
• More successful than suppression
• Associated with increased activity in the prefrontal

cortex and decreased activity in the amygdala
Emotion Perception
• Paul Ekman found emotion perception abilities to be

remarkably similar across cultures
• Decoding (“What emotion is this person displaying?”)
• Encoding (“Show me what you would feel like if you

were feeling emotion X.”)
Emotion Expression
• Perception ≠ expression
• Expression ≠ experience
• Display rules: Cultural
norms that dictate
appropriate
expressions of emotion
Health & Coping
Coping with Stress
• Coping: Alleviating stress using emotional, cognitive, or behavioral

methods
• Problem-focused coping: Attempting to alleviate stress directly--

by changing the stressor itself or the way we interact with that
stressor
• Used when we feel we can change a situation
• Emotion-focused coping: Attempting to alleviate stress by

avoiding or ignoring a stressor and attending to emotional needs
related to one’s stress reaction
• Used when we feel we cannot change a situation

Personal Control
• Learned helplessness: A
hopeless feeling of passive
resignation that results from
feeling no personal control
• First identified by Martin

Seligman
• Inhibits or prevents learning

in later situations where
escape or avoidance is
actually possible
Attribution Styles
• Personal control: Internal vs. external
• “I did poorly on this test because I’m not
smart” vs. “I did poorly because it was
difficult/unfair”
• Pervasiveness: Global vs. local

• “I’m a failure at all aspects of life because I
did poorly on this single test” vs. “I’m just
bad at organic chemistry”
• Permanence: Stable vs. unstable

• “I always do poorly on tests” vs. “This one
was just a slip-up”
Self-Control
• Self-control: The ability to

control impulses and delay
short-term gratification for
greater long-term rewards
• Walter Mischel’s
marshmallow test
• Self-control is just like a

muscle: It weakens after
exertion, replenishes with
rest, and becomes stronger
with exercise
Social Support
• Social support calms us by reducing blood pressure and

the release of stress hormones
• Happily married women who held their husbands’

hands while receiving shocks to the ankle showed less
brain activity in threat-responsive areas
• Social support also fosters stronger immune functioning
• Among subjects deliberately infected with a cold virus,

those who had strong social ties were less likely to
actually catch a cold.
Reducing Stress
• Aerobic exercise: Sustained exercise that increases heart and lung
fitness and may also alleviate depression and anxiety
• But does exercise actually relieve stress and reduce depression?

Or do stressed, depressed people just exercise less?
• Relaxation and meditation
• Faith communities
• Religion promotes self-control

• Social support is generally built into religious communities
• Some religions promote a stable worldview and hope for the
future
Exercise & Depression
Religion & Health
Happiness & Positive Psychology
Positive Psychology
• A research movement that seeks

to identify and promote factors
that contribute to physical and
psychological well-being
• Pioneered by Martin Seligman
• Three pillars of positive psychology
• Positive emotions
• Positive character
• Positive groups, communities,
and cultures
“Positive Thinking”
vs. Goals
• Simply fantasizing about future
positive outcomes actually
hinders achievement of those
goals
• Weight loss
• Getting good grades
• Wanting a date to go well
• Recovering after hip surgery
• Major macroeconomic
outcomes
• The WOOP method: Wish,

Outcome, Obstacles, Plan

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Emotions, Health, &

• Assumes that people will

• Lie detectors assume people

• If you become physiologically

• If you are lying, you will

• Physiological arousal immediately follows our subjective

• We become aware of our emotions after we notice our

• Supported by the facial feedback hypothesis

• Awareness of our emotions reflects both our level of

• Also known as the

• College students were injected with epinephrine (adrenaline),

• Informed (“This drug has side effects A, B, and C.”)

• Afterwards, they interacted with a confederate in the waiting

• Informed: Didn’t report feeling any

• Take-home message: A state of

• Mere-exposure effect: Positive attitudes

• Richard Lazarus: Our mindsets/appraisals (which

• Joe LeDoux: There are two neural pathways for

• The conscious, cortical “high road”

Theory What is Emotion? Example

Awareness of our specific bodily We notice our heart racing after a

Bodily response + simultaneous Our heart races while we

Two factors: General arousal + Arousal could be labeled as fear or

Instant in some circumstances;

Defined by appraisal, either with or

• Suppression: Inhibiting emotionally expressive behavior

• Occurs at a cost to the sympathetic nervous system

• Cognitive reappraisal: Changing your emotional

• More successful than suppression

• Associated with increased activity in the prefrontal

• Paul Ekman found emotion perception abilities to be

• Decoding (“What emotion is this person displaying?”)

• Encoding (“Show me what you would feel like if you

• Coping: Alleviating stress using emotional, cognitive, or behavioral

• Problem-focused coping: Attempting to alleviate stress directly--

• Used when we feel we can change a situation

• Emotion-focused coping: Attempting to alleviate stress by

• Used when we feel we cannot change a situation

• First identified by Martin

• Inhibits or prevents learning

• Pervasiveness: Global vs. local

• Permanence: Stable vs. unstable

• Self-control: The ability to

• Self-control is just like a

• Social support calms us by reducing blood pressure and

• Happily married women who held their husbands’

• Social support also fosters stronger immune functioning

• Among subjects deliberately infected with a cold virus,

• But does exercise actually relieve stress and reduce depression?

• Relaxation and meditation

• Religion promotes self-control

• A research movement that seeks

• Pioneered by Martin Seligman

• Three pillars of positive psychology

• The WOOP method: Wish,

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