What is emotion?
- ‘On virtue and vices’ – Aristoteles, philosophical approach
Higher versus lower emotions
5 basic emotions: happy, anxious, sad, angry, and ashamed
Often one of these emotions lies behind complex emotions
1. Emotion theory and anxiety
2. Anxiety disorders
Emotion I more than a feeling:
- Physiological aspects/arousal (sweaty hands, heart pounding, trembling)
- Cognitive aspects
o Conscious (experience/feelings)
o Unconscious
- Motoric aspects
Loosely coupled systems: concordant/discordant
Related concepts: Mood, attitude, and temperament
Patients score often very high on neuroticism: good to keep in mind
Emotion has functions:
What functions do emotions serve:
Q: when do emotions occur? Greatest common denominator?
A: when vital interests are at stake. Survival of self and offspring
Emotions prepare us for actions, it has an alarming function
Frijda: emotions as ‘action tendencies’
Theoretical background
- Schachter-Singer theory / Two-factor theory of emotions
1. A stimulus causes physical arousal
2. We cognitively label the physical response and associate it with an emotion
3. We feel the emotion
- Cognitive appraisal theory
1. Stimulus appears
2. Thoughts, labeling the stimulus + immediate experience of physiological response
3. Fight or flight or freeze
Fight or flight response = fight, freeze or flight
Emotion requires ‘interpretation’ of stimulus: sometimes (very) fast and preconscious
Neuroticism: trait anxiety/negative affectivity
- Genetically transmitted
- Neuroticism is fundamental personality trait (cf Big V)
- Neuroticism is closely associated with various disorders
- Neuroticism appears to be a ‘higher order trait’
- Related to anxiety disorders, OCD, depression, trauma
Neuroticism as a vulnerability factor:
- So certain individuals are more susceptible to anxiety disorders
- But also: some stimuli are more often the object of anxiety (disorder) than others
o Arachnophobia, mysophobia, astraphobia, social phobia
Mineka’s experiment: there is a tendency to learn fear for spider or snakes (evolutionary)
Anxiety disorders:
, 1. Abnormal is not: the nature of the anxiety response itself
2. Abnormal is: the intensity of the response disproportionate to the seriousness of the threat.
Cf. cognitive nucleus of anxiety disorders
Question yourself: what is the CS/US?
- Panic disorder: catastrophic misinterpretation of bodily sensations
- Social phobia: fear of disapproval from others because others see signs of social anxiety
(blushing, trembling, etc.)
- OCD: fear of guilt from behaving irresponsibly
- PTSD: catastrophic misinterpretations of the consequences of trauma and the significance of
trauma
- Other event related phobias: depending on nature of phobia
- Phobias: dog will attack, plane will crash, lighting will strike
- GAD: alternating (worrying is annoying, but actually good)
Avoidance behavior prevents us from learning that catastrophe does not happen!
Lecture 2: Specific phobias
Two sides of fear:
- Fear is useful for survival
- However: some fears are not rational and are excessive
Objects of phobia
- Animal (e.g., spiders, insects, dogs).
- Natural environment (e.g., heights, storms, water).
- Blood-injection-injury (e.g., needles, invasive medical procedures)
- Situational (e.g., airplanes, elevators, enclosed places).
- Other (e.g., situations that may lead to choking or vomiting; in children, e.g., loud sounds or
costumed characters).
Diagnostic criteria (key ones)
- Marked fear or anxiety about a specific object or situation
- The phobic object or situation almost always provokes immediate fear or anxiety
- The phobic object or situation is actively avoided or endured with intense fear or anxiety
- The fear or anxiety is out of proportion to the actual danger posed by the specific object or
situation and to the sociocultural context
- The fear, anxiety, or avoidance causes clinically significant distress or impairment in social,
occupational, or other important areas of functioning
- The fear, anxiety, or avoidance is persistent, typically lasting for 6 months or more
Phobia’s prevalence
- 7-9% US
- 6% Europe
- 2-4% Asia, Africa, Latin America
Alle Vorteile der Zusammenfassungen von Stuvia auf einen Blick:
Garantiert gute Qualität durch Reviews
Stuvia Verkäufer haben mehr als 700.000 Zusammenfassungen beurteilt. Deshalb weißt du dass du das beste Dokument kaufst.
Schnell und einfach kaufen
Man bezahlt schnell und einfach mit iDeal, Kreditkarte oder Stuvia-Kredit für die Zusammenfassungen. Man braucht keine Mitgliedschaft.
Konzentration auf den Kern der Sache
Deine Mitstudenten schreiben die Zusammenfassungen. Deshalb enthalten die Zusammenfassungen immer aktuelle, zuverlässige und up-to-date Informationen. Damit kommst du schnell zum Kern der Sache.
Häufig gestellte Fragen
Was bekomme ich, wenn ich dieses Dokument kaufe?
Du erhältst eine PDF-Datei, die sofort nach dem Kauf verfügbar ist. Das gekaufte Dokument ist jederzeit, überall und unbegrenzt über dein Profil zugänglich.
Zufriedenheitsgarantie: Wie funktioniert das?
Unsere Zufriedenheitsgarantie sorgt dafür, dass du immer eine Lernunterlage findest, die zu dir passt. Du füllst ein Formular aus und unser Kundendienstteam kümmert sich um den Rest.
Wem kaufe ich diese Zusammenfassung ab?
Stuvia ist ein Marktplatz, du kaufst dieses Dokument also nicht von uns, sondern vom Verkäufer rachelpopping46. Stuvia erleichtert die Zahlung an den Verkäufer.
Werde ich an ein Abonnement gebunden sein?
Nein, du kaufst diese Zusammenfassung nur für 6,49 €. Du bist nach deinem Kauf an nichts gebunden.