University of Maryland
PSYC100: Introduction to Psychology
Chapter 7: Consciousness and Its Variations
Self Awareness:
● You know you exist separately
○ Monkey attacks themselves when they look in the mirror-no self awareness
○ Chimps know they are looking at themselves
○ The Mark test; kids know it is them by the age of 2 (or around 2) because they
see the mark on them and then show them a mirror and they touch where the mark
is. Apes, dolphins, magpie (birds), and elephants do the same.
Theory of Mind:
● If you know, everyone knows; young kids do not think others have thoughts or
knowledge.
● Around 4 or 5 years old, at least by 6, children can attribute mental states to others, or has
a theory of mind.
Basic Emotions:
● Emotions ≠ —
○ Feelings (affect); subjective experience; part of emotion; transient
○ Mood-last longer than emotions, hours and even days
● Emotions = —
○ Complex information systems
○ Give meanings to events
○ Believed to have a biological basis and evolutionary function
The 7 Basic Emotions:
● Joy, surprise, sadness, anger, disgust, fear, contempt (disdain)
○ Pretty strong evidence that these are universal emotions.
, ○ When people are not looking, individuals tend to make these faces
(cross-culturally). People recognize faces as indicating these emotions cross
culturally too. Blind people tend to make these faces.
○ The data indicate that emotions help individuals to respond to emotional stimuli
by preparing the body to engage in activity. Fear prepares us to flee, while anger
prepares us to fight.
Different Categories of Emotion:
● Basic emotions: triggered by biologically-innate system in our brains
● Self-conscious emotions: associated with self-reflective processes
○ Shame
○ Guilt
○ Pride
○ Embarrassment
■ Only humans experience these because we have morals.
Cultural Regulation of Emotion:
● Occurs in several ways
○ Cultures regulate our biologically-based emotions
○ Cultures help to construct unique emotional experiences that go beyond basic
emotions
○ Cultures help construct unique concepts, meanings, attitudes, values and beliefs
about emotions
Cultural Display Rules:
● Cultural display rules — govern how universal emotions can be expressed
● Display rules can modify expressions:
○ Express less than actually felt (deamplification)
○ Express more than actually felt (amplification)
○ Show nothing (neutralization)
○ Show emotion but with another emotion to comment on it (qualification)
PSYC100: Introduction to Psychology
Chapter 7: Consciousness and Its Variations
Self Awareness:
● You know you exist separately
○ Monkey attacks themselves when they look in the mirror-no self awareness
○ Chimps know they are looking at themselves
○ The Mark test; kids know it is them by the age of 2 (or around 2) because they
see the mark on them and then show them a mirror and they touch where the mark
is. Apes, dolphins, magpie (birds), and elephants do the same.
Theory of Mind:
● If you know, everyone knows; young kids do not think others have thoughts or
knowledge.
● Around 4 or 5 years old, at least by 6, children can attribute mental states to others, or has
a theory of mind.
Basic Emotions:
● Emotions ≠ —
○ Feelings (affect); subjective experience; part of emotion; transient
○ Mood-last longer than emotions, hours and even days
● Emotions = —
○ Complex information systems
○ Give meanings to events
○ Believed to have a biological basis and evolutionary function
The 7 Basic Emotions:
● Joy, surprise, sadness, anger, disgust, fear, contempt (disdain)
○ Pretty strong evidence that these are universal emotions.
, ○ When people are not looking, individuals tend to make these faces
(cross-culturally). People recognize faces as indicating these emotions cross
culturally too. Blind people tend to make these faces.
○ The data indicate that emotions help individuals to respond to emotional stimuli
by preparing the body to engage in activity. Fear prepares us to flee, while anger
prepares us to fight.
Different Categories of Emotion:
● Basic emotions: triggered by biologically-innate system in our brains
● Self-conscious emotions: associated with self-reflective processes
○ Shame
○ Guilt
○ Pride
○ Embarrassment
■ Only humans experience these because we have morals.
Cultural Regulation of Emotion:
● Occurs in several ways
○ Cultures regulate our biologically-based emotions
○ Cultures help to construct unique emotional experiences that go beyond basic
emotions
○ Cultures help construct unique concepts, meanings, attitudes, values and beliefs
about emotions
Cultural Display Rules:
● Cultural display rules — govern how universal emotions can be expressed
● Display rules can modify expressions:
○ Express less than actually felt (deamplification)
○ Express more than actually felt (amplification)
○ Show nothing (neutralization)
○ Show emotion but with another emotion to comment on it (qualification)
