Theme 1 : Emotion and arousal
Learning goals:
How does physical danger influence emotion?
Relation between emotion and arousal
Relation between emotion/arousal in later behavior
Two-factor theory of emotion: the theory that the experience of emotion is based on
two factors: physiological arousal and a cognitive interpretation. Stanley Schachter
(1959) found that when people were frightened in to thinking they would receive painful
electric shocks, most sought the company of others with the same predicament ("Misery
doesn't just love any kind of company; it loves only miserable company"). The
participants who were not fearful and expected only mild shocks and the others that
didn’t take part in the same experiment preferred to be alone.
Schachter wondered, that when people are uncertain about how they feel, their
emotional state is actually determined by the reaction of others around them?
Two factors were deemed necessary to feel a specific emotion:
1. Experiencing symptoms of physiological arousal (example: racing
heart, perspiration, rapid breathing and tightening of the stomach)
2. Cognitive interpretation, explains source of arousal, actions of the people
around us help us interpret our own arousal.
! 1962, Schachter and Singer tested this provocative two-factor theory of
emotion:
They injected male volunteers with epinephrine, a drug that heightens physiological
arousal. (It was described as a vitamin supplement to the participants)
Drug-informed group, was forewarned about the drug's effect
Drug-uninformed group, was not warned about the drug's effect
Placebo group, was injected with a harmless placebo (control group)
Before the drug actually took effect the participants were left alone with a male
confederate and received the same injection. Some acted euphoric and others displayed
anger.
Trying to identify the sensations, these participants, should take their cues
from someone else in the predicament (namely the confederate). Drug-
uninformed group reported feeling happy or angry depending on the
confederate's performance. Drug-informed group and placebo group were less
influenced by these social cues (as expected).
Conclusion: when people are unclear about their own emotional states, they
"sometimes" interpret how they feel by watching others. For someone to
influence your emotion your level of physiological arousal cannot be to intense
or else it will be experienced as aversive. Also, research shows that other
people must be present as a possible explanation for arousal before it is onset.
Once people are aroused, they turn for an explanation to events that preceded
the change of the physiological state.
There are several theories of emotion.
Common sense: stimulus --> fear --> arousal
James-Lange theory: The theory that the subjective experience of emotion is the
awareness of one's own bodily reactions in the presence of certain arousing stimuli.
According to the James-Lange theory of emotion, the bodily changes have a distinct
pattern. Because of the distinct pattern we can determine whether it is (for example)
happiness that we feel or fear.
,According to James-Lange being aware of the bodily changes would produce
emotional experience. In an experiment participants were given an injection of
epinephrine. Some participants reported the physiological symptoms. Others
said that they felt some kind of "cold emotion", as if they should feel angry or
afraid. Apparently visceral reactions induced by the stimulant were by
themselves not sufficient to produce emotional experience.
Cannon-Bard theory: The theory that a stimulus elicits an emotion by triggering a
particular response in the brain ( in the thalamus) which then causes both physiological
changes associated with the emotion and the emotional experience itself. According to
the Cannon-Bard theory of emotion, the bodily changes associated with different
emotions are not easy to distinguish and are quite general. So for example feeling anger
and happy excitement have quite similar bodily changes.
If different emotions produce comparable physiological responses, then why do
we have subjective impression that our bodies are doing quite different things
in different emotional states?
Schachter-Singer theory: The theory that emotional experience results from the
interpretation of bodily responses in the context of situational cues. See text above
Criticism: replications weren't always successful. Only partially supported the study and
were often contradictory
Excitation-transfer model: The process whereby arousal caused by one stimulus is
added to the arousal of a second stimulus and the combined arousal is attributed to the
second stimulus (residual). Dolf Zillmann (1984). Can lead to misattribution of emotion.
Misattribution: misinterpreting the cause of the physiological arousal.
The expression of aggression (or any other emotion) is a function of:
A learned aggressive behavior
Arousal or excitation from another source
, The person's interpretation of the arousal state, such that an aggressive
response seems appropriate
Zillmann suggests that this residual arousal transfers from one situation to another in a
way that promotes the likelihood of an aggressive response, especially if aggressive
behavior is well established in someone's usual repertoire. According to Zillmann, any
experience that markedly increases the level of overall excitation can lead to unintended
consequences. Heightened arousal can often lead us to be more aggressive than we are
normally. For example: exclaiming annoyance at your partner when you were already
upset about dropping some crockery in the kitchen.
Only occurs when the second stimuli occurs before the arousal from the first
stimuli disappears and when we speak of misattribution.
OG experiment
The original experiment consisted of three experiments.
Hypothesis: an attractive female is seen as more attractive by males who
encounter her while they experience a strong emotion (fear) than by males not
experiencing a strong emotion
1. As male subjects crossed either the control bridge or the experimental bridge
they were approached by either a male or a female interviewer. They were
asked to fill in a short questionnaire and to write a short dramatic story based
upon a pictured woman covering her face. The interviewer gave them their
phone number on a piece of paper to invite them to talk further.
2. Subjects were invited to a suspension bridge. 10 minutes after crossing the
bridge they were approached by a female interviewer with the same
assignment in the first experiment. There could have been non-verbal
communication or maybe feeling "lady in distress"
3. 8 male subjects were put in a factorial setting with a female confederate
(whose actions were rehearsed before she entered the room). They would
receive a shock "strong or weak". Who would receive what shock would be
determined by heads or tails. They were also asked to fill out a questionnaire.
Part 1 feelings about the experiment, part 2 feelings about your co-subject and
part 3 included the same TAT picture used in experiment 1 and
Theme 2: Helping behaviour
donderdag 3 september 2020
10:31
Learning goals:
What would be needed for people to be willing to help a person in
danger?
What influences people's inclination to help? (size of the group,
characteristics of the victim)
How does the bystander effect or the biases people have, affect people's
inclination to help?
Prosocial behaviour: acts that are positively valued by society. Lauren
Wispé:'behaviour that has positive social consequences and contributes to the
physical or psychological well-being of another person. It is voluntary and is
, intended to benefit others. The more helping is part of one's identity the more
likely one is to sustain an investment in prosocial activities.
Helping behaviour: acts that intentionally benefit someone else. It is a
subcategory of prosocial behaviour. Helping can even be antisocial, when
giving help is designed to make others look inferior (for your own benefit,
overhelping)
Altruism: a special form of helping behaviour, sometimes costly, that
shows concern for fellow human beings and is performed without
expectation of personal gain.
Although strong situational forces can constrain people's behaviour keeping them
from acting in line with their underlying values and traits, personality
characteristics shine through when situations are more ambiguous.
People who identify themselves as being moral and helpful generally are more
prosocial
Nature-nurture controversy: classic debate whether genetic or environmental
factors determine human behaviour. Scientists generally accept that it is an
interaction of both.
Evolutionary social psychology: an extension of evolutionary psychology that
views complex behaviour as adaptive, helping the individual, kin and species as a
whole to survive. Helping other members of the same species may have evolved
through natural selection, but such behaviour is also shaped by contextual
influences (Hoffman,1981; Vine, 1983). Biological mechanisms can predispose
you to act, but if, when and how you act will depend on your history and the
immediate circumstances.
Empathy: Ability to feel another person's experiences; identifying with and
experiencing another person's emotions, thoughts and attitudes. Some people
fail to act prosocially because they are actively engaged in avoiding empathy.
Vital ingredient in altruism " I feel your pain + I see your pain".(Batson).
Empathic concern: An element in Batson's theory of helping behaviour. In
contrast to personal distress (which may leads us to flee from the situation),
it includes feelings of warmth, being soft hearted and having compassion for
a person in need. Actively imagining how another feels produces empathy,
which leads to altruistic motivation. However, actively imagining how you
would feel produces empathy, but it also produces self-orientated distress,
and involves a mix of altruism and egoism
Men vs women: Batson >> sex differences in terms of socialisation:
women value interdependence and are more other-orientated, while men
value independence and are self-orientated. Shelley Taylor >> women
might exhibit a "tend-and-befriend) response to stressors. In stressful
situations a suite of hormonal responses (including increase of oxytocin)
spur women to seek safety and comfort for both themselves and close
others, especially their offspring, and to build social networks. Might lead to
women more to reach out to others than men. Eagly & Crowley >> men are
more likely to help in situations that call chivalrous behaviour or taking
action in spite of danger. They are also more likely to help when others will
know that they have helped as to boost their social status. Both are
prosocial but differ in the kinds of actions they perform. Women seek more
help than men.
