EMOTION & PSYC 1001

Summer 2020
MOTIVATION Dr. Macura
OUTLINE
Emotional Experience: Feeling
Machine
EmoComm: Facial Expressions
Theories of Emotion
Motivation: Being Moved
Wanting
The Body’s Desires
The Mind’s Desires
EMOTIONAL
EXPERIENCE:
THE FEELING
MACHINE

Positive or negative experience

that is associated with a particular
pattern of physiological activity
WHAT IS EMOTION?
 Measured through
 Estimating the similarity of emotional experiences is essentially
describing the “distance” between them
 Two dimensions of
WHAT IS EMOTION?
Knowing the distances
between things—like
cities, for example—allows
us to draw a map that
reveals the dimensions on
which they vary
TWO DIMENSIONS
OF EMOTION
EMOTIONAL
COMMUNIC
ATION
EMOTIONS ARE ADAPTIVE:
FACIAL EXPRESSIONS
Infants communicate emotions from birth
Display rules and gender


 Gender differences: especially for smiling

and crying!
FACIAL EXPRESSIONS – HOW
MANY?
NEUTRALIZING
Can you tell what this man is
feeling?
MASKING
Expressing one emotion while
feeling another.
DECEPTIVE EXPRESSION
Four features that are more readily observable seem to distinguish
between sincere and insincere facial expressions

 Symmetry
 Duration

DECEPTIVE EXPRESSION
“Crinkle Eyes”
 Can you tell which of the two
finalists in the 1986 Miss USA
pageant just won?
 Check out their eyes.
 Only one woman is showing the
telltale “corner crinkle” that
signifies genuine happiness.
EMOTIONAL
COMMUNICATION: MSGS W/O
WRDS
Facial Feedback Hypothesis

Smile = get happier

FACIAL FEEDBACK
HYPOTHESIS
Research shows that people
who hold a pen with their
teeth feel

These two postures cause

contraction of the muscles
associated with smiling and
frowning, respectively.
EMOTIONS STRENGTHEN
RELATIONSHIPS
Emotions are evolved mechanisms

 Helps prevent harmful behaviors

 Signals emotional commitment

 Protects genetic interests

 Show recognition of social error

TOO MUCH OR TOO LITTLE
EMOTION
Mood Disorders
 Excessively strong emotions
Alexithymia

 Subclinical – 10% of population
 Present in some, not all, autistic individuals
REGULATION OF EMOTION
Emotion regulation
Use of cognitive and behavioral strategies to influence one’s
emotional experience



Reappraisal
Changing one’s emotional experience by changing the meaning of
the emotion-eliciting stimulus
Theories of Emotion
“COMMON SENSE” VIEW

Situation Emotion Bodily Response

Exam Fear Fast Heart Rate

“COMMON SENSE” VIEW
THE EMOTIONAL BODY:
EARLY THEORIES
James-Lange Theory
Stimuli trigger activity in the ANS
which in turn produces
JAMES-LANGE THEORY OF
EMOTION
THE EMOTIONAL BODY:
EARLY THEORIES
Cannon-Bard Theory
Stimulus simultaneously triggers
independent physical activity in the
ANS and emotional experience in
the brain
CANNON-BARD THEORY OF
EMOTION
COGNITIVE APPRAISAL
THEORIES
Schacter-Singer Two-Factor Theory
People have just one bodily reaction to all emotional stimuli.
Interpretation differs due to occasion
1.
2. Mind then interprets this as a specific emotion by applying an emotional
label, or
COGNITIVE-AROUSAL /
SCHACTER-SINGER
THE PHYSIOLOGY OF
EMOTION
MISATTRIBUTION OF
AROUSAL
What happens when appraisal is off?
The “Love Bridge”

Dutton, D. G. and Aron, A. P. (1974). Some evidence for heightened sexual attraction under conditions of
high anxiety. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 30, 510–517.
The Emotional Brain
THE AMYGDALA
THE AMYGDALA
The threat detector!
Appraisal happens here:

Two pathways in the brain:

 (thalamus  amygdala)
 (thalamus  cortex  amygdala)
FAST AND SLOW PATHWAYS
According to Joseph LeDoux
(2000), information about a
stimulus takes two routes
simultaneously: the “fast pathway”
from the thalamus directly to the
amygdala, and the “slow pathway”
from the thalamus to the amygdala.
FMRI STUDIES AND THE
AMYGDALA
Amygdala activates: Emotional facial expressions
Damage to amygdala

 Fail to use facial expression information to make interpersonal
judgments
Motivation
MOTIVATION: BEING MOVED
Motivation
Purpose for or psychological cause for an action

Emotions move us in two ways:

1.
2. They are the objectives toward which we strive
EMOTIONS ARE GOALS
Hedonic principle

 Emotional experience can be thought of as

a gauge that ranges from bad to good
 Primary motivation—perhaps even sole
motivation—is to keep the needle on the
gauge
INSTINCTS + DRIVES
William James called the
natural tendency (innate)
to seek a particular goal
an
Internal state generated
by departures from
physiological optimality
is
INSTINCTS
 No foresight of the ends
 No previous education in the performance

DRIVES
 Internal states generated by physiological needs

 Drive-reduction theory: organisms are motivated to reduce their
drives
DESIRES AND NEEDS
Abraham Maslow
People are motivated
to fulfill a hierarchy
of needs
WHEN DO HIGHER NEEDS
MATTER?
Maslow was right.
 If people have their basic needs
met, autonomy (i.e., freedom to
make their own decisions)
increases satisfaction with life.

EATING DISORDERS

recurrent and uncontrolled episodes of eating a large number of

calories in a short time

binge eating followed by purging

intense fear of being fat, resulting in severe restriction of food

intake
OBESITY
 BMI > 30

 Most proximal determinants are physical inactivity and poor diet.

 Other determinants include:
 Genetics
 Screen Time
OBESITY: CONTEXT MATTERS
When researchers analyzed
52 depictions of The Last
Supper that were painted
between the years 1000 and
1800, they found that the
average plate size increased
by 66%!
BODY NEEDS: SEXUAL DESIRE
Necessary for our survival!
Hormones, hormones, hormones.
 responsible for onset of sexual desire
 More responsible in men (though also women)
 More responsible in women – but what about menstrual cycle?
WHY HAVE SEX?
Women Men

1 I was attracted to the person. I was attracted to the person.

2 I wanted to experience the physical It feels good.

pleasure.
3 It feels good. I wanted to experience the physical
pleasure.
4 I wanted to show my affection to the It’s fun.
person.
5 I wanted to express my love for the I wanted to show my affection to the person.
person.
6 I was sexually aroused and wanted the I was sexually aroused and wanted the
release. release.
7 I was ‘‘horny.’’ I was ‘‘horny.’’

8 It’s fun. I wanted to express my love for the person.

9 I realized I was in love. I wanted to achieve an orgasm.

10 I was ‘‘in the heat of the moment.’’ I wanted to please my partner.

KINDS OF MOTIVATION
Intrinsic

Actions themselves not rewarding

but lead to a reward

Which is more satisfying?

THREAT & PUNISHMENT

Threat can make prohibited behavior more appealing

But what about Skinner?!
WHEN THREATS BACKFIRE
Threats can cause behaviors that were once intrinsically motivated
to become extrinsically motivated.
APPROACH VS. AVOIDANCE
MOTIVATIONS
To experience positive outcomes. Promotion focused

To not experience negative outcomes. Prevention focused.

 Tend to be more powerful
 People take more risks to avoid loss than add gains
 Loss aversion
LOCAL EXAMPLE
Shoppers in DC highly
motivated to reuse shopping
bags to avoid 5 cent tax, but
were unmotivated to reuse
bags to get 5 cents back
TERROR MANAGEMENT
THEORY

We cope with our existential terror by developing a certain

worldviews (meaningful immortality through our legacies).

Prediction that people who are reminded of their own mortality

will work to reinforce their cultural worldviews.