week 7

Think about a strong emotion that you have had recently (you could also discuss an emotion of a character from a television show or book if you prefer). Please be mindful that this is a public forum and do not select a very personal, private experience to share.

1. Describe the situation that led to that emotion.

2. How did you experience the emotion (physiologically/cognitively)?

3. How did you express the emotion?

4. What behavior did you exhibit while experiencing the emotion and just after experiencing the emotion?

5.  Do you think this was an example of a state or trait emotion?

6. Read this:  https://nobaproject.com/modules/functions-of-emotions. Given your responses to the questions above, how would you describe the function of the emotion?

Classmate 1:

Having children can be extremely difficult sometimes. I will be talking about a situation with my two-year-old daughter that I experienced a few days ago.

1. I try to include my daughter in everything I do like cooking dinner. The other night, I was making tacos, and she was helping me put in the taco seasoning. She took off the top of the seasoning and proceeded to dump the whole container into the ground beef in a matter of seconds.

2. I practice gentle parenting, but I initially felt really angry and sad. I didn’t have any more meat unthawed, so I couldn’t just quickly make it again. My grocery pick-up order also wasn’t until the next day, so that was basically the last meal that I had left to make. I was really frustrated.

3. I had to take a minute to myself and take a few deep breaths. As soon as I calmed down, I turned back to my daughter and explained to her that we had made an “oopsie,” but we could go get a happy meal for dinner instead. I’m pretty sure I acted calm and like I wasn’t upset. My heart was definitely racing though, and I felt like crying because it had been a long day.

4. As soon as I saw it happen, I immediately sighed and covered my face. I had to step away and lay my head on the counter for a few deep breaths. Afterward, I just gave my daughter a kiss and picked her up to go put her in the car.

5. It was definitely state emotions. I only experienced it at that moment, and it doesn’t happen often.

6. I think that the feelings of frustration motivated my future behaviors. While I am trying to help my daughter become more independent, it taught me that she still needs help with many things, and I should watch her more closely to prevent mistakes like that from happening again. The actions that I hid from my daughter would’ve let her know that I was frustrated, but I chose to act happy in front of her so she didn’t become less confident in her own skills.

Classmate post 2:

This week, I wanted to share about a time recently when I experienced fear. I had just left my house to go to the grocery store around 5:00 pm when suddenly I heard three loud pops. The series of events leading up to this moment was so peculiar. I wouldn't have been in this situation if I had left a minute earlier. Maybe I wouldn't have heard it if I had been playing the radio loud. Nonetheless, it happened, in my neighborhood, the street over from my house. It was a beautiful night, so a lot of people were outside. It was a combination of me hearing the pops (which sounded SO close to my car) and witnessing three teenagers scatter and scream that caused me to feel the emotion of fear. In this case, a combination of the visual and auditory stimuli led to my sympathetic response. I was not about to fight, so I flew (by speeding away in my vehicle). To understand the physiology of this response, it is essential to understand the sympathetic nervous system (SNS). The SNS is also known as the "fight or flight" system. When you think of SNS or fight or flight, it's important to associate it with a heightened physical response to something. An easy example to help you remember many of the system's characteristics is to imagine getting chased by a bear. Suppose you were to be chased by a bear. In that case, it is easy to imagine your heart rate and blood pressure will elevate because you are working harder to get out of that situation. The elevated cardiac responses and labored breathing help move nutrients and oxygen to your major muscle groups (i.e., so you can run away!). Another thing that happens is that your pupils dilate to take in more visually and save yourself. Also, it's easy to imagine that your body releases many stress hormones to ensure this response happens quickly and efficiently. After all, you're running for your life, aren't you? One of those hormones is epinephrine, AKA adrenalin.  Anyway, although I was not running from a bear, in some sense, I was running for my life and experienced this autonomic changes because of it. I did end up going to the grocery because shortly after this heightened state, I began feeling in denial that it was gunshots. However, When I got home, there were five police cars and a house surrounded with caution tape. The same place I was passing when I heard the pops. This experience I had would be considered a state of emotion. The textbook explains it as "how you feel right now" (lumen... Although this heightened state is essential for survival, prolonged periods could be detrimental to the body. Nonetheless, this emotion's role or "function" prepared my body for immediate action. That action being, to get the heck out of there! So for that, I am grateful.