4 TEST QUESTIONS NEED IN A HOUR
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Chapter3.pptxSocial Psychology
Chapter 3: Social Affect
Affect
Help us function efficiently and in a way that helps our chances of survival
Disgust: Keeps us healthy by helping avoid situations likely to carry disease
Embarrassment: Helps us respond to situations in which we have violated social norms
Signals us that things are “OK” or not going so well
Help us determine if our actions are appropriate, predict others’ behavior or responses to us, and to regulate our own behavior towards others.
Physiology of Affect
Physiology of Affect
Sympathetic Nervous System
Part of the autonomic nervous system that is involved in the body’s response to threats by activating the organs & glands in the endocrine system
In part determines our emotions
Increased blood pressure, heart rate, perspiration, respiration
Provides energy to respond to our environment (when activated)
Releases hormones epinephrine and norepinephrine
Parasympathetic Nervous System
Involved in resting, digesting, relaxing, recovering
Counters the SNS
Physiology of Affect
Limbic system
One of the oldest parts of our brain (evolutionarily)
Amygdala: Primarily for regulating our perception of and response to aggression and fear.
Connected to facial muscles (perceive and express emotion)
Regulates release of neurotransmitters related to stress and aggression
Basic and Secondary Emotions
Basic:
Anger, contempt, disgust, fear, happiness, sadness, surprise.
Based on SNS arousal, not much cognitive processing
Happen quickly, not much thought or interpretation
Are cross-cultural in that they are expressed and experienced consistently across many cutlures
Secondary:
Guilt, shame, embarrassment, amusement, satisfied
Lower levels of arousal
Higher levels of cognitive activity
Culture and Gender Differences
Individualism vs collectivism
Self-enhancing vs other-oriented
Women more open to feelings, more likely to express emotion publicly
Especially in social relationships
Biology or culture?
Moods
Determine now to evaluate our current situation
Positive = continue, negative = change
Fritz Strack and the cartoon study (smiles)
Weather influences our judgment about our well-being (only when we’re not aware that it might be doing so)
Our body positions (esp. facial expressions) influence our affect
Misattributing Affect
Emotion = arousal + cognition
Arousal only becomes emotion when paired with a label or an explanation for the arousal.
Sometimes with high arousal its difficult to accurately determine why or what emotion they’re experiencing
**Misattribution of arousal**
Love/hate relationships
Schachter & Singer study
When an individual experiences arousal with no explanation, they will “label” this state in terms of the cognitions available to them in their environment.
Stress and Well-Being
Stress is the most powerful emotional influence on us.
Physical and psychological reactions when we believe the demands of a situation threaten our ability to respond to the stress.
Happens when we don’t know how to respond or don’t know if we can cope.
Extreme stress can = PTSD
Evolutionarily stress is a positive thing, stress responses prepare us to act.
Stress over time can create negative mental physical effects.
General Adaptation Syndrome
Alarm
Body releases hormones, including cortisol
Resistance
Adaptation and body tries to return to normal
Glucose levels increase and BP increases
Exhaustion
Body runs out of reserves of energy and immunity
Can lead to death
HPA Axis
Cortisol is the “stress hormone”
Releases sugars into the blood to help prepare the body to respond to a threat
Cortisol testing
Saliva
Service dogs
Stress increases activity in the SNS and suppresses activity in the PNS
Long-term stress (activation of the HPA) = fatigue, depression, more colds, heart disese, weakened immune system.
Stress damages our DNA
Less repair of wounds, genetic mutations
Holmes and Rahe Stress Scale
Responses to Stress
Everyone responds differently to stress
Strong negative emotions from daily hassles + hostility reactions = more negative health outcomes
Men more likely to respond to stress by activating fight-flight response
Go on the attack (aggressive/revenging) or retreat ASAP
Activated by the HPA axis
Women more likely to tend-and-befriend
Behavioral reaction involving creating social networks that provide protection from threats
Activated by oxytocin (promotes affiliation)
Healthier response to HPA
Depression and Anxiety
Genetic predisposition
Hormones and neurotransmitters
Largely socially determined, thus can be treated –in part- in a social sense
Lack of adequate social interactions
Loneliness
Studies show that “shy” individuals have higher rates of anxiety and depression
Likely due to avoidance of social interactions
Determined by how we feel about ourselves, our performance (incl. goals), and social interactions
Social Factors in Research
Emotional distress from not meeting the standards and goals we set for ourselves, as well as how we think other people see us
Negative emotions related to discrepancies between:
Actual elf-concept
Ideal self-concept
Ought self-concept
Other important peoples’ expectations
OVERALL: The social situation creates our emotional experience
Coping with Negative Emotions
We can’t prevent negative emotions
They are adaptive in nature, so we wouldn’t want to
Goal: Learn to respond and cope in the most productive ways possible
Distorting and Suppressing
Suppress, avoid, deny
NO
Don’t think about pink elephants
Distraction works in the short-term
Self-medicating (adrenaline, drugs, alcohol, sex, spirituality, food)
Damaging in the long-term
Opening up
Gain information from others
Social support
Make sense of the events (even if just writing it down)
Self-Regulation
Learning how to control our emotions and to prevent them from letting our behavior get out of control.
Setting goals and using our affective and cognitive capacities to reach them.
Impulse control
Avoiding immediate gratification in order to obtain a greater reward at a later time.
Lack of Self-Regulation
Lower levels of serotonin
Preferences for small immediate rewards over large later rewards.
Tied to violence, impulsiveness, suicide.
Positive Emotions
Optimism
General tendency to expect positive outcomes
Self-efficacy
Belief in our ability to carry out actions that produce desired outcomes
Combine them:
HARDINESS
What Makes us Happy?
Money
No
Having children
Childless couples are happier
Ability to predict/determine our own future or happiness
No
Reaction to positive events doesn’t last all that long
Habituation to positive (and negative) events
Social comparisons change as our circumstances change
What Makes Us Happy?
Our Connections With Others
Well-being
Determined through genetic factors and by the situations that we create for ourselves.
Positive social relationships with others
By far the most important variable that affects happiness
Social support
