This is a summary of both the book and the lectures for Emotions: scientific and clinical aspects. My final grade for this course was a 9 using this summary.
Emotions notes and summary
Contents
Chapter 1....................................................................................................................................1
Chapter 2....................................................................................................................................6
Chapter 6 / Lecture 2................................................................................................................10
Clip week 3...........................................................................................................................15
Clip week 4...........................................................................................................................16
Chapter 8..................................................................................................................................17
Chapter 11 individual differences............................................................................................21
Lecture 3 mindfulness..............................................................................................................25
Chapter 5 bodily changes and emotion....................................................................................29
Chapter 7..................................................................................................................................33
Chapter 10................................................................................................................................35
Lecture 5...................................................................................................................................38
Chapter 12 emotions and pathology.........................................................................................41
Chapter 13 depression and anxiety...........................................................................................46
Chapter 14................................................................................................................................49
Lecture 6 mentalization based treatment..................................................................................51
..............................................................................................................................................52
Lecture 7...................................................................................................................................55
Lecture clip...........................................................................................................................55
Chapter 3..................................................................................................................................57
Chapter 4 communication of emotions....................................................................................59
Clip emotion regulation........................................................................................................64
Emotions in social relationships...............................................................................................65
Chapter 1
Features of an emotion
- Reaction to a stimulus
- Appraisal (we think it is important for us)
- Experience and expression
, - Limited duration
- Motivation to display specific behaviours
- Capacity to regulate emotions
- Effect on the individual themselves and others
- Adaptive
Emotion = a psychological state that relates to an event (usually ‘out there’ in the world but
can also be inside our own mind). This event is called a concern which prepares the person
for action.
- Priority to one goal over another > an emotion gives urgency to that goal (e.g. cross a
road and a car is coming > jump back in fear)
- Emotions are rational = emotions are triggered by events and that gives urgency to a
specific concern which motivates action
- Emotions are relational = e.g. when feeling angered by a friend’s sarcastic comment,
the concern of being valued is given urgency which may lead you to point out the
comment of your friend and undo the critique
Certain conditions must be met to benefit from emotions
- Accurate appraisal (being anger at nothing is not adaptive)
- Proper degree of importance attached to situation
- Prioritizing goals corresponds with the importance
- Reactions make sense for the situation
- High emotional intelligence (what you can do with emotions, what their function is)
19th century founders of emotion theory
- Charles Darwin: the evolutionary approach
o 2 central questions:
How are emotions in expressed in humans and other animals?
Answer: many different expressions such as blushing, crying,
frowning, laughing, sweating which are tied to specific (facial)
muscles, sweat glands etc.
Emotional expressions are universal (see chapter 4)
Where do emotions come from?
Answer: emotional expressions derive from habits in our
evolutionary past that had once been useful. They are based on
reflex-like mechanisms and some of them occur when they are
useful or not. Because they are reflex-like, they can be
, triggered involuntarily in similar circumstances that had
triggered the original habits
Answer: emotional expressions are there, but have no function
(kind of like the appendix we have, a small organ that is part of
the gut but has no function). E.g. snarling (preparing to bite)
was functional in some ancestor but not anymore. Only towards
the end of his book, he writes that they serve an important
social function
- William James: the bodily approach; the emotion = the perception of the changes in
our body as we react to an event (James-Lange theory)
o Focus on how emotions have an
effect on our body: our
experience of emotion depends
on the changes in our autonomic
nervous system (heart, blood,
lungs, muscles, joints, stomach,
sweat)
Emotions give ‘colour and warmth’ to the experience > without the
experience of ‘fear’, everything would be pale
- Sigmund Freud: Psychoanalytic approach; emotions are at the core of many mental
illnesses (e.g. patient who experiences panic attacks and during that, would see an
awful, unclear face that would frighten her)
o Emotions in the present could derive from one in the past (patient’s early life;
who is the unclear face that gives her fear) > in order to uncover what the
emotion means, the therapist fills in the gaps by interpretations and the
insights of the client > arrive to a conclusion (client had been sexually
molested and that is what she fears)
o Emotions / emotional life is strongly influenced by relationships we had in
childhood with parents / other caregivers
Philosophical / literary approaches
- Aristotle: although many assume that emotions just happen to us, really emotions
depend on what we believe: emotions are evaluative judgements of the events in the
world > then, we are responsible for our emotions since we are responsible for our
beliefs
o E.g. anger happens because of a belief that a slight has occurred = to be treated
with contempt / to be shamed
o The role of the theatre in emotions
We experience sympathy (for the characters) and fear for ourselves
Katharsis = clarification of our emotions > by seeing human action at
the theatre, we come to experience sympathy and fear and then
understand for ourselves their relation to the consequences of human
action
o 2 Ethics = school of thought about understanding how one could shape one’s
emotions in pursuing a good life > how to best construct our own life in
relation to others
Epicureanism = the idea that humans have a right to pursue
happiness, living naturally, in harmony with the environment > enjoy
simple pleasures, live in moderation and not chase after things that
, make you anxious (wealth, fame) because that will lead to painful
emotions (frustration, envy)
Stoicism = emotions derive from desires so you should get rid of the
desires (being superior, fame, wealth) > pursue good character and
rationality because they are outside of the control of others and are
thus, subject to your own will. Desires that lead to anger, anxiety,
pride, lust etc are bad for the self and for society so you should get rid
of them (the desires) > the desires became the 7 types of greed in
Christianity
First movements of emotions = automatic; occur in the body,
cannot help it
Second movements of emotions = mental, involve judgement
and decision
- Descartes: the 6 fundamental emotions (wonder, desire, joy, love, hatred and sadness)
occur in the thinking aspect of ourselves = the soul. Emotions tell us what is
important in our souls (our real selves), it relates to our concerns and identities
o You cannot completely control emotions by thinking but you can regulate
them by thoughts (e.g. you can remove fear by considering the reasons /
objects which elicit the fear)
o Emotions are mostly functional, but can sometimes by dysfunctional
- Elliot: highlight the importance of literary art for the understanding of emotions:
emotions are not just in individuals but between people as well
o Sympathies = emotions that connect us to each other
o If we cannot see the outcome of our action, if there is no fate or divine force
guiding us, how do we find our way in life? Emotions act as a compass to
guide us to pursue what we care about (our concerns)
The scientific study of emotions (psychology, sociology, anthropology, brain science)
- Harlow and Singer: the role of the brain in emotions
o Phineas Gage suffered from emotional problems after the accident; now he is
impatient, easily moved to anger, irreverent
Damage in the frontal lobes = inappropriate judgements (risks,
morality, trustworthiness) > can’t gauge which concerns matter
anymore, actions can be inappropriate (Chapter 7)
o Cannon: critique of James-Lange where he argued that if you were to make
lesions in the brain of lab animals (James argued that feelings come from the
‘viscera’ in the brain), you would expect a reduction in their emotions >
instead, severing the cerebral cortex from the lower brain regions (or
removed), the animal would show more intense emotions (esp. anger) > the
cortex acts to inhibit the subcortical regions where emotions reside (see
chapter 7) > not completely the case
o fMRI studies
Singer: study on empathy > the same brain regions that were affected
by participant’s own pain, were affected by the imagination of their
partner, also being in pain (receiving a shock)
- Arnold and Tomkins (1954): emotions are based on the appraisal of events
o Emotion arises when a person perceives or thinks about something that is
important to us (the concern). If we know what appraisals (evaluations) are
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