Emotion, stress, coping & health. Emotion. Emotion and the body 11/30/11

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1 /30/ Emotion, stress, coping & health Emotion A state of arousal involving facial and bodily changes, brain ac6va6on, cogni6ve appraisals, subjec6ve feelings, and tendencies toward ac6on, all shaped by cultural rules Emotion and the body Primary emo6ons Emo%ons considered to be universal and biologically based, usually thought to include fear, anger, sadness, joy, surprise, disgust, and contempt Secondary emo6on Emo%ons that develop with cogni%ve maturity and vary across individuals and cultures 1

2 /30/ Universal expressions of emotion Facial expressions for primary emo6ons are universal. Even members of remote cultures can recognize facial expressions in people who are foreign to them. Facial feedback Process by which the facial muscles send messages to the brain about the basic emo%on being expressed Infants are able to recognize parental expressions. Facial expressions in social context Across and within cultures, agreement oden varies on which emo6on a par6cular facial expression is revealing. People don t usually express their emo6on in facial expressions unless others are around. Facial expressions convey different meanings depending on their circumstances. People oden use facial expressions to lie about their feelings. Emotion and the brain The amygdala Responsible for assessing threat Damage to the amygdala results in abnormality in processing fear. 2

3 /30/ Emotion and the brain LeD prefrontal cortex Involved in mo%va%on to approach others Damage to this area results in loss of joy Right prefrontal cortex Involved in withdrawal and escape Damage to this area results in excessive mania and euphoria Emotion and the brain Mirror neurons A class of neurons, distributed throughout the brain, that fire when an animal sees or hears an ac%on and carries out the same ac%on on its own Far more evolved and varied in humans than in other animals Help us to recognize others inten6ons Polygraph tests Empirical support is weak and conflicting. Inadmissible in most courts. It is illegal to use for most job screening. Many government agencies continue to use for screening. 3

4 /30/ How thoughts create emotions Percep6ons and akribu6ons are involved in emo6ons. Cogni6ve- Appraisal theory of emo6ons. How one reacts to an event depends on how the person explains it. For example, how one reacts to being ignored or winning the silver instead of the gold medal Culture and emotion Culture determines what people feel angry, sad, lonely, happy, ashamed, or disgusted about. Some cultures have words for specific emo6ons unknown to other cultures. E.g., schadenfreude Differences between primary emo6ons and more complex varia6ons is reflected in language all over the world. Differences in secondary emo6ons appear to be reflected in differences in languages. Rules of emotional regulation Display rules When, where, and how emo%ons are to be expressed or when they should be squelched Emo6on work Ac%ng out an emo%on we do not feel or trying to create the right emo%on for the occasion Body language The nonverbal signals of body movement, posture, and gaze that people constantly express 4

5 /30/ Expressiveness In North America women... smile more than men. gaze at listeners more. have more emo%onally expressive faces. use more expressive body movements. touch others more. acknowledge weakness and emo%ons more. Compared to women, men only express anger to strangers more. Stress and the body General Adapta6on Syndrome Alarm Resistance Exhaus%on Goal is to minimize wear and tear on system. Current approaches HPA axis Hypothalamus- pituitary- adrenal cortex axis A system ac%vated to energize the body to respond to stressors The hypothalamus sends chemical messengers to the pituitary gland. The pituitary gland prompts the adrenal cortex to produce cor%sol and other hormones. 5

6 /30/ Brain and body under stress Stress and the common cold Psychology, neurology, and the immune system Psychoneuroimmunology (PNI) The study of the rela%onships among psychology, the nervous and endocrine systems, and the immune system Psychological factors explain why not all people are stressed the same amount by the same things. 6

7 /30/ Optimism and pessimism Glass half- empty or half- full? Op6mism is beker for health than pessimism. Op%mists take beler care of themselves. Health and well- being may depend on having some posi%ve illusions about yourself. Sense of control Locus of control A general expecta%on about whether the results of your ac%ons are under your own control (internal locus) or beyond your control (external locus) Feelings of control can reduce or even eliminate the rela6onship between stressors and health. Internal or External Locus? Suppose you have several difficult exams coming up soon. If your thought is There s no way I can study enough to get an A in Psychology, then what is your locus of control? 1. Internal 2. External 7

8 /30/ Emotions and illness Hos6lity and heart disease Type A personality: determined to achieve, sense of %me urgency, irritable, quick to respond to threat or challenge, impa%ent with obstacles Type B personality: calmer, less intense Personality type is less predic6ve of health problems than is hos6lity. Proneness to anger (a key aspect of personality disorders) is a major risk factor Hostility and heart disease Men with highest hostility scores as young medical students had higher rate of heart disease 25 years later. Hostility is more hazardous than a heavy workload. Clinical depression Linked to at least a doubled risk of later heart akack and cardiovascular disease Less frequent exercise Lethargy Overea%ng Cancer can cause depression not just the diagnosis, but cancerous tumors produce high levels of a chemical that cause symptoms of depression. 8

9 /30/ Positive emotions Longitudinal study of 180 Catholic nuns found that longevity was related to frequency of posi6ve emo6ons. Happiness Interest Love Hope Nuns whose life stories contained the most posi6ve emo6on words lived an average of nine years longer. Emotional inhibition A personality trait involving a tendency to deny feelings of anger, anxiety, or fear; stressful situa6ons cause heart rate and blood pressure to rise sharply. People with this trait are more likely to fall ill than people who can acknowledge feelings. Letting grievances go Confession: divulging private thoughts and feelings that make you ashamed or depressed Can also give up thoughts that produce grudges and replace them with different perspectives. Forgiving thoughts 9

10 /30/ Massage therapy Cooling off Mindfulness medita6on Learning to recognize feelings of anger, sadness, or anxiety without judging them or trying to get rid of them. First just no%cing them but then leqng them go. Exercise Solving the problem Emotion-focused coping Concentrating on the emotions the problem has caused Problem-focused coping Taking steps to solve the problem Rethinking the problem Reappraising the situa6on Learning from the experience Making social comparisons Cul6va6ng a sense of humor 10

11 /30/ Apply what you know John was recently in a car accident. His reac6on was to talk to all his friends about how scary the incident was and how upset he is. John is engaging in: A. Problem- focused coping B. Emo%on- focused coping Looking outward Friends can help People who have network of close connec%ons live longer than those who do not. Partner support Touching can elevate levels of oxytocin, the hormone that induces relaxa%on. Giving support to others can be a valuable source of comfort. Hugs and health

12 /30/ When friends aren t helpful Many are stressed by the responsibility of caring for others. In close rela6onships, the support person may also be the source of stress. Married couples who argue in a hos%le way have increased eleva%ons of stress hormones and weakened immune systems. Friends may be unsuppor6ve or block your progress toward a goal. Other factors that increase the risk of illness Environmental Poverty, lack of access to health care, discrimina%on Experien6al Childhood neglect, chronic job stress, unemployment Behavioral Smoking, poor diet, lack of exercise, abuse of alcohol or other drugs, lack of sleep 12