PSYC 222 Motivation and Emotions

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1 PSYC 222 Motivation and Emotions Session 10 Disordered Emotions Lecturer: Dr. Annabella Osei-Tutu, Psychology Department Contact Information: College of Education School of Continuing and Distance Education 2015/ /2017

2 Session Overview Experiences of emotion are inevitable. Negative and positive emotions are useful. For instance, negative emotions motivate us to fight or escape to protect ourselves from danger. However, experiencing prolonged negative emotions such as fear, sadness, and anger can be harmful to our mental health. How much negative emotion is too much? This session will introduce you to emotional disturbance and some of the challenges associated with having excessive activation of emotions. Slide 2

3 Session Outline The key topics to be covered in the session are: Topic One: Emotional Disturbance Topic Two: Fear and Anxiety Topic Three: Sadness and Depression Topic Four: Anger and Aggression Slide 3

4 Topic One EMOTIONAL DISTURBANCE Slide 4

5 Emotional Disturbance Emotional disturbances can result from both positive and negative emotions ; Excesses of emotion: e.g., extreme fear of speaking in public Deficits in emotion: e.g., lack of empathy; Social emotional problems: e.g., lack of emotional reciprocity; Emotion regulation problems; e.g., difficulties in controlling anger. (Kring, 2008) Slide 5

6 Emotional Disturbance Emotional disturbances can be categorized based 3 broad areas of disruption: 1. Valence 2. Intensity/regulation 3. Disconnections (Berenbaum, Raghavan, Le, Vernon, & Gomez, 2003) Slide 6

7 Emotional Disturbance Emotional valence disturbances can involve pleasant or unpleasant emotions, as well as too much or too little of these emotions. For examples? Limited experience of pleasure in depression; Excess fear in panic disorder Slide 7

8 Emotional Disturbance Emotional intensity/regulation disturbances are defined as over- or under-regulation of both pleasant and unpleasant emotions. For example? Excesses in both pleasant (joy) and unpleasant (irritability) emotions in mania Slide 8

9 Emotional Disturbance Disconnection disturbances reflect disconnections between the expressive component of emotion and other components; Disconnection disturbances also reflect a lack of conscious awareness of one s own emotional responses Example? In schizophrenia, patients experience strong feelings yet they have difficulty expressing them outwardly (Kring, 2008) Slide 9

10 Emotional Disturbance Negative emotions are useful They motivate you to avoid misfortune by escaping, attacking, or preventing harm or by repairing damage when it has already occurred. Negative emotions (e.g., fear, anger, and sadness) narrow an individual's momentary thought action repertoire toward specific actions (Fredrickson, 2002) Slide 10

11 Emotional Disturbance Positive emotions (e.g., joy, interest, and contentment) broaden our momentary thought action repertoire and build enduring personal resources Positive emotions loosen the hold that negative emotions gain on an individual's mind and body by undoing the narrowed psychological and physiological preparation for specific action (Fredrickson, 2000). Slide 11

12 Emotional Disturbance We know that experiences of negative emotion are inevitable and at times useful, but there is a question; How much negative emotion is too much? Extreme, prolonged, or contextually inappropriate, negative emotions can trigger a wide array of problems for individuals and for society. Slide 12

13 Topic Two FEAR AND ANXIETY Slide 13

14 Fear and Anxiety Fear and anxiety are closely related emotional phenomena. They both involve intense negative feelings and strong bodily manifestations. Fear is dread of impending disaster and an intense urge to defend oneself, primarily by getting out of the situation (Ӧhman, 2008) Slide 14

15 Fear and Anxiety Fear encourages avoidance. In the absence of restraints, internal or external, fear support the action of flight. Slide 15

16 Fear and Anxiety Anxiety is apprehensive anticipation of future danger or misfortune and is often accompanied by a feeling of dysphoria or bodily feeling of tension Anxiety can be defined as unresolved fear, or a state of undirected arousal following the perception of threat (Ӧhman, 2008) Slide 16

17 Topic Three SADNESS AND DEPRESSION Slide 17

18 Sadness and Depression Sadness is associated with a loss (of a relationship, a person, an opportunity, etc.) Sadness can motivate searching for what is lost (in cases where possible), and if it is not found, seeking a replacement (Nesse, 2005). The aversion associated with sadness motivates avoidance of actions that preceded the loss, preventing future losses. Slide 18

19 Sadness and Depression Sadness promotes personal reflection after an irreversible loss of a person or object of importance The experience of sadness motivates us to turn our attention inward, helping us to come to an acceptance of the loss. When experiencing sadness, our physiological arousal decreases, allowing us to revise our thoughts, goals, plans to accommodate our lost (Bonanno et al., 2008) Slide 19

20 Sadness and Depression There are down sides to sadness; it can cloud our social judgment and extreme sadness for prolonged periods can be detrimental to our health. Sadness can sometimes deteriorate into a depressed state. Slide 20

21 Sadness and Depression Depression is described as a persistent feeling of sadness Depression is associated with withdrawal and despair, and elicits rejection from others Slide 21

22 Sadness and Depression Depression is usually caused by a combination of factors including: Biological: e.g., genetic factors Social: e.g., early life experiences Personal habits; e.g., negative thinking and explanatory styles Slide 22

23 Sadness and Depression 1. Negative stressful events. 2. Pessimistic explanatory style. 3. Hopeless depressed state. 4. These hamper the way the individual thinks and acts, fueling personal rejection. (Myers, 2010) 4 Cognitive and behavioral changes 1 Stressful Experience 3 Depressed mood 2 Negative Explanatory Style The Depression Cycle

24 Sadness and Depression Brief displays of sadness evoke sympathy and helping responses from others. Depression, however, can have serious implications on personal relationships, threatening overall social adjustment. Prolonged expressions of sadness and depression tend to drive away people who might otherwise offer support. Slide 24

25 Topic Four ANGER & AGGRESSION Slide 25

26 Anger and Aggression Anger is an emotion designed to overcome an obstacle; Anger organizes and regulates physiological and psychological processes related to self-defense and mastery and regulates social and interpersonal behaviors (Lemerise & Dodge 2008) Slide 26

27 Anger and Aggression Anger poses difficulties for people because it repels others incurring long-term costs. The regulation and appropriate expression of anger are key developmental tasks. Individuals must learn their culture s display rules, which concern when, to whom, and how to express emotions in culturally acceptable ways. (Lemerise & Dodge 2008) Slide 27

28 Anger and Aggression Anger regulates interpersonal behavior and comes to be regulated in an interpersonal context via socialization by caregivers, peers, and the larger social context; Problems in regulating and appropriately expressing anger appropriately have implications for social functioning and mental well-being. Slide 28

29 Anger and Aggression Anger is often the precursor to aggression. Anger is the subjective experience that accompanies aggressive impulses. It is important to know that people often become angry without becoming aggressive. We can use emotion regulation to prevent anger from escalating into aggression. (Averill, 1983) Slide 29

30 Reading List Fredrickson, B. L. & Jonier, T (2002). Positive emotions trigger upward spirals toward emotional well-being. Psychological Science, 13, Slide 30

References Averill, J. R. (1983). Studies on anger and aggression: Implications for theories of emotion. American Psychologist, 1145-1160. Berenbaum, H., Raghavan, G., Le, H.-N., Vernon, L. L., &Gomez, J.

, & Harviland-Jones, J. M., & Barrett, L. F. (Eds.) (2008). Handbook of emotions (3 rd Ed). New York: The Guilford Press. Fredrickson, B. L. (2000).

31 References Averill, J. R. (1983). Studies on anger and aggression: Implications for theories of emotion. American Psychologist, Berenbaum, H., Raghavan, G., Le, H.-N., Vernon, L. L., &Gomez, J. J. (2003). A taxonomy of emotional disturbances. Clinical Psychology: Science and Practice, 10, Bonanno, G. A., Goorin, L., & Coifman, K. G. (2008). Sadness and grief. In, Lewis, M., & Harviland-Jones, J. M., & Barrett, L. F. (Eds.) (2008). Handbook of emotions (3 rd Ed). New York: The Guilford Press. Fredrickson, B. L. (2000). Cultivating positive emotions to optimize health and well-being. Prevention and Treatment, 3 (1). Kring, A. M. (2008). Emotion disturbances as transdiagnostic processes in psychopathology. In, Lewis, M., & Harviland-Jones, J. M., & Barrett, L. F. (Eds.) (2008). Handbook of emotions (3 rd Ed). New York: The Guilford Press. Lemerise, E. A., & Dodge, K. A. (2008). The development of anger and hostile interactions. In M. Lewis & J. M. Haviland-Jones (Eds.), Handbook of emotions (3rd ed.) (pp ). New York: Guilford. Myers, D. (2010). Psychology: Ninth edition in modules. New York: Worth Publishers. Nesse, R. M. (2005). Natural selection and the regulation of defenses: A signal detection analysis of the smoke detector principle. Evolution and Human Behavior, 26, Ӧhman, A. (2008). Fear and anxiety: Overlaps and dissociations. In, Lewis, M., & Harviland- Jones, J. M., & Barrett, L. F. (Eds.) (2008). Handbook of emotions (3 rd Ed). New York: The Guilford Press. Slide 31

PSYC 222 Motivation and Emotions

PSYC 222 Motivation and Emotions Session 6 The Concept of Emotion Lecturer: Dr. Annabella Osei-Tutu, Psychology Department Contact Information: aopare-henaku@ug.edu.gh College of Education School of Continuing