Chapter 12 Emotions, Stress, and Health

Transcription

1 Chapter 12 Emotions, Stress, and Health PowerPoint Presentation by Jim Foley 2013 Worth Publishers

2 Chapter Overview Emotions How emotions are related to cognition, and yet sometimes seem to bypass cognition How emotions are related to the body Communicating emotions: detecting, verbal and nonverbal expression, and the influence of culture and gender Experiencing emotions such as anger and happiness Stress and Health Defining stress, and how it works How stress relates to illness How people can cope with stress or reduce it Promoting health through pets, alternative medicine, and stress reduction

3 Emotion: Arousal, Behavior, and Cognition Someone cuts you off on the road. You may feel the emotion of anger. Emotions are a mix of: Expressive behavior: yelling, accelerating Bodily arousal: sweat, pounding heart Conscious experience: (thoughts, especially the labeling of the emotion) What a bad driver! I am angry, even scared; better calm down. How do these components of emotion interact and relate to each other? Do our thoughts trigger our emotions, or are they a product of our emotions? How are the bodily signs triggered? How do we decide which emotion we re feeling? An emotion is a full body/mind/behavior response to a situation.

4 Theories of Emotion: The Arousal and Cognition Chicken and Egg Debates Which came first, the chicken or the egg? Or did they evolve together? Which happens first, the body changes that go with an emotion, or the thoughts (conscious awareness and labeling of an emotion), or do they happen together? James-Lange Theory: body before thoughts Cannon-Bard Theory: body with thoughts Singer-Schachter/Twofactor theory: body plus thoughts/label Zajonc, LeDoux, Lazarus: body/brain without conscious thoughts

5 James-Lange Theory: Body Before Thoughts William James ( ): We feel afraid because we tremble, sorry because we cry. The James-Lange theory states that emotion is our conscious awareness of our physiological responses to stimuli. Our body arousal happens first, and then the cognitive awareness and label for the feeling: I m angry. According to this theory, if something makes us smile, we may then feel happy.

6 Cannon-Bard Theory: Simultaneous Body Response and Cognitive Experience The Cannon-Bard theory asserts that we have a conscious/cognitive experience of an emotion at the same time as our body is responding, not afterward. Human body responses run parallel to the cognitive responses rather than causing them. Adjusting the Cannon-Bard Theory Emotions are not just a separate mental experience. When our body responses are blocked, emotions do not feel as intense. Our cognitions influence our emotions in many ways, including our interpretations of stimuli: Is that a threat? Then I m afraid.

7 Schachter-Singer Two-factor Theory: Emotion = Body Plus a Cognitive Label The Schachter-Singer two-factor theory suggests that emotions do not exist until we add a label to whatever body sensations we are feeling. I face a stranger, and my heart is pounding. Is it fear? Excitement? Anger? Lust? Or did I have too much caffeine? The label completes the emotion. In a study by Stanley Schachter and Jerome Singer in 1962, subjects experienced a spillover effect when arousal was caused by injections of what turned out to be adrenaline. The subjects interpreted their agitation to whatever emotion the others in the room appeared to be feeling; the emotional label spilled over from others.

8 Robert Zajonc, Joseph LeDoux, and Richard Lazarus: Emotions without Awareness/Cognition Theory: some emotional reactions, especially fears, likes, and dislikes, develop in a low road through the brain, skipping conscious thought. In one study, people showed an amygdala response to certain images (above, left) without being aware of the image or their reaction.

9 When Appraisal Affects Emotion Stanley Schachter and Jerome Singer highlighted the role of appraisal in labeling consciously experienced emotions: this agitation is fear. Richard Lazarus noted that even in emotional responses that operate without conscious thought, top-down cognitive functions such as appraisal of stimuli (is that a threat or something I would enjoy?) can be involved.

10 Summary: Theories of Emotion

11 Theories of Emotion Emotion can include the appraisal of the stimulus such as, is it a threat or not? Avoiding the highway today without identifying or explaining any fear is an example of the low road of emotion.

12 Embodied Emotion: The role of the autonomic nervous system The physiological arousal felt during various emotions is orchestrated by the sympathetic nervous system, which triggers activity and changes in various organs. Later, the parasympathetic division calms down the body.

13 Embodied Emotion: How Do Emotions Differ in Body Signs? It is difficult to see differences in emotions from tracking heart rate, breathing, and perspiration. There is also a large overlap in the patterns of brain activity across emotions. There are some small differences; for example, fear triggers more amygdala activity than anger. A general brain pattern: hemispheric differences Positive approach emotions (joy, love, goalseeking) correlate with left frontal lobe activity. Negative withdrawal emotions (disgust, fear, anger, depression) correlate with right hemisphere activity.

14 Emotional Expression Are there universal forms of emotional expression seen on human faces across all cultures? Are there differences by individual, culture, or gender in how emotions are expressed? What is the relationship between emotional expression and the inner experience of emotion? What emotion do we see in these faces and body positions? If these emotions are hard to read, is it because it s a different culture from your own, or because it s a performance?

15 Detecting Emotion in Others People read a great deal of emotional content in the eyes ( the window to the soul ) and the faces. Introverts are better at detecting emotions; extroverts have emotions that are easier to read. We are primed to quickly detect negative emotions, and even negative emotion words. Those who have been abused are biased toward seeing fearful faces as angry, as in the test below. These faces morph from fear to anger. Raise your hand when you first see anger under the red box.

16 Detecting Lies and Fakes Polygraphs (detecting physiological arousal) fail sometimes at correctly identifying when people are lying. Visible signs of lying: eye blinks decrease, and other facial movements change. Brain signs of lying: In which image is Paul Ekman lying with a fake smile? A real smile uses involuntary muscles around the eyes.

17 Gender and Emotional Expression and Detection Women seem to have greater and more complex emotional expression. Women are also more skilled at detecting emotions in others. However, this is an overgeneralization. People tend to attribute women s emotionality to their dispositions, and attribute men s emotions to their circumstances. We also see some emotions as being more male, changing our perception of a gender-neutral face based on the emotion (below): Male or female? How about now?

18 Culture and Emotional Expression: Are There Universally Recognized Emotions? There seem to be some universally understood facial expressions. People of various cultures agree on the emotional labels for the expressions on the faces on the right. People in other studies did have more accuracy judging emotions from their own culture.

19 An Evolutionary Theory of the Origins of Emotional Facial Expressions People blind from birth show the same facial expressions as sighted people. This suggests that the origin of facial expressions must be largely genetic. Why would we have facial expressions in our genetic code? Could facial expressions improve the survival of our ancestors? Perhaps sneering at someone might be like a wolf s snarl, warning competitors to back off. The surprised facial expression allows us to take in information. Shared smiles build protective social bonds, which may explain why we smile more when facing someone.

20 Emotion Detection and Context Cues What emotions do you see below? How can you tell what emotions he is feeling? Because the faces are exactly the same, our detection of emotion must be based on context: the situation, gestures, and the tears.

21 Linking Emotions and Expressive Behaviors: Facial Feedback The facial feedback effect: facial position and muscle changes can alter which emotion we feel. In one study, people whose faces were moved into smiling or frowning positions experienced a change in mood. Fake a relaxed smile, and you might feel better! It s not just about faces. In one experiment, extending a 1) middle finger or 2) thumb while reading led to seeing characters with 1) hostility or 2) positive attitude. The guy at the top, though forced into a smiling position, ended up feeling happier than the other guy.

22 Is Experienced Emotion as Universal as Expressed Emotion? Carroll Izzard suggested that there are ten basic emotions: those evident at birth (seen here) plus contempt, shame, and guilt.

23 Two Dimensions of Emotion We experience this image in dimensions of up/down and left/right. James Russell sees our emotional experience in two dimensions: 1. from pleasant to unpleasant 2. from low to high arousal.

24 Closer Look at a Particular Emotion: Anger A flash of anger gives us energy and initiative to fight or otherwise take action when necessary. Persistent anger can cause more harm than whatever we re angry about. Some ways to keep anger from persisting: distraction, constructive action, problem-solving, exercise, verbal expression, and allowing others to be wrong. The catharsis myth refers to the idea that we can reduce anger by releasing it, and we do this by acting aggressively (yelling, punching a pillow). In most cases, expressing anger worsens it, and any release reinforces the aggression, making it a conditioned habit. Sometimes, releasing anger causes harm, and results in guilt. Instead, try calming down and moving on.

25 Closer Look at a Particular Emotion: Happiness Happiness is: a mood. an attitude. a social phenomenon. a cognitive filter. a way to stay hopeful, motivated, and connected to others. The feel-good, do-good phenomenon: when in a good mood, we do more for others. The reverse is also true: doing good feels good.

26 Happiness has its ups and downs. Over the Course of a Week Levels of happiness, as well as other emotions, can vary over the course of a week (we like the weekend), and even over the course of a day (don t stay awake too long!). Over the Course of a Day

27 How far are you up a 10-step ladder toward the best possible life? The answers worldwide: Brighter color means feeling higher up the ladder. People in Chad and Tanzania are not feeling successful.

28 Wealth and Well-Being: A Change in Goals In the late 1960s, students entering college had a primary goal of developing a meaningful life philosophy. Since 1977, being very well-off financially has become more of a primary goal for first year students.

29 Can Money Buy Happiness? Money seems to buy happiness when it lifts people out of extreme poverty. Otherwise, money doesn t seem to help our mood much. 1. The average level of income (adjusted for inflation) and purchasing power has increased in the United States. 2. The percentage of people feeling very happy, though, has not followed the same trend of improvement.

30 Adaptation-Level Phenomenon When we step into the sunshine, it seems very bright at first. Then our senses adapt and we develop a new normal. If a cloud covers the sun, it may seem dark in comparison. The very bright sensation is temporary. The adaptation-level phenomenon: when our wealth or other life conditions improve, we are happier compared to our past condition. However, then we adapt, form a new normal level, and most people must get another boost to feel the same satisfaction.

31 Adapting Attitudes Instead of Circumstances Because of the adaptation-level phenomenon, our level of contentment does not permanently stay higher when we gain income and wealth; we keep adjusting our expectations. It is also true that misfortune, disability, and loss do not result in a permanent decrease in happiness. In both cases, humans tend to adapt.

32 Relative Deprivation If the average income has risen by 10 percent in your area, it might be hard to feel great about a 5 percent rise in your income because of People who were satisfied with their own lives might become less satisfied if other people get more power, recognition, and income. We can affect our happiness by choosing the people to whom we compare ourselves. However, the tendency is to compare ourselves to people who are more successful. relative deprivation: feeling worse off by comparing yourself to people who are doing better.

33 Correlates of Happiness There are behaviors that seem to go with happiness. Whether they are the cause or the effect of happiness is not clear, but it can t hurt to try them. Researchers have found that happy people tend to: Have high self-esteem (in individualistic countries) Be optimistic, outgoing, and agreeable Have close friendships or a satisfying marriage Have work and leisure that engage their skills Have an active religious faith Sleep well and exercise However, happiness seems not much related to other factors, such as: Age (example: the woman at the laptop in the picture) Gender (women are more often depressed, but also more often joyful) Parenthood (having children or not) Physical attractiveness There also may be a genetic basis for a predisposition to happiness. Whether because of genes, culture, or personal history, we each seem to develop a mood set point, a level of happiness to which we keep returning.

34 Possible Ways to Increase Your Chances at Happiness Look beyond wealth for satisfaction. Bring your habits in line with your goals; take control of your time. Smile and act happy. Find work and leisure that engages your skills. Exercise, or just move! Focus on the needs and wishes of others. Work, rest, and SLEEP. Notice what goes well, and express gratitude. Nurture spirituality, meaning, and community. Make your close relationships a priority.

35 Health Psychology Emotions, as well as personality, attitudes, behaviors, and responses to stress, can have an impact on our overall health. Health psychology studies these impacts, as part of the broader field of behavioral medicine. Topics of study in health psychology include: the phases of stress response and adaptation how stress and health are affected by appraisal of stressors severity of stressors personality types perceived control emotion or problem focus optimism social support exercise relaxation religious faith and participation

36 Stress: A Focus of Health Psychology Many people report being affected by stress. Some terms psychologists use to talk about stress: a stressor is an event or condition which we view as threatening, challenging, or overwhelming. Examples include poverty, an explosion, a psychology test, feeling cold, being in a plane, and loud noises. appraisal refers to deciding whether to view something as a stressor. stress reaction refers to any emotional and physical responses to the stressor such as rapid heartbeat, elevated cortisol levels, and crying. Stress refers to the process of appraising and responding to events which we consider threatening or challenging.

37 Clarifying the Components of Stress Stress isn t something that happens to you; it s a process in which you participate. The process includes the stressor (event or condition), cognitive appraisal, body response, and coping strategies. The advantage of breaking stress into these components is that we can see options for altering each of these different factors. What could this person do to reduce his level of suffering from stress?

38 Appraisal: Choosing How to View a Situation Questions to ask yourself when facing a possible stressor: Is this a challenge, and will I tackle it? Is it overwhelming, and will I give up? There are few conditions* that are inherently and universally stressful; we can often choose our appraisal and our responses. *extreme, chronic physical threats or challenges (such as noise or starvation)

39 Beneficial and Harmful Stress Effects A brief experience of stress can be beneficial: improving immune system response motivating action focusing priorities feeling engaged, energized, and satisfied providing challenges that encourage growth, knowledge, and self-esteem Extreme or prolonged stress, causes problems: mental and physical coping systems become overwhelmed and defeated rather than strengthened immune functioning and other health factors decline because of damage The key factor is whether there is a chance for recovery and healing.

40 Stressors There may be a spectrum of levels of intensity and persistence of stressors. We can also see stressors as falling into one of four* categories: catastrophes. significant life changes. chronic daily hassles. low social status/power. Stressors refer to the events and conditions that trigger our stress response, because they are perceived/ appraised as overwhelmingly challenging, threatening, and/or harmful. *the text focuses on the first three.

41 Catastrophic Events/Conditions Appraisal is not essential in a catastrophic event. Most people agree that the event is harmful and overwhelming Examples include earthquakes, floods, hurricanes, war/combat, and wildfires. It can be one single event or chronic harmful conditions. Short-term effects include increased heart attacks on the day of the event Long term effects include depression, nightmares, anxiety, and flashbacks. Bonding: both the trauma and the recovery are shared with others.

42 Major Life Events/Changes Even supposedly happy life changes, such as marriage, starting college or a new job, or the birth or adoption of a child, can bring increased challenge and stress. Change is often challenging. New roles, new priorities, and new tasks can put a strain on our coping resources. The challenge, and the negative impact on health, increases when: the changes are painful, such as a death in family, loss of job, or heart attack. the changes are in a cluster, and there are too many at once.

43 Chronic Daily Difficulties Daily difficulties can be caused by facing too many tasks, too little time, and too little control. Daily difficulties can be caused by the lack of social power and freedom: being bullied living in poverty living under oppressive political conditions

44 The Body s Stress Response System When encountering a sudden trauma or other stressor, our body acts to increase our resistance to threat and harm. Phase 1: The fight or flight sympathetic nervous system responds, reducing pain and increasing the heart rate. The core of the adrenal glands produces norepinephrine and epinephrine (adrenaline). This system, identified by Walter Cannon ( ), gives us energy to act. Phase 3: Exhaustion. Phase 2: The brain sends signals to the outer part of the adrenal glands to produce cortisol and other stress hormones. These focus us on planning adaptive coping strategies and resisting defeat by the stressor. Hans Selye ( ) indentified this extended resistance phase of the stress response, followed by:

45 General Adaptation Syndrome [GAS] (Identified by Hans Selye): Our stress response system defends, then fatigues.

46 Effects of Prolonged Stress The General Adaptation Syndrome [GAS] works well for single exposures to stress. Repeated and prolonged stress, with too much Phase 3 time, leads to various signs of physical deterioration and premature aging: the production of new neurons declines neural circuits in the brain break down DNA telomeres (chromosome tips) shorten, cells lose ability to divide, cells die, tissue stops regenerating, early aging and death

47 Female and Male Stress Response In response to a stressor such as the death of a loved one, women may tend and befriend : nurture themselves and others, and bond together. The bonding hormone oxytocin may play a role in this bonding. Women show behavioral and neurological signs of becoming more empathetic under stress. Men under stress are more likely to socially withdraw and numb themselves with alcohol. Men are also more likely to become aggressive under stress. In either case, men s behavior and brains show LESS empathy and less tuning in to others under stress.

48 Studying the Stress-Illness Relationship How does stress increase our risk of disease? This is the subject of a new field of study: psychoneuroimmunology, the study of how interacting psychological, neural, and endocrine processes affect health. Psychologists no longer use the term psychosomatic because it has come to mean an imagined illness. We now refer to psychophysiological illness, a real illness caused in part by psychological factors such as the experience of stress.

49 How the immune system works, before stress plays a role:

50 Stressors Stress Increases The Risk of Illness Here we see psychoneuroimmunology in action: psychological factors, such as appraisal, thoughts, and feelings. neurological factors, such as brain signals engaging the stress response system. immunology, such as stress hormone exposure which suppresses the immune system. Appraisal Thoughts Feelings Brain signals Hormonal action Immune suppression Risk of illness

51 Psychoneuroimmunology Example: The Impact of Stress on Catching a Cold In a group exposed to germs, those experiencing stress were more likely to catch a cold. This tradeoff between stress response and immune response may help our bodies focus energy on managing stress.

52 Stress, AIDS, and Cancer AIDS = Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome Because the stress response suppresses the immune response, exposure to stress obviously worsens the development of AIDS in those exposed to HIV. Reducing stress slows the progression of AIDS. Cancer: the stress link is not as clear Stress may weaken the body s defenses against the replication and spread of malignant cells This does NOT mean that stress causes cancer or AIDS.

53 Stress and Heart Disease In coronary heart/artery disease, the blood vessels that provide oxygen and nutrients to the heart muscle itself become clogged, narrowed, and closed. Many factors contribute to heart disease. Biological: genetic predisposition to high blood pressure and high cholesterol Behavioral: smoking, inactivity, and high-fat diet Psychological: chronic stress, and personality styles that worsen the experience of stress Clogging of the coronary artery

54 Type A Personality Stress Heart Disease Some personality traits tend to cluster into personality types. People with a type A personality are impatient, verbally aggressive, and always pushing themselves and others to achieve. People with a type B personality are more relaxed and go with the flow. In one study, heart attacks ONLY struck people with Type A traits. Accomplishing goals is healthy, but a compulsion to always be working, with little time spent smelling the flowers, is not.

55 Pessimism and Heart Disease It can be helpful to realistically anticipate negative events that may happen, and to plan how to prevent or cope with them. Pessimism refers to the assumption that negative outcomes will happen, and often facing them by complaining and/or giving up. Men who are generally pessimistic are more likely to develop heart disease within ten years than optimists.

56 Depression and Heart Disease Why does depression appear so often with heart disease? Does one cause the other? One possible answer is that the two problems are both caused by chronic stress. There may be an intervening variable: excessive inflammation.

57 Health Consequences of Chronic Stress: The Repeated Release of Stress Hormones The stress hormone cortisol helps our bodies respond to brief stress. Chronically high cortisol levels damage the body.

58 Promoting Health Some ways to reduce the health effects of stress include: address the stressors. soothe emotions. increase one s sense of control over stressors. exchange optimism for pessimism. get social support. Ways that help some people to reduce levels of stress, and to improve health: aerobic exercise relaxation and meditation participation in communities of faith alternative medicine

59 Coping with Stress Problem-focused coping means reducing the stressors, such as by working out a conflict, or tackling a difficult project. Emotion-focused coping means reducing the emotional impact of stress by getting support, comfort, and perspective from others. Risk: magnifying emotional distress, especially if trying to change something that s difficult to change (e.g. another person s traits). Risk: ignoring the problem. We might focus on this style of coping when we perceive the stressor as something we cannot change.

60 Stress factor: Perceived Level of Control Experiment: the left and middle rats below received shocks. The rat on the left was able to turn off the shocks for both rats. Which rat had the worst stress and health problems? Only the middle, subordinate rat had increased ulcers. It is not the level of shock, but the level of control over the shock, which created stress.

61 Promoting Health: Social Support Having close relationships is associated with improved health, immune functioning, and longevity. Social support, including from pets, provides a calming effect that reduces blood pressure and stress hormones. Confiding in others helps manage painful feelings. Laughter helps too. Well, I think you re wonderful.

62 Aerobic Exercise and Health Aerobic exercise refers to sustained activity that raises heart rate and oxygen consumption. Aerobic exercise triggers certain genes to produce proteins which guard against more than 20 chronic diseases and conditions. Aerobic exercise reduces the risk of heart disease, cognitive decline and dementia, and early death. Ultimate (Frisbee): you must run often to get open for a pass, then run more to cover the other team and block their passes.

63 Aerobic Exercise and Mental Health Aerobic exercise reduces depression and anxiety, and improves management of stress. How do we know? Aerobic exercise is correlated with high confidence, vitality, and energy, and good mood. Is there causation? Perhaps depression simply reduces exercise. One study establishing causation: mildly depressed young women randomly assigned to an exercise group showed reduced depression caused by exercise alone.

64 Lifestyle Modification In one study, a control group was given diet, medication, and exercise advice. An experimental group practiced lifestyle modification, a plan to slow down the pace of one s life, accept imperfection, and renew faith. Result: modifying lifestyle led to reduced heart attack rates.

65 Relaxation and Meditation Use of relaxation techniques can reduce headaches, high blood pressure, anxiety, and insomnia, and improve immune functioning. People who meditate can learn to create a relaxation response: relaxed muscles, lower blood pressure, and slowed heart rate and breathing. Meditation also increases brain activity associated with positive emotions. Steps to get the relaxation response: focus attention on breathing, a focus word, and relaxing muscles from toes upward.

66 Religious Involvement and Health While attendance at religious services may not directly save lives, it may make other healthy practices more likely. Religious attendance seems to have results, especially for men, comparable to the benefit of physically healthy lifestyle choices.

67 Religious Involvement and Health: Intervening Factors The health impact of religious involvement may be indirect. Health may improve because of the lifestyle and emotional factors associated with religious involvement, and not [just] the faith.

68 Complementary and Alternative Medicine These various types of medicine are alternative as they wait for broader acceptance and more empirical support. Some, like acupuncture and hypnosis, seem effective but may be based on a strong placebo effect.

69 Behavioral Medicine Lesson As with other areas of psychology, a study of emotions, stress and health teaches us: the body constantly interacts with the mind. psychological phenomena have connections to physiological phenomena. More than 2000 years ago, in a Sanskrit text called the Santi Parva, it was written, There are two kinds of diseases, physical and mental. Each springs from the other. None of them can be seen existing independently.