Notes for Psychology-April 9th Classifying Emotions: As social psychologists strive to formulate a theoretical model for emotions, they

attempt to relay an emotional experience bac to a holistic picture! "ith one model, there are t#o distinct dimensions, the valence of the emotion and the level of arousal resulting from the emotion! $alence: Positive vs! Negative Affect Arousal %evel: Active and Engaged vs! Passive and Calm &efer bac to the table of Positive and Negative, and 'igh and %o#! (his #ill be posted on the lecture slides under Emotion ))! (his frame#or and model is no# employed by many social psychologists! Emotion: *ociocultural +actors (here are, as has been asserted before, universal expressions of emotion across various cultures! E man #as the first to gather empirical data in support of this fact! 'e conducted his research in a previously un-contacted tribe and as ed them to simulate different emotions! (his aided him in being able to distinguish the evolutionary role facial expressions might have played as opposed to the cultural conditioning of them! &ole of Culture: *omething #hich does vary across cultures are the ,display rules!, (hese are governing social norms #hich dictate #hen, #here, and ho# emotions should be expressed according to the culture! -any Asian cultures, for example, emphasi.e moderation in the expression of emotions in a public setting! &ole of /ender (his has been the focus of many different studies! 0ne concluded that men and #omen are drastically ali e in the expression of their emotions! /irls often report more intense emotions, and thus tend to develop a greater regulation of such feelings! (hey also report greater sadness, shame, guilt, and empathy! (hey are additionally more accurate at recogni.ing others1 emotions! (hey also no# better ho# to hide disappointment! 2oys and men, ho#ever, are better at hiding sadness and are more li ely to report less emotional vulnerability if they embrace a masculine identity 3primarily in terms of adult males4! *ocial Aspects of Emotional Expression:

-any studies #ere conducted to examine ho# infants tended to imitate different expressions! (he infants1 capacity to do so typically depended upon their motor-muscular development! )t is believed that imitation is an innate instinct! *ocial Contingencies-(he idea that one is motivated to coordinate one1s emotions #ith those of other people! *ocial Aspects of Emotional Expression *ocial referencing: the process of loo ing to others to assist in interpreting an ambiguous emotional situation! *elf-Conscious Emotions: (hese are important in that they indicate ho# much of a social phenomena emotions truly are! After all, #hat do shame, guilt, pride, and embarrassment all reflect5 (hey are reflections of our relation to our senses of self and our consciousness of other people1s interactions #ith us! Empathy has also received a great deal of empirical attention! )t is believed to spring first from social cognition and then drives a certain emotion! 0nce an individual feels empathy for an individual, they then feel prompted to engage in a prosocial behavior! (he development of this emotion is believed to begin at the start of life! (here may be an innate predisposition to feel this emotion! *cholars assert that from birth, #e are attuned to the emotions of other people! )nfants, ho#ever, simply no# to cry #hen they feel others1 cry! (oddlers1 undifferentiated, egocentric empathy fails to fully distinguish o#n vs! others1 internal states! *ome appropriate prosocial behavior 3touching, verbal reassurance4, but also misguided attempts at prosocial behavior! +or example, they may try to offer an upset adult a toy, no#ing that this is an ob6ect of security for them in times of tumult! Eventually, they gro# conscious to the fact that these emotions are not our o#n! 'istorically much debate over the definition of empathy: (here is a complication over the operational definition of ,empathy!, *cientists have thus tried to identify and narro# do#n potential definitions for empathy! Eisenberg defines empathy as the active sharing in the emotion of another! (his does not need to be an identical replication of #hat the individual is feeling, but must be greatly similar to #hat that person is feeling or #ould be expected to feel! *ympathy is, in Eisenberg1s mind, entirely distinct from empathy! (hey may experience concern or pity, #ith a feeling of concern for another person in reaction to the other1s emotional state of condition! (his is no#n as ,other-focused!,

Personal distress asserts the notion that some might be so distressed by the emotions of the other that they may gro# over#helmed and thus, focus solely #ithin their o#n mind and emotions! (his is no#n as ,self-focused!, +ear may or may not be a social emotion! After all, it has a biological root, #ith fear systems being divided into t#o path#ays: thalamus-amygdala or thalamus-sensory cortex-amygdala! (he amygdala is also imperative in the persistence of emotional memories so that certain stimuli may come to be affiliated #ith certain fearful responses! &egulation of Emotions: Emotion regulation: ho# #e manage our emotions! (his results in our efforts to regulate our emotions so that #e may act appropriately depending upon our social context! (here are many different physiological, cognitive, and behavioral strategies to mediate different types of emotions! (here is such a thing as regulating emotion to an excessive point! &ecall the conclusion that the bottling up of an emotion has severe physiological ramifications! (he last ,discreet, emotion to be discussed is happiness!