Tags: #notes
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Emotions

What does "emotion" mean?

• Emotions are feelings. They are subjective internal feelings.

How many emotions are there?

• One way to get at answering this question: how many words for emotions are there?
• Thousands
• Six basic emotions
  • Anger
  • Fear
  • Sadness
  • Happiness
  • Disgust
  • Surprise
• Most of the emotions on this list are negative! Why?
  • Not because people feel bad more then they feel good. (The opposite is true)
  • Because of the need to communicate.
  • If you feel happy, there's no need to describe the type of positive emotion you feel. However if your emotion is negative, we need words to convey the type of negative emotion.
• We have lots of words for emotions to communicate different levels of intensity:
  • What is a word for very strong fear? For sight fear? (Terrified) (Worried)
  • What about a word for intense anger? Mild anger? (furious, rage, livid, "going postal") (Annoyed, Irritated)
  • Think of a word for intense happiness? For low intensity happiness? (ecstatic, elated, overjoyed) (Content, pleased)
• Some emotion words are combinations of basic emotions:
  • Frustrated is sad and ager
  • Contempt is disgust and anger
  • Bittersweet could mean both happy and sad at the same time

Facial Expressions

How do the facial expressions on our face reveal emotion

A. There are over 80 muscles in the face that express emotion

• Psychologist Paul Ekman trained himself to move each muscle separately.
• Sometimes emotions leak on our face when we're trying to hide it
  • Example: worry
    B. which comes first an emotion or a facial expression?
• We assume the emotion comes first. Sometimes, but not always.
• Smiling causes things to be funnier Facial Feedback
• Facial expression releases hormones

Emotions and Cultures

Are emotions the same around the world or do people in different cultures feel different emotions?
Are the variety of emotions humans experience due to biology or environment?

• Cross cultural study: Paul Ekman
  • Conclusion: Essentially, people around the world experience the same basic emotions
• Emotions are biologically based
  • More evidence: blind from birth
• However...
• Groups of students were shown a video of a person's hand getting chopped off
  • What emotion was expressed on their face?
  • Disgust
• Same video shown to Japanese students
  • Blank emotion expressed
• How would a researcher determine which is the correct explanation?
  • Test was done alone
  • Americans made a disgusted face
  • Japanese made a disgusted face
• Different cultures vary in their Displayed rules:
  • Definition: Expectations about whether, how, when to show an emotion
  • Japanese have a cultural rule against display of expression

How to Deal with Anger

• A. Vent or not?
• B. Three steps
  • 1. Get away (while waiting for arousal to decline
  • 2. Vent in positive ways: Music, exercise, talk to trusted family member friend, journal, pray
  • 3. After you are calm: decide whether you need to confront the person or not

Happiness

How happy are most people?

• Study: On a scale from 0 to 10(5 neutral), what was the average rating Americans gave to indicate how they feel about their lives in general.
• Study: What percentage of the time do you feel:
  • Happy? (54%)
  • Neutral? (25%)
  • Unhappy? (20%)
  • Individuals vary.
• Martin Seligman (Book: Authentic Happiness)
  • Formula for "authentic happiness"
  • H=S+C+V

S = set point (range)

• This refers to your biology. Some of us are genetically wired to easily be happy, some are wired to work harder.
  - No one is genetically determined to be unhappy
  - It's just a tendency-it can be overcome
  - Analogy: weight

C = Circumstances

• Most people live as if the key to happiness is changing the circumstances in their life
  - This isn't accurate
  - Research shows that even if all the circumstances of your life were ideal, this would add only about 8 to 15% to your level of happiness.
  - Good/bad things happening to you can temporarily raise/lower your level of happiness. But these changes in circumstances have very little effect on long-term level of happiness
  - We adjust to our new circumstances
  - Research: Emotional effects of being fired or promoted at work typically last less than three months
  - Research: People who are paralyzed in accidents have temporary decrease in happiness-but it returns to what it was before
  - Circumstances with little-no impact on happiness
  - Attractiveness
  - Health (subjective view correlates with happiness)
  - Education level
  - Race
  - more, but small impact
  - Living in a democracy
  - Good Marriage: 40% married "very happy" vs. 24% unmarried
  - Friends (extroversion)

V= Voluntary factors

• This refers to your perspective about your life
  - It's not circumstances lead to happy/unhappy
  - It is circumstances when your perspective intervenes leads to happy/unhappy

- What kind of perspective increases happiness?

Gratitude

• Research by Dr. Robert Emmons (UC Davis)
  • Gratitude group
  • Daily hassles
  • Neutral list
  • After a few weeks: the gratitude group had a happiness level 25% higher than the other groups
• To be happier, cultivate gratitude
• How to increase gratitude?
  • Write a list several times a week
  • Be specific - note little things
  • "What went well today?"
  • What bad thing did not happen?
  • Write a not to a person you are grateful for
  • 10k reasons

Forgiveness

• Psychologist Everett Worthington forgave his mother's murder
  • forgiveness doesn't say "What you did wasn't wrong"
  • It says What you did was wrong but I wont seek revenge, I move forward.
  • Who benefits from forgiveness? You do.
  • Forgiveness benefits you more than it does the person that you forgive
  • Worthington: REACH acronym for forgiveness
    • Recall the hurt
    • Empathize with the person
    • Altruistic gift of forgiveness
    • Commit yourself to forgive
    • Hold onto forgiveness

Optimism

• Cup half full or half empty

Religion

• Religious people are happier than nonreligious
• They are also healthier and live longer

Seligman: Two Types of Happiness

Least significant: Pleasure/Fun

• Often involve the senses
  • Don't last long
  • Not much thinking
  • To increase your Pleasure in Life
    • 1. Spread out pleasures over time (10 min shower vs two hour)
    • Ice cream study
    • Pizza everyday vs once a month
      • 2. Savor the pleasure
  • Warning:
    • If our lives are built around pleasure we wont be happy
    • Why? we find short cuts to happiness which don't work
    • eg TV
    • Common shortcuts: Shopping, spectator sports, food, video games, drugs, loveless sex
    • These don't lead to long-term happiness
    • Because if we make life about fun we lack authenticity and meaning

Second (More important type of happiness): Meaning (Gratification)

• Doing activities that fully engage us
• Use our personal strengths to make the world a better place
• Strength: not a talent, but a virtue, a moral trait
• Kind actions feel better than fun ones. Especially when random