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Motivation and emotion/Lectures/Nature of emotion

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Lecture 07: Nature of emotion
This is the seventh lecture for the motivation and emotion unit of study.

Overview

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This lecture introduces the psychology of emotion by considering six key questions.

Take-home messages:

  • Emotions involve subjective feelings, physiological and neurological change, expressive behaviour, and guide motivation
  • Emotions serve adaptative, functional purposes

Outline

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  • What is an emotion?
  • What causes an emotion?
  • How many emotions are there?
  • What good are emotions?
  • How can we control our emotions?
  • What is the difference between emotion and mood?

What is an emotion?

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Figure 1. Emotions are triggered by significant life events and have at least four distinct components: feelings, bodily arousal, social expression, and goal-directed sense of purpose (Reeve, 2018)

Emotions are not easily defined, in part because they are integrated, multi-system experiences. There are at least four distinct aspects:

  • subjective feelings (what most people think of as emotion)
  • bodily arousal (distinct patterns of physiological activation e.g., blushing when ashamed)
  • social expression (communicative aspects, including facial expression, body language, and speech)
  • sense of purpose (emotion as a stimulation of motivated behaviour)

What causes an emotion?

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Emotions are not random; they are functional states (i.e., state meaning temporary; emotions are short-lived) experiences that support and motivate effective adaptation to life events. However, emotions are also "primitive" in that they are approximate responses which may always be well calibrated (e.g., may go over-the-top or be insufficient or inaccurate).

How many emotions are there?

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Plutchik's wheel of emotions represents the valence and intensity of core emotions using colour. More detail.

Most models of emotion identify five to eight core or basic emotions.

Reeve (2018) suggests six core emotions (4 unpleasant and 2 pleasant):

  • Fear
  • Anger
  • Disgust
  • Sadness
  • Interest
  • Joy

Other candidate core emotions:

  • Contempt
  • Surprise

What good are emotions?

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Avoid referring to good and bad emotions because, from a psychoevolutionary point of view, all emotions evolved for a reason and serve an adaptive purpose. This is an important understanding that is part of developing emotional intelligence (i.e., to see all emotions are welcome information about how to adapt to one's current life situation).

How can we control our emotions?

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Emotion regulation is the ability to manage one's emotion. This is part of emotional intelligence which consists of:

  • Emotion recognition in self: Ability to recognise the type of emotion one is experiencing (emotional literacy)
  • Emotion regulation in self: Ability to respond appropriately to one's emotional experience (e.g., if angry, to find appropriate ways of expressing the anger)
  • Emotion recognition in others: Ability to recognise the nature of others' emotional experiences
  • Appropriate responding to emotion in others: Capacity to respond appropriately to the emotional experiences of others

What is the difference between emotion and mood?

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Emotions are short-lived affective responses to specific life events. Moods are more diffuse affective experiences which may last longer than emotions and are not triggered by specific events (e.g., one may just wake up in a bad mood).

Readings

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  1. Chapter 12: Nature of emotion: Six perennial questions (Reeve, 2018)

Multimedia

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  • Feeling all the feels (CrashCourse Psychology #25, YouTube) (2:01 mins): an introduction to emotion
  • Emotions and the brain (Sentis, YouTube, 2012) (2:02 mins): a simple, clear explanation of emotions, the brain, and emotion regulation
  • Inside out - Meet Riley's emotions (Pixar, YouTube, 2015) (3:08 mins): Trailer for the animated movie Inside Out which provides an entertaining look at our inner emotions and memories
  • What is an emotion? (Paul Ekman) (Mind with Heart, 2012, YouTube) (7:35 mins): Paul Ekman explains what emotion is, why we have emotions, and how they can be regulated
  • Lie to me (Quicksubs, YouTube, 2015) (2:01 mins): Trailer for a TV series about lie detection through analysis of facial expression and body language

Slides

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See also

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Lectures
Tutorial
Wikipedia

Recording

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References

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Ekman, P. & Cordaro, D. (2011). What is meant by calling emotions basic. Emotion Review, 3, 364–370. https://doi.org/10.1177/1754073911410740

James, W. (1884). What is an emotion? Mind, 9, 188–205.

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