Psychology
CHAPTER
11
Emotion, Stress,
and Health
© 2014, 2011, 2008 by Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved.
Nature of Emotion
LO11.1: Explain the three components that contribute to defining an emotion.
• Emotion
– A state of arousal involving facial and bodily
changes, brain activation, cognitive
appraisals, subjective feelings, and
tendencies toward action, all shaped by
cultural rules
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Nature of Emotion, cont’
LO11.2: List the emotions that have a universal facial expression.
• Emotions and the body
– Primary emotions
• Emotions considered to be universal and
biologically based
• Usually thought to include fear, anger, sadness,
joy, surprise, disgust, and contempt; possibly pride
– Secondary emotions
• Emotions that develop with cognitive maturity and
vary across individuals and cultures
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Nature of Emotion, cont’
LO11.2: List the emotions that have a universal facial expression.
• Facial expressions
– Reflect internal feelings AND influence them
(facial feedback)
– Foster communication with others
– Signal intentions to others
– Enhance infant survival
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Nature of Emotion, cont’
LO11.2: List the emotions that have a universal facial expression.
• Cultural and social limits to readability
of facial expressions:
– People are better at indentifying emotions
expressed by others in their own ethnic,
national, or regional group.
– Within a culture, expressions can have:
• Different meanings depending on the situation
• Different interpretations depending on the social
context
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Nature of Emotion, cont’
LO11.2: List the emotions that have a universal facial expression.
• Facial expressions as only part of the
emotional picture:
– People can feel emotions without showing
them.
– People use facial expressions to lie about
their feelings.
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Nature of Emotion, cont’
LO11.3: Discuss the brain structures involved in the experience of emotions.
• Emotion and
the brain
Cerebral cortex
– Cerebral cortex:
Can override the
amygdala’s initial
appraisal
– Amygdala:
Amygdala
Responsible for
assessing threat
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Nature of Emotion, cont’
LO11.3: Discuss the brain structures involved in the experience of emotions.
• Emotion and the brain
– Left prefrontal cortex
• “Approach emotions”
– Right prefrontal cortex
• “Escape emotions”
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Nature of Emotion, cont’
LO11.4: Explain what research on mirror neurons reveals about understanding and
communicating emotions.
• Neurons for imitation and empathy
– Mirror neurons
• Brain cells that fire when a person or animal
observes others carrying out an action
– Involved in:
•
•
•
•
Empathy
Imitation
Behavioral synchrony
Mood contagion
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Nature of Emotion, cont’
LO11.5: Describe the primary neurotransmitters involved in emotional experience.
• The energy of emotion
– When experiencing an intense emotion, two
hormones are released:
• Epinephrine
• Norepinephrine
– This results in increased:
• Alertness
• Arousal
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Nature of Emotion, cont’
LO11.5: Describe the primary neurotransmitters involved in emotional experience.
• Biology and deception
– Can lies be detected in the brain and body?
• Polygraph machines:
– Most popular method of lie detection
– Low reliability and validity
– High rate of labeling innocent people as guilty
• Guilty knowledge test
– More successful, but similar drawbacks
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Nature of Emotion, cont’
LO11.6: Summarize the basic research findings indicating that cognitive appraisal plays a
role in emotional experience.
• Emotions and the mind
– Essential to the creation of most
emotions:
• Attributions
• Beliefs
• Meanings people give events
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Emotion and Culture
LO11.7: Describe the ways emotional experience can differ across cultures, in terms of
concepts, expression, language, and expectations.
• How culture shapes emotions
– Many psychologists
• All human beings share the ability to experience
primary emotions, but secondary emotions may be
culture-specific.
– Other psychologists:
• Culture affects every aspect of emotional experience,
including which emotions are considered
basic.
– Both groups: Culture determines much of what
people feel emotional about.
© 2014, 2011, 2008 by Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved.
Emotion and Culture
LO11.7: Describe the ways emotional experience can differ across cultures, in terms of
concepts, expression, language, and expectations.
• Communicating emotions
– Display rules
• Social and cultural rules that regulate when, how, and
where emotions are to be expressed or when they
should be squelched
– Body language
• The nonverbal signals of body movement, posture, and
gaze that people constantly express
– Emotion work
• Acting out an emotion we do not feel or trying to create
the right emotion for the occasion
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Emotion and Culture, cont’
LO11.8: Explain sex differences that appear to exist in emotional experience, and
comment on the complex reasons for these differences.
• Gender and emotion
– Women and men are equally likely to feel all
emotions, although gender rules shape
differences in emotional expression.
– North American women are on average more
expressive than men, except for anger at
strangers.
– Both sexes are less expressive to a person of
higher status and will do the emotion work their
job requires.
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The Nature of Stress
LO11.9: Describe the three phases of the general adaptation syndrome, and provide an
example that illustrates each phase.
• General adaptation syndrome
– Phase 1: Alarm
– Phase 2: Resistance
– Phase 3: Exhaustion
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The Nature of Stress, cont’
LO11.10: Summarize the activity of the HPA axis when the body is under stress.
• Current approaches
– When a person is
under stress or in
danger, the
hypothalamus
sends messages
to the endocrine
glands along two
major pathways.
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The Nature of Stress, cont’
LO11.10: Summarize the activity of the HPA axis when the body is under stress.
• Cumulative effects of stress
– When stressors of poverty
and unemployment
become chronic, they can
increase people’s
chances of illness.
– Responses to stress vary
across individuals
depending on:
• The stressor
• The person’s genetic
predispositions
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The Nature of Stress, cont’
LO11.11: Describe how psychneuroimmunology links activity at a cellular level with
outcomes at a behavioral level.
• The Immune System: PNI
– Psychoneuroimmunology (PNI)
• The study of the relationships among psychology,
the nervous and endocrine systems, and the
immune system
• PNI researchers are particularly interested in the
white blood cells that destroy harmful foreign
bodies (antigens).
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The Nature of Stress, cont’
LO11.12: Describe some of the health benefits of optimism, and some of the health
consequences of pessimism.
• Optimism and pessimism
– Optimism is better for health than pessimism.
• Optimists take better care of themselves.
• Optimism is directly associated with better immune
function.
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The Nature of Stress, cont’
LO 11.13: Discuss why a sense of control contributes to positive health outcomes.
• Sense of control
– Locus of control: A general expectation
about whether the results of your actions are
under your own control (internal locus) or
beyond your control (external locus)
– Feelings of control can reduce or even
eliminate the relationship between stressors
and health.
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The Nature of Stress, cont’
LO 11.13: Discuss why a sense of control contributes to positive health outcomes.
• Culture and control
– Cultures generally differ in the kind of control
they emphasize and value.
• Western cultures:
– Primary control
– “Fighting back” philosophy
• Eastern cultures:
– Secondary control
– “Learn to live with it” philosophy
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Stress and Emotion
LO11.14: Summarize the evidence that negative emotions (such as hostility and aggression)
detract from health, and positive emotions (such as hope and happiness) contribute to health.
• Hostility and depression:
Do they hurt?
– Personality type is
less predictive of
health problems than
is hostility.
– Proneness to anger
is a major risk factor.
© 2014, 2011, 2008 by Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved.
Stress and Emotion
LO11.14: Summarize the evidence that negative emotions (such as hostility and aggression)
detract from health, and positive emotions (such as hope and happiness) contribute to health.
• Hostility and depression:
Do they hurt?
– Clinical depression is linked to at least a
doubled risk of later heart attack and
cardiovascular disease.
• Lethargy
• Overeating
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Stress and Emotion, cont’
LO11.14: Summarize the evidence that negative emotions (such as hostility and aggression)
detract from health, and positive emotions (such as hope and happiness) contribute to health.
• Positive emotions: Do they help?
– Positive emotions appear related to:
• Well-being
• Better health
• Longevity
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Stress and Emotion, cont’
LO 11.15: Discuss how confession, forgiveness, and other forms of “letting grievances
go” contribute to health benefits.
• Emotional inhibition and expression
– Suppressing emotions can become stressful
to the body.
– Two ways of letting go of negative emotions:
• Confession
• Forgiveness
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Stress and Emotion, cont’
LO 11.15: Discuss how confession, forgiveness, and other forms of “letting grievances
go” contribute to health benefits.
• Heartfelt forgiveness
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Coping with Stress
LO 11.16: Discuss how emotion-focused coping and problem-focused coping contribute
to the problem-solving approach to dealing with stress.
• Solving the problem
– Emotion-focused coping
• Concentrating on the emotions the problem
has caused
– Problem-focused coping
• Taking steps to solve the problem
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Coping with Stress, cont’
LO 11.17: Describe three effective coping strategies that rely on rethinking the stressful
problem at hand, and give an example of each.
• Rethinking the problem
– Reappraising the situation
– Learning from the experience
– Making social comparisons
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Coping with Stress, cont’
LO11.18: Discuss the ways in which friends can help or hinder successful coping efforts.
• Drawing on social support
– When friends help you cope
• Friends can help: People who have networks
of close connections live longer than those
who do not.
• Partner support: Touching can elevate levels
of oxytocin, the hormone that induces
relaxation.
• Giving support to others can be a valuable
source of comfort.
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Coping with Stress, cont’
LO11.18: Discuss the ways in which friends can help or hinder successful coping efforts.
• Hugs and help
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Coping with Stress, cont’
LO11.18: Discuss the ways in which friends can help or hinder successful coping efforts.
• Coping with Friends
– In close relationships, the support person may
also be the source of stress.
– Married couples who argue in a hostile way
have:
• Increased elevations of stress hormones
• Weakened immune systems
– Friends may be unsupportive or offer the
wrong kind of support.
© 2014, 2011, 2008 by Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved.