Emotion 

      Emotion - A moving of the mind or soul; excitement of the feelings, whether pleasing or painful; 
disturbance or agitation of mind caused by a specific exciting cause & manifested by some sensible 
effect on the body.

Emotional Experience; four components:

          1st: Appraise (interpret) a stimulus
               2nd: Subjective feeling (feel)
                        3rd: Physiological responses (respond physically)
                               4th: Overt or observable behaviors (behave)

      Peripheral Theories of Emotions emphasize that physiological changes in the body produce emotion.

          Note: It is now widely accepted that psychological changes may well increase emotional intensity; 
but are not the cause.

          The James-Lange theory: proposed that emotions happen as a result of physiological events, rather 
than being the cause of them.

          In the Facial feedback theory, (Charles Darwin) physiological event feedback comes from the facial musculature.
 
        The sequence of events is: A stimulus arrives, causing a response in the facial musculature, which is 
controlled in large part by the autonomous system & thus under involuntary control, and which appears to 
have distinct configurations of the muscles corresponding to different emotions. The signals resulting from 
changes in the facial musculature are interpreted and result in the subjective experience of a particular 
emotion. Thus we smile, then we feel happy.
 
        This view is similar to the original James-Lange theory, where we run, therefore we feel afraid, except 
that the source of the data is the facial muscles, as opposed to the general state of the body and particular 
behavior.
 
Cognitive appraisal theories of emotions emphasize that your interpretations of situations produce emotion.

Cognitive appraisal theory - In the absence of physiological arousal, we decide what to feel after interpreting 
or explaining what has just happened. Two things are important in this: whether we interpret the event as 
good or bad for us, and what we believe is the cause of the event.

         Schachter-Singer classic experiment, 1st to show thoughts produce emotion.

Sequence for emotions (Cognitive appraisal theory):
 
        1st: Stimulus
        2nd: Appraise or interpret
 
                   Primary appraisal - consider how the situation affects our well-being.
                   Secondary appraisal - consider how we might cope with the situation.
 
         3rd: Emotional feelings
         4th: Bodily responses

Affective-primacy theory - feeling before thinking (Robert Zajonc)

Sequence for emotions:
  
        1st: Stimulus
               2nd: Emotional experience
                        3rd: Appraise or think
                               4th: Bodily responses 

Functions of Emotions:

          Send social signals - Facial expressions are often more accurate than words. 
  
          Help us to adapt & survive - This is the psycho-evolutionary theory of emotions. They 
help us adapt because they signal intentions to others & vise versa. 
  
          Arouse & motivate us - According to the Yerkes-Dodson law the more complex the task, 
the lower the level of emotional arousal that can be tolerated without interfering with performance. 

Happiness

    Happiness is an agreeable feeling or condition of the soul arising from good fortune or propitious 
happening of any kind; the possession of those circumstances or that state of being which is attended 
enjoyment; the state of being happy; contentment; joyful satisfaction; felicity; blessedness. It is not 
an entitlement.
 
    Adaptation Level Theory indicates that what we have (our present state of being) we adapt to & 
therefore does not influences long-term happiness.

   There are genetic (inherited) differences in happiness. People have different happiness set points.

Notes:

    Emotional intelligence is a type of social intelligence that involves the ability to monitor one's own 
& others' emotions, to discriminate among them, and to use the information to guide one's thinking 
& actions.
 
     Showing emotions are governed by cultural display rules.
 
     Lie Detector results are not allowed in courts nor are the results reliable.

Universal Facial Expressions

    Many facial expressions are universal, though most may be shaped by cultural usages & rules.

Summary of Facial Expressions
 
       Nose: nostril flare (arousal).
 
        Lips: grin (happiness, affiliation, contentment); grimace (fear); lip-compression (anger, emotion, 
frustration); canine snarl (disgust); lip-pout (sadness, submission, uncertainty); lip-purse (disagree); 
sneer (contempt).
 
        Brows: frown (anger, sadness, concentration); brow-raise (intensity).
 
        Tongue: tongue-show (dislike, disagree).
 
        Eyelids: flashbulb eyes (surprise); widened (excitement, surprise); narrowed (threat, disagreement); 
ast-blink (arousal); normal-blink (relaxed).
 
        Eyes: big pupils (arousal, fight-or-flight); small pupils (rest-and-digest); direct-gaze (affiliate, threaten); 
gaze cut-off (dislike, disagree); gaze-down (submission, deception).

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                 Topics in Psychology
                      Robert C. Gates