Welcome to our emotion website

Emotions are our bodies adaptive responses, they exist not to give us interesting experiences, but to enhance our survival.

Theories of Emotions

            Emotions are a mix of :

            (1) psychological arousal (heart pounding)

            (2) expressive behavior (quickened pace)

            (3) conscious experience, including thoughts and feelings

Emotions and the Autonomic Nervous System

The autonomic nervous system controls arousal. Its sympathetic division mobilizes us for action by directing adrenals to release stress hormones, which in turn increase heart rate, blood pressure, and blood sugar levels, and by triggering other defensive physical reactions. The parasympathetic division calms us after a crisis has passed, though arousal diminishes gradually.

Physiological Similarities Among Specific Emotions

We display similar physiological arousal during fear, anger, and sexual arousal. observers would have trouble discerning these states from measuring physiological responses alone, but our emotional experiences (and sometimes our facial expressions) differ during these three states.

Physiological Differences Among Specific Emotions

Researchers have found linkages between some emotions and minute movements of muscles in the brow ( during fear ) and cheeks ( during joy)and under the eyes  

( during joy ). Brain scans also show increased activity in the amygdala during fear. Differences also appear in the brain's cortical areas. negative Emotions trigger more activity in the right prefrontal cortex, whereas positive moods register in the left frontal lobe, which has a rich supply of dopamine receptors.

Cognition and Emotion

The spillover effect occurs when our arousal from one event influences our response to other events. Although not completely undifferentiated, emotional arousal is sometimes general enough to require us to define the emotion we are experiencing. Arousal fuels Emotion ; Cognition channels it.

Cognition Does Not Always Precede Emotion

Emotional Responses are immediate when sensory input goes directly to the amygdala via the thalamus, bypassing the cortex, triggering a rapid reaction that is often outside our conscious awareness. Responses to complex emotions ( such as guilt, happiness, and love ), require interpretation and are routed along the slower route of the cortex for analysis.

Nonverbal Communication

Most people can detect nonverbal cues, and we are especially sensitive to nonverbal threats. Experience contribute to our sensitivity to cues, as studies of abuse children show.

Gender Emotion and Nonverbal Behavior

Women are generally better than men at reading peoples emotional cues, including those displayed during deception. Women also give more detailed descriptions of their emotional reactions, more readily describe themselves as emotional, and express empathy more often, in words and in facial expressions. Women surpass men in conveying happiness, but men communicate anger better.

Detecting an Computing Emotion

Facial muscles reveal signs of emotion. But lie detection methods based on facial expressions don't yet exist, and most of us have difficulty detecting expressions of deceit. The absence of verbal or emotional cues in emails  deprives us of an important source of information.

Culture and Emotional Expression

The meaning of gestures varies with culture, but many facial expressions, such as those of happiness and fear, are found all over the world ( and among children blind from birth), indicating that these expressions are culturally universal aspects of emotion. Cultures differ, however, in the amount of emotional expression they consider acceptable. In pre-linguistic, prehistoric times, emotional expressions could have enhanced survival by enabling communication of threats, greetings, and submission. Some emotional expressions help us to take in more sensory information or to avoid taking in toxic substances.

The Effects of Facial Expressions

The facial feedback hypothesis proposes that expressions amplify our emotions by activating muscles associated with specific states, and the muscles signal the body to respond as though we were experiencing those states. So when we stimulate the facial expressions normally associated with happiness, we may feel happier. Similarly, the behavior feedback hypothesis assumes that if we move our body as we would when experiencing some emotion (shuffling along with downcast eyes, as when sad), we are likely to feel that emotion to some degree.