| Chapter 8: Emotions Emotions are characterized by physiological arousal and subjective feeling Cannon-Bard theory: physiological arousal and subjective feeling happen at the same time James-Lange theory: physiological arousal causes subjective feeling Schacter and Singer's two-factor theory: in ambiguous situations we attribute certain factors to our physiological arousal. Seven facial expressions are recognized worldwide. Other nonverbal expressions are culturally learned. Opponent-process theory: Emotional reaction often automatically followed by opposite emotional reaction Repeated exposure to a situation weakens the initial reaction and strengthens the opposite reaction Arousal theory: an optimal level of arousal is required for best performance. Depends on task difficulty/level of expertise: Yerkes-Dodson law Inverted U-shaped function Too much arousal: choke under pressure Not enough arousal: bored, not interested |
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