Characteristics and Measurement of Emotions: by Rabia Umar MS Clinical Psychology

CHARACTERISTICS AND
MEASUREMENT OF EMOTIONS
By
Rabia Umar
MS Clinical Psychology
Characteristics of
emotions
Motivation
Emotions motivate us.
Without emotions we would probably not do very
much and hence would not survive.
For example, when faced with a competitive exam, we
might feel a lot of anxiety about whether we will
perform well and how the test will impact our final
grade. Because of these emotional responses, we might
be more likely to study.
Emotions help us survive, thrive, and
avoid danger
Naturalist Charles Darwin believed that emotions are
adaptations that allow both humans and animals to
survive.
When we are angry, we are likely to deal with the
source of our irritation.
When we experience fear, we are more likely to flee the
threat.
Cont….
When we feel love, we might communicate with our
loved ones .
Emotions serve an adaptive role in our lives by
motivating us to act quickly and take actions that will
maximize our chances for survival and success
Emotions can help us make decision
Our emotions have a major influence on the decisions
we make, from what we decide to have for breakfast to
which candidates we choose to vote for in political
elections.
Researchers have also found that people with certain
types of brain damage affecting their ability to
experience emotions also have a decreased ability to
make good decisions.
Even in situations where we believe our decisions are
guided purely by logic and rationality, emotions play a
key role.
Social signals
When we interact with other people, it is important to
give cues to help them understand how we are feeling.
These cues might involve emotional expression
through body language, such as various facial
expressions connected with the particular emotions
we are experiencing.
In other cases, it might involve directly stating how we
feel.
Emotions allow us to understand others
Just as our own emotions provide valuable information
to others, the emotional expressions of those around
us gives us a wealth of social information.
Social communication is an important part of our
daily lives and relationships, and being able to
interpret and react to the emotions of others is
essential.
It allows us to respond appropriately and build deeper,
more meaningful relationships with our friends,
family, and loved ones.
Emotions Prepare the Body for
Immediate Action
When triggered, emotions compose systems such as
perception, attention, inference, learning, memory, goal
choice, motivational priorities, physiological reactions,
motor behaviors, and behavioral decision making
(Cosmides & Tooby, 2000; Tooby & Cosmides, 2008).
Emotions simultaneously activate certain systems and
deactivate others in order to prevent the chaos of
competing systems operating at the same time, allowing
for coordinated responses to environmental stimuli
(Levenson, 1999).
Cont…
For instance, when we are afraid, our bodies shut
down temporarily unneeded digestive processes,
resulting in saliva reduction (a dry mouth); blood
flows disproportionately to the lower half of the body;
the visual field expands.
Measurement of
emotions
Measurement of emotions
Emotions are physical and instinctive, instantly
prompting bodily reactions to threat, reward, and
everything in between.
The bodily reactions can be measured objectively by
different methods.
Self report measure of emotions
Validity of self-reports of emotion is often seen as an
all-or-none phenomenon.
Degree to which self-reports are valid varies by the
type of self-report.
Specifically, self-reports of current emotional
experiences are likely to be more valid than are self-
reports of emotion made somewhat distant in time
from the relevant experience.
AUTONOMIC MEASURES OF
EMOTION
The autonomic nervous system (ANS) is a general-
purpose physiological system responsible for
modulating peripheral functions.
This system consists of sympathetic and
parasympathetic branches, which are generally
associated with activation and relaxation, respectively.
The most commonly assessed indices of ANS
activation are based on electrodermal (i.e., sweat
gland) or cardiovascular (i.e., blood circulatory
system) responses.
Cont…
Electrodermal responding is typically quantified in terms of
skin conductance level (SCL) or short-duration skin
conductance responses (SCRs).
The most commonly used cardiovascular measures include
heart rate (HR), blood pressure (BP), total peripheral resistance
(TPR), cardiac output (CO) and heart rate variability (HRV).
James (1884) was among the first psychologist to suggest that
different emotional states (e.g., sadness, anger, fear) involve
specific patterns of ANS activation.
James’s speculations have been central to many important
theories of emotion.
STARTLE RESPONSE MAGNITUDE AS A
MEASURE OF EMOTION
Startle in response to a sudden, intense stimulus is a
universal reflex that involves multiple motor actions,
including tensing of the neck and back muscles and an
eye blink.
The startle response serves a protective function,
guarding against potential bodily injury (particularly
of the eye) and serving as a behavioral interrupt that is
thought to facilitate vigilance in relation to a possible
threat.
Cont..
Amygdala, which is a brain structure centrally
involved in vigilance and threat detection.
It plays a key role in modulating the startle response in
threatening contexts.
BEHAVIOR AS A MEASURE OF
EMOTION
Emotions serve an evolved communicative function
and thus should prime behaviors that reveal one’s
emotional state to others.
We can infer a person’s emotional state from vocal
characteristics, facial displays, and whole-body
behaviors.
Cont…
Vocal characteristics
People often report that they infer the emotional states of
others from vocal characteristics .
The most consistent association reported in the literature is
between arousal and vocal pitch, such that higher levels of
arousal have been linked to higher-pitched vocal samples.
For example, the acoustic features of emotional nonsense
sentences spoken by actors.
When the actors were depicting high-arousal emotions such
as fear, joy, and anger, pitch was higher than when they were
depicting lower-arousal emotions such as sadness.
Cont…
Facial behavior
 Facial displays are closely tied to the likely behavior of
the organism.
 Facial behaviors of at least six “basic” emotions
(anger, fear, disgust, happiness, sadness, and surprise)
could be recognized cross-culturally.
Cont…
Whole-body behavior
Bodily behaviors are biologically evolved to
communicate one’s emotional state.
Certain emotional states may have distinct bodily
behavior signatures.
In particular, pride and embarrassment have been
linked to expansive and diminutive body postures,
respectively.
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