PSYC2040 Lecture Notes - Lecture 4: Nonverbal Communication, Normative Social Influence
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L4 – EMOTION IN SOCIAL RELATIONS
Emotion – complex pattern of physiological and psychological reactions to a stimulus, reaction to
a specific target, target must be relevant or important, typically a short-term experience,
hypothetical construct (researchers do not directly observe an emotion but infer it from a number
of indices)
Components of emotion – cognitive evaluations (evaluative info processing cog judgement or
appraisals), autonomic arousal (physiological indicators), impulses in action (orientation to
action), subjective feelings (conscious experience of sensation, labelling with appropriate verbal
concept)
Why we have emotions – to prepare us to react to targets in specific ways, can help us serve
our goals and interests, can facilitate social relations (provide us with cues about what others
are feeling and therefore likely to do, provide others with cues about our own feelings)
Frequency of emotion communication – (verbal communication) Rime et al asked Ps to keep
diary of conversations, people reported having many conversation about their emotional
experiences, in follow up interviews people enjoy talking about emotional experiences with
others, (non-verbal communication) Kraut and Johnson did a field study at a bowling alley
where individual players were videotaped, after knocking a lot of pins down bowler’s joyful
smiles did not appear at the moment the pins fell but expressions appeared when the
bowlers turned to look at their fellow players (either people just communicate to others or
it may have taken time for the strike to sink in hence the delay)
Type of cues – language and words used, vocal pitch and volume, facial expressions, body language
Recognition of emotion – to know what others are feeling we have to interpret their expression of
emotion (not always easy)
Factors determining the recognition of emotion – vulnerability to reinterpretations (meaning
of specific cue, consistency between cues) and observer’s perspective (ability, accessibility of
emotion categories
How emotion is influenced by the social context – emotion contagion, social appraisal, social
reinforcement
Emotion contagion – other people’s emotions directly influence our own emotional experience,
can happen in different types of social contexts (interpersonal or group event), evidence that
this foes beyond mimicry of expression (people display physiological indicators and report
subjective experience)
Social appraisal – other people’s expressions of emotion provide information about the
relevant norms and values, based on this info we can regulate our expression and/or
experience of emotion so that it is appropriate to the social context, 3 types of relevant info
(context-specific norms like being solemn at a funeral, role-specific norms like colleagues and
friends are different and general values and beliefs about racism etc)
Social reinforcement – people response to our emotions (reactions can be pos or neg), we
may regulate our expression and/or experience of emotion in order to maximise social
reward and minimise social punishment, 3 types of reinforcement (social approval like to be
genuinely happy for a friend, social ostracism like from gloating and uncomfortable
interactions like from saying something diff to the norm)
Stereotypes about gender and emotion – Fabes and Martin had male and female Ps and rated the
frequency with which they thought men and women experience emotions and express emotions
(anger, fear, sadness, love, happiness), found a stereotype that women express emotions sig
Document Summary
Components of emotion cognitive evaluations (evaluative info processing cog judgement or appraisals), autonomic arousal (physiological indicators), impulses in action (orientation to action), subjective feelings (conscious experience of sensation, labelling with appropriate verbal concept) Type of cues language and words used, vocal pitch and volume, facial expressions, body language. Recognition of emotion to know what others are feeling we have to interpret their expression of emotion (not always easy) Factors determining the recognition of emotion vulnerability to reinterpretations (meaning of spe(cid:272)ifi(cid:272) (cid:272)ue, (cid:272)o(cid:374)siste(cid:374)(cid:272)(cid:455) (cid:271)et(cid:449)ee(cid:374) (cid:272)ues(cid:895) a(cid:374)d o(cid:271)ser(cid:448)er"s perspe(cid:272)ti(cid:448)e (cid:894)a(cid:271)ilit(cid:455), a(cid:272)(cid:272)essi(cid:271)ilit(cid:455) of emotion categories. How emotion is influenced by the social context emotion contagion, social appraisal, social reinforcement. 1 more than men but experience of emotions is of same frequency, found that women express sig more emotions across all except happiness where frequency is the same for gender. Electromyography recordings (emg) measured activation of facial muscles in response to various stimuli, typically show greater activation among women compared to men.
