PSYC 280 Study Guide - Vagus Nerve, Amobarbital, Electrodermal Activity

• School: Simon Fraser University
• Department: Psychology
• Course: PSYC 280
• Professor: John Reynolds

Document Summary

Emotion: subjective mental state usually accompanied by distinctive behaviors&involuntary physiological changes private, subjective feeling that we may have without anyone else being aware of it. Many behaviors that people show, like fearful facial expressions, angry shouts and arm swings . During strong emotions, we experience physiological changes (heart beating, short breath, sweat) Involuntary physiological changes= autonomic nervous system (parasympathetic and sympathetic-fight/flight) James-lange theory: emotions caused by body changes (eg: fear b/c of our body triggering dangerous conditions) Found out that fear, surprise, and anger=sympathetic; and =parasympathetic. Cannon-bard theory: the brain decides which emotions is an appropriate response to the stimuli. Cerebral cortex simultaneously decides on the appropriate emotional experiences, activates autonomic system to prepare body: parasympathetic (body to rest)/sympathetic (body to action) Stanley schachter: cognitive mechanisms in emotion; cognitive attribution model: emotional labels are attributed to nonspecific feelings of physiological arousal emotions we experience, depends on cog systems that assess social, psychological, physical situation.