PY 105 Chapter Notes - Chapter 10: Alexithymia, Prefrontal Cortex, Interrupt

• School: University of Alabama
• Department: Psychology
• Course: PY 105
• Professor: Scrivner- Limbaugh

Document Summary

Emotion and mood cannot be used interchangeably in psychology. Emotions are immediate, specific responses to environmental events: interrupt what is happening, trigger changes in thought and behavior. Moods are long-lasting emotional states: they influence behavior and thought, often when people are in good or bad moods they don"t know why they are in that mood. Basically this means: we know we are experiencing emotions because we feel them: this is why we refer to our emotions are feelings. People who are overemotional or under-emotional tend to have psychological problems. Alexithymia: people who suffer from not feeling the subjective parts of emotion: their emotions do not reach the brain centers that interpret emotion. Primary emotions: are evolutionary, adaptive across cultures, associated with specific physical states: examples: anger, fear, sadness, disgust, happiness, and contempt. Secondary emotions: blends of primary emotions: examples: remorse, guilt, submission, shames and anticipation.