Positive Psychology
Winfield that sought to empasize human strengths- love, curiosity, gratitude
Defensive pessimism
Strategy to anticipate failure and compensation for this expectation by mentally over preparing for negative outcomes
Why be happy?
- enduring physical and psychological health
Broaden or build theory
Broaden or build theory
Happiness predisposes us to think more openly- “ big picture”
Misconceptions about happiness
1) prime determinant is a happy life
2) money makes us happy- limited evidence for threshold effect
- diminishing returns past a certain income
3) happiness declines in old age
- views of past become more positive( positivity bias)
4) people on west coast are happiest
Emotions
Mental state/feeling associated with our evaluation of our experiences
Discrete Emotions Theory
- small number of distinct emotion even if they combine
- emotions have biological roots and adaptive features
- limbic system precedes cortex
- if evolution developed emotions, then they should’ve universal across cultures
7 primary emotions
- cross culturally universal
- happiness, disgust, fear, sadness, surprise, anger and contempt
Cultural differences
Display rules- how and when to express emotion
- does not influcme emotion but expression
Physiology and emotion
- primary emotions distinguished by physiological elements
- increased HR with negative emotion
- digestion slows with fear
Real vs Fake emotions
Duchenne- real involuntary
Panam- fake voluntary
Cognitive Theories of Emotion
- emotions are products of thinking, rather than the other way around
- no discrete emotions- as many emotions as there are thoughts
James Lange
Emotions results from our interpretation of our bodily reactions to stimulus
Canon- Bard Theory
- an emotion- provoking event leads simultaneously to an emotion and bodily reaction
Somatic marker theory
Use “ gut reactions” to inform our actions
- limited support
- first impression influences actions
Two factor theory
- emotions are produced by an undifferentiated arousal “ alertness” with an attribution( explanation) of that arousal
Unconscious influences on Emotion
- many emotional reactions are generated automatically
- subliminal exposure to + or - cues influences moods
- mere exposure effect
Facial feedback hypothesis
- blood vessels in the face feed info in the brain, alternating emotion
- automatic, non- cognitive
Non- verbal expression
Facial expression, gesture, posture
Non verbal leakage
Unconscious spillage of emotions into non verbal bahaviour
Personal space
Proxemic- study of personal space
4 levels
1) public(12+ feet)
2) social( 4-12 feet)
3) personal( 1.5-4 feet)
4) intimate( 0-1.5 feet)
Lying and Lie detectors
- most people are poor at setting lies
- little correlation between confidence and ability to detect lies
- most professional only slightly above chance
Polygraph
- autonomic nervous system
- rest on Pinocchio response
- high rate of false positives
- not admissible in court of law
Pinocchio response
- supposedly perfect physiological or behavioural indicator of lying
