Emotion in Therapy
One of our greatest skills as clinicians is recognizing, understanding, and working with client emotion
Dysphoric emotion is fundamental client complaint
Positive shift in emotion indicator of progress
Goals and Motivation
Emotional experiences are fundamentally related to individual goals
Positive emotions felt when advancing towards or maintaining goals
Negative emotions experienced when goals or progress is thwarted
Conceptualizations of Emotion
Debate over dimensional or categorical terms
- Dimensional view—biaxial model
- Categorical Models
Dimensional view—biaxial model
- ->Valence
- -> Intensity
- *Dimension influences on cognitive processes differently
Categorical Models
- Basic emotions common to all people
- Common way of talking about emotions
Ekman’s (1972) Basic Emotions
Universal emotions identified by in pictures by people around the world
- -> Anger, Disgust, Fear, Happiness, Sadness, Surprise
- Possibly Contempt
Foundation for Glad, Sad, Mad, Scared technique
Other lists of Basic Emotions exist and vary in size
Plutchik’s Wheel of Emotion
-3-dimensional Model
Color wheel analogy
-8 Primary emotions in opposing pairs
-Combinations create Secondary and Tertiary emotions (i.e. trust & fear = submissiveness, disgust & anger = contempt, anticipation & joy = optimism)
-Intensity represented on vertical dimension
(as you get closer to the center of the wheel, the emotion intensifies. for ex: furthest from the center = annoyance, next = anger, closest to center = rage)
Bower’s Affect Network Model
Emotional nodes (units) arranged on a network
Nodes are activated by relevant indicators
–> Physiological, autonomic, facial reactions, verbal labels, action tendencies, prototypical situations
Activity in any part of the network primes associates
Effect of Emotion on Cognition
Affect impacts cognition in a variety of ways
- Attention
- Memory
- Judgment
- Cognitive Style
General Rule: Emotion biases these processes in mood congruent fashions (but not always)
Effect of Emotion on Attention
Emotional stimuli draw attention
Stimuli consistent with current mood is most salient
Consequences of attentional capture vary by mood. For example…
- -Pleasant stimuli initial attention sustained
- -Grief/Depression draw and sustain attention
- -Fear/Anxiety initially capture attention but does not maintain it
Effect of Emotion on Memory
Emotion typically makes events more memorable
Principle of Mood Congruence
- -More easily learn (encode) and/or recall memories consistent with current mood—implications?
- -Employing mood congruent retrieval
Affective influences on memory
- -Sadness impairs memory more than other emotions
- -Anxiety increases alertness to feared stimuli and narrows attention—implications?
- -Intense emotions aid themselves to slow forgetting
Effect of Emotion on Judgment
Self-Judgments
- -Sad: Self-deprecating; attribute failures to self and successes to external causes
- -Happy: Credit self for successes and attribute failures to situational factors
Judgments of and Interactions with Others
- -Judgments and attributions of others mood congruent
- -More readily accept information congruent with mood
- -Influences problem-solving/negotiating style
Effect of Emotion on Cognitive Style
Emotion influences what we think and how we think
Positive mood—more heuristic, superficial, integrative reasoning strategies
- ->Promotes knowledge-driven thinking based on past - ->Results: more creative, flexible, inclusive outcomes
Negative Mood—more analytic, vigilant strategies
- ->Promotes data-driven thinking based on current inputs - ->Results: more conservative, predictable problem-solving
Effect of Cognition on Emotion
Thinking influences emotion
Foundation of modern cognitive-behavioral approaches
Cognition influences emotion in at least two ways
- -> Cognitive appraisal influences valence and intensity
- ->Metacognition can regulate emotional experiences
Appraisal Theory
Emotional reaction and intensity mediated by cognitive appraisal of situation
Integrates dimensional and categorical aspects
Appraisal is based on two factors
- Consistency with goals
- Evaluation of own and others involvement in situation (including ability to cope with circumstance)
Process not as intentional as it seems; most evaluations made quickly/automatically
Emotion Regulation
Not passive victims of emotion; humans seek to regulate mood to maximize duration/frequency of positive emotions and minimize negative emotions
Related to concept of Cognitive Dissonance
Controlled or Conscious regulation strategies
Automatic or Unconscious regulation strategies
Emotion Regulation Strategies
Gross (1998) outlines five general strategies for Emotion Regulation
- Situation Selection
- Situation Modification
- Attention Deployment
- Cognitive Change (i.e., Reinterpretation)
- Response Modulation
