The document discusses the nature and characteristics of emotions, defining them as cognitive, physiological, and behavioral responses to stimuli. It differentiates between primary and secondary emotions, exploring their triggers and the various types, including positive and negative emotions. Additionally, it highlights the significance of emotional expressions and facial cues in conveying individual emotional states.

1. Identification
Of
Emotions
Deva Pramod V B
M.Sc. Psychology
Department of Psychology
Bharathiar University, India
vbdevan.psy@gmail.com
Experimental Psychology 1
Experimental Psychology

2. Definition
“feelings states that involve a pattern of cognitive, physiological
and behavioural reactions to events.”
"positive or negative experience that is associated with a
particular pattern of physiological activity."
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3. Nature of emotions
• Emotions are triggered by external or internal eliciting stimuli.
• Emotional responses result from our appraisal of these stimuli,
• Our bodies respond physiologically to our appraisals.
• Emotions include behavior tendencies.
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4. The main characteristics of emotions are:
• Every emotion is followed by physiological change such as rapid
heartbeat, change in the pulse rate, change in blood pressure, and
change in the facial expression, voice and body movements.
• Emotion is accompanied by a feeling of pleasantness and
unpleasantness, following physiological changes.
• Emotions are subjective and purely individual. The same situation
may evoke different emotions in different individuals.
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5. • Emotions rise abruptly. The passing away of emotions is, however
slow, leaving behind an emotional state which lasts for some time.
• Emotions have swings. One emotion may give rise to another
emotion and the two may get merged.
• An emotion mostly raises when the organism faces a difficult
situation or when the basic need is challenged or is not satisfied. In
fact, a situation, real or imaginary, is always connected with an
emotion.
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6. • Emotion is a tripolar response having affective, cognitive and
conative aspects.
• Emotions have wide range and are not restricted to a particular
age period. They occur to children, adolescents and adults.
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7. Components of emotion
Cognitive
Component
Physiological
Component
Behavioral
Component
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8. • Eliciting Stimuli
• Trigger cognitive appraisals and emotional responses.
• The Cognitive Component
• The interpretations and meanings that we attach to sensory stimuli.
• Culture and Appraisal
• The Physiological Component
• Brain structures and neurotransmitters
• Hemispheric activation and emotion
• The Behavioral Component
• Evolution and emotional expression
• Facial expression of emotion
• Cultural Display Rules
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9. Primary Emotions
• The 6 photos of the previous slide makes the major Primary
Emotions: Happy, Sad, Surprise, Fear, Disgust and Anger
• Primary emotions are those that we feel first, as a first response to a
situation.
• Thus, if we are threatened, we may feel fear. When we hear of a
death, we may feel sadness. They are unthinking, instinctive
responses that Humans have. One would typically see these in
animals also, which confirms the suspicion that they have an
evolutionary basis.
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10. Secondary Emotions
• Secondary emotions appear after primary emotions. They trigger some other
kind, for example where the fear of a threat turns to anger that fuels the body for
a fight reaction. They may also come from more complex chains of thinking
• Secondary emotions turn emotions into complex reactions. They increase the
intensity of your reactions. Differentiating between primary and secondary
emotions provides powerful coping skills
• Some of these are triggered by thinking about what might happen, what might
have happened, what did not happen, etc., unlike primary emotions which are
triggered only by actual occurrences
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11. Kinds of emotions (Secondary)
• Positive emotions
• Negative emotions
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12. Positive Emotions
• Secondary Emotions are divided into Positive and Negative
Emotions.
• Positive Emotions are,
• Love
• Confidence
• Astonished
• Gratitude
• Patience
• Appreciation
• Trust
• Enthusiasm
• Optimistic
• Vitality
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13. Negative Emotions
Negative Emotions are:
• Guilt
• Depression
• Pride
• Jealousy
• Self Pity
• Anxiety
• Resentment
• Envy
• Frustration
• Shame
• Denial
• Offended
• Regret
• Worry and Grief
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14. Emotional Expressions
• Observable verbal and nonverbal behaviours
that communicate an internal emotional or
affective state
• Examples of emotional expression are facial
movements such as smiling or scowling, or
behavior like crying or laughing
• Can occur with or without self-awareness
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15. Emotion and Facial Expression
• The term "expression" implies the existence of something that
is expressed
• Facial expressions are associated with particular human
emotions.
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16. The Seven Basic Emotions and their Universal Expressions
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17. Joy or Happy
• Universally and easily recognized
• Interpreted as conveying messages
• Related to enjoyment, pleasure, a positive disposition,
and friendliness
• Used so often to hide other emotions and deceive or
manipulate other people
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18. Sadness
• Often conceived as opposite to happy ones, but this view is too
simple, although the action of the mouth corners is opposite
• Convey messages related to
• Loss,
• Bereavement,
• Discomfort,
• Pain,
• Helplessness, etc
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19. Anger
• Primary concomitant of interpersonal aggression
• Expression conveys messages about
• Hostility
• Opposition
• Potential attack
• Anger is a common response to anger expressions, thus
creating a positive feedback loop and increasing the likelihood
of dangerous conflict
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20. Fear
• Fear expressions convey information about
• Imminent danger
• A nearby threat
• A disposition to flee
• Likelihood of bodily harm etc.
• The specific objects that can elicit fear for any individual are varied
• Experience of fear has an extremely negative felt quality, and is
reduced, along with the bodily concomitants, when the threat has
been avoided or has passed
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21. Disgust
• Often part of the body's responses to objects that are revolting and
nauseating
• Rotting flesh, faecal matter and insects in food, or other offensive
materials
• Obnoxious smells are effective in eliciting disgust reactions
• Often displayed as a commentary on many other events
• People that generate adverse reactions, but have nothing
to do with the primal origin of disgust
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22. Surprise
• Surprise expressions are fleeting, and difficult to detect
or record in real time
• Always occur in response to events that are unanticipated
• They convey messages about something being unexpected, sudden,
novel, or amazing
• The brief surprise expression is often followed by other expressions
that reveal emotion in response to the surprise feeling or to the
object of surprise, emotions such as happiness or fear.
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23. Contempt
• Contempt is related to disgust, and involves some of the same
actions, but differs from it
• Because its elicitors are different and its actions are more
asymmetrical
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24. Conclusion
In psychology and philosophy, emotion is a subjective, conscious
experience characterized primarily by psychophysiological
expressions, biological reactions, and mental states.
Facial expressions of emotion are part of our evolutionary history
and are a biologically innate ability, we all have the ability to read
them. It is an ability that gets better on the job in our everyday
lives.
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25. Thank You...
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