Emotional behaviours Flashcards
What Is Emotion?
A. Strong emotions tend to increase readiness for action.
- Most general theories of emotion deal with the relationship between cognitions (this is a dangerous situation), feelings (I feel frightened) and actions (run away now)
James-Lange theory:
Autonomic arousal and skeletal actions occur before an emotion. An emotion is the label we give to our physiological responses.
i. In this theory, emotions have three components—cognitions, actions, and feelings (in that order). Cognitive appraisal of a situation comes first, which leads to some action, and then the emotional feelings follow last.
Pure autonomic failure:
Uncommon condition in which output from the autonomic nervous system to the body fails, either completely or almost completely. People with this disorder have no changes in autonomic response to psychological or physical stress. These people report having the same emotions as anyone else, although the emotions are much less intense. The decreased emotional feeling is consistent with predictions of the James-Lange theory.
Panic attack:
A condition marked by extreme sympathetic nervous system arousal, which is sometimes brought on by the occurrence of rapid breathing and a racing heartbeat.
- Such symptoms, when spontaneously occurring, lead people to believe that a panic attack is about to happen, and thus trigger the panic attack.
Limbic System:
A forebrain area that forms a border around the brainstem, traditionally regarded as critical for emotion.
Behavioral Activation System (BAS)
Activity in the left hemisphere is termed as the Behavioral Activation System (BAS), marked by low to moderate autonomic arousal, which could be characterized as either happiness or anger.
Behavioral Inhibition System (BIS)
Activity in the frontal and temporal lobes of the right hemisphere is associated with the Behavioral Inhibition System (BIS), which increases attention and arousal, inhibits action, and stimulates emotions such as fear and disgust.
f. The right hemisphere appears to be more responsive to emotional stimuli than the left. The right hemisphere is especially activated by unpleasant emotions.
Emotion is embodied:
What you are doing or about to do affects how you feel. Research shows that a bout of anger will often prime a more intense and rapid bout of anger, if provoked, at a later point.
effects of serotonin:
High levels of serotonin inhibit a variety of impulses, and low levels remove inhibitions.
Startle reflex:
Response one makes to a sudden, unexpected loud noise. People with post-traumatic stress disorder show a much enhanced startle reflex.
bed nucleus of the stria terminalis
The amygdala is important for knowing what to fear. When people are attacked or have traumatic experiences, they become more fearful in a wide variety of situations. This long-term, generalized emotional arousal depends on a brain area called the bed nucleus of the stria terminalis.
Anxiety Disorders
- Anxiety disorders are characterized as such when the major symptoms is increased anxiety. They include panic disorder, generalized anxiety disorder, and phobias.
Panic disorder:
A type of anxiety disorder characterized by frequent periods of anxiety and occasional attacks of rapid breathing, increased heart rate, sweating, and trembling. More common in women than men, and more common in adolescent and young adults than in older adults.
Post-traumatic Stress Disorder
a. PTSD: Psychiatric disorder that occurs in some people who have had a traumatic experience of being severely injured or threatened or seeing other people harmed or killed.
b. Symptoms of PTSD, which last at least a month after the experience, include frequent distressing recollections (flashbacks) and nightmares about the traumatic event, avoidance of reminders of it, and exaggerated arousal in response to noises and other stimuli.
c. There are differences in vulnerability to PTSD. Victims have a smaller than average hippocampus and have lower than normal cortisol levels.
Benzodiazepines:
Commonly used class of anti-anxiety drugs. The benzodiazepines include diazepam, chlordiazepoxide, and alprazolam. These drugs bind to a receptor site on the GABAA receptor, which causes the receptor to change shape, allowing GABA to attach more easily and bind more tightly to it.
