Emotion course

PSH1070- EMOTION

PSH1070 Emotion is a 10 credit module taught within the Department of Psychology. In order to take the module you must have already successfully completed the pre-requisite module Introduction to Social Psychology or an equivalent (as deemed by the module leader). It is your responsibility to ensure that you have met this requirement. If you have not met the pre-requisites but want to join the module then you should discuss the matter with the module leader before or during the enrolment period.

Emotion is an option module for students studying for the Single Honours BSc in Psychology and is a recommended option for Combined Honours degrees where Psychology is a major. It is also an optional Level H course for students studying psychology on a 50:50 or less basis.

Aims and Learning Outcomes

To know and understand the philosophical assumptions underlying theories of emotion (e.g. mind-body issues)
To know and understand the specific concepts of the scientific study of emotion.
To understand models and theories of emotion.
To critically evaluate psychological theory and research.
To understand the relationship between theories of emotion and basic research.
To understand the implications of theories of emotion to life.
To be able to evaluate and make effective judgments utilizing theories and research of emotion.
To appreciate cultural, racial, gender, political diversity of emotion.
To be able to utilize the global Internet to access and evaluate sites concerning emotion.
To communicate orally and in writing your understanding of emotions

Module Outline

This course is designed to help you integrate your previous work in psychology and focus on one central topic in depth: emotions. You will also be integrating this seminar content with your research or field experience as well as previous coursework. The course will cover a broad range of themes such as the beginning of a psychology of emotions (e.g., Darwin, James), philosophical background, modern research, cultural understandings of emotions, definitions of emotions, brain mechanisms of emotion, individual differences in emotionality, emotions in social relationships.

There is a distinct three-part structure: The first four lectures respond to the question : "What is an emotion ?". They position the topic by providing historical information, the biological perspective and discuss major theories on the nature of emotions. The second part of three lectures examines a key issue in contemporary theory and research which has to do with the relationship of cognition and affect. Emotion regulation (lect.7) is an example of how information from both cognitive and affective perspectives can help understand a key psychological phenomenon. The last four lectures concern the communication of emotion: display, interpersonal interaction and social construction of emotion. The lecture on week 11 on Emotion and Attachment will attempt to pull knowledge gained from different areas of the course together and explain how all levels of explain emotion can contribute to understanding human behaviour.

Wk.1 Early theories of emotion
The body-mind dichotomy in philosophical thought across the ages: Aristotelian vs. Platonic models. Middle Ages: St.Augustine, Spinoza. Descartes.
Read:
Oatley, K. & Jenkins,J.M., (1998). Understanding Emotions. Oxford: Blackwell. Chpt1 (pp11-18). Approaches to Understanding
Power, M.& Dalgleish, T. (1997). Cognition and Emotion. Hove: The Psychology Press (Chpt 2, pp. 17-38).
Seminar:
The seminar will introduce students to the course, by outlining its structure, content and logic. Method of teaching and learning and requirements of the course will be covered. Particular emphasis will be placed in explaining the form and nature of students' course portfolios.

Wk.2 Founding a Psychology of Emotion
Darwin's biological approach. The Jame's- Cannon controversy: Is emotion in the body or in the mind ? Sigmund Freud. Contemporary theories: Magda Arnold; Prototypic aspects of emotion (Fisher, Shaver et al, 1990). Four factor theory. McDougall. Organismic theories (James-Lange; James). Psychological theories (Schachter; Izard; Arnold).
Readings:
Darwin, C. (1890). The Expression of Emotions in Man and Animals.
James, W. (1884). What is an emotion ? , Mind, 9, 188-205.
James, W. (1890). The principles of psychology. In Jenkins,J. M., Oatley, K., and
Stein,N.L. (1998), Human Emotion: A reader. Oxford: Blackwell.
Oatley, K. & Jenkins,J.M., (1998). Understanding Emotions. Oxford: Blackwell. Chpt1 (pp1-31). Approaches to Understanding
Seminar:
1. Find an interesting Quote from the press, literary sources, newspapers on emotion and discuss it. What would the philosophers say about it ?
2. Read James & Lange. Answer questions on reading.

Wk3 : Emotion and the Brain
Darwin's seminal work has highlighted the similarities in emotion structures of the mamalians. It is only recently however that research interest in the Brain coupled with methodological progress has allowed us more understanding of how the Brain contributes in emotional processes (production, regulation and comprehention). The lecture examines the areas of the Brain that are said to be more distinctly associated with emotion process. It reviews classical studies carried out by Cazzanica and more recently LeDoux.

Readings:
Oatley, K. & Jenkins,J.M., (1998). Understanding Emotions. Oxford: Blackwell. Chpt 5 (pp133-158). Approaches to Understanding
LeDoux, J. (1998).The Emotional Brain. In Jenkins,J. M., Oatley, K., and Stein,N.L. (1998), Human Emotion: A reader. Oxford: Blackwell (pp98-111).
Seminar:
Discussion based on the reading

Wk4: The Nature of Emotions
Clarifying the concepts: Emotions-moods- dispositions. What is in a feeling ? Appraisal and beyond. Frijda's theory of Emotion. Are there basic emotions ?
Reading:
Ekman, P. & Davidson, R.J. (1995). The Nature of Emotion. NY: Oxford University Press. (Chpt. 1: Are there basic emotions ?).
Seminar: The basic Emotions hypothesis.
- The seminar will discuss the controversy over whether emotions are better conceptualised as distinct categories or a collection of underlying dimensions.
- Presentation: Panskepp, J. (1992). A critical role for “Affective neuroscience in resolving what is basic about basic emotions". Psychological Review, 99, 3, 554-560.

Wk5 : Emotion and Cognition
Network theories. Bower’s associative network theory. Appraisal theories. Schematic models. The interacting cognitive subsystems framework. Forgas' studies on mood-dependent memory. Emotion and coping (Lazarus). Emotions as modes of action readiness. Frijda’s theory of ‘The emotions’.
Readings:
Bower, G. H. (1981). Mood and Memory. The American Psychologist, 36, 129-148.
Power, M.& Dalgleish, T. (1997). Cognition and Emotion. Hove: The Psychology Press (Chpt 3).
Ekman, P. & Davidson, R.J. (1995). The Nature of Emotion. NY: Oxford University Press. (Question 5).
Seminar: Coursework preparation

Wk. 6 Affective aspects of emotion
Can Emotions be Non-Conscious ? How Are Emotions Distinguished from Moods, Temperament, and Other Affective Constructs? Mood-state-dependent memory. ‘Hot’ vs. ‘Cold’ processing.
Readings:
Zajonc, R. B. (1980). Feeling and thinking: Preferences need no inferences. American Psychologist, 35, 151-175.
Lazarus, R.S. (1984). On the primacy of cognition. American Psychologist, 39, 2, 124-129.
Seminar: Is there emotion without cognition ?
Read Zajonc (1980) and Lazarus (1984)

Wk 7: Emotion regulation
Affect and cognition together: Affect regulation combines the cognitive and affective aspects of emotion. Affect regulation and the brain. Effects of affect regulation in interpersonal interaction.
Readings:
Aronoff, J., Stollac, G. E., and Woike, B. (1994). Affect regulation and the breadth of interpersonal engagement. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 67, 1, 105-114.
Goleman, Emotional Intelligence
Westen, D. (1994). Toward and integrative model of affect regulation: Applications to social-psychological research. Journal of Personality, 62, 4, 641-667.
Seminar: Emotional Intelligence : Fact of fiction ?
Read Goleman 1995
Internet Resource: The APA Monitor Oct. 99
Ekman & Davidson (1994) Q 7

Wk8 : Recognition of emotion on peoples’ faces.
The ethology of human facial expressions. Differential emotions theory (Izard,1973). Facial expressions as modes of action readiness.
Readings:
Russell, J. A. (1994). Is there universal recognition of emotion from facial expression ? A review of the cross-cultural studies. Psychological Bulletin, 115, 1, 102-141.
Frijda, N.H. (1995). Expression, emotion, neither or both ? A review of Fridlund (1994). Cognition and emotion, 9, 617-635.
Hodgins, H. S. and Koestner, R. (1993). The origins of non-verbal sensitivity. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 19, 4, 466-473.
Seminar:
Video: Recognising Emotions
Practical : Do Ekman’s test and write a short report

Wk 9: The communication of emotion
Emotion in interaction. The lecture examines applications of emotion in marital research and family studies. Emotion in Social Relationships.
Readings:
Buck, R. Baron, R., Goodman, N. and Shapiro, B. (1980). Unitization of spontaneous nonverbal behaviour in the study of emotional communication. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 42, 506-517.
Sabatelli, R. M. Buck, R. and Dreyer, A. (1982). Nonverbal communication accuracy in married couples: Relationship with marital complaints. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 43, 5, 1088-1097.
Wagner, H. L., Buck, R., Winterbotham, M. (1993). Communication of specific emotions: Gender differences in sending accuracy and communication measures. Journal of Nonverbal behaviour, 17(1), 29-53.
Seminar: Evaluating Emotional Communication methodologies.
- Practical: The slide viewing procedure
- Class is divided in groups which present and discuss different methods of assessing emotional communication.

Wk10: The Social construction of emotion
How does the collectivity of experience shape emotions? The lecture explores how the subjective element of emotion is informed by social representations and constructions.
Readings:
Harre,R & Parrott, W,G. (eds.) (1996). The Emotions: Social, cultural and biological dimensions. London: SAGE.
Seminar:
Discussion based on Chpt. In Harre,R & Parrott, W,G. (eds.) (1996).

Wk11: Emotion and Attachment
Researchers are becoming increasingly explicit in describing the self as an organisation of thoughts, affect and behavioural elements, all interacting in a social context (e.g. Aronoff, Stollak & Woike,1994). Consistent with that, the lecture will argue that attachment working models provide a good example of dynamic interpersonal constructs based on emotional processes which can be looked at from a cognitive, affective or behavioural point of view.
Readings:
Collins, N. L. (1996) Working models of attachment: Implications for explanation, emotion and behaviour. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 71, 4, 810-832.
Collins, N. and Read, S. (1994). Representations of attachment: The structure and function of working models. In K. Bartholomew and D. Perlman (Eds.), Advances in Personal Relationships: Attachment process in adulthood (Vol 5 pp. 53-90). London: Jessica Kingsley.
Fuendeling (1998)
Magai, C., Distel, N., and Liker, R. (1995). Emotion socialisation, attachment and patterns of adult emotional traits. Cognition and Emotion, 9, 5, 461-481.
Seminar: What is a working model ?
Readings on the Cognitive, Affective and Physiological aspects of Attachment (see above)

Wk12: Review
3 Assessment and student porfolio

Coursework (50%)
- 1500 word essay

Exam (50%)
- 1.5 hour exam

Student portfolio comprising of:
a) Nespaper article on Emotion and notes b) Outline of presentation
b) Summary of recent research on Emotion d) Wk 12 Quiz

Resources and Support materials

Key texts
Ekman,P. And Davidson, R. (eds.) (1995). The nature of emotion: fundamental questions. New York; Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Jenkins,J. M., Oatley, K., and Stein,N.L. (1998), Human Emotion: A reader. Oxford: Blackwell.

Oatley, Keith, & Jenkins, Jennifer, M. (1995). Understanding Emotions, Toronto: Blackwell Publishers.

Recommended readings

Clark, M.S. (ed.) (1992). Emotion and social behaviour. Review of Personality and Social Psychology, vol. 14. Newbury Park: Sage.

Crawford, J., Kippax, S., Onyx, J., Gault, U., and Benton, P. (1992). Emotion and gender.

Frijda, N. H. (1986). The Emotions. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Parkinson, B. (1995). Ideas and realities of emotion. London: Routledge.

LeDoux, J.E. (1997). The Emotional Brain. NY: Simon & Schuster.

Power, M.& Dalgleish, T. (1997). Cognition and Emotion. Hove: The Psychology Press (Chpt 2, pp. 17-38).

Russell, J.A. and Fernandez-Dols, J.M. (Eds.) (1997). The psychology of facial expression. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

On Short Loan

Books

Ekman, P. (ed.) (1998). Darwin, C. The expression of the emotions in man and animals. Harper Collins.

Ekman,P. And Davidson, R. (eds.) (1995). The nature of emotion: fundamental questions. New York; Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Harre,R & Parrott, W,G. (eds.) (1996). The Emotions: Social, cultural and biological dimensions. London: SAGE.

Parkinson, B. (1995). Ideas and realities of emotion. London: Routledge.

Jenkins,J. M., Oatley, K., and Stein,N.L. (1998), Human Emotion: A reader. Oxford: Blackwell.

Oatley, Keith, & Jenkins, Jennifer, M. (1995). Understanding Emotions, Toronto: Blackwell Publishers.

Articles

Ekman, P. (1993). Facial expression and emotion. American Psychologist, 48, 384-392.

Gross, J.J. & Levenson, R.W. (1997). Hiding feelings: The acute effects of inhibiting negative and positive emotion. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 106, 95-103.

Lazarus, R..S (1984). On the primacy of cognition. American Psychologist, 39, 2, 124-129.

Zajonc, R.B., (1980) Feeling and Thinking: Preferences need no Inferences. American Psychologist, 35, 151-175.

More books

Andersen, P.A. & Guerrero, L.K. (1998). Handbook of Communication and Emotion. San Diego: Academic Press

Flack, W.F & Laird, J.D. (1998) Emotions in Psychopathology. NY: Oxford Universtiy Press

Frijda, N. H. (1986). The Emotions. Cambridge University Press.

N.A. Fox (ed.) (1994) The Development of Emotion Regulation. Monographs of the Society for Research in Child Development. N. 240, vol. 59, Nos. 2-3.

Clark, M.S. (ed.) (1992). Emotion and Social Behaviour. Review of Personality and Social Psychology, vol. 14. Newbury Park: Sage.

Lazarus, R.S. (1994). Emotion and adaptation. New York; Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Watts, F, N. (ed.) (1993). Neuropsychological perspectives on emotion Hove: Erlbaum, c1993 [144]p; 24cm

Greenberg, Leslie S. Emotionally focused therapy for couples/ Leslie S. Greenberg, Susan M. JohnsonNew York: Guilford Press, c1988 xi,242p; 24cm

Emotion and social judgments/ edited by Joseph P. Forgas Oxford: Pergamon Press, c1991viii,301p; 24cm

Strongman, K.T. (1987) The psychology of emotion. Chichester: Wiley.

Ekman, P. & Friesen (1978). Facial Action Coding System. Palo Alto, Ca: Consulting Psychologist Press.

Halweg & Goldstein (1987). Understanding Major Mental Disorder: The continuity of Family Interaction Research. NY: Family Process Press.

Lewis, M. & Haviland, J.M. (Eds.) Handbook of Emotions. NY: Guilford.

Panskepp, J. (1998). Affective Neuroscience. NY: Oxford University Press.

Averill, J. R. (1980). A constructivist view of emotion. In R. Plutchnik and H. Kellerman (Eds.), Theories of Emotion. New York: Academic Press.
Arnold, M.B. (1960). Emotion and Personality. NY: Columbia University Press.

Fisher, K.W. , Shaver, P.R. and Carnochan, P. (1990). How emotions develop and how they organise development. Cognition and Emotion, 4, 81-127.

Frijda, N.H. (1993). Appraisal and beyond. Cognition and emotion, 7, 225-231.

Resources on the World Wide Web

Online Research-Great site with lots of areas in psychology represented-do the research on emotions
http://www.victoriapoint.com/online_research.htm

Charles Darwin's Expression of the Emotions in Man and Animals
http://paradigm.soci.brocku.ca/~lward/DARWIN/DARWIN00.HTML

William James by Gustavus Philosophy Department Home Page
http://www.gac.edu/Academics/philosophy/james.html

Professor Frank Pajares from Emory on William James
http://userwww.service.emory.edu/~mpajare/james.html

Whole Brain Atlas-top 100 brain structures. Check out the limbic system
http://www.med.harvard.edu/AANLIB/cases/caseM/case.html

Geneva Emotion Research Group
http://www.unige.ch/fapse/emotion/welcome.html

Emotional Intelligence
http://eqi.org/

Daniel Goleman-Emotional Intelligence test
http://www.utne.com/cgi-bin/eq

On Emotions
http://research.haifa.ac.il/~benzeev/emotion.htm

Sylvan Tomkins Institute
http://www.behavior.net/orgs/ssti/

Alma College Student Book Reviews on Emotion
http://www.alma.edu/Academics/Psychology/setter/reviews.html

Dr. Shaver's site on Adult Attachment Lab-UC at Davis
http://psychology.ucdavis.edu/shaver/default.html

Paul Ekman's Lab at UC at San Francisco
http://mambo.ucsc.edu/psl/joehager/pekm.html

"Reading Faces," an interview with Paul Ekman, editor of the new definitive edition of Charles Darwin's The Expression of the Emotions in Man and Animals.
http://www.thepaulagordonshow.com/shows/ekman/

Nonverbal Communication Research Page
http://socpsych.lacollege.edu/nonverbal.html

Facial Analysis-Lots of links to sites on facial expression, analysis of expression, emotions
http://mambo.ucsc.edu/psl/fanl.html

Keirsey Temperament Sorter and Keirsey Temperament Theory (Personality Type Intuitive/Sensation Thinking/Feeling)
http://keirsey.com/

Rings of Passion-A wonderful tour of artwork depicting 5 emotions
http://cgi.pbs.org/ringsofpassion/guidedtourframe.html

Molecules of Emotion: why you feel the way you feel: a book by Candace Pert
http://www.cpert.com/

Paths that lead to Teen-Age Depression
http://www.apa.org/monitor/oct95/emotion.html

Decoding emotions in nonverbal expressions.. Interested in nonverbal communication? This page introduces the topic, gives you a chance to try to guess the meaning behind some nonverbal messages.
http://zzyx.ucsc.edu/~archer/

Emotions and the ANS. It is a nice, sunny day...you are taking a nice walk in the park and a bear appears in your path. Do you stay and fight OR do you turn and run away?
http://weber.u.washington.edu/~chudler/auto.html

Myers on happiness. If stress undermines the quality of our lives, what is that makes us happy? Dr. David Myers offers some answers.
http://www.happiness.com/feature/fa003-m.html

What is your emotional intelligence? Daniel Goleman is a Harvard psychology PhD and author of the book, Emotional Intelligence: Why It Can Matter More Than IQ for Character, Health and Lifelong Achievement. You can take a quiz that measures EI on this site.
http://www.utne.com/lens/bms/eq.html