This lecture introduces key underlying questions about the psychology of emotion and major theories of emotion.

1. 1
Motivation & Emotion
James Neill
Centre for Applied Psychology
University of Canberra
2017
Image source
Nature of emotion

2. 2
Nature of
emotion:
Six perennial questions
Reading:
Reeve (2015)
Ch 12
(pp. 337-368)

3. 3
Outline – Nature of emotion
Based on Reeve (2015, pp. 337-338)
 What is an emotion?
● Key questions
● Definition
● Emotion & motivation
 What causes an
emotion?
● Two-systems view
● Chicken-&-egg problem
● What ends an emotion?
 How many emotions?
● Biological perspective
● Cognitive perspective
● Reconciliation of #s
 What is an emotion?
● Key questions
● Definition
● Emotion & motivation
 What causes an
emotion?
● Two-systems view
● Chicken-&-egg problem
● What ends an emotion?
 How many emotions?
● Biological perspective
● Cognitive perspective
● Reconciliation of #s
 What good are emotions?
● Coping functions
● Social functions
● Why we have emotions
 Can we control our
emotions?
● Emotion regulation
strategies
 Difference between
emotion & mood?
● Everyday mood
● Positive affect
 What good are emotions?
● Coping functions
● Social functions
● Why we have emotions
 Can we control our
emotions?
● Emotion regulation
strategies
 Difference between
emotion & mood?
● Everyday mood
● Positive affect

4. 4
Key questions
Based on Reeve (2015, p. 339)
6. What is the diff. between emotion & mood?
2. What causes an emotion?
4. What good are the emotions?
3. How many emotions are there?
1. What is an emotion?
5. Can we control our emotions?

5. 5
More questions
5. How are the emotions of animals & humans
similar and how do they vary?
2. What are the consequences of emotions?
4. How and why did emotions evolve?
3. How can emotion be changed?
1. How can emotion be measured?

6. 6
Feeling All the Feels:
Crash Course Psychology #25
Youtube (2:00 / 10:50 mins)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gAMbkJk6gnE
Youtube (2:00 / 10:50 mins)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gAMbkJk6gnE

7. 7
What is an emotion?
Feelings
• Subjective experience
• Phenomenological awareness
• Cognitive interpretation
Bodily arousal
●
Bodily preparation for action
●
Physiological activiation
●
Motor responses
Emotion
Sense of purpose
•Impulse to action
•Goal-directed motivational state
•Functional aspect to coping
Significant
life event
Based on Reeve (2015, Figure 12.1 Four components of emotion, p. 340)
Social-expressive
•Social communication
•Facial expression
•Vocal expression
A distinct pattern of neural activity

8. 8
Separation from a
loved one, failure on
an important task
Four components of sadness
Feelings
• Aversive
• Negative
• Feeling of distress
Bodily arousal
• Decreased heart rate
• Low energy level
Sadness
Sense of purpose
•Desire to take action to
overcome or reverse the
separation or failure.
Based on Reeve (2015, Figure 12.2 Four components of sadness, p. 342)
Social-expressive
•Inner eyebrows raises
•Corners of lips lowered
•Lower lip pouting and
trembling
Increased activation in medial
prefrontal cortex

9. 9
Definition of emotion
Based on Reeve (2015, pp. 340)
“Emotions are … short-lived,
feeling-purposive-expressive-bodily
responses that help us adapt to the
opportunities and challenges we
face during important life events.”

10. 10
Definition of emotion
Based on Reeve (2015, pp. 342)
“Emotions are … the
synchronised brain-based
systems that coordinate feeling,
bodily response, purpose, and
expression so as to ready the
individual to adapt successfully
to life circumstances.”

11. 11
Definition of emotion
Based on Reeve (2015, pp. 342)
“Emotions are … short-lived
psychological-physiological
phenomena that represent
efficient modes of adaptation to
changing environmental
demands.”
- Levenson (1994, p. 123)

12. 12
Relationship between
motivation & emotion
Based on Reeve (2015, p. 343)
Emotions are one type of motive which
energises and directs behaviour.
Emotion as motivation
Emotions serve as an ongoing “readout” to
indicate how well or how poorly personal
adaptation is going.
Emotion as readout

13. 13
What causes an emotion?
Based on Reeve (2015, Figure 12.3, Causes of the emotion experience, p. 344)
Distinct
pattern of
neural
activity
Cognitive
processes
Biological
processes
Feelings
Sense of purpose
Bodily arousal
Social-expressive
Significant
life
event

14. 14
Biological and cognitive
perspectives
Based on Reeve (2015, pp. 344-346)
Biology lies at the
causal core of
emotion
(e.g., neurotransmitters)
• Izard (1989)
- infants
• Ekman (1992)
- emotions happen to us
• Panksepp (1982, 1994)
- genetically-endowed
neural circuits
Cognitive activity is a
necessary
prerequisite to
emotion
• Lazarus (1984, 1991a, 1991b)
- appraisal needed
• Scherer (1994a, 1994b, 1997)
- specific appraisals
(good/bad, cope,
morality)
• Weiner (1986)
- attribution

15. 15
Two-systems view (Buck, 1984)
Based on Reeve (2015, Figure 12.4, Two systems view of emotion, p. 345)
Social,
cultural
learning
history of the
individual
Cortical
structures
and pathways
Evaluative,
interpretive, &
conscious
evaluation of
the meaning &
personal
significance of
the stimulus
event
Evolutionary,
phylogenetic
history of the
species
Sub-cortical
structures
and
pathways
Instantaneous,
automatic, &
unconscious
reaction to
sensory
characteristics
of the stimulus
event
Significant
stimulus
event
Parallel,
interactive, &
coordinated
output to
activate and
regulate
emotion
Innate
system
Learned
system

16. 16
Two-systems views
Based on Reeve (2015, pp. 344-345)
 Levenson (1994)
● the two systems influence one
another
 Panksepp (1994)
● some emotions are primarily from the
biological system (e.g., fear and
anger), whilst
● other emotions arise from experience,
modeling and culture (e.g., gratitude
and hope).
 Levenson (1994)
● the two systems influence one
another
 Panksepp (1994)
● some emotions are primarily from the
biological system (e.g., fear and
anger), whilst
● other emotions arise from experience,
modeling and culture (e.g., gratitude
and hope).

17. 17
Feedback loop in emotion
Based on Reeve (2015, Figure 12.5 Feedback loop in emotion, p. 346)
Emotion is a chain of events that aggregate
into a complex feedback system.
Emotion is a chain of events that aggregate
into a complex feedback system.
Arousal
Preparation
for action
Feelings
Expressive
displays
Overt
behavioural
activity
Cognition Emotion
Significant
stimulus
event
Can
intervene
at any
point
Can
intervene
at any
point

18. 18
How many emotions are there?
Based on Reeve (2009, pp. 308-312)
Biological
perspective
●
Small # (2 to 10) of
primary, universal
emotions
●
Emotion is a bi-
product of biology &
evolution.
●
Downplays secondary
or acquired
emotions.
Cognitive
perspective
•Many, varied emotions
which arise in response
to different meaning
structures
•Acknowledges
importance of the
primary emotions, but
stresses the complex
(secondary, acquired)
emotions

19. 19
Reconciliation of the numbers issue
Based on Reeve (2015, pp. 350-351)
1. Emotion families
Each basic emotion represents a family of
emotions that revolve around a particular theme
(biologically rooted, but cognitively nuanced).
2. Basic emotions
Basic emotions each have a sub-cortical brain
circuit that is rooted in evolutionary adaptation to
major life tasks and that has automatic
connections with feelings, expressions, bodily
preparations, and motivational action tendencies.

20. 20
Wheel of emotions
(Plutchik)

21. 21
Basic emotions criteria
(Ekman)
Based on Reeve (2015, p. 351)
1. Distinct facial expression
2. Distinct pattern of physiology
3. Automatic (unlearned) appraisal
4. Distinct antecedent cause
5. Inescapable (inevitable) activiation
6. Presence in other primates
7. Rapid onset
8. Brief duration
9. Distinctive subjective experience (feeling state)
10. Distinctive cognition (thoughts, images, memories)

22. 22
Basic emotion exclusion reasons
(Ekman)
Based on Reeve (2015, p. 351)
1. Experience-based derivative of a basic emotion
(e.g., anxiety is a derivative of fear)
2. Mood (e.g., irritation)
3. Attitudes (e.g., hatred)
4. Personality traits (e.g., hostile)
5. Disorders (e.g., depression)
6. Blends (e.g., romantic love blends interest, joy, and
the sex drive)
7. Aspect of emotion
(e.g., cause (homesickness) or consequence
(avoidance))

23. 23
Basic emotions
Based on Reeve (2015, pp. 347-349)
Basic emotions
Fear Anger Disgust Sadness Interest Joy
Negative emotion theme
• Response to threat and harm
Positive emotion
theme
• Response to
involvement and
satisfaction
potential
of threat
and harm
fighting off
threat
and harm
rejecting
threat
and harm
after
threat
and
harm
motive
involve-
ment
satis-
faction

24. 24
1. Non-basic emotions are experience-based
2. Many terms better describe:
a) Moods (e.g., irritation)
b) Attitudes (e.g., hatred)
c) Personality (e.g., hostile)
d) Disorders (e.g., depression).
3. Some terms are blends of emotions (e.g., love).
4. Many terms refer to specific aspects of an emotion
(e.g., homesickness)
Ekman's reasons why biological theories
focus on a small number of basic
emotions
Based on Reeve (2009, p. 336)

25. 25
What good are the emotions?
Based on Reeve (2015, pp. 352-353)
Utility of
emotion
Coping functions Social functions

26. 26
Functional views of emotional behaviour
Based on Reeve (2015, Table 12.2, p. 353)
F u n d a m e n t a l L i f e T a s k E m o t i o n C o p i n g F u n c t i o n
G o a l p r o g r e s s , a tt a in m e n t Jo y S o o t h e , p la y
S e p a r a t io n o r fa ilu r e S a d n e s s R e v e r s e t h e s e p a r a t io n o r fa ilu r e
I n te r fe r e n c e w it h g o a l p u r s u it s A n g e r O v e r c o m e b a r r ie r s a n d r e s t r ic t io n s
T h r e a t o r d a n g e r p r e s e n t F e a r P r o te c t , a v o id
S p o ile d o b je c t D is g u s t R e p u ls io n
N o v e lt y, n e e d - in v o lv e m e n t I n te r e s t E x p lo r e , t a k e in in fo r m a t io n
A c h ie v e m e n t P r id e A c q u ir e s k ills , p e r s is t
Ju d g in g a n o t h e r a s in fe r io r C o n te m p t M a in t a in t h e s o c ia l h ie r a r c h y
F e e lin g s o f in fe r io r it y S h a m e P r o te c t , r e s to r e t h e s e lf
B e h a v in g in a d e q u a te ly G u ilt R e c o n s id e r a n d c h a n g e b e h a v io r

27. 27
Social functions of emotion
Based on Reeve (2015, pp. 354-356)
2. Influence how others interact with us.
4. Create, maintain, & dissolve relationships.
3. Invite, smooth, & facilitate social
interaction.
1. Communicate our feelings to others.

28. 28
Why do we have emotion?
 Do emotions help us to adapt and
function?
 Or are they distracting and
dysfunctional?
 Both are true – emotion is a
masterpiece of evolutionary design
but it also provide us with excess
baggage
 How well emotions serve us depends
on our emotional self-regulation
 Do emotions help us to adapt and
function?
 Or are they distracting and
dysfunctional?
 Both are true – emotion is a
masterpiece of evolutionary design
but it also provide us with excess
baggage
 How well emotions serve us depends
on our emotional self-regulation
Based on Reeve (2015, p. 356)

29. 29
Emotion regulation strategies
Based on Reeve (2015, pp. 357-361)
5. Suppression: down-regulating one or more of the four aspects
of emotion (bodily arousal, cognitive, purposive, expressive).
2. Situation modification: problem-focused coping, efforts to
establish control, and searching for social support.
4. Reappraisal: changing the way one thinks about the situation
to modify the emotional impact.
3. Attentional focus: redirecting attention within the situation.
1. Situation selection: taking action to make one emotional
experience more or less likely.

30. 30
● Controlling emotions is a challenge given
their four aspects: feelings, arousal, purpose,
and expression.
● Emotions are largely reactions to life events,
so they are difficult to conjure without a
trigger.
● If emotions are biologically-caused, then we
may have little control.
● But if emotions are governed by cognition
then a good deal of emotional experience
could be voluntarily controlled.
Can we voluntarily control
our emotions?
Based on Reeve (2015, pp. 341-342)

31. 31
Emotions and the brain
Video: (~2 mins)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xNY0AAUtH3g

32. 32
What is an emotion?
(Ekman)
Video: (~7 mins)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gaZDLOAg_Po

33. 33
Lie detection – Lie to me trailer
Video: (~2 mins)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GVG5AwZph-s

34. 34
What is the difference between
emotion & mood?
Based on Reeve (2015, p. 361)
Significant
life events
Specific
Short-lived
Ill-defined
Influence
cognition
Long-lived
Antecedents
Action-
Specificity
Time course
Criteria Emotions Moods

35. 35
Everyday mood
Based on Reeve (2015, pp. 363-364)
Positive affect
•Pleasurable engagement
•Reward-driven,
appetitive motivational
system
•Approach behaviour
•Dopaminergic pathways
Negative affect
•Unpleasant engagement
•Punishment-driven,
aversive motivational
system
•Withdrawal behaviour
•Serotonergic &
noradrenergic pathways
Positive affect and negative affect are
independent ways of feeling.

36. 36
Diurnal variation in
positive and negative affect
Clark, L. A., Watson, D., & Leeka,
J. (1989). Diurnal variation in the
positive affects. Motivation and
Emotion, 13(3), 205-234.
Figure 12.8 Levels of Positive Affect (PA) and Negative Affect (NA) as a function of
time of day in two studies
Figure 12.8 Levels of Positive Affect (PA) and Negative Affect (NA) as a function of
time of day in two studies

37. 37
Positive affect
Based on Reeve (2015, p. 365)
Prosocial behaviour
Creativity
Decision-making efficiency
Sociability
Persistence in the face of failure
Benefits of feeling good
Everyday, low-level,
general state of feeling good.

38. 38
 Emotions have 4 key components –
feeling, body, motivational, expressive
 Emotions arise from activation of neural circuits in
the sub-cortical brain
 From a biological POV, there is a small set of
core emotions; from a cognitive POV there are
many more emotions
 Emotions help us to cope, communicate, and
survive
 Emotions are often automatic, but we can learn to
self-regulate
 Emotion is short-lasting; mood is longer-lasting
Summary

39. 39
Aspects of emotion (Ch 13)
Biological
Cognitive
Social and cultural
Next lecture

40. 40
References
 Reeve, J. (2009). Understanding motivation
and emotion (5th ed.). Hoboken, NJ: Wiley.
 Reeve, J. (2015). Understanding motivation
and emotion (6th ed.). Hoboken, NJ: Wiley.
 Reeve, J. (2009). Understanding motivation
and emotion (5th ed.). Hoboken, NJ: Wiley.
 Reeve, J. (2015). Understanding motivation
and emotion (6th ed.). Hoboken, NJ: Wiley.
Note: Image credits are in the slide notes

41. 41
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