NESC 2470 Lecture Notes - Lecture 13: Classical Conditioning, Thalamus, Autonomic Nervous System
10 May 2018
School
Department
Course
Professor
Emotion I
o Operationally define shit- defining emotions is difficult
o It has an impact on behaviour
o Operational definition meaning that
o Two definitions that are not mutually exclusive and focus on different parts of emotion
o Bodily responses that evolved as a part of survival
o This one may be easier to operationally define
o Focus on the autonomic nervous system and how it changes
o Includes ways of talking, acting and behaving
o They are reactions to the environment that may be a possible benefit - it
changes our physiology so we can best avoid things that are bad for our
survival and take advantages of things that are good for our survival
o Describes emotion on the effect it produces / physical response
o This would be easier to operationally define because we are focusing on
physiological responses
o Mental states when brain "senses" bodily responses
o Something created by the brain when we are evaluating a situation we are
in
o Has an element of conscious awareness to it - occurs when our body senses
it
o Focuses on internal experiences faced by the individual
o Going to affect our behaviour
o Vulcans are capable of experiencing extremely powerful emotions and they developed
techniques so that their emotions don't get in the way of their rational thought
o "After Lenord Nemoy died, people started Spocking their fives"
o Vulcans are known of living life without emotion and very logically
o They have learnt to supress emotion so they don't get in the way of reason and
thought
o It is impossible to get a rise out of them
o Not the only species with dampened emotion
o Borg are a collection of species that are assembled into a zombie fashion
o They're not picky in which species they assimilate to
o They also suspend their emotion
o Clingon Borg on the right
o We can find it plausible that emotions can get in the way of logic, performance and
obedience
o Are emotions bad? Do they hold us back?
o Why do we not teach ourselves to become emotionless?
o Because emotions make our lives more colourful
o Emotions teach us based on our experiences
o They affect our behaviour
o Teach us about fear
find more resources at oneclass.com
find more resources at oneclass.com
o "Live free or don't"
o People in the neutral planet are neutral about everything
o Complete lack of emotion is unusual and therefore regarded as funny
o So how do we set a control for emotional studies?
o Ex. Make a list of stuff you are neutral about - This is difficult! Cause we're fairly
opinionated about things
o Darwin tried to argue that emotions are the product of evolution
o They push us towards things that are beneficial and pushes away from things that
are harmful
o He made the connection between internal thoughts and outward manifestations
o He used a descriptive approach
o All three of these photos are exemplifying aggression and we know this even though
we don't hang out with swans a lot
o "You don't usually see people out walking their swan"
o Animals can communicate their intentions by emotional displays
o It gives us some sense about what is going on inside an animals mind. What they're
motivations and goals are
o Principle of Antithesis
o When a directly opposite state of mind is induced, there is a strong and involuntary
tendency to the performance of movements of a completely opposite nature
o Communicates what is going on in the mind of the animal
o Posture is opposite in aggressive versus submissive dog
o Comparing it to other movements individuals make
o Being able to read animals is contentious
o Animals can display behaviours that is similar to our behaviours
o This was the first systematic attempt
o Experiencing emotion in response to what is going on with our body - constantly
monitoring our body so a change will cause a change
o External stimuli trigger the alteration of internal mental states
o Places the emphasis on physiological responses to alter emotional states
Cannon Bard Theory
o If you're faced with something that alters your emotions, it gets sent to the brain and is
sensed by it.
o One pathway that goes to the thalamus which alters our physiological responses and
one pathway that goes to the cortex which gives us an emotional response
o These two changes happen in parallel - changes in subjective and physiological states
o THIS WILL BE ON EXAM
o James Lang theory is based on the thought experiment that when you strip away the
physiological responses, the emotional stimuli is altered
find more resources at oneclass.com
find more resources at oneclass.com
