PSY 101 Lecture Notes - Lecture 13: Watching Movies, Autonomic Nervous System, Sexual Arousal
Document Summary
The common sense notion that physiological responses follow emotion. Cannon-bard theory: emotions are indistinct and biological responses are too slow. Therefore, emotion and the body"s response co-occur from the same signals to the brain. Two-factor theory: emotions are caused by a combination of the body"s responses and cognitions (perceptions, memories, interpretations). Physiologically, emotion comes from the autonomic nervous system. The tug-of-war between sympathetic & parasympathetic systems determines physiological responses. Beyond emotion, arousal has important effects for performance. Arousal is commonly measured in order to attempt to determine if an individual is being truthful. Ploygraph a machine that measures several physiological responses that accompany emotion (including perspiration and cardiovascular and breathing changes). Problems with polygraph: white a polygraph is supposed to measure the truth" it in fact is measuring physiological responses. Despite different experiences of feelings, the three emotions share similar physiological arousal.
