Discussion Questions

Pennebacker et al. (1988)

Have you ever known someone who could've been helped out by psychotherapy? How would you help such a person seek help through psychotherapy?

Patrick (1994)

Is psychopathy a physiological problem or one caused by society? 

Pham (2007)

How does this review of emotions and their connection to rationality tie together with previous readings such as evolutionary or social perspectives on emotion?

Assignment 7

I'd like you to think about and answer the following:

1. When are emotions pathological?

Something that is pathological is related to disease. Emotions can be considered pathological (or like a disease) when they meet two criteria. (1) They must be extreme, excessive, or markedly abnormal and (2) they must cause some kind of disruption/problem to oneself or society. Patrick (1994) cites Cleckley's definition of psychopaths: Indicators of social deviance (i.e.  irresponsibility, impulsive antisocial behavior, failure to learn from experience, bizarre behavior under the influence, absence of long term goals), general poverty of affection, defective insight, absence of nervousness, lack of remorse or shame, disinclination toward suicide, egocentricity and incapacity to love, pathological lying, superficial charm, absence of close relationships, and impersonal sexuality.

2. When are they disruptive to social and personal functions?

Emotions can be disruptive to social and personal functions when they hinder the relations between people. For example anger can be a hindrance to a relationship between a husband and a wife. 

3. Some people claim that particular emotions are in and of themselves dysfunctional (e.g. anger). What do you think? 

I am tempted to agree but also believe that there is sometimes a time and a place for all emotions.  When we are faced with injustices in the world, our emotions can help us determine the proper actions to take. Often our emotions lead us down the wrong path however and so I can see how people might believe that some emotions are dysfunctional.

Optimism

Is optimism an emotion? That is somewhat how I feel. Everything in my life is just looking so bright and uplifting! It is much easier to go through my day with such a mood/emotion. Ever since this weekend I have had high hopes about my future. I think the securing of my future with my fiance(!!) has helped make something constant in my head which makes me have to worry about less. Having my future take shape in front of my eyes makes me worry much less and I am better able to focus on the tasks at hand. This morning, for example, I was having a meeting with the professor I am working with for my honors professor. I felt extremely capable and intelligent during the discussion. I felt like I had a good grasp of what my project was and what I had to do.

The intensity was not too high, perhaps a 6 out of 10 but it has been resonating within me for quite a few days now. It is a very pleasant experience and I am looking forward to continuing this trend! The source of my emotion I would say are all the good experiences that have been happening to me, most importantly of which is my engagement which has given more form to my future.

Discussion Questions

Lopes et al. (2005)

How does Lopes et al. define good social interaction? Do you think this definition is accurate or do you have a different view of social interactions? Also, think about how ethnographic difference might account for different views of social interaction.

Howard (1993)

Do you think someday we could make a complex emotion predictor (a machine to predict how people will feel given certain scenarios)? Is this practical/applicable?

Keltner & Haidt (1999)

Keltner and Haidt show that emotions impact social relationships. Do you think there is merit to viewing "groups" as having "emotions"? If so, how are these emotions created, maintained, and distributed?

Assignment 6

Write a 200-500 word statement addressing the way in which emotions structure social relationships. Use evidence from this weeks readings.

 Emotions help us structure social relationships by steering us towards actions which will reinforce positive and helpful relationships and away from actions which would hinder these relationships or introduce negative relationships. This idea of emotions follows directly from research by Howard (1993) which considers how emotion can be used to make strategic decisions. By using specific models of game theory, Howard proposes a systematic modeling of simple relationships (Relationships with two people or two organizations and few possible options). By using these models one can predict the outcome of social interactions based on people's decisions and their emotions. Keltner and Haidt (1999) point out that which assumptions one makes about people's emotions, "origins, defining characteristics, and consequences of emotions, and in their preferred forms of data" can impact these predictions.

While these theoretical ideas might suggest that emotions heavily contribute to social relationships, Lopes et al. (2005) looks at empirical data to confirm this. Lopes et al. shows in their research that people with higher emotional intelligence (higher emotion regulation) have higher qualities of social interactions. As was stated above, emotions help steer us toward the proper actions that will help our relationships flourish. The research by Lopes et al. supports these claims. Imagine a person who has a specific want such as a kid who wants a certain gift for his birthday. If this kid has a higher emotional intelligence and was able to regulate his emotions, he would understand that if he can make himself look more favorable in his parents' eyes (not misbehave as much, do what is expected, etc) then they will be more likely to want to accommodate his desires. These results suggest that in order to interact more favorably with those around us (eg complete our tasks more efficiently, get what we want/need..) we need to have a high emotional intelligence and ability to regulate our emotions. By being able to understand (ie emphasize with) others we will have better social interactions.

Dissappointed

I was working on a cool little present for my fiance(!!!) It was a DIY flip calendar. However after finishing several months and going through it I noticed that towards the beginning I got off by one day! I was so angry and upset and then really sad and disappointed! It took awhile to make the calendar and make cute pictorial representations for specific days. After realizing my mistake I felt really angry and upset, but that did not last long. It was taken over my resignation and tiredness. I just had to go to bed.

This was an unpleasant emotion. I did not enjoy the anger but the sadness and disappointment is what really got to me. I was pretty tired at this point and it was very late so the intensity was not very high but it lasted for awhile. My mistake was the cause of the emotion.

Joy

I proposed to the most wonderful girl in the world last Friday! After class I took her out to central campus for a picnic in the beautiful full scenery. I was a bit nervous so I ended up stumbling my way through what was probably not the best planned proposal in the history of proposals. But once I was able to stutter out what I had prepared to say the look on her face quelled all of my worries and trepidations :) The three years I spent growing closer to her assured me that I wanted nothing else but to spend the rest of my life with her. Apparently she felt the same way, and said yes!! The look she gave me that day overwhelmed me with joy. It made me feel loved, accepted, and secure.

This experience was the highlight of my weekend! Definitely a pleasant one. It put me in a generally happy mood that lasted for several days and even things that would make me upset and nervous did not have as much of a lasting affect. The emotion I felt was joy and it was like a soft blanket wrapping me up; not too acute or intense but long lasting and comforting. The way she looked at me sparked the emotion