How Emotions Can Be Conditioned And Affected By Social And Cultural Factors

There are infinite types of ways to describe emotions, but the primary six components of emotions are love, joy, surprise, anger, sadness, and fear(list devised by Plutchik). Over a lifetime, a person will experience multiple kinds of emotions that are reflected by the events that had taken place. A person will express their emotion differently as they are perceived by the individual.

An emotion is experienced as a feeling that motivates, organizes, and guides perception, thought, and action (Izard, 1991). Emotions can be classified into three major categories which are: (1) the physiology of emotion, (2) the behaviour of emotion, and (3) the subjective

The word Emotion derives from the Latin word “emovere” which means to move, and is an affective state of consciousness governed by ones circumstances resulting in feelings such as joy, love, anger or sadness (Siegler et al, 2000). Researchers have suggested three features attributed to emotions, the first feature relates to the rising of emotions. Emotions are believed to arise when an individual interprets a context in relation to their current goals. The second feature is concerned with its multifaceted nature. Emotions are used interchangeably in society, yet contexts have dissociations between aspects of emotions and emotional experience therefore across different cultures and society’s different emotions will be associated with different circumstances. The last feature relates to emotions malleability. Emotions hold the power to force themselves into our consciousness and interrupt anything we maybe doing, there are constantly adjusting to the changing circumstances. These three features constitute the basis of The Modal Model of emotion (Gross, 1998).

Attempts to define “emotion” have proved to be rather difficult. Instead of searching for a comprehensive definition, Gross (2011) describes the three core features of emotions. First, emotions occur when an individual decides that a situation is relevant to his or her goals. Second, emotions are multi-faceted, and involve both subjective and physiological experiences, as well as behaviors. The third feature involves the authoritative nature of emotions. They have the powerful ability to interrupt ongoing processes, assert their priority over other activities, and force their way into awareness. For example, some traditions describe emotions as “disorganized interruptions of mental activity” (Salovey & Mayer, 1989). Emotions are such an

Christakis and Fowler state that emotions themselves contain several elements. Emotions contain a conscious element, meaning people are aware of what they’re feeling. They have a physical aspect; emotions are tied to an individuals’ health. They also have a neurological affect; altering activity and blood flow levels in the brain. Finally, emotions contain a visual aspect; they can be expressed in facial expressions and body language.

Second, the daily activities of women report that they have more intense experience of emotions than men, more intense expression and comfort to seek out emotional experiences. Women also have greater emotional response, overall warmth, emotional expressiveness and concern for others, than men. Researchers also report that anger is found more in men than women (Costandi, 2013). Women have more intense style of emotional response than men, which would be expected to emerge in both positive and negative domains. In fact, emotional experience stems from the roles men and women fill in our society. Women are considered emotionally expressive and are more sensitive to others’ needs while men are less emotionally responsive (Costandi, 2013). Women and men’s personal history of enacting social roles effect skills and attitudes. Prior experiences build different emotional skills and attitudes, in both and women equally.

In this short description, many human emotions are presented: anger, cruelty, indifference, apathy, and compassion.

In the Matsumoto et al. (2009) article they conducted a study in which they wanted to see if one’s emotions can be changed over time by displaying it in both a cultural and universal way. They used Olympic athletes to see how their emotions were displayed over time by putting their emotional reactions into different categories and seeing the number of times they are used in that athlete’s country (Matsumoto et al., 2009). A photographer was used to take pictures of the athletes when their match was over and when the winner was announced (Matsumoto et al., 2009). The researchers discovered that emotions were culturally influenced and shown that population density played a key part within these events (Matsumoto et al., 2009). Also the results

Module 12.1, “The Nature of Emotions” starts by explaining that defining the term emotion is very difficult because of all the aspect that could possibly together or separately be involved in an emotion. These aspects involved in an emotion include physiological effects, cognition, and behaviors. Next, the chapter answers one of my few question by explaining the methods for measuring emotions. Self-report, the most often used method, involves the participants answering questions about their emotions. I believe self-report would deliver the most bias results. For example, someone who experiences anger numerous times throughout the week would rate a feeling of anger at 3. While someone who doesn’t get angry very often would rate, hypothetically

Emotions are, “a complex psychological state that involves a subjective experience, a physiological response, and a behavioral or expressive response” (Hockenbury & Hockenbury, 2014, p. 338). There are six basic emotions, which are fear, disgust, surprise, happiness, anger, and sadness. The roles of emotions for females are they are expected to express emotions such as fear, sadness, and

Males have been found to express feelings of happiness, sadness, and anger much less than women. A study by Moe and Zeiss(1982) shows that not only are men less expressive than women, it

Society can play a big role in gender differences. According to our culture/society, men are strong and stoic and women are mushy and cry far too easily. Bardwick(1971) says that women are entitled to greater emotional freedoms. According to Brody (2000), we all interact and express emotions in accordance with “display rules”. Display rules are rigid social norms that dictate how, when, and where emotions can be expressed by men and women. An example rule may be something like boys should not cry or girls should not be aggressive. Furthermore, he states that these rules are acquired via social interactions (Brody 2000).

When talking about emotion it seems a fairly simple topic and immediately "feeling" words come to mind; sad, happy, and confused. These are basic emotions and easy to understand. What isn't so simple about emotions is their process and how they form and work. Emotions are reactions to sensory information like sight, smell, taste, touch and sound (Tracing Emotion’s Pathways 94). However, it is not that simple; an emotional reaction or response is made aware of and understood by a part of the brain called the sensory cortex. These emotional responses or reactions to sensory stimuli are processed by a part of the brain called the amygdala (What’s An Emotion). The amygdala is a huge asset to the cognitive factors of emotions because in processing emotions you become able to understand, recognize, and control them. So then how do emotions evoke a physiological reaction such as tearing up when one feels sad, laughing with joy, and trembling with fear? These physiological reactions that one may experience come from the autonomic nervous system. The autonomic nervous system is, “a collection of fibers that extend throughout

The society we live in can be described by the emotions people exhibit in their daily lives. Psychologists such as Robert Plutchick argued that there are more than 90 different definitions that can be used to describe emotions. The difficulty brought about in defining emotions can be rated to its complexity and varied nature that is usually internal. A basic psychological definition of emotions describe it to be a condition of feeling that its outcomes are typically psychological and at times physical changes that affect the way people behave. The complexity in its nature has brought lots of confusion regarding the types of emotions that humans have an experience. This essay tries to explore on some of the basic types of emotions that are observed and experienced in and by people (Zimbardo, Johnson & Hamilton 2015).

Jones and Mize (2016) state, “Emotions involve subjective experiences, physiological patterns, and behavioral responses” (p. 239). Emotions can be broken down into three categories. These categories include basic emotions such as disgust or surprise, and blended or complex emotions, such as guilt and pride (Jones & Mize, 2016, p. 239). The third category involves emotions such as guilt. With emotion, childhood can play a crucial role in emotional development. Emotion and psychophysiology can also affect each gender differently. Kreibig et al. (2012) state, “Women show stronger, experiential, expressive, and physiological reactivity to emotion” (p. 800). Therefore, in children and women, a higher rate of emotional response and physiological change would be present.