MODULE 9: Lessons 3 and 4
July 25
TODAY'S MESSAGE
TODAY'S ASSIGNMENTS:
1. Review Lesson 3 Notes on Emotion.
2. Complete the Lesson 3 Practice Activity.
3. Complete the Lesson 3 Assignment, Facebook Envy Forum
4. Review Lesson 4 Notes on Theories of Emotion.
5. Complete the Lesson 4 Practice Activity.
6. Complete the Lesson 4 Assignment.
TEACHER TALK 1
LESSON 3:
Emotions seem to rule our daily lives. We make decisions based on whether we are happy, angry, sad, bored, or frustrated. We choose activities and hobbies based on the emotions they incite, but what are emotions?
Webster defines emotion as:
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a strong feeling (such as love, anger, joy, hate, or fear)
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a state of feeling
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a conscious mental reaction (as anger or fear) subjectively experienced as strong feeling usually directed toward a specific object and typically accompanied by physiological and behavioral changes in the body
Psychology.about.com explains emotions this way:
"An emotion is a complex psychological state that involves three distinct components: a subjective experience, a physiological response, and a behavioral or expressive response." (Hockenbury & Hockenbury, 2007)
In addition to understanding exactly what emotions are, researchers have also tried to identify and classify the different types of emotions. Primary emotions are the first emotions a person feels (love, joy, surprise, anger, sadness, & fear). These emotions are often then masked by secondary emotions. Secondary emotions are ones that are felt the most. They can also make it difficult to discover the deeper problem at hand. Robert Plutchik, a psychologist who developed a psychoevolutionary theory of emotion, believed there was also a third (tertiary) level of emotions that completed the first and secondary emotions. (http://www.alleydog.com/topics/emotion.php
The graphic below will help you visualize the different emotions. As a reminder, primary emotions are those we feel first, secondary are the emotions usually felt the most, and tertiary are those that tend to be more difficult to identify and often are more complex emotions:
It's called "Facebook depression" and is one of the risk factors that teens like you may face with overexposure to social media. Facebook/SnapChat/Instagram depression is an affliction that results from establishing a presence on social networking sites, spending a great deal of time on these sites and then feeling unaccepted among peers online. Similar to depression in the offline world due to lack of acceptance, Facebook depression can cause anxiety and withdrawal, as well as a propensity towards engaging in risky activities such as substance abuse, unsafe sex or self-destructive behaviors.
It's hard to tell whether this is simply an extension of depression some kids feel in other circumstances, or a distinct condition linked with using the online site. With in-your-face friends' tallies, status updates and photos of happy-looking people having great times, social media pages can make kids they think they don't measure up. It can be more painful than sitting alone in a crowded school cafeteria or other real-life encounters that can make kids feel down because social media provides a skewed view of what's really going on. Online, there's no way to see facial expressions or read body language that provide context.
Your post today will focus on this phenomenon and whether you think it is an actual thing.
How well are you at telling people's emotions by their facial expressions? See if you can figure out how people are feeling based on what their eyes tell you.
TEACHER TALK 2
LESSON 4:
Question...What comes first, the emotion or the physical response? Hmmmm, that’s like asking “What came 1st, the chicken or the egg?”
It is a difficult question to answer and, as you will learn in today’s lesson, there are multiple theories that attempt to answer the above question. To name a few, James-Lange, Cannon-Bard, Two-Facto , and Opponent Processing. What can be agreed upon, however, is that emotions and the brain are intricately linked -- one can not happen without the other. Before taking a closer look at the different theories in lesson 4 watch this brief video, The Emotional Brain. It is fascinating!
Today you learned about 3 theories of emotion. The Cannon-Bard theory states that we feel emotions and experience physiological reactions such as sweating, trembling and muscle tension simultaneously or at the same time. Connecting this to what we know about how the brain works, it is suggested that emotions result when the thalamus sends a message to the brain in response to a stimulus, resulting in a physiological reaction. For example: I see a snake --> I am afraid, and I begin to tremble. According to the Cannon-Bard theory of emotion, we react to a stimulus and experience the associated emotion at the same time.
For example, imagine that you are walking to your car through a darkened parking garage. You hear the sounds of footsteps trailing behind you, and spot a shadowy figure slowly following you as you make your way to your car. According to the Cannon-Bard theory of emotion, you will experience feelings of fear and physical reaction at the same time. You will begin to feel fearful, and your heart will begin to race. You rush to your car, lock the doors behind you and rush out of the parking garage to head home.
This theory differs from other theories such as the James-Lange theory, which argues that physiological responses occur first and result and are the cause of emotions. People then experience some sort of physiological reaction to this stimulus which is then labeled as an emotion. For example, if you encounter a growling dog, you might begin to breathe rapidly and tremble. James-Lange theory would then suggest that you would label those feelings as fear.
Another theory is the Schacter-Singer theory of emotion (also known as two-factor) theory, which takes a cognitive approach to explaining emotion. It draws on elements of both James-Lange theory and Cannon-Bard theory, proposing that physiological arousal occurs first but that such reactions are often similar for different emotions. The theory suggests that the physiological reactions must be cognitively labeled and interpreted as a particular emotion. The theory emphasizes the role that cognition and elements of the situation play in the experience of emotion.
Two-factor theory explanation: People label their emotions according to their environment and their physiological cues. Cartoon lady, let’s call her Mary, realizes that she is walking on a dark street and that a man is following her (environmental cues). Mary also notices that her heart is beating fast and that she is having difficulty breathing (physiological cues). Based on her environment and physiological cues, she concludes that she is feeling afraid.
One more resource about theories of emotions to help you out with today's assignments.
SHOUT-OUT
IMPORTANT DATES THIS WEEK
7/27: Module 9 Grace Period begins; Module 10 begins (Personality)
CONTACT ME
Text/Call: 919.602.5075
E-mail: christopher.watson@ncpublicschools.gov
Text anytime between 9 a.m. and 9 p.m.
NCVPS Psychology
CITATIONS
Today's Assignments (Book Icon Orange, David Peters, Wikpedia Education Program Case Studies.pdf, Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license
Teacher Talk (Red Silhouette - Teacher, Ben from Openclipart, Openclipart, Creative Commons CCO 1.0 Universal Public Domain Dedication license)
Shout Out (callout-quote-bull-speaking-bubble, Pixabay, Pixabay, CCO Public Domain license)
Important Dates This Week (Blank Calendar Page Icon, Jackaranga, Jackaranga, GNU Free Documentation License)
Contact Me (Smart phone mobile phone, Pixabay, Pizabay, CCO Public Domain)