SURPRISE!

M. Alexandra
Toro S
What is surprise?
The word "surprise" has 3 different meanings:

Countable noun
A surprise is an unexpected event, fact, or piece of
news.
Uncountable noun
Surprise is the feeling that you have when something
unexpected happens.
Verb
If something surprises you, it gives you a feeling of
surprise.

Source: https://www.collinsdictionary.com/es/diccionario/ingles/surprise
 Definition
It´s one of the seven universal emotions and arises when we
encounter sudden and unexpected sounds or movements. As
the briefest of the universal emotions, its function is to focus
our attention on determining what is happening and whether
or not it is dangerous.

Source: https://www.paulekman.com/universal-emotions/what-is-surprise/
 Is surprise
an emotion?
others regard it as an
Common‐sense classifies
emotion, but not a basic
surprise as an emotion. In
one; and yet others do not
contrast, in scientific
classify surprise as an
psychology, the question of
emotion at all, but as a
whether or not surprise is
cognitive state (although
an emotion is
one that may play an
controversial: Some
important role in the
emotion theorists regard
process of emotion
surprise not only as an
generation by preparing
emotion, but even as a
the individual for the
basic emotion;
Source: https://psychologie.uni-
greifswald.de/storages/uni-
greifswald/fakultaet/mnf/psychologie/Al
evaluative appraisal of
lgemeine_II/Publikationen/Reisenzein_M
eyer_Niepel_2012_Surprise.pdf
events).
 Why is it
important?
It turns out that surprise works on the dopamine system in our brains,
helping us to focus our attention and inspiring us to look at our situation
in new ways. Luna and Renninger (both psychologists) outline four
stages of the surprise response:
Freeze—when we are stopped in our tracks because of the
unexpected
Find—when we get hooked into trying to understand what’s going
on/how this happened
Shift—when we begin to shift our perspectives, based on conflicting
findings
Share—when we feel the pull to share our surprises with others
Source: https://greatergood.berkeley.edu/article/item/why_humans_need_surprise
 https://theworld.org/stories/2015-04-02/heres-what-happens-after-surprise

What causes
surprise?
Surprises actually cause humans to physically freeze for
1/25th of a second. Then they usually trigger something
in the brain that Luna calls “find” — a moment that
causes humans to generate extreme curiosity in an
attempt to figure out what is happening.

Common surprise triggers are:

Loud sounds (e.g., a balloon popping or a car
backfiring)
Unexpected movements (e.g., someone sneaking up
on you or throwing a ball at you without warning)
Representation in art/history

https://www.revistaad.es/arte/articulos/20-mejores-obras-historia-arte-espanol/25058
 A personal example

My last birthday
March 10th

"I thought I would have no more gifts!"

THANK YOU!

M. Alexandra
Toro S