Emotions

”The still face experiment”

 Emotional interaction between caregiver and baby is crucial for emotional development
 The way a child explores in a safe environment
 Without itscary world also hard to develop trust in other people

BASIC EMOTIONS (Tomkins, 1962; izard, 1977, Ekman)

 Positive emotions/pleasant
o Interest
o Joy
o Pride
 Neutral emotion
o Surprise
 Negative emotions/unpleasant
o Fear
o Anger
o Sadness
o Disgust
o Shame
 There are things that differentiate (big difference)

COMMON CHARACTERISTICS
 Evolutionary based
o Evolved through history, helped us survive
 Acts as stimulus-amplifiers and motivators (e.g. for drives)
o The emotions connected with the drive makes us behave in a certain way
 Pan cultural
o In all different cultures, everyone is born with the same neurological reaction
patterns
o How the emotions are interpreted and valued can vary (even within individuals)
 “Contagious“ (we have mirror neurons)
 Uncontrollable (pop up unannounced)
o As we grow older, we learn to push down certain aspects of overt
emotions/expressions
 Demands our attention
o Somethings happening – do something about it!
 General (can be linked to many different situations)
 Varies in intensity
 Have unique physical expressions
o Can tell them apart
o Connected to the neural basis of the emotionally affect part of the emotion. Activate
a certain neural pattern which make some facial muscles tense and some
relaxedfacial expression
o Connected to CNS (heart-rate, breathing)different reaction patterns to different
stimuli
”Affects emotions and scripts”
 ”Two people experiencing the same feeling are rarely experiencing the same emotion”
 Even though we have the same basic emotions, we will interpret and experience them
differently depending on our memory in previous experiences of that feeling.
 Emotion is connected to our personal biography/history

BASIC EMOTIONS: THE AFFECT SYSTEM (Silvan Tomkins, 1962)

 Emotions are considered innate, according to this theoretical branch, serving as an automatic
signalling system that relieves the limited resources of consciousness. It allows us to
experience, value, organize, create meaning around and communicate our being.

AFFECT THEORY: CONCEPTUAL LEVELS (TOMKINS, 1962)

 Part of basic emotions theory
 Can be used to describe individual personality
 Defines emotion using 4 conceptual levels:
1. AFFECT: innate/hardwired reaction patterns (born with it). Works as a signalling system
(activates neurons). (Biology - arousal). Without conscious awareness, brief (less than a
sec).
2. FEELING: when it breaks the surface, becomes aware. We recognise the emotion/affect.
A brief conscious experience of the affect, often a mixture of affects (Recognition)
3. EMOTION: the interpretation of an affect trough the overlay of personal history i.e.
memories and past experiences (Organized State - Biography)
4. SCRIPT: internal “blueprints” of emotional experiences which new experiences are
interpreted through, what are we supposed to do/expect in the situation? (Internalized
entities – Personality)

FUNCTIONS (NATHANSON, 1992)

POSITIVE EMOTIONS – closer, approach, engage or continue
 Interest – Excitement
o Action tendency: to explore
o Continuously present in normal functioning. Offers momentum for new experiences
and learning. Social function of making us approach and engage with others. We
show interest in others and receive it ourselves.
 Happiness – Joy
o Action tendency: to “play” or interact
o Strengthens attachment, promotes self-confidence, helps us relax.
 Pride

NEUTRAL EMOTION – stop, be attentive

 Surprise – Startle
o Action tendency: to stop and focus
o Clears away other emotions, makes us ready for new information.

NEGATIVE EMOTIONS – distancing, abort, avoid

 Fear – Terror
o Action tendency: to run
o Makes us avoid dangers, strengthen attachment (“run to safe port”).
  Anger – Rage
o Action tendency: to attack
o Removes barriers to achieve our goals, sets limits to others, defend ourselves.
 Sadness – Despair
o Action tendency: to retreat
o Makes us slow down/reflect/reappraise, finding meaning. Motivates us to create
new social bonds.
 Disgust - Repulsion
o Action tendency: to vomit or become clean
o Helps protect ourselves, regulates distancing between people, set boundaries.
 Shame – Humiliation
o Action tendency: to “disappear” or repair
o Regulates social relationships, drives us to achieve our ideals, say sorry.

EMOTION REGULATION
 Which emotion we will react with in a specific situation is governed by our interpretation of
the situation (i.e. safe, dangerous, familiar, predictable, controllable etc.)
 Emotions helps us to make sense of and manage the situation
 Interpretation via scripts motivates different action tendencies
 As we mature we learn to regulate these tendencies. Talk instead of utbrott.
 Emotion regulation is governed by the ability to communicate emotion

EMOTION COMMUNICATION (IZARD)

 The ability to symbolize and interpret emotion through both non-verbal cues (facial
expression, posture changes) and language (emotional language) is key for normal social
functioning
 It is also an important part of the expression and “mirroring” of our personality
 We need confirmation that how we perceive ourselves is how we are perceived by others
(how we perceive ourselves should go together with other’s view)
 When we can ́t make others understand our feelings we feel alienated

AN EXAMPLE OF HOW EMOTIONS ARE LINKED TO PERSONALITY - THE

MORAL EMOTIONS
THE SELF-CONSCIOUS EMOTIONS (TANGNEY)
 Includes shame, guilt embarrassment and pride
 Relates to our sense of self and our conscious awareness of other people's reactions to us
 Similar to other animals display submissiveness…but requires self-awareness and self
representation (only humans and primates)
 More complexmerges later than basic emotions
 Shame is different and similar depending on personality, culture…
 Shame can be manifested in behaviours such as turning down eyes, slouching, moving away,
red face… the feeling inside is unpleasant
 To manage: hard, apart from sadness (good cry) and anger (throw things)
 The function of shame
o Shame has an important social function!
o Evolutionary – shame helps us maintain our position in the group
o It is unpleasant enough to make us behave or correct our demeanour, according to
what we individually perceive as desirable by others (ideals, morals, norms, values)
 o Basis for empathy – shame is the tool for empathy to work
o All people experience shame (born with it) but there are individual differences in
proneness to shame and how we cope with shame. For some shame is a close
reaction, take more responsibility when something goes wrong.
o High shame proneness may over time lead to pathological consequences but the
way in which shame is managed plays an important role in this. Coping is important!
o Shame coping involves a balancing act between positive self-image (not giving
ourselves away completely) and preserve a relationship that is at risk of damage in
the situation (showing empathy).

”Shame and empathy”

 Shame can make people react both similarly and differently depending on their history and
personality
 Shame can facilitate social interactions – makes us care about each other
 Shame can also hinder if we care too much about what other people may think of us

AFFECT THEORY AND SHAME

 Way to explain elevated shame proneness
 Shame works as an ”equalizer” for affective communication by “turning down” positive
affect (interest affect replaced by shame) but without extinguishing it completely. A motive
for resumption of positive affect remains. Not just walk away, a moment to say you’re sorry.
 Shame has no specific facial expressions but changes in posture (eyes/face turned
down/away, crouching posture, "protecting the core" and blushing). Hard to observe, grown
ups mask it really well.
 Explanation to elevated shame proneness:
o Early traumatic experiences of shame can become significant for subsequent
interpretation of shame affect (Tomkins, 1987). Through abuse or neglect (still face).
o The “affect shame-bind" (Kaufman, 1996). The full emotional repertoire connected
to shame. Small child tries to get attention from parentget pushed awaytries
different strategy, e.g. amusepushed away several timesgets angrysame
reaction. Subsequently over time may lead to every emotion is connected with
shame.
 Shame is strongly related to attachment – “the need to belong”
 A secure attachment is represented by a trust in others, and a realistic expectation of others
to be understanding and sympathetic. This is a powerful protective factor against mental
illness. We feel that we can seek social support from others.
 Feelings of shame are more or less easily aroused depending on whether a confidence in
other people has been established in early life or not. If we trust in that people are
trustworthy.
 Explanation to elevated shame proneness:
o Children who have felt unwanted by their parents, also tend to feel unwanted by
other people later in life. This is generally related to a fear of abandonment which
often manifests as a fear of closeness.
o In this sense, insecure attachment and shame reproduces each other.

SHAME PRONENESS AND PSYCHOLOGICAL DISTRESS

 Elevated shame proneness (shame becomes intense and hard to manage) undermines the
ability to function and interact socially with others (believe that people are judgemental and
untrustworthy).
  Shame proneness has been found to be positively correlated with psychiatric symptoms and
syndromes in a wide variety of studies.
 Shame proneness has also been found to affect prognosis in a wide range of physiological
disorders, e.g. cancer.
 Not only elevated, but also the opposite very low shame proneness is maladaptive. Has been
linked to psychopathic traits. Low shamelow empathypsychopathic traits.

COPING WITH SHAME

 Coping: is defined as “Thoughts and behaviors used to manage the internal and external
demands of situations that are perceived as stressful” (Lazarus & Folkman, 1984).
 Shame-based trauma can lead to elevated shame proneness through different elements of
developmental crisis. Has to do with lack of trust in others or an inability to distinguish
different emotions from shame.
 Coping is an important part of the explanation for how shame proneness can be related to
distress.
 The level of shame proneness tends to affect the coping strategies that the individual has
access to, based on how the situation is appraised (e.g. a person who don’t trust others and
expect rejection tends to escape rather than seeking support).
 Coping aimed at shame-inducing situations specifically (how shame is managed) relates to
symptom/distress outcomes. FRÅGA första minutrarna på sista delen

”The compass of shame” – explain shame management and tied to psychological

distress/disorders and emotional reactions
 Problematic when the reaction of shame is strong and also the coping strategies.
 Most adaptive way of managing shame will lead to a correction in behaviour and resuming of
the giving and receiving interest.
 Sometimes, shame becomes overwhelmingcan’t copechoose to either strongly protect
our self-image or overcompensate to try and protect the relationship. We can’t always do
both.

 Withdrawal – driven by the fear of being rejected and the distress of becoming alone. High
level of anxiety. Isolation/run and hide.
 Avoidance – driven by disgust towards oneself. Run from themselves/neg. view of
themselves.
  Attack self – distress and disgust. High level of anxiety. Only strategy of managing
stressdangerous
 Attack other – blame victims/external causes. Personality disorder “cluster B”.
 West – defending own self-image hard at the cost of relationships
 East – give themselves up to pursue the relationships
 East and west draws because they “match”, can continue using the strategy. Maladaptive in
the long run

MALADAPTIVE (-) AND ADAPTIVE (+) STRATEGIES

 − Escape/Avoidance coping
(Strong predictor för dysfunction in both normal- and clinical groups)
 − Accepting responsibility coping – attack self
 − Confrontative coping - attack other
 +Support seeking coping – talking abt feeling, explain what happened, make a manse
 +Positive reappraisal – learn, do something differently
 +Distancing – keeping it cool, anyone could have gotten in this situation, not catastrophizing
(Moderate predictor in clinical groups)
 Flexibility is important, don’t become too rigid in one’s coping

SHAME PRONENESS, ATTACHMENT STYLE, SHAME COPING AND

DISTRESS
 It is not primarily the level of shame proneness in itself that determines negative health
consequences, but rather how shame feelings are interpreted and managed.
 Attachment style: a low perception of others as benevolent/reliable and fear of being
rejected makes it more difficult to manage personal failures (shame-inducing situations).
 Shame Coping: balancing act between maintaining a relatively positive self-image and
preserving social relationships that may have been damaged in the situation.
 Shame proneness: can be a risk factor for psychological distress, but how you cope is
important
 Both shame scritps and shame coping determine if neg.health outcome

ELEVATED SHAME PRONENESS - IS THERE A FIX?

 We are all prone to different feelings, e.g. anger, happiness, shame
 Affective proneness is relatively stable but affective scripts brought into awareness may be
changed.
 We tend to repeatedly seek out relationships which confirms our self-image, formed from
early relationships, because it feels safer and more predictable than change
 Affective: (1) awareness, (2) tolerance, (3) competence
 Bringing shame into awareness and acquiring adaptive shame management strategies, the
negative consequences of elevated shame proneness can be reduced
THEORIES OF EMOTION IN PERSONALITY

PSYCHOLOGICAL CONSTRUCTION: THE EMOTIONAL

CIRCUMPLEXMODEL (James A. Russell, 1980)
According to this theory, emotions are not considered innate but constructed during life through
social and cultural experiences and experiences.