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Reports-instructions by Professor Leon James
Customizing My
Emotional Spin Cycle:
Annotated
Bibliography
Psych 459-Fall
2001-G15
Dr. Leon
James, Instructor
By: Tabatha Sweet
Date: October 25,
2001
Reports-instructions by Professor Leon James
The study
designed by Dr. Leon James originated from his interest in Traffic
Psychology. He has been focusing on the
psychological self since the 1970’s and has had his students participate in
evaluating their own habits. Dr. James
introduces the term “Threefold-Self” consisting of habits that deal with
feelings (affective domain), thinking (cognitive domain) and acting (sensori-motor). Understanding your own Threefold-Self can
assist you in modifying negative behaviors.
The goal of this study is to pinpoint negative feelings and behavior and
attempt to modify or “bridge-over” to a more positive behavior, which will
reduce stress, and bring more satisfaction in life. Dr. James has a passion in changing the rage on the roads because
there are some many deaths due to accidents involving road rage. He believes that by documenting your daily
emotions it can make you more aware of the areas that you need to modify. The daily emotional spin-cycle contains
four zones; two of them deal with negative behaviors towards ones self and
others. The other two zones deal with positive behaviors towards ones self and
others. The idea is to learn your
faults and modify or “bridge over” from the negative zones to the positive
zones. Report one consists of definitions pertaining to the three domains and
articles, Journals, online newspapers, magazines, and pervious Generational
curriculums to help support the definitions.
Emotions are
intense feelings, which can be effected by age, gender, and/or the environment
that one lives in. Everyone has emotional needs that need to be met in order to
live a more satisfying life style.
Feelings are the
gateway for emotions. Feelings can
influence behavior and when you change the way you feel, you change the way you
think.
The threefold
self consists of affective behavior, cognitive domain, and sensori-motors. I have already mentioned that affective
deals with feelings, while cognitive is how you think or process information
and sensori-motor is the action that is taken after the thought.
Hierarchy of motives is broken down into
emotions, feelings and values. Emotions
are a signal when something is right or wrong, and you express emotions through
feelings, so if you have a negative feeling you are expressing a negative
emotion felt inside. Valuing something
is considered an act of expressing ones feelings. Forming values, is placing a
“standard or norm” on ones world. The
goal of this study is to create positive values, emotions and behaviors and in
return live a more satisfying and less stressful life style.
The definitions
provided below are by Dr. Leon James. Reports-instructions
All individuals are socialized in accordance with cultural
norms. To be socialized means to acquire particular habits in the three areas
of human functioning:
·
habits
of feeling (AFFECTIVE DOMAIN OF BEHAVIOR)
·
habits
of thinking (COGNITIVE DOMAIN OF BEHAVIOR)
·
habits
of acting (SENSORI-MOTOR DOMAIN OF BEHAVIOR)
Every individual has a threefold self in which the three parts
function together, yet each can be distinguished and isolated for observation
and self-modification.
The threefold self has two arenas to function in. One is the
arena of "others" (or the world out there), and the second is the
arena of "self." These two arenas--Others and Self--each require
their own particular way of functioning. Let's refer to the arena of others as
"the red zone" and the arena of self as "the blue zone."
Every day individuals have to function in both zones since they have to deal with
others (red zone) and with oneself (blue zone).
The two zones (red and blue) can be either negative or
positive. For instance, rage is in "the negative red zone" because it
is the feeling of anger against someone or thing. Compassion is in "the
positive red zone" because it is the feeling of tolerance and caring for
someone or thing. Similarly, "the negative blue zone" includes
depression and self-destructive behavior since these are negative feelings
towards the self. "The positive blue zone" includes feelings of
self-mastery and satisfaction since these are positive feelings towards the
self. Figure 1 shows the 4 zones together in a circle model.
Note that the 4 zones with the threefold self in each make
up 12 settings arranged around a circle. This is called the emotional spin
cycle because it maps out the cultural norms of behavior we acquire in
socialization and divides them into these 4 main categories. It is like the
spin cycle of a wash machine. By changing the settings you change the behavior or
function of the machine. Similarly, to function as socialized individuals we
acquire particular habits that run themselves off according to prescription
(also called "social scripts" or "schemas"). We have the
impression that we are acting on our own from ourselves, not realizing that we
are just running off the social scripts we acquired as children and adults. We
know this by comparing what people feel, think, and do in specific situations,
and seeing they are so similar or equivalent. This proves that our feelings,
thoughts, and actions are learned and standardized, shared by many in a
society. The content of the 4 zones and 12 settings are:
Zone 1 (negative red) = Feeling rage-anger (setting 1)
coupled with impaired thinking (2) lead to aggressive behavior (3)
Zone 2 (negative blue) = Feeling depression (setting 4)
coupled with pessimistic thinking (5) lead to self-destructive behavior (6).
Zone 3 (positive blue) = Feeling self-mastery and
self-satisfaction (setting 7) coupled with optimistic thinking (8) lead to
self-enhancing behavior (9).
Zone 4 (positive red) = Feeling resolve or zeal or
compassion (setting 10) coupled with emotionally intelligent thinking (11) lead
to supportive and constructive behavior (12).
Robert W. Levenson wrote in the
book, “Changes in Emotion Across Adulthood”, that humans are not born with
complete set of emotions; rather more complex emotions seem to come online as
part of normal social development.
Which makes one believe that emotions are learned through experiences. With more refined time and experiences
emotion should be able to be refined with proper guidance.
Thru extensive Internet research I have come up with a definition that
might help you understand the depth that the word “emotion” entails. Emotion comes from an intense feeling, and
emotions can be influenced by age, gender, and culture or environment. Emotion is a means to understanding ones
self. Emotional Intelligence is important
for a healthy existence, because emotions can be manipulated through behavior. Emotion is important for survival,
decision-making, boundary setting, communication, and social unity. An example
is a form of emotion called Fear; fear stops someone from entering a harmful
situation, which could save his or her life.
People have emotional needs, which are expressed through
“feelings”. Some of these needs maybe
acceptance, power, understanding, and/or support. Emotions can be broken down into two categories, one being
Primary emotions and the other being Secondary emotions. Primary emotions are the emotions that are
felt first/instantly after a situation, where as secondary emotions are what
that instant feeling leads too.
Now that I have defined in some degree what emotion is, lets exam
Internet cites that mention “emotions”, which might help you better understand
the depth the word “emotion”.
Importance of Emotion discusses how emotions are very important to a
healthy existence. The article also
talks about how every one has emotional needs, which are expressed through our
feelings. The sincerity of the needs
may vary but “humans share the same needs”.
Our emotions are an “internal guidance system”, they help guide us
through decision making. Emotions are also indicators of our needs and if they
are getting met or not.
“ Our emotions alert us when natural human need is not being met. For example, when we feel lonely, our need for connection with other people is unmet. When we feel afraid, our need for safety is unmet. When we feel rejected, it is our need for acceptance which is unmet.”
Decision Making is another area where emotion is present. Emotions are a “source of information” that can help make a decision either go one way or the other. Example, Should I move to another state and leave my family or not. Should I stay in this relationship or not.
Studies
show that when a person's emotional connections are severed in the brain, he
cannot make even simple decisions. Why? Because he doesn't know how he will
feel about his choices.
Boundary Setting through emotion is a tool that helps us survey the situation and alerts us if the situation is uncomfortable.
If we learn to trust our emotions and feel confident expressing ourselves we can let the person know we feel uncomfortable as soon as we are aware of our feeling. This will help us set our boundaries, which are necessary to protect our physical and mental health.
Communication through emotion helps us either through words or body language “communicate with others”.
Our facial expressions, for example, can convey a wide range of emotions. If we look sad or hurt, we are signaling to others that we need their help. If we are verbally skilled we will be able to express more of our emotional needs and thereby have a better chance of filling them. If we are effective at listening to the emotional troubles of others, we are better able to help them feel understood, important and cared about.
Unity through emotions is what the world has gone through since the Terrorism Attack on September 11, 2001. The nation has united in every way to stop terrorism and strengthen our nationalism.
Our emotions are perhaps the greatest
potential source of uniting all members of the human species. Clearly, our
various religious, cultural and political beliefs have not united us. Far too
often, in fact, they have tragically and even fatally divided us. Emotions, on
the other hand, are universal. Charles Darwin wrote about this years ago in one
of his lesser-known books called "The Expression of Emotion In Man and
Animal". The emotions of empathy, compassion, cooperation, and
forgiveness, for instance, all have the potential to unite us as a species. It
seems fair to say that, generally speaking: Beliefs divide us. Emotions
unite us.
Like I reported earlier, Emotions are expressed through “Feelings” and everyone has emotional needs that need to be met.
“In various degrees, each according to his or her own unique nature, we each need to feel:”
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accepted |
grown or growing |
protected |
This next cite might help you better understand the concept of Primary and Secondary Emotions,
A primary emotion is what we feel first. The secondary emotion is what it leads to.
Anger is a good example of a secondary emotion. As I discuss in my section on anger there are many possible primary emotions which, when they are intense enough, can lead to anger. We might feel insulted, pressured, cheated, etc. If these feelings are at a low level we are not likely to say we feel angry. But if they are intense, we commonly say we feel "angry."
Depression is another example of a secondary emotion. Or we might call it a "catch-all" term. Depression can include feeling discouraged, hopeless, lonely, isolated, misunderstood, overwhelmed, attacked, invalidated, unsupported, etc. Normally it includes several feelings. These more specific feelings are what I would call primary emotions.
I
believe our emotions provide us with the means to know ourselves and that this
self-knowledge is the key to our happiness. The author Steve
Hein wrote this statement.
Hein writes about the development of children’s emotions and how adults (particularly teachers) can help children develop emotional intelligence. While a child is developing, if they learn correctly how to interpret their emotions they can grow to take “responsibility for their emotional needs” which can lead to a healthier adulthood. Children need to be taught vocabulary with which they can better express themselves. An example would be “I feel afraid” helping them fill in the word after “I Feel…” will lead to better communicational skills.
“When
we teach children to express themselves, we are helping them begin to take
responsibility for their own emotional needs. We do this by teaching them to
first identify and then to communicate their feelings and needs. When we do
this, we are empowering them in a very tangible way. If we then respect their
feelings, and we teach all children mutual respect for feelings, I have no
doubt whatsoever that we will live to see a different world--a world where
problems are solved by mutual respect rather than by force, power and
violence”.
Being emotional stable can effect our health says Hein. “And when the brain is stimulated with positive feelings--when it is energized--it simply learns better. But when a child is afraid or confused, his cognitive brain shuts down, so he cannot learn. Years ago, John Holt recognized this when he said children fail because they are scared, bored, and confused.
Beyond this, there are health reasons for learning to manage our emotions. Laughter strengthens the immune system. Stress, fear and worry weaken it. In other words, nature speaks to us through our emotions.”
Happiness May Increase with Age
This journal was published in the November issue of APA’S Journal of Personality and Social Psychology.
The journal discusses how as we age the emotion “happiness” increases contrary to popular belief. The journal goes on to tell that the social environment a person lives in can contribute to the persons emotional “happiness”. The study showed that older males, particularly those that are in a healthy marriage, are the happiest. “'We have seen this before in other research on age and well-being which found that relationships played a major role in determining the extent to which people gain great regulation over their emotions as they age.'”
The reason for this “happiness” in older age is:
'Older adults regulate their emotions more effectively than younger or middle-aged adults,' says Fordham University psychologist Daniel K. Mroczek, PhD, who conducted the study with Christian M. Kolarz, a Fulbright scholar studying in Poland. 'We can propose that older individuals seem to be able to know, through their years of experience, what kind of external events increase or decrease their positive and negative emotions.' While younger people tend to see the future as largely open, older people see the future as being more bounded. As a result, older adults gear their lives toward maximizing positive affect and minimizing negative affect, Mroczek says.
I find this study interesting because younger people have more convinces now days and live a less “stressful” life, in terms of hard labor work, and they are less happy than the elderly. This APA journal explains this by a study:
Mroczek and Kolarz examined the responses of 2,727 men and women age 25 to 74 to find out how much a person's age, gender, marital status, education, stress, health and personality affects his or her well-being. They found that negative emotions were highest among young adults and lowest among older adults. Younger participants reported feeling sad, nervous, hopeless or worthless more often than older participants did. Older men reported being the happiest and having the fewest negative emotions.
Feelings are the gate for emotions. Expressing emotion is done by feelings. Expressing feelings correctly and in a healthy manner can effect the quality of life, says Steve Hein. “Laughter strengthens the immune system. Stress, fear and worry weaken it. In other words, nature speaks to us through our emotions.” Learning to control and express feelings in a positive manner can be learned through time and experience. This was shown in the APA journal discussed earlier. To better understand the definition of “feelings” I have researched on the Internet and comprised a definition. Feelings are reactions, which comes as the result of our thinking (cognitive). This is why studies show that feelings (emotions) can be manipulated by learning emotional needs and being able to communicate them effectively.
This every brief article on feelings helps us understand the relationship between feelings and behavior.
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Feelings are natural reactions, which come as the result of our thinking. Sometimes the thinking process is conscious and we know exactly why we feel as we do. But often, feelings are the reaction of unconscious thinking, based on information we picked up during childhood experiences. We can change our feelings by changing our thinking. |
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The
Cognitive Equation for Feelings is: Thinking Creates Feelings-Feelings
Create Behavior |
This article helps distinguish the difference between feelings and thoughts. It is important to have understanding of what “feelings” is compared to thought. This article has a great example of the difference between feelings and emotions. This articles will help you realize that thoughts and feelings are very easy to confuse but understanding difference is the key to communicating.
Next time someone asks you "how you feel about something";
take notice whether you answer in basically one word. If not, you most likely
are relating what you think.
An example: How do you feel about pollution?
Bet you start to say something like "it is devastating our
planet"... but now that is a thought or belief, not a feeling. To relate a
feeling about that question would be to answer, "I feel worried" or
"I feel angry".
The contrary can be true also where one gives a feeling when asked what
they think.
So to "beef up" your ABC's and other rational thinking ... Practice
differentiating between Thoughts and Feelings!
In other words, if
you are answering a question in a complete sentence using the word, “I think”
or “ it is” you are not saying what you feel but what you think about the
situation at hand. Finding out how you
feel compared to what you think can help you over come addictions. Addictions
are just a “matter of coping”.
Addiction is a behavior that is related to emotion, a negative emotion
and a negative or unacceptable behavior.
By learning emotional intelligence as a child and learning how to
communicate emotions correctly, it is more likely that your needs will be met
and there will be no need for suppressed emotions and negative behaviors. This article gives some words that could be
added to your vocabulary to help you communicated your emotions/feelings.
Abandoned, adventurous, affectionate, afraid, aggressive, alarmed,
alone, aloof, ambitious, ambivalent, angry, annoyed, anxious, apathetic, awed,
awkward, betrayed, bitter, blissful, bored, …………
This just names a few from
the article. Communication is the Key
to a healthy emotional life.
The Threefold Self is broken down into affective, cognitive, and
sensori-motor categories. Each one of these domains plays an important role in
behavior. Each domain can effect the other ones. For example, affective domain or feelings can effect cognition or
the way you think. Affective domain or
feelings is non-observable except when joined with the sensori-motor
domain. Sensori-motor domain is your
movement or reactions. You can observe
behavior acted out.
The report done by
an earlier student named Kathleen Matayoshi wrote about the “community-classroom”
and what Social Psychology 222 with Dr. Leon James was all about. Most importantly she wrote about what the
Threefold Self was all about back in 1997.
The main topic of study in
Dr. James class is the Threefold Self. The Threefold Self is what we are made
up of. It is three different mental states ranging from low to high. The low
level is referred to as the automatic self. The middle level is referred to as
the reflective self. The high level is referred to as the spiritual self. There
are also three categories in the make up of the Threefold Self. There are the
affective, cognitive, and sensori-motor categories.
Within these levels and categories, there are different behaviors and levels of
thinking. In every human being, the Threefold Self exists. The Threefold Self
is our way of thinking, our inmost feelings, desires, loves, hates, our ability
to rationalize, etc. We all relate to the three levels of the Threefold self in
our daily lives. Given is a chart of the Threefold Self to help you visualize
what it actually is.
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Affective |
Cognitive |
Sensori-motor |
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Spiritual Self |
Spiritual
Strivings----> |
Rational Truths or
Falses----> |
Good or Evil Works |
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Reflective Self |
Strivings----> |
Reasoning----> |
Understanding |
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Automatic Self |
Sensory Drives----> |
Conditioning----> |
Skill |
Here Mrs. Matayoshi describes the threefold self in three different
categories, the affective, cognitive and sensori-motor which is the same as our
definition in 2001. She has broken down
the three categories into three more categories that clam that spiritual Self,
Reflective Self and Automatic Self can affect the affective, cognitive and
sensori-motor categories. The prepuce of this report is to explain and show how
Self-witnessing can help understand the emotions and feelings that you feel in
every day events. She also writes about
a way to analyze a situation or topic and that is called “ennead matrix”.
The ennead matrix is a
method used to really get into what you are learn- ing by analyzing certain
topics in full detail. The ennead matrix is a system of asking yourself
questions and answering them to your best abilities.
When you are studying a subject and come across a sentence or a paragraph that
appeals to you, you use the ennead matrix to analyze why you reacted to the
sentence or paragraph. It then takes you through a series of ques- tions to
help you figure out why you actually chose the topic and how you felt as you
read it. This matrix helps to analyze your thoughts and organ- ize them.
The Ennead Matrix Chart
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Affective |
Cognitive |
Sensori-motor |
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Spiritual Self |
How do I feel about these assumptions? What loves, affections, attractions, or resistances do I have that support or condemn these assumptions? etc. |
What principles of truth or falsehood lie behind these assumptions? What views or perspective are contained in these assumptions? etc. |
What assumptions did I identify which are contained in the passage? |
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Reflective Self |
What motivated me to reason in that way? What bias or preferences are behind these reasoning’s? What goals am I trying to achieve by reasoning in these ways? etc. |
What justifies these reasoning’s? What explanations can you give that show whether these reasoning’s are either correct or implausible? etc. |
What reasoning’s did I go through while reading the passages? (You may be able to summarize or use a diagram or flow chart to explain the reasoning’s.) etc. |
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Automatic Self |
Why did it occur to me to say each of those sentences? What drive, impulse, satisfaction, or reward is served when I say them? What do I get out of it? etc. |
What led me to think of these sentences? What in the passage caused me to think of them? etc. |
What sentences did I say to myself while reading the passage? etc. |
In using the ennead matrix, you are to answer each question step-by-step starting with box number one. There are nine boxes altogether. All nine boxes contain questions to be answered. Some boxes contain more questions than others. After you answer the questions in one box, you go to the following box. It's best to complete a whole chart before going to another subject because the flow of thought is best when concentrating on a specific subject. In completion of a chart, you should have a better understanding of why this sentence or paragraph appealed to you. In using the ennead matrix, you can really get to know what you are thinking about.
This method of studying teaches you about yourself and how you process information. It helps you to concentrate on one specific idea and helps you to understand it in much more detail. It brings out your inner most thoughts that deal with how you feel toward the topic. In using this method, you are able to witness your feelings toward an idea and jot down information of how you feel towards the topic. In practicing this method of studying, you give yourself a chance to let out your ideas and elaborate on the topic. The most important thing about using this method of studying is that you have an organized system that teaches you how to process information that you usually by pass when studying because you do not understand it. This system helps you to understand what you are studying.
Mrs. Matayoshi uses the Ennead Matrix to study but if you look at the chart it is also a great method to learn more about any situation and your thoughts and feelings about that situation.
Was written by Dr. Leon James a Professor at Hawaii University- Manoa.
Throughout this report Dr. James writes about what Traffic Psychology is:
Traffic psychology refers to the knowledge one acquires about how to use behavioral principles to modify one's own style of conduct in traffic situations including driving, bicycling, walking, and other forms of locomotion in shared spaces. A common activity in traffic psychology is to attempt to modify one's old driving persona to a new and better driving persona. The more you become an expert traffic psychologist the more thoroughly you can alter your traffic personality.
Through the different generations of students in his class Dr. James required them to do a self-witnessing report and try to bridge over from negative emotions (while driving) to a more positive emotion. He reports that every year there are 3,000,000 injuries and 50,000 deaths because of auto accidents. These accidents could possibly be eliminated or reduced in number by reducing stress, negative emotion and rage while driving. There are many benefits to Traffic Psychology some being,
The benefits of traffic psychology include the following:
- Decreasing the carnage and our inhumane indifference to it (most people do not know the 50,000/3 million figures. This shows indifference.)
- Perfecting the American character by teaching interpersonal skills that encourage:
- chivalry (being polite to strangers)
- charity (caring for the feelings of other road users)
- freedom (self-responsibility)
- family values (being nice to your passengers)
- citizenship and respect for law and order (obeying traffic ordinances)
- spirituality (subtle connectedness among traffic users)
- morality and rationality (people's rights in public places)
- empathy and sympathy (showing solidarity with other traffic users)
- national unity and integration (identifying with positive symbols)
- creative driving practices (multi-tasking, recreation, artistic expression)
In his report Dr. James writes about the three domains of driving:
Since ancient times there has been agreement among philosophers that
human capacities are organized into three distinct groups corresponding to the threefold
human nature: the will, the understanding, and the actions of an individual.
Modern psychologists also function within this threefold system of behavior.
What pertains to the behavior of the will is called affective behavior and
includes affections, feelings, motives, needs and everything that pertains to the goal-directedness of
people's actions.
What pertains to the behavior of the understanding is called cognitive
behavior and includes cognitions, thoughts, reasoning and everything that pertains
to the decision-making and analyzing aspects of people's actions
What pertains to the individual's overt actions is called sensori-motor
or psychomotor behavior and includes all experience that is mediated through
sensory and motor channels.
Dr. James writes more about
how each one of these domains are related to the Traffic Psychology and for the
purpose of this report we will just focus on the great definitions he has
given.
This article discusses the Cognitive Behavioral Theory and touches on how the Cognitive Behavior Theory believes that the way one thinks can play a role in that person’s behavior. Remember that this study is done with the intent to modify ones behavior to hopefully live a more quality life style. Mrs. Suzuki applies the Cognitive Behavior Theory to driving and discusses deferent steps to help the driver understand his or her behavior behind the wheel. She makes the statement that through cognitive behavior therapy one could modify and reform reckless driving. The whole idea behind cognition is basically the way one thinks and then reacts to a situation. The way you think will affect the way you behave. Here are some parts of Mrs. Suzuki’s report on Cognitive Behavioral Theory.
First, several methods can be used to discover a driver's cognition. In 1976, Schwartz and Gottman developed a 34-item questionnaire called the Assertiveness Self-Statement Test (ASST). Through the use of the ASST, people could become more aware of and understand why they might drive the way they do. For example, a positive self-statement of the ASST could be: "I was thinking that I am perfectly free to drive the appropriate speed that is safe for me and others around me; I was thinking that other drivers were going way to fast for me to keep up with them."
This statement introduces Schwartz and Gottman’s questionnaire, ASST. This is one way of seeking therapy or understandings what faults you might have while driving and will better assist you in “bridging over” to a more positive approach. The next statement explains what a positive behavior would look like while driving behind the wheel.
Those who fall under the positive self-statement would be regarded as having a high degree of assertiveness. Assertive drivers are therefore drivers who have a sense of identity and who do not follow the convoys of other drivers. For instance, an assertive driver would remain at the speed limit that is appropriate and safe under the weather, road, and traffic conditions present at that time. On the other hand, drivers who fall under the negative self-statement are drivers who are simply followers who do not have enough strength to do what's right.
During this therapy one is asked to stop and ask them selves why and what is bringing on or causing the aggressive or negative behavior that is effecting their driving ability.
Motivation is related to affective (feelings) aspects; an example would be anxiety. Motivation is also related to cognitive (thinking) aspects and an example is a goal. Setting goals for your self is a great way to stay focused and organized, which will lead to more satisfaction.
The Nature of Emotion is a long article that does not completely deal with our topic at hand so we are only going to focus on the section of Emotion as Cognition. This part of the article deals with understanding why emotions are so important to survival of humans and why our thinking (cognition) plays an important role in survival. Richard Lazarus writes about how emotions require an appraisal of the situation and its consequences. While we think out the situation and come to the conclusion of either harming us or benefiting us, this whole thinking process (appraisal) is through cognition and this must take place before one can have an emotion.
Richard Lazarus has provided a
synthesis of all of these themes. He agrees that the final goal of our emotions
is to help the organism survive in the environment. Emotions arise from the
relationship between the individual and its environment, or, better, the
regularities of its environment. Emotion requires an appraisal of the situation
and its consequences. For example, such an appraisal may lead to fear if the
situation turns out to be dangerous. Emotions are genetically determined, but
they can change during a lifetime: both biological and social variables may
alter our set of emotions, and this explains why emotions change through the
various stages of life.
Each emotion is defined by a set of
benefits and harms in the relationship between individual and environment, and
that set is constructed by a process of appraisal. Appraisal is key to emotion.
Each type of emotion is distinguished by a pattern of appraisal factors.
Lazarus believes that
cognition is a requisite for emotion: a cognitive process (an appraisal) must
occur before one can have an emotion.
This article discusses how emotion lets us know about the world around us and what reaction is appropriate or necessary for the situation. So if there is a positive emotion then it tells the person that everything is fine in their world, but if there is a negative emotion then they should make some changes in their world. The thinking or cognitive processes that takes place is what they call “cognitive tuning”. This “tuning” helps the person decide what is the correct response. All of the cites given so far is to help understand how and what we need to do to modify negative behaviors. Here are some quotes from the article which will hopefully help you better understand cognitive tuning:
Another explanation of emotions and
information processing has been stated described as this: "emotions exist
for the sake of signaling states of the world that have to be responded to, or
that no longer need response" (Frijda, 1988, p. 354). Feeling happy, sad,
angry, etc. informs individuals about the current state of the world, and
whether action is necessary. Negative emotions generally mean that something is
amiss in the environment. Thus, action must be taken to rectify the situation.
In order to act appropriately, one must first perform more detailed information
processing with the goal of determining what sort of action to take. Regardless
of whether the emotion is positive or negative, however, the emotion has
processing implications informing the individual about what to do.
This explanation of emotions is called cognitive tuning. Cognitive
tuning suggests that the appropriate cognitive processing is cued by the
present affective state. Positive affect signals that a situation is benign,
whereas negative affect indicates a problem. As a result, people rely on
general, heuristic processing in positive moods, while negative moods trigger
more detailed, systematic processing.
Thus, cognitive tuning suggests that positive emotions are cues that everything
is fine, and negative emotions serve as problem representations. Therefore,
negative emotions should lead to actions to try and correct the problem, and
positive emotions need not lead to any action. Also, cognitive tuning suggests
that positive affect focuses people on internal, subjective data, cuing the use
of heuristic processing, while negative affect focuses people on external,
objective data, cuing systematic processing.
This news article from CNN.com titled Think Yourself Out of Depression is reinforcing the issue that some emotions like depression can be treated with the only form of “treatment” that does not have actual side effects and that is cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT). A basic understand of CBT is learning how to modify the “thinking” or cognitive domain and in return change the behavior. An example that the author give to help the readers understand the power of thought is by explaining how a infant would react to someone waving a loaded revolver in his/her face compared to an adult. The infant would not be scared but rather amused because they do not comprehend that effects or logic behind the revolver. An adult has the ability to analyze the situation and in some respects can over analyze and create stress that is not necessary, which could lead to depression. This is not the case in very situation with a revolver, but the example is trying to get you to understand that adults have the ability to over analyze which can lead to stress.
This article is one of my favorites because I feel that playing is an important role in the development of children. While a child is playing they are not only enjoying time but they are thinking (developing cognition) and they are also developing their social skills and physical (sensori-motor) abilities. This article discusses the different stages a child goes through while developing throughout childhood.
In children, play is a necessary vehicle for normal
physical, social, and cognitive development. The well-known early
twentieth-century American psychologist G. Stanley Hall (1844-1924) viewed the
evolution of children's play as recapitulating the evolution of the human
species. Individually, play develops in stages that correspond to a child's
social and cognitive development. Initially, a child's play is solitary in
nature. Next comes parallel play, where children are in each other’s company
but playing independently. Socially, the final stage is cooperative play, which
consists of organized activities characterized by social roles.
The author does a create job of explaining how playing takes a child from reality to a place where they make the rules and through this they learn the “does” and “don’ts” and what is expectable in a social setting and what is not. The author also writes about how playing enhances sensori-motor and allows the child to learn what they are capable of doing.
Jean Piaget formulated a series of developmental stages of
play that corresponded to the successive stages in his influential theory of
cognitive development in children. The sensori-motor stage (birth to
approximately two years old), when children are focused on gaining mastery of
their own bodies and external objects, is characterized by "practice
play" consisting of repeated patterns of movement or sound, such as
sucking, shaking, banging, babbling, and, eventually, "peek-a-boo"
games in which objects are made to repeatedly disappear and reappear. As
children learn more about the properties of objects and learn how to manipulate
them, they begin to monitor the effects of play on their environment, and their
relationship with that environment becomes increasingly systematic.
What we learn or don’t learn as children can effect us later in our adult lives. Children need to learn how to communicate their feelings with other and how to interact with others that are different from them.
I wanted to place this brief article in my report to help you understand the differences between affective, emotions and feelings. The author is basing these definitions on a psychologist’s point of view but I feel that he does a great job helping me (the reader) understand the differences better.
Some dictionary definitions of some important terms associated with the affective system demonstrate how difficult it is to clearly articulate what is meant by emotion:
- Affect--a feeling or emotion as distinguished from cognition, thought, or action
- Emotion--an intense feeling; a complex and usually strong subjective response, as love or fear; a state of agitation or disturbance
- Feeling--sensation perceived by the sense of touch; an indefinite state of mind; an affective state of consciousness, such as that resulting from emotions, sentiments, or desires; an emotional state or disposition; nonintellectual or subjective human response
As is evident, many of the definitions refer to one of the other terms, resulting in a somewhat circular process.
I like that he explains that these three terms can be views as a cycle, they all place an important role in understanding ourselves better.
Some related definitions from psychology show how the concept of emotion requires reference to other faculties of mind as well as internal and overt behavior:
- Emotion--the application of mental processes to the world of feelings, interpersonal relationships, and inanimate objects to which the person is attached
- Emotions --complex, subjective experiences that have many components including physical, cognitive, organizing, and expressive, as well as highly personal, subjective meanings.
A final thought on the threefold self is, each part plays an important part in analyzing our behaviors. They are a cycle which means that one effects the other, so if you want to change a negative behavior you not only have to change the way you think (cognitive) you need to address issues dealing with feelings (affective) and in return that will change your outer appearance or reactions (sensori-motor).
I have already talked about in great detail how and what emotions and feelings are, now I want to discuss values. Hierarchy of motives is broken down into emotions, feelings and values. This part of my report tries to explain why we have the motivation to react the way we do. If we feel strongly about something it is usually part of our values and we normally do not go against our feelings pertaining to our beliefs or values. A brief definition of “values” is associating with “something” and accepting it as your own or a way to explain yourself. If I had to describe myself interims of how I feel (psychological state), it would contain some of my values or beliefs. Values or beliefs can sometimes explain why we do the things we do and the thought behind what we do.
Danny Ursery writes this next article and he discusses what values are and how to make decisions based on our values. He writes about how values are ways we organize and rank what is important to us. Values are a way to priorities our feelings and it contributes to decision making. He gives several general categories of vales:
Our
discussions will be concerned with only number four; morals-based values and
indirectly with immoral and nonmoral values.
· Knowledge-based value: I value philosophy because it
gives me great insight into life.
· Aesthetic-based value: I prefer classical music
because it sounds much better than country music.
· Instrumental value: I must do this because it allows
me to achieve certain extrinsic goals.
· Intrinsic value: I believe it is wrong to lie because
lying shows disrespect for other people.
By ranking our values or beliefs we place importance on them, our most important or higher ranked value is called core values. By knowing and creating values it will help us solve dilemmas, and value conflicts. Knowing where we stand on certain situations can help make quick decision no matter how much peer pressure may be placed on us. Teaching our children that drugs are bad and placing their health on the higher end of the value scale can prevent them from using drugs no matter what their friends are pressuring them to do.
Very simply put, to understand and solve a moral dilemma you must know
what your values are, prioritize them, act upon the primary value, the act must
the grounded in a moral rule, and the moral rule justified or defend using
normative ethical principles which are part of a normative ethical theory.
Your values (beliefs or attitudes about what is good, right,
desirable, worthwhile, etc.) and your value system (the ways you organize,
rank, prioritize and make decisions based on your values) provide the
foundation from which you make your personal and professional judgments and
choices. They are your beliefs about what is important in life. Some values
refer to how one should act (for example, to be honest, self-disciplined,
kind). Other values refer to what one wants to accomplish or obtain in life
(for example, to want a lot of money, security, fame, health, salvation,
wisdom). Your values exist as a complex set of interweaving personal policies
or priorities that serve as a guide for decision making.
I would
like to take a moment and make use of a few last articles that redefine and
give examples of the terms emotion, feelings, threefold self, and hierarchy of
motions.
Earlier
in my report I discussed how educating children on how to communicate their
emotions is vital part in development. It will not only help your child through
the teen years when peer pressure seems to be at its highest, but it will also
help them in relationships in adulthood. An adult that can express themselves
and control their behavior will be less likely to suppress their feelings and live
a more satisfying life style. This next
article by Victoria Smith discusses how schools are not doing a great job in
teaching communicational skills and/or understanding emotions. Children are
acting out in aggressive manners because they know no other way to get their
feeling heard and acknowledged.
Students must
express themselves
“…ignore the real pain and distraction students experience trying to
deal with youthful emotions.”
Our educational system was built, in part, upon the foundation of the
"correctness" of punishing children for expressing their emotions”.
The
traditional focus on the militaristic-style training, and competitive testing
of the mind, demands first that students repress all their burgeoning emotions.
Daily mandatory repression fuels self-rejection, foments insensitivity, and
hinders the establishment of healthy relationships. Some kids can't achieve a
holistic sense of self when they're forced to shatter their identities and toss
their feelings up on a shelf until the bell rings at the end of each school
day. If traditional values must be maintained by force, they have no value.
Forced
repression of emotions interrupts many students' receptivity to new ideas, and
ultimately translates into acts of "insubordination." (Why are
military terms still being used in reference to children?)
Students
need a safe place to express themselves, to let go of their anger and grief,
even during school hours. Adults need to define and teach kids realistic
methods for achieving emotional strength. If we can't do that for this
generation, many more students will continue to rebel against educators by
choosing psychologically unhealthful, and chemically-induced methods to achieve
mandatory suppression of their emotions.
These
quotes from Victoria Smith are only her opinion not results from a study. I just enjoyed this newspaper online article
because it deals with the importance of teaching children a vocabulary that
will assist them in expressing their emotions in a positive manner.
This next
article rapes up emotions in a more biological perspective. Dr. Fishbein writes that emotion is a
internal, physical-chemical sensation that provides you with important
information about yourself, others and your environment. Understand you self will help you in making
decisions and changing a negative behavior to a more positive behavior. Dr. Fishbein writes that there is four
purposes for emotion, one being learning what is going on in our mind, second
being information about our behavior, third, our physical health, the fourth
one is relationship with the lord. I am not trying to make religion an issue in
this report so for the respective of all religions I will not discuses the
fourth purpose of emotion because not everyone believes there is a “Lord”. Dr. Fishbein also points out that emotions
are on both the conscious and unconscious level and they both send messages to
the body that will effect behavior and feelings.
Every thought that goes through your mind, whether
conscious or unconscious, sends an important message to the body, which
triggers a wave of internal motion (increased heart rate, blood pressure, body
temperature, and muscle intensity). These internal, physical/chemical MOTIONS
within the body are commonly felt and referred to as "eMOTIONS."
When you are upset, the agitation you feel in your body is the result of your mind triggering the release of chemicals, such as adrenaline, into your system (stream). On the other hand, when you think rational and happy thoughts, chemicals such as endorphins are released, causing you to feel good.
Emotion, for the most part, is simply the body's internal
reaction to what is going on in the mind. It occurs internally as opposed
to behavior which is external.
The primary purpose of emotion is to provide valuable information about what is going on in your mind--particularly your unconscious mind. If you feel peaceful, for instance, there is a good chance your thoughts are rational and productive; however, if you are feeling agitated, something in your mind probably needs attention.
Second, emotions provide important information about your behavior. If you are feeling calm, your behavior is likely to be purposeful and on track with your goals and values; on the other hand, uncomfortable feelings or agitation may be an internal indicator suggesting the need for careful examination of your behavior.
Third, emotions can provide useful clues about your physical health. If you are getting enough rest, proper nutrition, and regular exercise you will tend to feel well. Otherwise, your body may be telling you, via your emotions, to take better care of yourself.
Fourth, emotions can provide helpful information about your relationship with the Lord. When you are close to the Lord and in harmony with Him, you will tend to feel better and more peaceful than when you are further away.
I wanted to place
this diagram in the report because it shows that thoughts are mostly found in
the unconscious mind, which contains emotions that were created in childhood
and every situation we have ever experienced.
This
newsletter introduces how people process information. Chun Wei Choo provides an outline on the three basic steps of
processing information. The three
processes are emotional, cognitive, and situational factors. When someone experiences a cognitive gap,
they are experiencing a gap between thoughts, which will hinder their ability
to process the information and use that information to benefit their
situation. When someone comes to a
“wall” and cannot learn something new or complete a task they will most likely
feel uncertainty and frustrated. These
emotions will further hinder their ability to process information. To bridge the cognitive gap you have make
since of the information you are trying to receive and ask yourself what you
need to know and how can you relate this new information to past
experiences.
Since the Second World War, many studies have attempted to
understand how different groups of people -- including scientists, engineers,
doctors, academics, civil servants, managers and public sector employees --
experience and meet information needs. A convincing recent model of such
behavior is the "sense-making" model developed by Brenda Dervin of Ohio State University.
In the sense-making approach, a person moves through space
and time, taking steps through experiences. As long as he or she can make sense
of these experiences, movement ahead is possible. But from time to time,
movement is blocked by the perception of a "cognitive gap" -- a
situation that the person is unable to make sense of. To bridge this gap, the
person seeks information to make new sense so that he or she can continue the
journey.
*Cognitive needs are as much felt as thought about. When
sense runs out, the lack of understanding creates uncertainty. Carol Kuhlthau of
Rutgers University, N.J., has found that uncertainty causes anxiety,
apprehension, confusion, frustration and lack of confidence, among other
symptoms. These affective states in turn direct the way people seek and use
information.
*Affective responses influence, and are influenced by,
individuals' ability to construct meaning, to focus on what information they
need, to manage moods and expectations, and to feel personal interest in the
search. People cope with the stress of uncertainty in different ways. Research into
health information-seeking by Tom Wilson at Sheffield University contrasts
"monitors", who prefer high levels of information to cope with
stressful events, with "blunters," who prefer less information.
*At the situational level, information needs arise from
the problems, uncertainties and ambiguities encountered in specific contexts
and experiences. These relate not just to the subject matter, but also to such
things as whether objectives are clear and agreed upon, the magnitude of risk,
the amount and structure of control, professional and social norms, time and
resource constraints, and so on.
This is a
diagram that I could not I could not upload on my web site but feel that it is
a great visual method to understanding the domains and how they effect each
other.
Earlier in my report I introduced Dr. Leon James and how he has taken a passion to changing road rage and teaching his students that learning their selves is important because it allows you to change the negative behaviors to a more positive behavior. By changing ones aggression into calmness or relaxation, may save someone’s life due to a car accident. Dr. James teaches through Traffic Psychology, exploring the threefold self. One of his past students wrote a report dealing with the affective, cognitive and sensori-motor domains.
|
The Affective Domain |
|
The Cognitive Domain |
|
The Sensorimotor Domain |
In this article Canaan Machida analyzed two
different traffic experiences from other students. What she did was reread the entries written by Adele Kimura and
Jolee Lai’s and broke it down explaining how the three domains fit into their
experiences. For this report I will
only quote her on one of her entries, Adele Kimmura. Adele writes about her experience while driving in a convoy.
Adele feels that convoys are like gangs and cause problems on the road. Canaan writes that Adele feels (affective)
out of place because she dos not belong to this “gang”. This articles demonstrates how to analyze a
situation and break it down into the three domains, this would be Self Witnessing.
The next traffic experiences that I cited to show these three domains come from Adele Kimura's Lab Report. Adele cites her experiences with driving in convoys. Here Adele comments on the overall driving behaviors the convoys that she has experienced when coming to school in the morning. Her comment that, "...I feel that convoys are just like gangs: they cause trouble." shows how she clearly makes use of her affective domain. Although she doesn't specifically say that she hates convoys, the thought of a gang has a rather grim and negative connotation to it. When driving in convoys, she probably feels as if she doesn't belong to this "gang", and that her driving behaviors are not conforming to those of the convoy. Adele continues by conjecturing that the feelings of the students (drivers) in these convoys are more surprised than anything else. She comes up with this conclusion probably by interjecting her own experiences and self-witnessing her own thoughts and feelings while driving in these convoys. If Adele is correct. and these drivers' cognitive domains are mostly preoccupied with thoughts of surprise, their sensorimotor domains will react accordingly. Although surprise may not be seen as a negative thought, when it is accompanied by anger, as Adele points out, this apparently negative feeling will influence these drivers' thoughts negatively. The most interesting point of this process within convoys is that the entire convoy acts as a whole. It seems as if their feelings, thoughts, and actions are all linked together. This type of driving behavior is very necessary mainly because of safety. If an individual driver becomes a part of the convoy, they have to follow the same driving patterns as the rest of the convoy. If they don't, an accident may occur. The funny thing is that when a driver becomes a part of the convoy, they don't realize the negativity of their driving behaviors. These convoy drivers are isolated in their own personal convoy world. They feel as if they "belong", just as members of a gang feel. This type of feeling and thinking allows these convoy drivers to exclude other drivers from their "gang" without even realizing what they're doing.
Although this example may not seem as dangerous as tailgating or cutting in front of a car, it happens more frequently than most people realize. Every time I drive on the freeway I end up in a small convoy of sorts. We all drive at the same speeds and stay within the same lanes. This behavior follows until off ramps or onramps break up the convoy. It is the immediate influence of each driver's behavior upon the other drivers in the convoy that make this experience so unique. The exclusion of other drivers by the convoy also creates a unique traffic experience.
This Newsday article might take a minute to upload but it wreath waiting for. O.J. Simpson is in court again!!!!!! This time for road rage, a topic that I have discussed in this report. It seems that O.J. got out of his car and attacked a man named Mr. Pattinson. This incant took place in Florida last December and the case was decided on yesterday, October 24, 2001. The Jury found O.J. Simpson not guilty because there was not enough evidence that he did attack this man. The only evidence presented was O.J.’s fingerprint on Mr. Pattinson eyeglasses. The only eyewitnesses were O.J’s children but they were not placed on the stand. The article is interesting and it just goes to show that road-rage is everywhere, and if we do not change our negative behaviors we might end up in a situation that involves the courts.
MIAMI -- Jurors took only 90 minutes
to clear O.J. Simpson of road-rage charges after hinting they would have liked
to have heard from two absent witnesses: his kids.
Simpson's thumbprint was on the man's eyeglasses, but jurors
noted there wasn't any physical evidence indicating that Simpson was at the
other driver's door.
Simpson offered no explanation for the scratch on Pattinson's face but
explained his thumbprint on the glasses by saying it must have happened when he
brushed them away as he broke off the 30-second, profanity-laced confrontation.
Pattinson
testified that Simpson ran a stop sign and stopped after Pattinson honked his
horn and flashed his headlights. Pattinson said he stayed in his locked vehicle
as a shouting Simpson stormed at him. He said he asked Simpson if he was
"a madman or something."
Simpson said the men traded profanity outside their sport utility vehicles
after he stopped because Pattinson