1. How does emotional arousal interact with the human nervous system? Please describe in detail, and provide a practical or clinically related example.
Arousal is a state of heightened activity in both our mind and body that makes us more alert. Arousal starts in the brain, where the Reticular Activation System connects the primitive brain stem and the cortex and affects sleeping-waking transitions. In arousal, there is an increase in our wakefulness and consequent alertness and attention. In arousal caused by a threat, the fight-or-flight reaction is triggered.
The endocrine system stimulates various glands, in particular adrenaline, which increases oxygen and glucose flow, dilates the pupils and suppresses non-urgent systems such as digestion and the immune system.
Arousal is spread through the Sympathetic Nervous System, with effects such as increasing the heart rate and breathing to enable physical action and perspiration to cool the body. It also has specific actions such as stimulating sexual arousal.
Emotional arousal is a process, which means it happens as a sequence over time. Understanding this is a step towards being able to manage the process. Motional arousal is consequently seen as an essential component of such experiences as pleasure and displeasure, sadness and happiness, love and hate, despair and elation, gaiety and dejection, rage and exultation, exhilaration and grief, frustration and triumph, merriment and fear, anger and joy, and so on. Moods are also considered affective or emotional states that are associated with elevated arousal states.
The Essay on Hamlet Emotional State
From reading the play Hamlet it gave me such a well rounded interpretation of a family crisis that ended up affecting an entire country. Throughout the play the main character Hamlet set the tone for many of the acts. His characteristics were so in depth, that his emotional state was never settle. His emotional state constantly changed, sometimes you wouldn't know what to expect from young Hamlet. ...
Arousal often happens through a trigger, which appears through one of our senses. Thus, for example, arousal can happen through:
• Touch: A punch, kiss or caress
• Vision: Seeing something shocking or desirable
• Hearing: A sudden noise or somebody saying something
• Smell: An evocative odor that triggers powerful memories
• Taste: Of wonderful or disgusting food
The James-Lange theory is one of the best-known examples of a physiological theory of emotion. Independently proposed by psychologist William James and physiologist Carl Lange, the James-Lange theory of emotion suggests that emotions occur as a result of physiological reactions to events.
According to this theory, you see an external stimulus that leads to a physiological reaction. Your emotional reaction is dependent upon how you interpret those physical reactions. For example, suppose you are walking in the woods and you see a grizzly bear. You begin to tremble and your heart begins to race. The James-Lange theory proposes that you will interpret your physical reactions and conclude that you are frightened.
Another well-known physiological theory is the Cannon-Bard theory of emotion. This theory states that we feel emotions and experience physiological reactions such as sweating, trembling and muscle tension simultaneously. More specifically, 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.
The two-factor theory of emotion, also known as the Schachter-Singer Theory is an example of a cognitive theory of emotion. This theory suggests that the physiological arousal occurs first, and then the individual must identify the reason behind this arousal in order to experience and label it as an emotion.
The Essay on Theories Of Emotion
... the core of the theory. Cannon-Bard Theory: we feel the emotion, and then experience physiological reactions such as sweating, trembling ... Their recognition of the early influences of physiological arousal reflects the James-Lange Theory. The role of the brain in ... an event before we experience the emotion. James-Lange Theory: 1. Event 2. Arousal 3. Emotion Example: The dog is growling; My ...
Researchers have found linkages between some emotions and minute movements of muscles in the brow (during fear) and cheeks (during joy) and under the eyes (during joy).
Brain scans also show increased activity in the amygdala during fear. Differences also appear in the brain’s cortical areas. Negative emotions (disgust, for example) trigger more activity in the right prefrontal cortex, whereas positive moods (enthusiasm, for example) register in the left frontal lobe, which has a rich supply of dopamine receptors.
Emotional responses are immediate when sensory input goes directly to the amygdala via the thalamus, bypassing the cortex, triggering a rapid reaction that is often outside our conscious awareness. Responses to complex emotions (such as guilt, happiness, and love), require interpretation and are routed along the slower route to the cortex for analysis.
References
Cannon, W. B. (1927) The James-Lange theory of emotion: A critical examination and an alternative theory. American Journal of Psychology, 39, 10-124.
James, W. (1884).
What is an Emotion? Mind, 9: 188–205.
Marshall, G., & Zimbardo, P. G. (1979).
Affective consequences of inadequately explained physiological arousal. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 37, 970-988.
Myers, D. G. (2004) Theories of Emotion. Psychology: Seventh Edition, New York, NY: Worth Publishers.
Reisenzein, R. (1983).
The Schachter theory of emotion: Two decades later. Psychological Bulletin, 94, 239-264.
Schachter, S. and Singer, J. E. (1962) Cognitive, social and physiological determinants of emotional states, Psychological Review, 69, 379-399
2. Describe gender role socialization, including societal and cultural factors in encouraging differing behaviors for males vs. females.
Gender has several definitions. It usually refers to a set of characteristics that are either seen to distinguish between male and female, one’s biological sex, and one’s gender identity. Gender identity is the gender(s), or lack thereof, a person self-identifies as; it is not necessarily based on biological sex, either real or perceived, nor is it always based on sexual orientation. There are two main genders: masculine (male) or feminine (female), although in some cultures there are more genders. “Androgyny” has been proposed as a third gender.
The Research paper on Gender and Emotions: Different Gender Shows Different Emotional Behavior
Based from my observations, men are more action-based while women are more verbal-based when it comes to expressing their emotions. Women tend to misunderstand men because men tend to keep most of their emotions to themselves. They usually express their emotions through actions. Women sometimes, if not regularly, ask the questions–‘how are you doing,’ ‘what are you thinking,’ or ‘why are you doing ...
Some ancient tribes have more than five human genders, and some non-Western societies have three human genders – man, woman and third gender. Gender roles refer to the set of attitudes and behaviors socially expected from the members of a particular gender identity. Gender roles are socially constructed which are often politicized and manipulated, which then result in the oppression of people.
gender socialization is the process of learning the social expectations and attitudes associated with one’s sex. Sociologists explain through gender socialization why human males and females behave in different ways: they learn different social roles. For example, girls learn to do different household chores than boys; girls learn to bake and clean, and boys learn to mow lawns and take out garbage.
Gender socialization occurs through such diverse means as parental attitudes, schools, how peers interact with each other, and mass media. Sometimes gender roles lead to inequality; for example, women’s social roles were once more restricted regarding politics, and United States law prohibited women from voting. Some researchers believe that biological differences underlie some behavioral differences between males and females; others disagree.
Ideas of appropriate behavior according to gender vary among cultures and era, although some aspects receive more widespread attention than others. R.W. Connell in Men, Masculinities and Feminism, claims:
“There are cultures where it has been normal, not exceptional, for men to have homosexual relations. There have been periods in ‘Western’ history when the modern convention that men suppress displays of emotion did not apply at all, when men were demonstrative about their feeling for their friends. Mateship in the Australian outback last century is a case in point.”
The Term Paper on Gender Diffs Society Roles Girls
... baby boys are dressed in blue and baby girls are dressed in pink and are sometimes characterized by pierced ears. Once gender roles are ... would not consider normal, traditional gender roles disappear for the most part. Not only are there women leaders at the school, such ... teamwork in order to succeed. Finally, both men and women possess bravery and play the role of the "protector" at Hogwart's. When ...
Childhood gender socialization further builds on and reinforces these unconsciously developed ego boundaries finally producing feminine and masculine persons. This perspective has its roots in Freudian psychoanalytic theory, although Chodorow’s approach differs in many ways from Freud’s.
Gendered personalities are supposedly manifested in common gender stereotypical behavior. Take emotional dependency. Women are stereotypically more emotional and emotionally dependent upon others around them, supposedly finding it difficult to distinguish their own interests and wellbeing from the interests and wellbeing of their children and partners.
This is said to be because of their blurry and confused ego boundaries: women find it hard to distinguish their own needs from the needs of those around them because they cannot sufficiently individuate themselves from those close to them. By contrast, men are stereotypically emotionally detached, preferring a career where dispassionate and distanced thinking are virtues. These traits are said to result from men’s well-defined ego boundaries that enable them to prioritize their own needs and interests sometimes at the expense of others’ needs and interests.
Chodorow thinks that these gender differences should and can be changed. Feminine and masculine personalities play a crucial role in women’s oppression since they make females overly attentive to the needs of others and males emotionally deficient. In order to correct the situation, both male and female parents should be equally involved in parenting. This would help in ensuring that children develop sufficiently individuated senses of selves without becoming overly detached, which in turn helps to eradicate common gender stereotypical behaviors.
Research from the late 1990s, however, indicates that the current educational climate is failing boys. Boys are falling behind girls in school. The dropout rate for boys is rising. More boys are being diagnosed as learning disabled. The number of boys applying to college has declined. Some sociologists argue that current teaching methods favor girls’ learning styles. Girls mature more quickly than boys and are able to focus and concentrate in class more easily.
Studies show that boys are more physically active than girls. This difference is greater when children are in elementary school. Boys may be less able to sit still during a lesson. They are often sent out of class as disruptive, which puts them behind in the schoolwork and can reinforce their problems in the classroom.
The Report on Boys and Girls Separate Classrooms Different Teaching Techniques.
According to the American Psychological Association, research shows that boys and girls learn differently. The findings can explain increased number of public schools that have joined their private counterparts to offer education in separate gender classes. In spite of extensive research on the effects of separated classes, the issue continues to attract political, socioeconomic and civil rights ...
Finally, we know very little about subcultural, cultural, and cross-cultural differences in the meanings that are attached to femininity and masculinity. Most of what we know concerns western cultures, yet as Margaret Mead discovered long ago, these patterns are not universal.
References
Analysis and Critique of Current Research.” Pp. 2-97 in B. A. Maher and W. Maher (Eds.),
Burke, Peter J. 1989. “Gender Identity, Sex, and School Performance.” Social Psychology
Chodorow, N., 1978, Reproducing Mothering, Berkeley: University of California Press.
Chodorow, N., 1995, “Family Structure and Feminine Personality”, in Feminism and Philosophy, N. Tuana, and R. Tong (eds.), Boulder, CO: Westview Press.
Connell, Raewyn, Ph.D. “Men, Masculinities and Feminism.” Social Alternatives July 1997: 7-10. Print.
Freud, Sigmund. 1927. “Some Psychological Consequences of the Anatomical Distinction Between the Sexes.” International Journal of Psychoanalysis 8: 133-142.
Mead, Margaret. 1935. Sex and Temperament in Three Primitive Societies. New York: Dell.
Progress in Experimental Research. San Diego: Academic Press. Quarterly 52: 159-169.
Spence, Janet T. 1984. “Masculinity, Femininity, and Gender-Related Traits: A Conceptual
Weitzman, Lenore J. 1979. Sex Role Socialization. Palo Alto, CA: Mayfield.
