Understanding Psychology (10th Ed)

emotions
Feelings that generally have 
both physiological and cognitive 
elements and that infl uence behavior.
Key Concepts 
What are emotions, and how 
do we experience them? 
What are the functions of 
emotions? 
What are the explanations for 
emotions? 
How does nonverbal behavior 
relate to the expression of 
emotions?
M O D U L E 3 1
Understanding Emotional 
Experiences 
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occurring fi rst in others. Both sides agree that we can experience emotions that involve 
little or no conscious thought. We may not know why we’re afraid of mice because we 
understand objectively that they represent no danger, but we may still be frightened 
when we see them. Neuroimaging studies of the brain may help resolve this debate as 
well as others about the nature of emotions (Barrett & Wager, 2006; Niedenthal, 2007; 
Karaszewski, 2008).
The Functions of Emotions
Imagine what it would be like if we didn’t experience emotion. We would have no 
depths of despair, no depression, and no remorse, but at the same time we would 
also have no happiness, joy, or love. Obviously, life would be considerably less 
satisfying and even dull if we lacked the capacity to sense and express emotion. 
But do emotions serve any purpose beyond making life interesting? Indeed they 
do. Psychologists have identifi ed several important functions that emotions play in our 
daily lives (Frederickson & Branigan, 2005; Frijda, 2005; Gross, 2006; Siemer, Mauss, & 
Gross, 2007). Among the most important of those functions are the following:
• Preparing us for action . Emotions act as a link between events in our environ-
ment and our responses. For example, if you saw an angry dog charging 
toward you, your emotional reaction (fear) would be associated with physi-
ological arousal of the sympathetic division of the autonomic nervous system, 
the activation of the “fi ght-or-fl ight” response.
• Shaping our future behavior . Emotions promote learning that will help us make 
appropriate responses in the future. For instance, your emotional response to 
unpleasant events teaches you to avoid similar circumstances in the future.
• Helping us interact more effectively with others . We often communicate the 
emotions we experience through our verbal and nonverbal behaviors, making 
our emotions obvious to observers. These behaviors can act as a signal to 
observers, allowing them to understand better what we are experiencing and 
to help them predict our future behavior.
Determining the Range of 
Emotions: Labeling Our Feelings
If we were to list the words in the English language that have been used to describe 
emotions, we would end up with at least 500 examples (Averill, 1975). The list would 
range from such obvious emotions as happiness and fear to less common ones, such 
as adventurousness and pensiveness . 
One challenge for psychologists has been to sort through this list to identify 
the most important, fundamental emotions. Theorists have hotly contested the 
issue of cataloging emotions and have come up with different lists, depending 
on how they defi ne the concept of emotion. In fact, some reject the question 
entirely, saying that no set of emotions should be singled out as most basic and 
that emotions are best understood by breaking them down into their component