Why are we so fat???!

1. change in lifestyle, "engineering out" activity, attitudes and availability of food

2. genetics (twin studies)

3. set point theory- natural weight that body tends toward

Obesity (like most good problems) has multiple, interacting, and confounded causes.

paradox: Trend toward more obesity AND more obsession with thinness

Heatherton & Baumeister (1991)

1) dieting requires monitoring self-behavior

2) monitoring self makes us self-aware

3) dieters have negative view of selves

4) therefore, highly aware of negative self view

(YUCK!)

5) try to avoid negative self views

6) narrow attentional focus, self-constraint lost --

BINGE!

Exercise as the way out?

Bulimia

- mostly women (90%)

- more common among college women (some estimate 10% of college women)

- seems to be related to anxiety and depression

Anorexia

- mostly women

- rarer than bulimia

- 30% die of complications

- seems to be related to obsessive compulsion disorder and perfectionism

- more of a genetic component than bulimia?

Similarities:

- serotonin regulation problems

- both associated with irrational or unreasonable beliefs, thoughts about eating, body image, restrained eaters

unconscious motives for anorexia? (psychodynamic perspective)

- avoid becoming a woman

- desire for control

Kristen has anorexia. Which of the following statements is probably FALSE about Kristen?

A. She has about a 1 in 3 chance of dying from complications related to anorexia.

B. If she has an identical twin, it's more likely that the twin also has anorexia than that she doesn't.

C. She's more likely to suffer from depression and anxiety than someone with bulimia

D. The system that regulates her levels of serotonin exhibits some irregularities.

motivation --> drive

emotion --> expression

Basic emotions (across cultures):

Happiness

Anger

Sadness

Disgust

Fear

Runners up: Suprise, Shame, Interest

Basic, yes - but culture still shapes emotions:

1. Culturally specific emotions:

schadenfreude (German) -pleasure at someone else's misfortune

omoiyari (Japanese) - understanding unexpressed feelings, desires, and thoughts of others and doing something for them on the basis of this understanding

2. Elfenbein & Ambady (2003) - recognize emotions in people from our own culture better than in people from other cultures.

3. Display rules -- what is considered appropriate expression of emotions, vary across culture

Adaptive reason for predominantly negative basic emotions?

Positive emotions?

- awe

- forgiveness

- hope

James-Lange theory of emotion:

1. stimulus

2. physiological response (bodily changes) to stimulus

3. interpretation of bodily changes produces emotion

Criticisms of James-Lange theory:

- Not a unique physiological response for each emotion

- Organs of body can't produce "shades" of emotion

- Body reaction too slow -- emotion perceived faster than body reacts

- Physical changes alone don't produce powerful emotions

Cannon-Bard theory of emotion:

1. stimulus leads simultaneously to:

2. cog. appraisal & 3. physio state

Schachter & Singer (1962) -- two component theory of emotion:

arousal plus label

misattribution of arousal -- attributing arousal to wrong source

Limits to misattribution effects --

1. Subtle differences in physiological responses for different emotions

2. Real source of arousal can't be salient (ambiguity helps)

3. Arousal not necessary for emotion

Role of appraisal in emotion --

not just event, but our PERCEPTION of event that causes emotions.

Practice question!

William is a proponent of the James-Lange theory of emotion. Which of the following research findings would he be most unhappy to hear?

a. Different emotions produce different patterns of arousal.

b. Quadriplegic patients, with no feeling below the neck, still feel emotion.

c. People whose organs react faster to stimuli also show faster emotional response.