Psychology 571: Affect
Spring 2005
250
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here to go to reading list
Instructor: Karen Gasper, Ph. D.
E-mail: kgasper@psu.edu
Office hours: By appointment
Phone: 863-1713
WWW: http://www.personal.psu.edu/faculty/k/x/kxg20/
Go to “teaching” to see copy of this syllabus
Course Description
"Emotion turning back on itself, and not leading on to thought or action, is the element of madness."
~John Sterling
As the above quote suggests, feelings regularly influence thought
and action. This course investigates the complex association between affect,
cognition, and action. Some questions that will be addressed are: What are
emotions? How do they form? How and why do feelings influence information
processing? Can people limit the influence of their feelings? What is the
function of positive affect, anger, disgust, shame and guilt?
This course is designed to provide you an overview of the
relevant literatures. In an effort to do so, most of the readings are from book
chapters, theoretical / review articles, rather than from empirical articles.
Teaching Philosophy
In this class, you should concentrate on learning how to
think rather than on learning what to think. Your goal should be to think about
the meaning and implications of the readings. For instance, do I think that
this is true? What do I like or dislike about these ideas? What are the
implications? Are any of them negative? What did the person not discuss? What
would be some interesting lines of research based on this notion? As you can
see, these questions do not have right or wrong answers. The answers are
opinions. Coming up with the thoughtful and insightful
answers takes time, hard work, and confidence in your own abilities. By
the end of this class, I hope that you will learn not only the material, but
also more about your own area of interest.
Assignments and Grades
Your grade will be based on the following:
20 % Thought papers (5
total, cannot be for week that you are a leader)
25 % Weekly leader (3 total)
15 % Class participation
40 % Midterm and Final Exam (20%
each)
Thought papers (5 total):
These papers serve 2 purposes.
1. To
organize the readings: To this end, at the beginning of each thought
paper you should write no less than 2 and no more than 5 main, general
points or themes that you have learned from the readings. These points
should answer the question: At the most general level, what have you learned
from these readings? What is the take-home message?
2.
To think about the readings in relation to
your own research interests: Are the readings compatible or not compatible
with your own thinking? What do they have to say about your area of expertise?
Does an experimental study come to mind? If so, describe it. Some of you may
not have a firm area of interest. This is o.k. just try to relate the topic to
whatever area of study is currently in your mind. Some of you may have a
clearly established area of expertise. If so, please feel free to write about
it. These papers should focus on your thoughts and ideas about the
readings and not on the readings, per se. This section should
NOT be a summary of the paper, but rather original ideas and questions.
***You
should be prepared to discuss your thought paper in class.
*** Thought
papers will be graded on a check plus, check, check minus scale. Plus is for a
great paper (rarely given), check is for a good paper,
minus usually means that I would have liked to have seen a bit more. I will
always tell you what you can do to improve your paper.
A thought paper is due for each week of class, by
Weekly leader (3 total):
Each week a person will be assigned a single reading. Some readings are more
complex than others, if you get assigned one of these (designated with a * it
counts for 2 readings). The weekly leader is responsible for:
· Handout:
·
Outline the entire reading. In MS Word, I
would use the Format, Bullets and Numbering, Outlining Tab, as a means to help
you. You should define key terms and feel free to write sentences. It should be
a detailed outline of the entire article. ALL OUTLINES MUST INCLUDE VERBATIUM
THE HEADINGS USED in the articles. Below is a sample outline of the first few
pages of one of the first assigned readings.
Outline
of: Introduction and Overview in Psychology of Emotion by J. G. Carlson and E.
Hatfield 9 (Please place title of reading
on top)
By:
Karen Gasper (Please write your name on
it)
Introduction:
Outlines goals of the book, which was designed to provide an initial word on
emotions, not the last word
1)
Defining
Emotions
a)
Mandler believes that such
exercise may be futile, because each person’s definition reflects what
they are most interested in
b)
Definition:
a genetic and acquired motivational predisposition to respond experientially,
physiologically, and behaviorally to certain internal and external
variables”
i)
Biological
and physiological aspects
ii)
Motivational
– drives action, predispositional
iii)
Has
tripartite view: Experientially, physiologically, and behaviorally
iv)
Internal and external – refers to the
fact that context is important
2)
Why
Study Emotions?
a)
Emotions
Part of us all – indispensable path to self knowledge
b)
All
Relationships are Emotional
i)
Bateson: 2 types of
messages
(1)
Direct
messages – what is said
(2)
Emotional
meta-message – how (emotionally) it is said
(3)
When
two messages in conflict: double blind
c)
Emotional
conflicts are Inevitable
d)
People
want to be able to manage their emotions
3)
Notes
on the State of
·
Write 3 discussion questions at the end of
the outline. These questions could tap into a variety of issues, including:
a)
Problems, inconsistencies, or issues relevant
to, but not addressed in the paper (at least 1 question should always be on
this issue).
b)
Implications of this work
c)
How it links to the other readings
·
Email. The
leader should email the summaries to the entire class by
·
Class
Time:
§
5 to 10 minute presentation of the reading, in which you cover the key points and arguments and contribution
§
Lead approx. 30 minute discussion of reading
§
I plan to be flexible on this, if the article requires
more time we will devote extra time to it. Also, articles designated by a * may require
a 10 to 20 min presentation and an hour discussion.
The class should be an active participant
in this discussion. The leader should also leave time to discuss the various
peoples thought papers.
Class participation: It is each
person’s responsibility to contribute to the class discussion. For each
class, you should say at the very minimum 2 things –
whether they be comments, questions, or reactions.
Midterm and Final Exams: A take-home essay
and final exam will be offered. Questions will be based on the readings, and
require that you write around a
Academic Dishonesty
The University's definition of academic integrity and dishonesty is as
follows: Academic integrity is the pursuit of scholarly activity free from
fraud and deception and is an educational objective of this institution.
Academic dishonesty includes, but is not limited to, cheating, plagiarizing,
fabricating of information or citations, facilitating acts of academic
dishonesty by others, having unauthorized possession of examinations,
submitting work of another person or work previously used in another class or
as part of another educational commitment without informing the instructor, or
tampering with the academic work of other students.
In this class academic dishonesty
will not be tolerated and will be dealt with according to University Policies ( See policy at http://www.psu.edu/ufs/policies/
). It could result in failing the course.
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The |
All readings are located on a CD located in the filing cabinet in the psych department mail room (423 Moore). Please use the sign out sheets to sign it out. I would recommend copying or burning the entire CD and then returning it ASAP, so that others can use it.
Extremely Tentative Schedule,
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Week/Date |
Topic |
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1) Jan 10 |
Overview |
No |
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2) Jan 17 |
Definitions |
1.
*Text Book Introduction (Psychology of Emotion
by John g. Carlson and Elaine Hatfield, 1992) 2.
Nature of Emotion 3.
Damasio, A. R.
(2000). A second chance for emotion. In |
1. Anamarcia (2) 2. Lauren 3.
HeeJung Ro |
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3) Jan 24 |
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See above |
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4) Jan 31 |
Theory, measurement, and formation Part 1 |
1. *Fiske Ch 10 pg 409 to 425 (end at Emotion in Close Relationships) 425 to 439 for the second person 2.
Tellegen, Watson,
Clark and Green and Saloveys’ reply (person
will review both of these) |
1. Chris (2) 2.
Meghan |
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5) Feb 7 |
Theory, measurement, and formation Part 11 |
1. Parrott and Hertel Research Methods in Cognition and Emotion 2. *Robinson and Clore 3. Smith & Lazarus (1993) Appraisal Components, Core Relational Themes, and the Emotions |
1. Hui-Fei 2. Selin (2) 3.
HeeJung Ro |
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6) Feb 14 |
Facial Expression |
1. *Text Book Facial Expression Chapter 2. Keltner Facial Expression |
1. Lauren (up to evidence on the impact of facial feedback -201)/Melea (201 to end) 2. Sarah |
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Exam 1 handed out |
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7) Feb 21 |
No Class |
Work on exam, Joe LeDoux will be speaking |
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8) Feb 28 |
Exam 1 Due |
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9) Mar 7 |
Spring Break No Class |
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10) Mar 14 |
Basic Theories |
1.
Schwarz & Clore
(1983). Mood as Information 2. *Forgas and George (2001) 3.
Schacter and Singer
theory Additional information:
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1. Chris 2. Carmen (2) 3.
Anamarcia |
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11) Mar 21 |
Information Processing |
1. Gasper & Clore (2001). Global Local Paper 2. Isen (2001) JCR article 3. Sinclair, Mark, and Clore (1994) |
1.
2. Kunter 3. HeeJung Ro |
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12) Mar 28 |
Mood and Social Information |
1. Forgas, J. P. & Cromer (2004). On being sad and evasive 2. Anderson & Keltner (2003) Emotional Convergence JPSP 3. Gabel. S. et al. (2004). What to do when things go right? JSPS |
1. Lauren 2. Kunter 3. Meghan |
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13) Apr 4 |
Affect Regulation |
1. Wood et al. (2003) Savoring vs. Dampening… JPSP 2. Bonanno et al. (2004). The Importance of Being Flexible. Psychological Science 3. Affect Regulation Andrade 4. *Gross article |
1. Selin 2. Hui-Fei 3. Carmen 4. Sarah (2) |
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14) Apr 11 |
Positive Affect |
1. Fredrickson 2. Elliot et al. Inspiration.. JPSP 3.
Trope and |
1. Kunter 2. Hui-Fei 3. Melea |
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15) Apr 18 |
Self Conscious Emotions |
1. Haidt Moral Emotions 2. Haidt & Rozin, Disgust Chapter 3. *Tangey self conscious emotions |
1. Melea 2. Meghan 3.
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16) Apr 25 |
No Class |
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