FYS: Understanding Emotions
Take Home Exam Paige Freidhof
1. What is an emotion?
Emotion is a topic that is very hard to define. Several theorists have tried to propose
definitions of emotion using bodily states or specific drives, but what it boils down to is emotion
is very goal oriented. In the root of every emotion, is an individual’s goal to a specific challenge.
Generally these goals are social ones because we use emotions to form friendships, romantic
bonds, and social hierarchies.
2. What is the spectrum of affective phenomena? Describe.
The spectrum of affective phenomena is judging how long an emotional state will last,
which can be anywhere from a few seconds to lifetime. Expressions and autonomic changes last
merely seconds, followed by self reported emotions that can last seconds to days. After these,
are moods lasting hours to months, emotional disorders lasting weeks to years, and personality
traits lasting years to a lifetime.
3. Are emotions the basis of social relationships?
Emotions, in fact, do play a huge role in social relationships. When a friend or loved one
is feeling sad, our tendency is to comfort them and tie the relationship closer together.
4. Compare and contrast the evolutionary and cultural approaches to understanding emotions.
When looking at both the evolutionary and cultural approaches to understanding
emotions, there are a wide variety of differences, but surprisingly some of the core information
is similar. Both approaches believe that emotions are the solutions to basic problems of social
living and help form attachments, both assume that emotions serve important functions
(although the two disagree at the kinds of functions) and claim that emotions are functional and
adaptive. The main difference between the two is their belief at what an emotion is. The
