Instructor Resources for Chapter 8
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Chapter Outline
Opening scenario: A Rollercoaster of Emotion
I. Emotion in Interpersonal Communication
a. What is an emotion?
i. Emotion is different from mood.
b. Joyful/affectionate emotions: happiness, love, passion, and liking
i. Happiness
ii. Love and passion
iii. Liking
c. Hostile emotions: anger, contempt, disgust, jealousy, and envy
i. Anger
ii. Contempt
iii. Disgust
iv. Jealousy
v. Envy
d. Sad/anxious emotions: sadness, depression, grief, fear, and social anxiety
i. Sadness and depression
ii. Grief
iii. Fear
iv. Social anxiety
Learn it, apply it, reflect on it
II. The Nature of Emotion
a. Emotions are multidimensional.
i. Emotions are physiological.
ii. Emotions are cognitive.
iii. Emotions are behavioral.
iv. Emotions are social and cultural.
b. Emotions vary in valence and intensity.
i. Emotions vary in valence.
ii. Emotions vary in intensity.
c. Emotions come in primary and secondary forms.
d. Sometimes emotions are meta-emotions.
Learn it, apply It, Reflect on it
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III. Influences on Emotional Experience and Expression
a. Culture
i. Geography
ii. Co-cultures
b. Display rules
c. Technology and computer-mediated communication
d. Emotional contagion
e. Sex and gender
i. Sex difference in jealousy?
ii. Gender roles and emotional expression
f. Personality
g. Emotional intelligence
Learn it, apply it, reflect on it
IV. Sharpening Your Emotional Communication Skills
a. Identifying emotions
i. Listen to your body.
ii. Pay attention to your thoughts.
iii. Take stock of the situation.
b. Reappraising negative emotions
c. Accepting responsibility for emotions
d. Separating emotions from actions
Learn it, apply it, reflect on it
In-text boxes:
a. Got Skills? Expressing anger constructively
b. Communication/Light Side: Happy people live longer: The life benefits of joy
c. At a Glance: Components of emotion
d. At a Glance: Emotion display rules
e. Fact or Fiction? Women are more emotional than men.
f. Assess Your Skills: How emotionally intelligent are you?
g. Got Skills? Reframing
Key Terms
action tendencies
agreeableness
alexithymia
amygdala
anger
contempt
depression
disgust
display rules
emotion
emotional contagion
emotional intelligence
emotional reappraisal
envy
extroversion
fear
grief
happiness
jealousy
liking
love
meta-emotion
mood
neuroticism
passion
primary emotions
sadness
secondary emotions
social anxiety
valence
Definitions for Key Terms
action tendencies: motivations to act in a particular way when experiencing an emotion
agreeableness: one’s tendency to be pleasant, accommodating, and cooperative
alexithymia: a personality trait limiting a person’s ability to understand and describe emotions
amygdala: a cluster of neurons in the brain that largely controls the body’s fear response
anger: an emotional response to being wronged
contempt: a feeling of superiority over, and disrespect for others
depression: a physical illness involving excessive fatigue, insomnia, changes in weight, feelings
of worthlessness, and/or thoughts of suicide or death
disgust: a feeling of revulsion in reaction to something offensive
display rules: unwritten codes that govern the ways people manage and express emotions
emotion: the body’s multi-dimensional response to any event that enhances or inhibits ones’
goals
emotional contagion: the tendency to mimic the emotional experiences and expressions of others
emotional intelligence: the ability to perceive and understand emotions, use emotions to facilitate
thought, and manage emotions constructively
emotional reappraisal: the process of changing how one thinks about the situation that gave rise
to a negative emotion so that the effect of the emotion is diminished
envy: the desire for something another person has
extroversion: one’s tendency to be sociable and outgoing
fear: the mind and body’s reaction to perceived danger
grief: the emotional process of dealing with profound loss
happiness: a state of contentment, joy, pleasure, and cheer
jealousy: the perception that an important relationship is being threatened by a third party
liking: a positive overall evaluation of another person
love: the emotion of caring for, feeling attached to, and feeling deeply committed to someone
meta-emotion: an emotion about emotion
mood: a feeling, often prolonged, that has no identifiable cause
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neuroticism: one’s tendency to think negative thoughts about oneself
passion: a secondary emotion consisting of joy and surprise, plus experiences of excitement and
attraction for another
primary emotions: distinct emotional experiences not consisting of combinations of other
emotions
sadness: emotion involving feeling unhappy, sorrowful, and discouraged, usually as a result of
some form of loss
secondary emotions: emotions composed of combinations of primary emotions
social anxiety: fear of not making a good impression on others
valence: the positivity or negativity of an emotion
Discussion Questions
• How does it feel, physically, to be sad? How about disgusted? Joyful? Angry? Surprised?
In what ways are the physical experiences of these emotions the same? In what ways are they
different?
• Besides joy, sadness, anger, fear, surprise, and disgust, do you think there are any other
“primary” emotions (i.e., emotions that are distinctive, not combinations of other emotions)?
If so, what are they?
• We normally think of passion as being romantic in nature, but can you experience passion for
others that is not romantic? What are some examples?
• Research shows that contempt is one of the most destructive emotions for personal
relationships. Why do you suppose it is so much more destructive than other emotions?
• Why are women more emotionally expressive than men, on average? What accounts for the
difference?
• How would you compensate for the limitations of channel-lean computer-mediated forms of
communication? Are these methods effective in conveying your emotions to the person you
are communicating with?
• Would you share your negative and positive emotional experiences on social media? What
would you say are some of the benefits and drawbacks of sharing emotional experiences on
social media?
• Why is the emotional contagion effect influential? That is, why do we mimic the emotional
experiences and expressions of those around us?
• When do you have difficulty identifying your own emotional experiences?
• Can you think of an instance when you have reappraised a negative emotion? If so, what was
the outcome?
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Additional Resources
• Bippus, A. M., & Young, S. L. (2005). Owning your emotions: Reactions to expressions of
self- versus other-attributed positive and negative emotions. Journal of Applied
Communication Research, 33, 26–45.
• Decety, J., & Ickes, W. (Eds.). (2011). The social neuroscience of empathy. Cambridge, MA:
MIT Press.
• Gross, J. J. (2015). Handbook of emotion regulation (2nd ed). New York, NY: Guilford.
• Keltner, D., Oatley, K, & Jenkins, J. M. (2013). Understanding emotions (3rd ed.). Hoboken,
NJ: Wiley.
• Lewis, M., Haviland-Jones, J. M., & Barrett, L. F. (Eds.). (2010). Handbook of emotions
(3rd ed.). New York, NY: Guilford.
• Shiota, M. N., & Kalat, J. W. Emotion (2nd ed). Belmont, CA: Wadsworth.
Learning Objectives in CONNECT for Interpersonal Communication
Emotion in Interpersonal Communication
• Define emotion.
• Define mood.
• Distinguish between emotions and moods.
• Recall the three categories in which emotions can be placed.
• Recall the four basic types of joyful/affectionate emotions.
• Define happiness.
• Explain how happiness influences communication behaviors.
• Define love.
• Describe passion and distinguish it from love.
• Define liking.
• Compare and contrast happiness, love, passion, and liking.
• Recall the five basic types of hostile emotion.
• Define anger.
• Explain the health risks associated with experiencing anger.
• Define contempt.
• Define disgust.
• Explain how disgust is relevant to interpersonal communication.
• Define jealousy.
• Recall the three emotions that comprise jealousy.
• Define envy.
• Distinguish envy from jealousy.
• Describe the common characteristics of hostile emotions.
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• Recall the five basic types of sad/anxious emotions.
• Define sadness.
• Define depression.
• Distinguish sadness from depression.
• Define grief.
• Identify the five stages of the grieving process.
• Define fear.
• Explain the relationship between the amygdala and the experience of fear.
• Define social anxiety.
• Distinguish social anxiety from social anxiety disorder.
The Nature of Emotion
• Recognize the multidimensional components of emotion.
• Describe how emotions are physiological.
• Describe how emotions are cognitive.
• Define action tendencies.
• Describe how emotions are behavioral.
• Describe the social and cultural components of emotion.
• Define valence.
• Recall that valence and intensity make emotional experiences distinctive.
• Describe how emotions vary in intensity.
• Define primary emotions.
• Distinguish primary and secondary emotions.
• Describe the role of the limbic system in the experience of primary emotions.
• Define secondary emotions.
• Define meta-emotion.
• Describe the importance of meta-emotions.
Influences on Emotional Experiences and Expressions
• Describe how cultural practices may shape the experience of some emotions.
• Explain how geography affects emotional expression.
• Explain how co-culture membership may affect emotional expression.
• Define display rules.
• Describe the intensification display rule.
• Describe the de-intensification display rule.
• Describe the simulation display rule.
• Describe the inhibition display rule.
• Describe the masking display rule.
• Identify the three ways that computer-mediated communication can influence
emotional behavior.
• Define emotional contagion.
• Explain how emotional contagion may occur when communicating online.
• Recall that biological sex and gender roles influence the experience and expression of
emotion.
• Compare and contrast sex differences in experiences of sexual and emotional jealousy.
• Describe sex differences in jealousy experience and expression.
• Describe gender differences in emotional experience and expression.
• Describe how agreeableness affects emotion experience.
• Describe how extroversion affects emotion experience.
• Describe how neuroticism affects emotion experience.
• Define emotional intelligence.
• Explain the relationship between emotional intelligence and emotional expressiveness.
• Define alexithymia.
Sharpening Your Emotional Communication Skills
• Explain why it is important to recognize and identify an emotional experience.
• Explain how listening to one’s body can help identify emotions.
• Explain how paying attention to one’s thoughts can help identify emotions
• Explain how taking stock of the situation can help identify emotions.
• Define emotional reappraisal.
• Describe the reframing technique.
• Recall the use of “I-statements” as a way to accept responsibility for emotions.
• Explain how competent communicators separate emotions from actions.
In-Class Exercises
In-Class Exercise A: The Primacy of Primary Emotions
1. This exercise focuses on students’ abilities to encode and decode emotions considered by
researchers to be primary and culturally universal. A similar in-class exercise was presented
in the instructional materials for chapter six, but this exercise focuses more on the specific
behaviors through which students decode emotion displays.
2. You will need six student volunteers for this exercise. (If your class is especially small, you
can use fewer volunteers and ask each to encode more than one emotion.)
3. On note cards, write out brief scenarios designed to elicit one of the primary emotions:
happiness, sadness, anger, fear, disgust, and surprise. Some examples are shown below.
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4. For the rest of your students, copy and distribute the record form included below. Tell the
class that you are going to ask your volunteers (one at a time) to display the emotion
indicated on their card, using only nonverbal behaviors such as facial expressions and
posture. The task of the other students is to correctly identify each emotion and to note which
of the volunteers’ behaviors they attended to when making their assessment.
5. This task will work better if you do not tell your class ahead of time which emotions will be
displayed (i.e., don’t tell students that the volunteers will be displaying each of the six
primary emotions). Rather, let students figure out for themselves which emotions are being
displayed, instead of comparing the displays against a list of emotions they will be expecting.
6. One at a time, have each volunteer display his or her assigned emotion for a few seconds,
then give students time to write on their forms. After the exercise, go back over the displays
one at a time and ask students to indicate which emotion was portrayed, and which behaviors
were indicative of that emotion. When there is disagreement among students as to which
emotion was being displayed, use that to generate discussion about how some emotions (such
as happiness) may be even more universally recognized than others (such as disgust).
Examples of Emotion Display Instructions for Volunteers
1. Your boss tells you that you have just received a large raise. You are happy.
2. Your dog runs into the street, is hit by a car, and dies. You are sad.
3. You find out that a co-worker is spreading rumors about you at work. You are angry.
4. You’re at a picnic and about to bite into your potato salad when you find a worm on the
edge of your plate. You are disgusted.
5. You’re hiking when you come upon a rattlesnake, coiled up and ready to attack.
You are afraid.
6. You pick up the phone to call your sister, only to discover that she has just called you.
You are surprised.
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Handout: Decoding Emotion Displays
You will see each volunteer display one emotion. After each display, indicate which emotion
was being portrayed, and make notes about the behaviors that led you to that conclusion.
Emotion
Behaviors
1
2
3
4
5
6
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In-Class Exercise B: Emotion and Physiology
1. This exercise encourages students to be attuned to the ways in which their emotional states
are reflected in their physiological processes. The exercise focuses on heart rate, a commonly
used physiological marker of emotional experience.
2. Prior to conducting the activity, select a segment of video from a movie or television show
that is strongly evocative of a specific emotion. Fear and sadness are particularly good
emotions to use, as they elicit noticeable changes in heart rate (with fear increasing heart rate
and sadness decreasing it). The video segment should last at least 3–5 minutes, and you
should have it cued up for your class before starting the activity.
3. At the beginning of the activity, tell students to locate a spot on their wrist or the side of their
neck where they can feel their pulse. Signal them to begin counting their pulse when you say
“go,” then time 20 seconds before saying “stop.” Tell them to multiply their pulse count by 3
to obtain their beats-per-minute (BPM), and to write their BPM down on a sheet of paper.
4. Next, instruct students to watch and listen carefully to the video segment you are about to
show.
5. At the end of the video segment, have students write down the primary emotion they are
feeling after seeing the video. Then, repeat the pulse count exercise and have students
compare their BPM scores before and after watching the video. BPM may not change for
some students, and it may change in an unexpected manner for others. A majority should
experience an emotion-consistent change in BPM, however. Use this demonstration to
generate discussion about how emotion and physiology are connected. Ask your students if
their heart rate changed because of their emotion, or if their emotion was the product of their
change in heart rate.
In-Class Exercise C: Additional Emotions
1. In this exercise, work in small discussion groups to discuss the nature and expression of
emotions that are less common than those described in the chapter but are still relevant to
interpersonal communication.
2. No single chapter can address every emotion that occurs in personal relationships. In this
exercise, students will work in groups of 3–5 to define some of the emotion not addressed in
the chapter and to discuss how and when these emotions might be expressed in relationships.
3. The list below provides some examples of emotions that occur in relationships but were not
discussed in the chapter. After putting students into groups, give each group a portion of this
list, and ask students to discuss the emotions one at a time. For each, have the group discuss
what the emotion means, the circumstances under which it might be experienced, and the
ways in which it might be expressed within a personal relationship. Students may use
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examples from their own lives to the extent that they feel comfortable doing so. The groups
should ensure that every student in the group has a chance to participate in the discussion.
4. If there are emotions on a group’s list that no one in the group is familiar with, have them
note these, and then use these to generate a similar discussion with the entire class afterward.
Example Emotions
(Feel free to augment this list with ideas of your own.)
Aggravation
Ambivalence
Apathy
Boredom
Contentment
Curiosity
Desperation
Devastation
Ecstasy
Enthusiasm
Foolishness
Glumness
Helplessness
Hyperactivity
Impatience
Inhibition
Isolation
Laziness
Melancholy
Nervousness
Pessimism
Playfulness
Regret
Remorse
Resentment
Sentimentality
Shock
Smugness
Stubbornness
Sympathy
Tension
Vulnerability
Warmth
Out-of-Class Exercises
Out-of-Class Exercise A: Affect Graph
1. In this activity, students record and then graph the valence of their emotions over the course
of three different days. The activity is to be done individually.
2. Copy and distribute the record sheet and graph that follows here at the start of the activity.
Tell students that their task is to identify and record the positivity or negativity of their
emotional experience at five specified times on a Monday, a Thursday, and a Saturday, and
then to graph these in differently colored lines on the same graph.
3. During the same week, students should assign a numerical value to the positivity or
negativity of their emotional experience open awakening, at 10 a.m., at 2 p.m., at 6 p.m.,
and when they go to bed on the Monday, Thursday, and Saturday of that week. It doesn’t
matter which of those three days students start with, but the whole class should do the
activity on the same Monday, Thursday, and Saturday. Explain that the range of numerical
values goes from −7 (very negative) to +7 (very positive), and includes 0 (completely
neutral).
4. After recording their values for all three days, students should use three different colored
pens to graph their scores for Monday, Thursday, and Saturday on the graph below. After
graphing their scores, students compare these three days of the week in terms of a) the
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average score (they may have felt more positive on some days than others), and b) the
variability in their scores (some days may represent more dramatic shifts in emotion than
others). If you want, ask students to write up a brief report to accompany their graphs.
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Handout: Emotional Valence
In this exercise, your task is to take note of the positivity or negativity of your emotions at five
specific time points on three different days. Your instructor will specify which days to use.
On each day, remind yourself to take note of how positive or negative you feel at each of the five
time points. It is very important that you record your score at each time point, rather than
thinking back at the end of the day about how you felt at each time. For each time point, generate
a score according to the scale shown below:
Very negative
Very positive
−7 −6 −5 −4 −3 −2 −1 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
MONDAY: Today’s date _____________________
At this time, my emotion score was . . .
WEDNESDAY: Today’s date _____________________
At this time, my emotion score was . . .
SATURDAY: Today’s date _____________________
At this time, my emotion score was . . .
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Emotion Score Graph
To graph your emotion scores, you will need three differently colored pens (e.g., a blue pen, a
black pen, and a red pen), or two differently colored pens and one pencil. Assign one color to
each day. Begin by marking Monday’s scores at each of the five time periods on the graph, then
drawing one solid line connecting each of the scores. In a different color, do the same for
Thursday’s scores. In a different color still, do the same for Saturday’s scores.
7
6
5
4
3
2
1
0
−1
−2
−3
−4
−5
−6
−7
Awakening 10 a.m. 2 p.m. 6 p.m. Bedtime
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Out-of-Class Exercise B: Understanding Depression
1. In this exercise, students will research the causes, symptoms, and treatments for depression,
and they will learn about constructive and destructive ways of communicating with those
suffering from depression. The exercise can be done individually, in pairs, or in small groups.
2. Before starting the activity, reiterate the ways in which depression is similar to, and different
from, sadness. This is especially important for interpersonal communication because the
behaviors that would help a sad person would not necessarily help a depressed person, and
vice versa.
3. Assign students the task of researching depression and preparing either a paper, a poster, or a
multimedia presentation about their findings. Their research should focus on the following
questions: a) What is depression, and how is it related to sadness? b) What are the causes of
depression? c) What are the common symptoms of depression? d) What therapies exist to
treat depression? e) What are the most constructive and destructive ways of communicating
with a depressed person?
4. Indicate that students’ sources should involve a combination of books, journal articles,
Internet searches, discussions with mental health professionals, and/or discussions with
people who are (or have been) depressed. Using a variety of sources is important because
students are likely to find disagreement among their sources on some of these issues.
5. The most important outcome of the activity should be a better understanding about how one
should and should not communicate with those suffering from depression. Remind students
that their points of advice on this issue should not come from their own imaginations or
common sense, but from credible sources such as mental health professionals.