Tag Archives: Emotion

First Impression Prompt- Emotion

--Original published at Sydney’s Side

 

“The A Team” is a popular song by Ed Sheeran. When I first listened to it I thought it was a love song. Sheeran uses phrases such as “white lips, pale face” and describes the woman he’s singing about as an angel. The tune of the song is also slow and sweet. But, in reality the song is about a drug addicted prostitute. This is obviously not a good love song, because any relationship with a drug addicted prostitute would be problematic. It may seem obvious what the song was about, but I was only eleven when it came out so I didn’t think of these things.

My sister told me what the song was really about a while after it came out and I had to listen to it again because I did not believe her. But sure enough once you know what he really means, the song makes a lot more sense. In the chorus the lyrics say she “sells love to another man” which clearly means she’s a prostitute. I didn’t realize this at first because I really wasn’t paying that much attention to the lyrics. He also sings that she will “go mad for a couple grams” which shows her addiction. Also, when I though Sheeran was referring to the woman as an angel, it was only because she eventually would die. Hence when he says, “it’s too cold outside for angels to fly” and ends the song with “for angels to die.” Listening to it after understanding what the song is about makes it very somber.

 

Chapter 10 First Impression Prompts – Emotion

Hand writing on a notebook

Here are the prompts for this chapter. Please use the tag “Emotion.”

Option 1:

We all want to enjoy life and seek ways to make ourselves happy. Indeed, we spend much of our lives chasing the goal of happiness. But how good are we at actually finding it? Dan Gilbert discusses the ways in which we sabotage our own happiness in his TED talk. Watch the video, share your reactions, comment on the speaker’s credibility, discuss how reasonable you find its message to be, and discuss ways in which you can incorporate more synthetic happiness into your life.

Option 2:

A large portion of communication is non-verbal, including a lot of clues about people’s emotional states. Effective communication involves being able to read others’ emotions and take them into consideration. People express a lot of emotions through their faces. How well do are you able to read these emotional expressions? Take this test to find out.  Discuss whether or not your score reflects how well you thought you would do, how credible you find the test, which emotions were the easiest and hardest to tell apart, and how you could use this information in your daily life.

Option 3:

Many works of art inspire a variety of emotions in people, often quite different from what the artist intended. Music in particular tends to hold very strong emotional resonance with people, but that doesn’t mean people are receiving what the artist is sending. A classic example is the song Every Breath You Take by the Police (lyrics available here). This song came out in 1983 and was instantly a hit. Many people called it a classic love ballad and it was played repeatedly at weddings, but what they didn’t realize is the band wrote the song about a fanatical stalker. What was meant to be a haunting song about the lengths stalkers go was instead immortalized as a beautiful expression of devotion. For your post I want you to think about a song you are familiar with that on the surface seems to be above love, but when you look closer at it maybe isn’t such a great example of healthy relationships. Post a link to the lyrics and music video (or some other way for us to hear the song), and explain what is problematic with the messages in the song.

I look forward to seeing what you write!

Header image: CC by Flickr user Caitlinator

Chapter 10 First Impression Post

--Original published at KatieMillerPSY105

For this first impression, I chose the option of determining how well I can tell he difference between emotions. Generally, I think that I am pretty good at telling how people are feeling by their facial expressions. I have a friend who is not as good, and he will get into arguments to see which one can pick the right emotion (it is usually me). I have always felt that I could read people’s expressions and be able to help them which is one of the reasons why I wanted to become a nurse.

After taking the quiz, I could see that my prior thoughts were somewhat accurate. I got a 16/20. There a couple of emotions that did trick me up a bit, but there were definitely some easier ones to determine. Some that I got confused on were fear, anger, embarrassment, and contempt. The reason why I was confused with fear was because I thought the person seemed surprised. The difference was the face for fear had a smaller open mouth than the surprised face did. Anger was tricky for me because it almost looked like disgust since they both seem to be similar faces, however, with the angry face you will see that the lips will tighten more and the forehead muscles will contrast. To me, embarrassment looked very close to shame. The test gave the explanation that the embarrassed face will turn their head to the side instead of going straight down like someone who would feel ashamed. Finally, contempt looked very similar to disgust where the only difference was that contempt would have the lips tighten only on one side of the face. Some of the easier expressions to distinguish were happiness, pain, pride, and sadness. These faces all were very obvious reactions that I would think anyone would be able to see.

Overall, I thought that this test may be slightly accurate, but there are some problems with it. I believe that some people have their own facial expressions for their own emotions. I think it can be harder to determine someone’s emotion in real life than it was on this test. I could use this information by taking a closer look at people’s expressions when I am talking to them to see how they really are feeling. This will help so I would not have to ask the person what their facial expression means.

Chap. 10 – Impression

--Original published at Kealey's PSY105 Blog

In the 1970s, Rupert Holmes wrote a song that instantly became extremely popular. The chorus mentions pina coladas, making love on the cape, and mysterious romance between strangers. Because of these words and its easy roll-with-it rhythm and beachy tune, it became a song to play at beach parties and in the car during a date. It is often thought to be a “feel good” song. Currently, it’s a nostalgic tune. Everyone knows the chorus, but not everyone thinks about the words of the verse, which give the true meaning of the song away. “Escape” (aka “If You Like Pina Coladas”) is actually about a man who is bored in his marriage and puts a personal ad out to find another woman to cheat on his wife with. A song that people usually associate with delicious tropical drinks and sex on the beach is actually about infidelity and betrayal. Ironically, the man’s wife answers the ad because she too is looking for romance outside of her marriage. The two laughed about it, and the story is over. Personally, I don’t think my reaction would be to laugh if I was either of them. If both of them were seeking to cheat, they obviously have some major relationship problems to figure out. I used to just jive with this song like everyone else. But now, it kind of creeps me out to hear such a happy mood in a song about a double cheating scandal.

Emotion

--Original published at Tiffany'sCollegeBlog

For the first impression post for chapter 10, I chose to do prompt #2 which discussed people’s emotions. In the prompt, those who decided to do this had to complete an Emotion Intelligence Test, where the test showed 20 pictures of different people displaying different emotions. The test gave four choices to choose which emotion we thought it could be. After going through the test, I got 16/20 correct, which according to the test was a score that was above average. It also said that I was naturally well-attuned to others’ emotions–a vital skill for forming compassionate connections. I think my scores were good for what I thought I would do. I think that in general I can read people pretty easily, so I wasn’t surprised that I did above average. 

I give myself a lot of credit being able to read other people’s emotions and being able to know how people are feeling based on their emotions and body language. When reading people’s emotions, I look for the small things and their body language; how they are standing, if their head is tilted, where are their hands. I think all of those combined can make it pretty easy to distinguish how someone is feeling. I observe people all the time with my job, my clientele at school, and my family. Most importantly my brother. I’ve mentioned this in a few other posts, but my brother has Autism. People with Autism, most of the time, had trouble reading facial expressions. When recognizing an emotion in a face, we depend on the eyes and the mouth. People with Autism often avoid looking into other people’s eyes, which can make it more difficult for them to detect emotions. After taking this test, I had my brother take it. I received a 16/20 and my brother received a 12/20. Now over the years his emotion reading has improved tremendously, but I thought that it would be interesting. 

While I did complete the test and did pretty well, I don’t think it’s as credible as it seems. The pictures that it shows have answers that someone could read in another way and therefore, get the answer wrong. Everyone reads emotions differently and this test wouldn’t be an acceptable way to decide if someone can read emotions properly. I also think that the emotions in the pictures were based on what that specific person thought and how they thought it should’ve been portrayed. Rather than the actual emotion they feel, when experiencing that actual emotion. Lastly, as I was going through, I felt like some of the answers were the same and it was very hard to distinguish what the answer was. 

Although I got only a few wrong, I did think the test was harder than it should’ve been and that I thought it would’ve been. The basic emotions like happy, sad, and angry were easy to chose. The more specific ones like love, politeness, contempt, and pain were a lot more difficult. I think some of the more difficult ones were also easier to tell apart because some had other things than just their eyes, eyebrows, and lips to base the emotion off of; some added a finger or sticking out a tongue. 

Some ways that I could use this information is my daily life would be that each time I got an answer correct or incorrect, the picture then showed what to look for cue wise, when reading someone’s expressions. For example, muscle contacts to pull eyebrow up and in, lower eyelid contracts and upper eyelids raise slightly, lip corners pulled sideways, tightening and elongating the mouth, tighten and press together, etc. The cue that are used will definitely be helpful to look for when reading someone’s emotions and expressions in order to know more about how they are feeling.

Chapter 10 First Impression Post

--Original published at Jenna'sPSY105blog

For this week’s first impression post, I chose the prompt about reading people’s emotions. I was prompted to take an Emotion Intelligence Test, where it showed 20 pictures of people displaying different emotions, and I had to pick between four choices of which emotion I thought it could be. I ended up getting 14/20 correct, which the test said is a little above the average number people typically get right.

I pride myself in being pretty good at reading people’s emotions and knowing how people are feeling- especially my boyfriend. He doesn’t have to say a word before I ask what’s on his mind, which always catches him off guard because like most guys he thinks he’s good at hiding his emotions. When observing people, I always tend to pick up on the small details that most people wouldn’t notice, which is why I feel I’m so good at reading emotions. I also have a lot of empathy towards people, which I think helps too. Because of these skills, going into the test I expected to do pretty well.

Although I only got six wrong, the test was a lot harder than I thought it would be. The very basic emotions, such as happy, sad, surprised, and angry were pretty easy to pick up on, but the more specific ones such as love, politeness, pain, desire, and contempt were a lot more difficult. Some of the emotions, such as disgust, involved people sticking their tongue out, which gave the emotion away.

I do not think this was a very accurate test to determine how good you are at reading people’s emotions. First off, emotions are portrayed by everyone differently. Also, the people in the pictures were told an emotion and they portrayed it how they thought it would look, rather than their natural expression when feeling that emotion. Lastly, a lot of the options I had to choose from were very similar to each other, and it could’ve been either emotion.

A way that I think this test could help me in the future when trying to read people’s emotions is the fact that after each picture it provided multiple cues on what to look for when reading facial expressions for each emotion. For example, people’s eyebrows being raised, the corners of the mouth being raised, the chin being stuck out, head being tilted, etc. These cues will definitely be helpful and hopefully if I think about them when around people I can become better at knowing how they are feeling.

Chapter 10: First Impression

--Original published at Kirsten's Kreations

I feel as thought my ability to read facial expressions is way better than my ability to read a tone in voice. I thought I would get only one or two wrong during the test. The test results actually showed I can identify 15 of the 20 faces. This isn’t as good as I thought I was going to do but I was surprised at the end the results were that high. There were a few times I had gotten the contempt, happiness, and love mixed up. I had also gotten confused about the anger or pain faces mixed up because they were so similar. I was able to find the surprised and excited faces easier to tell apart because they were a little more exaggerated than the simpler emotions. I would definitely try and use this in everyday life to know how to understand a person is feeling. By having a sense of how a person feels I can turn a conversation one way so the other person wouldn’t get hurt or mad.

Chapter 10 First Impression Prompts – Motivation & Emotion

Hand writing on a notebook

Here are the prompts for this chapter:

If you use any of these three prompts, please use the tag “Emotion.”

Option 1:

We all want to enjoy life and seek ways to make ourselves happy. Indeed, we spend much of our lives chasing the goal of happiness. But how good are we at actually finding it? Dan Gilbert discusses the ways in which we sabotage our own happiness in his TED talk. Watch the video, share your reactions, comment on the speaker’s credibility, discuss how reasonable you find its message to be, and discuss ways in which you can incorporate more synthetic happiness into your life.

Option 2:

A large portion of communication is non-verbal, including a lot of clues about people’s emotional states. Effective communication involves being able to read others’ emotions and take them into consideration. People express a lot of emotions through their faces. How well do are you able to read these emotional expressions? Take this test to find out.  Discuss whether or not your score reflects how well you thought you would do, how credible you find the test, which emotions were the easiest and hardest to tell apart, and how you could use this information in your daily life.

Option 3:

Many works of art inspire a variety of emotions in people, often quite different from what the artist intended. Music in particular tends to hold very strong emotional resonance with people, but that doesn’t mean people are receiving what the artist is sending. A classic example is the song Every Breath You Take by the Police (lyrics available here). This song came out in 1983 and was instantly a hit. Many people called it a classic love ballad and it was played repeatedly at weddings, but what they didn’t realize is the band wrote the song about a fanatical stalker. What was meant to be a haunting song about the lengths stalkers go was instead immortalized as a beautiful expression of devotion. For your post I want you to think about a song you are familiar with that on the surface seems to be above love, but when you look closer at it maybe isn’t such a great example of healthy relationships. Post a link to the lyrics and music video (or some other way for us to hear the song), and explain what is problematic with the messages in the song.

If you use either of the following prompts, please use the tag “Motivation.”

Option 4

America is currently facing an obesity epidemic that some experts have labeled the biggest public health threat we have today. We have all heard the recommendations to eat healthier and get regular exercise. Some people, however, are taking the message of healthy eating too far. A new mental health disorder called orthorexia nervosa has been proposed, in which eating healthy food becomes an obsession. One set of proposed criteria are available here. Look over the criteria and comment on whether or not you think this is a good way to define the boundary between eating healthy and having a mental disorder.

Option 5

Motivation is not a stable force, but often waxes and wanes. Throughout your time at Elizabethtown College, your motivation for school will undoubtedly be higher at some times and lower at others. I want you to discuss why you chose to come to Elizabethtown College originally and what you do to motivate yourself to do well in your classes currently. I also want you to plan an intervention for yourself for how you can maintain motivation to succeed until graduation.

I look forward to seeing what you write!

Header image: CC by Flickr user Caitlinator

First Impression Post #9

--Original published at Miguel's College Blog

For this First Impression Post, I took the Emotional Intelligence Quiz to see how well I was able to discern various emotions in faces. I got a 15/20. Honestly, I did not think I was going to get that many right. At the beginning I got the first four incorrect which, at the time, solidified my thought that I was not that great at picking up these type of cues. I have been told that I can be pretty oblivious to certain cues during social situations so I am genuinely surprised with my score.

I think the test was credible in that it showed various emotions using different people to try and convey a range of situations where emotions are showed. People show emotions differently, however, there are universal cues that are connected to each person for an emotion. I was pleased to see that after each emotion, there was an in depth explanation on why and how each emotion was shown. In my opinion, the hardest emotion to discern was politeness and interest. I can recall in my past situations where I do not pick up the signs of the other person showing disinterest or interest but the other people around me do. In other situations, I do not pick up the signs of someone being polite or actually being happy to see or talk to me, generally, I just see happiness and am oblivious to other emotions. The easiest was between pride and shame as the entire head moves to show the emotion, pride being chin up and shame being head down.

I could use this information in my daily life to be able to be more aware of emotions happening right in front of me. In social situations, I could probably avoid a lot of awkward situations if I recognized the true emotional responses that people were giving off.

Week 9 #2 Emotion First Impression Option 2

--Original published at Noah's Psy 105A blog

Pre-test: I think that I am fairly competent at reading emotions. I don’t think that I’m some kind of super powered emotion reader however. In general I think that I will score well on the test, but I believe that I will struggle a little bit with differentiating the more negative emotions. I think this because I usually am able to tell positive emotions apart well, but when more negative emotions are present I’m able to recognise that they are there but I’m not always able to figure out what specific emotion is being felt by the other person.

Post test:

I scored a 13/20 on the test, which according to the test is about average. I thought I would do a little better and there were a few questions that I made dumb mistakes on. Overall I thought that the test was fairly credible. It’s hosted on an .edu which is always a good sign. One problem I had with the test was how it explained what to look for to identify each emotion after each question, I feel like that could contaminate the results of the test since I was being told what to look for.

I found that anger, happiness, surprise, and desire were the identify. One emotion that i thought was challenging to identify was pride, at first glance it seemed like contempt. I had trouble with embarrassment, which I wrongly identified as amusement. I miss identified sadness with contempt. I miss identified pain, thinking it was shame. I confused compassion with sadness. I miss labeled interest as surprise. I incorrectly labeled sadness as shame. I miss identified embarrassment as shame.

I think that this information is incredibly useful for everyday life. Knowing that I’m not quite as good at reading people’s emotions as I thought I was will be incredibly helpful. Now I’ll be able to hopefully improve at reading emotions so that i can interact with other people better.