Ashoka University

Monsoon 2016

PSY352: Emotion
Instructor: Kai Qin Chan
Course description
We all have experienced emotions before, but what are emotions exactly?
How many emotions are we capable of experiencing, and how do they arise? Do
they have any use, or are they merely ones reaction to an event? Are your
emotional experiences the same as an islander living in Samoa islands? In this
course, we examine the nature of emotions from various lenses. We first examine
what causes emotions, what emotions causes. Finally, we examine how the role
of emotions in shaping daily life, and we round up this course with two special
topics: (i) a macro perspective on how disgust shapes different aspects of human
culture, and (ii) human wellbeing. Note: This is not a clinical course, although I
will make occasional reference to clinically-relevant phenomena.
Course Goals
At the end of the course, you will:
(1) Understand the nuanced nature of emotions;
(2) Evaluate emotion research;
(3) Design a research about emotions.

Prerequisites
Gateway to the psychology major
Statistics and Research Methodology I & II
Social psychology, or concurrently taking it
Evaluation*
Project Mona Lisa: 25%
Thought papers: 40% (best of 4 x 10% each)
Term paper: 35%
*Your final grade may be moderated
Required textbook
Lewis, M., Haviland-Jones, J. M., & Barrett, L. F. (2010). Handbook of Emotions (3rd
Edition). New York, NY: Guilford.
1

Optional textbooks in the library

Schirmer, A. (2014). Emotion. New York, NY: Sage.
Keltner, D., Oatley, K., & Jenkins, J. M. (2013). Understanding emotions. New York,
NY: Wiley.

Punctuality policy
Based on consensus, students who come to class late will do these in front of the
whole class:
(1) Say: Its not okay to be late (first time)
(2) Say: Its really really really not okay to be late (second time)
(3) Say: I am morally disgusted that I am late for the third time (third time)
(4) Do the dance of shame (fourth time and beyond)

Attendance policy
Based on consensus, you have three excused absences. Beyond that, you fail the
course.

Movie assignment (ungraded)

How do emotions arise? Despite its limitations and biases, introspection is an
important first step in studying emotions. Watch Children of Heaven in Farsi by
Majid Majidi (1997) or Homerun (2003) in Chinese by Jack Neo. 1 (Both movies are
similar; Homerun is a remake of Children of Heaven.)
While watching the film, map out at least 15 emotions (you may repeat the
emotions) felt by the characters (and perhaps yourself too). The movie is about 1
hr 40 mins. I highly encourage you to finish the whole movie because there are
some interesting emotions towards the end of the movie. After mapping your
emotion, write down the event in the movie that you think caused the emotion,
and the relevant appraisal dimensions. Organize your work like this:
N
o.

Time
stamp

Emotion

1:10

[emotion

What happened in the

movie that caused the
emotion
[short description]

Appraisal
dimensions
[dimension 1: high]

1 I deliberately chose a foreign language film because is likely unfamiliar to you

and we will be discussing cross-cultural issues in Week 12. Children of Heaven
can be viewed here: https://www.shiatv.net/video/c843b19cf2f260b04812;
Homerun can be viewed here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hVO8G-9KeHA
2

label]

+
[dimension 2: low]
+
...

2
3
4

Note that it is best to complete the assignment as the movie is running (pausing
and restarting when necessary), rather than to record the emotions after the
whole movie ends. Also, your role is not to be a movie critic, hence write simple
phrases.

Project Mona Lisa (25%)

Da Vincis Mona Lisa is famous for its unique pose. Whats in a pose, really? From
the list of emotions (Week 1, Seminar 1), your task is to capture your students
(not fellow classmates) displaying some of these emotions. You may choose to
capture these emotions in ecological settings or by having students pose for you.
Make sure that your shots are of high quality. Approach the journalism students
for help if you need better equipment.
Work in groups of 3-4. Three should be no more than 4 groups in the class.
Upload your captured shots on http://projectmonalisa.weebly.com. Compile your
pictures in PowerPoint or MS Word. If the file size is too large, save it as PDF. The
minimum and maximum number of shots each group should produce is 12 and
36, respectively.
Submit a group report (max. 1000 words) that answers these two questions:
(1) Which part of the body should I capture (or does it depend on), and
does it matter?
(2) Should I do video or photo (or does it depend on), and does it matter?
The deadline for this group report is 1 Nov, 23:59 hrs. We will discuss this project
on 3 Nov.

Thought paper (best of 4 out of 8 thought papers @ 10% each, i.e., total
40%)
Thought papers are meant as a scholarly reflection of the research you are
reading. You should have short summary of the paper. Thereafter you may
discuss content you (dis)agree with, highlight limitations, suggest future
directions, point out inconsistencies in arguments, etc. A good thought paper
need not achieve all of the above, but I am looking for thoughtful responses that
reflect your psychological knowledge (rather than merely spouting
commonsense).
3

Revised on 4 Sep: Submit your thought papers during class; email

submissions will not be accepted. I will not accept excuses such as the queue for
the printing center was too long, I couldnt find the guy at the printing center,
etc. If you cannot print on time before class, then:
(1) Write your thought paper earlier;
(2) Write it out on paper;
See Class Schedule for the specific papers and deadlines.
Term paper (35%)
Do you know some people cried buckets after watching Titanic? One of the most
common explanations is that the film was very touching. But what exactly does
feeling touched mean? Is feeling touched (moved) an emotion?
Write a psychological2 term paper about feeling touched. There is no specific
scope for the paper, but you must explain what this feeling means. You should
make use of the concepts learnt in class. This is a term paper where you need to
think really hard, possibly over many weeks (its a question I have been thinking
for years), so start jotting points as you go through the semester.
See Grading Rubrics on my website for assessment criteria.
Word limit: 2000
Deadline: 3 Dec (revised), 2359 hrs

Class Schedule
Wee
k

Date
(S1)

30 Aug

Seminar 1 (S1)
+
Readings that may be
completed after class
Housekeeping3
Introduction: Whats this thing
called emotions?
Activity: We will generate a
list of emotions for your Movie
Assignment.
Read: Chap 1 & 5

Date
(S2)

1 Sep

Seminar 2
+
Readings that must be
completed before class
Methods of studying emotions
Harmon-Jones, E., Amodio, D.
M., & Zinner, L. R. (2007).
Social psychological methods
in emotion elicitation. In J. A.
Coan and J. J. B. Allen
(Eds.) Handbook of emotion
elicitation and assessment (pp.

2 The reason why I emphasize psychological is that for an unfamiliar emotion,

there is a tendency to wax poetically about what it is (not). But this is a
psychology course, so your answers cannot just be philosophical.
3 Housekeeping means that we will discuss how we want the course to go. For
example, punctuality and attendance policies, deadlines, how to score an A, etc.
4

6 Sep

Structure of emotions

8 Sep

Previous: Barrett, L. F., &

Russell, J. A. (1999). The
structure of current affect:
Controversies and emerging
consensus. Current Directions
in Psychological Science, 8,
10-14.

91-105), New York: Oxford

University Press.
No class. Use the class time to
complete the Movie
Assignment. There will be a
make-up class on 5 Dec.

New & recommended:

Ellsworth, P. C., & Scherer, K.
R. (2003). Appraisal
processes in emotion. In R. J.
Davidson, H. Goldsmith, & K.
R. Scherer (Eds.), Handbook
of Affective Sciences. New
Yor, NY: Oxford University
Press.
3

13 Sep

20 Sep

Developmental perspectives
on emotions
Read: Chap 18
Emotion and biophysiology

15 Sep

Class Discussion of movie

assignment

22 Sep

*Kelley, N. J., Eastwick, P. W.,

Harmon-Jones, E., &
Schmeichel, B. J (2015).
Jealousy increased by induced
relative left frontal cortical
activity. Emotion, 15, 550-555.

Read: Dalgleish, T., Dunn, B.

D., & Mobbs, D. (2009).
Affective neuroscience: Past,
present, and future. Emotion
Review, 1, 355-368
5

27 Sep

Evolutionary perspectives on
emotions

29 Sep

Read: Chap 8

4 Oct

Emotion and cognition

Read: Chap 34, 37

6 Oct

Deadline: 22 Sep in class

*De Waal, F. B. M., Leimgruber,
K., & Greenberg, A. (2008).
Giving is self-rewarding for
monkeys. Proceedings of the
National Academy of Sciences,
105, 13685-13689.
Deadline: 29 Sep in class
*Hauser, D. J., & Schwarz, N.
(2016). Semantic prosody and
judgment. Journal of
Experimental Psychology:
General, 145, 882-896.

11 Oct

18 Oct

No lesson - Mid semester

break
Emotion and perception

13 Oct
20 Oct

Read: Zadra, J. R., & Clore, G.

L. (2011). Emotion and
perception: The role of
affective information. Wiley
Interdisciplinary Reviews:
Cognitive Science, 2, 676-685.

25 Oct

Communication of emotions

27 Oct

Read: Chap 12 & 13

10

1 Nov

11

8 Nov

Cultural understandings of
emotions
Read: Chap 25
Emotion regulation

3 Nov

10 Nov

Read: Chap 31

12

15 Nov

Individual differences in
emotionality

17 Nov

Read: Chap 30

13

22 Nov

Emotions and health

Read: Chap 42

24 Nov

Deadline: 6 Oct Sep in class

No lesson - Mid semester break
*Havas, D. A., Glenberg, A. M.,
Gutowski, K. A., Lucarelli, M. J.,
& Davidson, R. J. (2010).
Cosmetic use of botulinum
toxin-A affects processing of
emotional language.
Psychological Science, 21, 895900.
Deadline: 20 Oct in class
*Matsumoto, D., & Willingham,
B. (2009). Spontaneous facial
expressions of emotion of
congenitally and
noncongenitally blind
individuals. Journal of
Personality and Social
Psychology, 96, 1-10.
Deadline: 27 Oct in class
Project Mona Lisa discussion

*Bloch, L., Haase, C. M., &

Levenson, R. W. (2014).
Emotion regulation predicts
marital satisfaction: More than
a wives tale. Emotion, 14,
130-144.
Deadline: 10 Nov in class
*Lucas, R. E., Clark, A. E.,
Georgellis, Y., & Diener, E.
(2003). Reexamining
adaptation and the set point
model of happiness: Reactions
to changes in marital
status. Journal of Personality
and Social Psychology, 84,
527539.
Deadline: 17 Nov in class
*Bhattacharjee, A. & Mogilner,
C. (2014). Happiness from
ordinary and extraordinary
6

experiences. Journal of
Consumer Research, 41, 1-17.

14

29 Nov

Special topic How disgust

shapes society: The
behavioral immune system

1 Dec

Deadline: 24 Nov in class

Special topic & Discussion
Emotional wellbeing (i.e., how
to lead a happy life)

Read: Chap 47
Read: Chap 29, 48
15
5 Dec
Discussion of Term paper
7 Dec
No class.
Mak
e-up
wee
k
Note: * indicates target papers for thought papers. For each book chapter and for
most empirical readings, expect to spend at least 2 hrs per reading.
Academic dishonesty
Do not plagiarize or cheat in exams and assignments. Ashoka University expects
you to fulfill your academic obligations through honest and independent effort.
Familiarize yourself with Ashokas policy about academic dishonesty in your
Student Handbook.

Office Hours
Mondays, 2 5pm (but honestly, just drop by no need for appointment)