[Paleopsych] Positive emotions and perceptual accuracy

[Lynn D. Johnson, Ph.D.]

I emailed Kareem and asked him. I'll let you know if he answers.
Lynn

Ross Buck wrote:

>It is interesting that the stimulus for positive emotions here is a
>comedian.  We need to know more about the subject of the humor.  Often, the
>funniest comedians are quite aggressive in their humor, possibly fostering
>feelings of in-group bonding that are quite different from
>hearts-and-flowers happiness, and perhaps actually enhancing "us versus
>them" feelings.  Could the enhanced recognition of different-race faces
>actually be a kind of vigilance?  
>
>Cheers, Ross
>
>Ross Buck, Ph. D.
>Professor of Communication Sciences
>	and Psychology
>Communication Sciences U-1085		
>University of Connecticut				
>Storrs, CT 06269-1085
>860-486-4494
>fax  860-486-5422
>buck at uconnvm.uconn.edu
>http://www.coms.uconn.edu/docs/people/faculty/rbuck/index.htm
>
>-----Original Message-----
>From: paleopsych-bounces at paleopsych.org
>[mailto:paleopsych-bounces at paleopsych.org] On Behalf Of Steve Hovland
>Sent: Tuesday, February 15, 2005 9:19 AM
>To: 'The new improved paleopsych list'
>Subject: RE: [Paleopsych] Positive emotions and perceptual accuracy
>
>Do most of the positive emotions arise from the limbic?
>
>Steve Hovland
>www.stevehovland.net
>
>
>-----Original Message-----
>From:	Lynn D. Johnson, Ph.D. [SMTP:ljohnson at solution-consulting.com]
>Sent:	Monday, February 14, 2005 9:20 PM
>To:	The new improved paleopsych list
>Subject:	[Paleopsych] Positive emotions and perceptual accuracy
>
>Disclosure: Johnson in press release is not related to me.
>Lynn
>
>http://www.umich.edu/news/index.html?Releases/2005/Feb05/r020105
>Feb. 1, 2005
>
>
>
>
>          Positive emotions slash bias, help people see big picture details
>
>ANN ARBOR, Mich.--Positive emotions like joy and humor help people "get 
>the big picture," virtually eliminating the own-race bias that makes 
>many people think members of other races "all look alike," according to 
>new University of Michigan research.
>
>"Negative emotions create a tunnel vision," said U-M psychology 
>researcher Kareem Johnson. "Negative emotions like fear or anger are 
>useful for short-term survival when there's an immediate danger like 
>being chased by a dangerous animal. Positive emotions like joy and 
>happiness are for long-term survival and promote big picture thinking, 
>make you more inclusive and notice more details, make you think in terms 
>of 'us' instead of 'them.'"
>
>To simulate getting a quick glance of a stranger, scientists flashed 
>photos of individuals for about a half second, finding subjects 
>recognized members of their own race 75 percent of the time but only 
>recognized members of another race 65 percent of the time, Johnson said. 
>However, researchers found positive emotions boosted that recognition of 
>cross-race faces about 10 to 20 percent, eliminating the gap.
>
>The findings will appear in an upcoming issue of the journal 
>Psychological Science.
>
>Johnson, who is completing his PhD work in psychology, and Barbara 
>Fredrickson, a U-M psychology professor and director of the Positive 
>Emotion and Psychophysiology Laboratory, specialize in the power of 
>positive emotions.
>
>Researchers asked a group of 89 students to watch a video either of a 
>comic to induce joy and laughter, a horror video to induce anxiety, or a 
>"neutral" video that would not effect emotions. They then looked at 28 
>yearbook style photos of college-aged people in random order for 500 
>milliseconds.
>
>Subjects who watched the comedy tested for having much higher positive 
>emotions, while those who saw the horror video had far more "negative" 
>emotions. In a testing phase, more images flashed by and they were asked 
>to push buttons to indicate whether they'd seen the pictures earlier. 
>Those in a positive mood had a far greater ability to recognize members 
>of another race, while their ability to recognize members of their own 
>race stayed the same.
>
>The researchers conclude that positive emotions bring with them a 
>"broadening effect" that helps people see a bigger, broader picture of 
>the world around them.
>
>
>Positive Emotion and Psychophysiology Laboratory 
><http://www.lsa.umich.edu/psych/peplab/>
>
>
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