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difference begins weakly in childhood but increases in adulthood, with children being less
able to identify negative emotions as well as they can positive emotions when compared to
adults (Barth & Boles, 1999; Lane et al., 1995). This finding is consistent with early research
that assigns the recognition of faces to the right hemisphere (Berent, 1977; Ellis, 1983).
Other types of emotional processing involve a variety of other brain areas. Have
you ever been told to control your emotions? Different brain areas take primary roles
based on the different ways you try to control your emotions, but there is a degree of
overlap across several of the strategies. For example, some common strategies for reg-
ulating one’s emotions include distraction, reappraisal, and controlling the influence
of emotions on decision making. All three of these strategies take advantage of the lat-
eral prefrontal cortex and anterior cingulate cortex and, as you might expect from the
discussion before, the amygdala also comes into play (J. S. Beer, 2009).
However, distraction appears to be supported by activity in the anterior cingulate
cortex, and reappraisal is supported by activity in the lateral orbitofrontal cortex; and
both are accompanied by lower activity in the amygdala (J. S. Beer, 2009). Furthermore,
distraction and reappraisal may engage more brain areas in general as compared to
spontaneous control of emotions in decision making. Generally, brain areas associated
with emotional control are the same brain areas responsible for control of nonemotional
information (J. S. Beer, 2009; Buhle et al., 2014; Etkin et al., 2011).
THE BEHAVIOR OF EMOTION: EMOTIONAL EXPRESSION How do people behave when
in the grip of an emotion? There are facial expressions, body movements, and actions
that indicate to others how a person feels. Frowns, smiles, and sad expressions com-
bine with hand gestures, the turning of one’s body, and spoken words to produce an
understanding of emotion. People fight, run, kiss, and yell, along with countless other
actions stemming from the emotions they feel.
Facial expressions can vary across different cultures, although some aspects of
facial expression seem to be universal. (See Figure 9. 7 for some examples of universal
Figure 9.7 Facial Expressions of Emotion
Facial expressions appear to be universal. For example, these faces are consistently interpreted as showing (a) anger, (b)
fear, (c) disgust, (d) happiness, (e) surprise, and (f) sadness by people of various cultures from all over the world. Although
the situations that cause these emotions may differ from culture to culture, the expression of particular emotions remains
strikingly the same.
Interactive
a. b. c.
d. e. f.
