But recently his wife complained to her mother
and stepfather, Jack Cook, of an increasingly
frightening anger in her husband, which she
said was causing terrible problems in the mar-
riage. Worried about her husband’s rage, Sheryl
Stack took her 12-year-old daughter to a hotel to
get away from him. They returned on Thursdaymorning to find their house ablaze and all of
their belongings destroyed. Officials said the
house fire was deliberately set, with Stack as the
primary suspect.
“This is a shock to me that he would do
something like this,” Cook said. “But you get
your anger up, you do it.”A
lmost everyone can understand Joe
Stack’s feelings of frustration, unhappi-
ness, and anger, if not about their specific
target. Fortunately, most people do not act
on them the way Stack did. Why do some
people give in to their emotions, whereas
others are able to keep rage and other un-
pleasant feelings from turning into violent
or self-destructive actions? Why are some
people able to cope with the stresses of
life—financial worries, broken expectations,
marital conflicts, job loss—whereas others
are completely overwhelmed and give up?
People often curse their emotions, wish-
ing to be freed from anger, jealousy, shame,
guilt, and grief. Yet imagine a life without
emotions. You would be unmoved by the
magic of music. You would never care about
losing someone you love, not only because
you would not know sadness but also be-
cause you would not know love. You would
never laugh because nothing would strike
you as funny. And you would be a social iso-
late because you would not be able to know
what other people were feeling.
People often wish for a life without
stress, too. Yet try to imagine a life without
any stress whatsoever. You would live like
a robot. You might have no difficulties, but
nothing would surprise, delight, or challenge
you either. You would not grow, discover new
frontiers, or be required to master skills you
never imagined possible.
In this chapter, we will examine the
physiology and psychology of emotions and
stress. Prolonged anger and other negative
emotions can certainly be stressful, and
stress can certainly produce negative emo-
tions. Both of these processes, however,
are shaped by how we interpret the events
that happen to us, by the demands of the
situation we are in, and by the rules of our
culture.
You are about to learn...
• which facial expressions of emotion are
recognized by most people the world over.
• which parts of the brain are involved with
different aspects of emotion.
• how mirror neurons generate empathy, mood
contagion, and synchrony.
• which two hormones provide the energy and
excitement of emotion.
• how thoughts create emotions—and why an
infant can’t feel shame or guilt.The Nature of Emotion
LO 13.1
Emotions evolved to help people meet the chal
lenges of life: They bind people together, motivate
them to achieve their goals, and help them make
decisions and plans (Nesse & Ellsworth, 2009).
When you are faced with a decision between two
appealing and justifiable career alternatives, your
sense of which one “feels right” emotionally may
help you make the better choice.
Disgust, though it’s not a pleasant emo
tion, evolved as a mechanism that protects
infants and adults from eating tainted or poi
sonous food (Oaten, Stevenson, & Case, 2009).
Embarrassment and blushing, so painful to