Most of us hope that our four years of university studies will give us the skills we need to be successful in our future careers, whether as teachers, Wall Street advisors, or surgeons. Taking the time to step back and contemplate what we are learning in classes can give surprising results; there are real life applications to what we are learning, not just for the future but for today as well.
One class in particular this semester has already taught me a lot about how to live as a college student. In Cognition and Emotion, a psychology class with Dr. Lira Yoon, the topics naturally relate to behavior. Learning about emotions has been one of the most academically challenging topics I have come across, precisely because it is difficult to define what exactly an emotion is. This topic has also been one of the most rewarding, since emotions, our daily companions, can sometimes be hard to handle.
One of the most helpful ideas to grasp is that emotions are not really ours but are meant to be shared. Paul Ekman, a renowned researcher of emotion, lists the first characteristic of emotions as distinct universal signals, which inform another about the situation, whether or not the signal is visible. Emotions are not our personal possessions; they are not bubbling or churning fountains inside of us. Rather, they are waves, sometime light and merry and other times dark and dangerous, which flow out of us and crash into others. Thus knowing and controlling our emotions is not just about our personal feelings but also about what we are giving to others.
Have you ever thought that your frustrated scowl would go unnoticed among the crowds of students on campus? According to the “face in the crowd effect,” a theory put forth by Amy Pinkham of the University of Texas at Dallas, angry faces are found more quickly and accurately than happy faces in crowds. While this is most likely an evolutionary adaptation to recognizing threat, it could put you at a social disadvantage as well. At the same time, in my class someone jokingly suggested that Notre Dame had reversed this theory; it is so uncommon to see happy faces on campus that our attention is immediately drawn to the one smiling student walking across South Quad.
Another study shows that emotions are contagious, even when we are not conscious of it. Emotional contagion, the spontaneous tendency to imitate the emotional expressions of others, is observed even when patients are cortically blind and unable to consciously see another person. Does that mean that our frustrations might be rubbing off on our roommates and classmates?
Knowing the effects of our moods is one thing; trying to control our emotions is another. Personally, I doubt that I will be free of the gloom the permacloud will bring any time soon. (If I learn the secret later this semester, I will pass it on.) However, having more awareness of the impact we have on others can give us the little nudge needed to drop the frown and put on a smile. If we all gave it a try, maybe smiles could become as contagious on campus as the flu.
Maria VanBerkum is a junior majoring in neuroscience and behavior. You can find her in the lab with fruit flies or scootering around campus with a broken leg. Contact her mvanberk@nd.edu.