Question
Discuss briefly the role of learning in emotions.
Solution
Learning plays an important role in emotions. This happens in two ways. First, cultural learning influences the expression of emotions more than what is experienced.
For example, some cultures encourage free emotional expression, whereas other cultures teach people, through modeling and reinforcement, to reveal little of their emotions in public.
Second, learning has a great deal to do with the stimuli that produce emotional reactions. It has been shown that individuals with excessive fears (phobia) of elevators, automobiles, and the like learnt these fears through modeling, classical conditioning or avoidance conditioning.
