TO WHAT EXTENT DO COGNITIVE AND BIOLOGICAL FACTORS

INTERACT IN EMOTION?

Cognition and Emotion

EMOTION

Emotion

Damasio: emotions are purely physical signals of the body which react to the external stimuli

James-Lange: the state of our body determines the emotions we experience

Emotions are feelings which come

about as a result of these physiological changes, rather than being their cause.

Emotion: 3 Components

Physiological changes arousal of autonomic nervous system - the ‘fight or flight

response’ increased heart rate, increased blood pressure endocrine system - secretion of hormones brain activity – PET and fMRI scans unconscious

Subjective feeling happiness, fear, sadness, disgust activated by a person, object or event private

Associated behaviour smiling, running away, laughing, withdrawal

Emotion

Emotions serve as a guide to evaluate how important situations are – not always a conscious process

Lazarus and Folkman: it’s not the emotion, but how we appraise the situation and cope with it that is important (think depression)

Cognitive appraisal is an interpretationSo, a perceived stressor → physiological

response (fight or flight) → cognitive appraisal of the arousal → decision of what to do based on previous experience

Biological Factors in Emotion

Amygdala is involved in emotion It plays a critical role in emotional memoriesAdrenaline is released with strong emotionsLeDoux’s model of biological pathways of

emotion in the brain: Short route

Emotional stimulus (sound and/or sight) gets sent to thalamus for transfer; transfer to amygdala and causes an emotional response

Long route Emotional stimulus gets sent to the thalamus for transfer; transfer to

sensory cortex ; part goes to hippocampus for comparison to known prior experiences; appraisal happens; behaviour matches appraisal

Both pathways can be triggered simultaneouslyUnconscious

thalamus

Biological Factors in Emotion

LeDoux’s model of biological pathways of emotion in the brain: Gives humans flexibility to

react quickly in dangerous situations or more rationally to avoid inappropriate responses

Allows for flexibility in response. In the case of danger, the fast and direct pathway is useful.

But, the long pathway allows for a more thorough evaluation – helps you to avoid an inappropriate response.

Schacter & Singer’s Two-Factor Theory

Please read green text pg. 87 -88 regarding 2-factor theory.

Take appropriate notes

Schachter and Singer (1962)

An event causes physiological arousal first - you must then identify a reason for this arousal and then you are able to experience and label the emotion.

Participants were given an injection of either adrenaline or a placebo and then put into 1 of 4 conditions: Adrenalin Ignorant - participants were given an adrenalin injection and

not told of the effects of the drug. Adrenalin Informed - participants were given an adrenalin injection and

warned of the ‘side effects’ of the drug (hand shake, heart pounding, dry mouth etc.).  The participants were therefore prepared for the effects of the adrenalin (although they thought they were to do with the suproxin).

Adrenalin Misinformed - participants were given an adrenalin injection and told to expect side effects but were told these would be numb feet and headache.  These participants would, therefore, not be expecting the effects of the adrenalin.

Control Group - Placebo - participants were given an injection that would have no effect and were given no instructions of what to expect.

Schachter and Singer (1962)

Participants were then allocated to either the euphoria condition or the anger condition.

In the euphoria situation a stooge in a waiting room carried out a number of silly tasks designed to entertain and amuse the participant.

In the anger situation a stooge in a waiting room carried out tasks and made comments designed to annoy the participant.

Dutton and Aron (1974)

http://www.psychologyconcepts.com/dutton-and-aron-suspension-bridge-experiment/

Arranged for men to be interviewed by an attractive woman, whilst standing on either a high or a low suspension bridge. Men on the high bridge should have heightened physiological arousal due to the height but will mistake this for ‘sexual attraction’.

The men on the high bridge demonstrated greater attraction than those on low bridge or when the interviewer was male, thus showing that the males on the high bridge needed to find a appropriate emotional label.

Love is basically a state of physiological arousal that you label as ‘love’

Cognitive factors in emotion: appraisal

Situation

Appraisal:

Beneficial

Positive emotions

Appraisal:

Harmful

Negative emotions

Lazarus (1975)

It’s not the events themselves that cause trauma, it’s the individual’s appraisal of the situation/event

A thought must come before any emotion or physiological arousal.  In other words, you must first think about your situation before you can experience an emotion.

When an event occurs, a cognitive appraisal is made (either consciously or subconsciously), and based on the result of that appraisal, an emotion and physiological response follow.

Cognitive Factors in Emotion

Appraisal is a cognitive process: how we evaluate a situation and cope with it positive emotions emerge if appraisal assesses

potential benefit; negative emotions if appraisal assesses potential harm.

Folkman & Lazarus (1988): people use different strategies in stressful situations problem-focused coping emotion-focused coping

Coping with stressful situations

Problem focused coping: aiming to change the problematic situation

Emotion focused coping: aims to handle the emotions rather than the situation

Appraisal

Personal characteristics influence how we perceive a situation, including: Motivation Belief about one’s self and the world Environmental variables Nature of the danger Social networks

Study: Lazarus and Smith (1993)

Use green text pg. 89 to write a summary of this study and how it relates to the appraisal theory of emotion

Speisman (1964)

Investigated if people’s emotional reaction to an unpleasant film could be manipulated: Showed participants genital mutilation film with one of

three soundtracks (conditions) to manipulate their appraisals: traumatic (emphasizing pain), willing participants (denial), and intellectualization (think National Geographic)

Participants reacted more emotionally to the trauma condition.

Suggests it is not the event themselves that elicit emotional stress, but the individual’s interpretation of that event.

SUMMARY OF THIS SLO – how you could organize an LAQ response:

- Explain what emotion is and the three components- Briefly explain the physiology of emotion including

Ledoux’s theory – two pathways- - how is cortex and amygdala involved?

- Schachter and Singer Two-Factor Theory of Emotion (explain)

- Schachter and Singer (1962) also can use Dutton and Aron (1974)

- Lazarus’s Appraisal theory of Emotion- Lazarus & Smith (1993)- Speisman et al. (1964)