Chapter 8: Emotions and Cognition

Question 1

Bruner and Postman, 1947 characterized objects that have (emotional) value as object that are:

Answer 1

1. Selected. 2. Fixated. 3. Accentuated.

Question 2

What study did Bruner and Postman, 1947 do to show that objects with emotional value are perceived differently?

Answer 2

The study in which 30 rich and poor children were asked to estimate the sizes of round disks of no value and coins with value.

Question 3

Bruner and Postman, 1947 study using children on how objects with emotional value affect perception found what? (2)

Answer 3

1. They found that poor children overestimated the size of a coin with more value. 2. Rich and poor children correctly estimated the sizes of the disks with no value.

Question 4

Why were early programs about perception and emotions shut down? (2)

Answer 4

1. Experimental demand. 2. Measuring things other than perception (pts. may see things before they say they do).

Question 5

What is attention?

Answer 5

Processes involved in our ability to focus selectively on a stimulus, sustaining that focus, and shifting at will.

Question 6

Do emotional faces capture attention? If so, what kind of faces?

Answer 6

Yes. Threat faces (especially anger).

Question 7

What is “Pop-out?”

Answer 7

No increase in response time when finding an angry face despite increasing crowd sizes.

Question 8

Do visual search tasks find similar results to “pop-out?”

Answer 8

Yes.

Question 9

What does the emotional stroop task show? (2)

Answer 9

1. That people slow down when viewing emotional stimuli (doing the task). 2. Emotional Stimuli make it difficult to shift attention.

Question 10

What were the main results of the dot probe detection task?

Answer 10

When dot is in different spot than emotional word, it takes longer to indicate its position.

Question 11

What do emotions do to attention?

Answer 11

High arousal (during emotional states) narrow the breadth of attention to focus on cues relevant to the state.

Question 12

What does ‘weapon focus’ show about emotions and attention? (2)

Answer 12

1. Witnesses focus on the weapon and often don’t remember other details. 2. Attention is captured and held by the emotional stimulus at expense of processing other information.

Question 13

What is visual perception?

Answer 13

The translation of light waves into usable neural code.

Question 14

What do emotions do to perception?

Answer 14

They make the encoding of emotion-congruent stimuli more efficient.

Question 15

What does the lexical decision task show about emotions? (2)

Answer 15

1. Happy people are able to read positive words faster. 2. Sad people are able to read sadder words faster.

Question 16

What can be said about the perception of expressions and emotions based on the study where participants viewed a video of a person changing from a smile to a neutral expression? (2)

Answer 16

1. Happy primed participants saw happiness last longer on the face. 2. Sad primed participants saw sadness last longer on the face.

Question 17

What is emotion congruent retrieval?

Answer 17

Retrieval of information from memory that is congruent with the current affective state.

Question 18

What is emotion congruent retrieval usually found for? (3)

Answer 18

1. Autobiographical memories. 2. New memories. 3. Word meanings.

Question 19

Are memories linked to just the external context in which we learned them?

Answer 19

No.

Question 20

What else can memories be linked to other than the context in which we learned them?

Answer 20

The emotional state we were in when we formed the memory.

Question 21

What is mood-congruent memory?

Answer 21

The tendency to selectively recall details that are consistent with one’s current mood.

Question 22

What results due to mood-congruent memory?

Answer 22

Biased memory.

Question 23

Emotion can affect the quality of memory in what two ways?

Answer 23

1. Enhance memory. 2. Impair memory.

Question 24

What are flashbulb memories?

Answer 24

Vivid, long-lasting memories surrounding a person’s experience of shocking events.

Question 25

How are flashbulb memories different than normal memories? (2)

Answer 25

1. They last a lifetime. 2. Do not decay or change.

Question 26

What causes flashbulb memories (biological)? (3)

Answer 26

1. The release of hormones during times of high emotion. 2. Adrenaline makes memories more vivid, enhancing recall. 3. Adaptive account - promotes survival.

Question 27

How could flashbulb memories promote survival?

Answer 27

The vivid recall of an emotional event may help the animal cope with any similar situation in the future.

Question 28

What causes flashbulb memories (psychological)? (2)

Answer 28

1. Heightened attention and rehearsal. 2. Cognitive account.

Question 29

A questionnaire immediately after Challenger explosion and re-administered 32 months later found what about the accuracy about flashbulb memories?

Answer 29

There was no significant correlation between confidence and accuracy.

Question 30

Another study on the accuracy of flashbulb memories (about Princess Diana’s death) made what claim about the Challenger study?

Answer 30

The Challenger study underestimated because people were not actually emotionally involved.

Question 31

What biological mechanisms are important for memory consolidation? (2)

Answer 31

Adrenalin and the amygdala

Question 32

What is the amygdala involved in?

Answer 32

The circuit for memory consolidation of emotional events.

Question 33

Is there evidence for repression?

Answer 33

Very little scientific evidence.

Question 34

Phelps et al., 2007 found what about the neurological mechanisms in the retrievial of 9/11 memories?

Answer 34

Participants closer to the world trade center showed increased activation in the amygdala during retrieval.

Question 35

According to the embodied simulation models of mental representations of emotion knowledge, is knowledge separate from sensory and motor systems?

Answer 35

No, they are not separate.

Question 36

According to the associative network models, what is the process of spreading activation?

Answer 36

When nodes that are linked by association to a node that was excited activate.

Question 37

Nielson and Powless (2007) found out what about emotion and memory consolidation in their study where they showed participants a film that induced an emotion after committing words to memory?

Answer 37

Emotions make information more memorable not only during learning, but also throughout the process of committing information to memory.

Question 38

In a study where participants were induced to have an emotion though music and afterwards homophones were read, found out what about mood-congruent memory?

Answer 38

The word meanings given by the participants was influenced by the music they listened to.

Question 39

Is mood-state-dependent memory more likely to happen with free recall or recognition tasks? Why is this?

Answer 39

Free recall. Because no other cues are given, leading participants to rely more on their emotional state for recall.

Question 40

What is the affect-as-information model of mood-congruent judgement?

Answer 40

Individuals use their affective state as relevant information when making evaluative judgments.

Question 41

What is the somatic marker hypothesis?

Answer 41

The idea that expected emotions guide decisions.

Question 42

Are happier people less prone to risky decisions?

Answer 42

Yes.

Question 43

Johnson and Tversky (1983) study on mood-congruent judgment where they primed participants into a negative, positive, or neutral state and asked them about the likelihood of different types of events happening found what? (2)

Answer 43

1. Those primed into a negative state were more likely to estimate that negative events would be more likely to happen than those in the neutral condition. 2. Those primed into a positive state were more optimistic about their risk estimates than the neutral group.

Question 44

Can fleeting and perhaps, unconscious, emotions influence judgment?

Answer 44

Yes.

Question 45

Can happiness increase the reliance on generalized knowledge (such as stereotypes)?

Answer 45

Yes.

Question 46

What are the two explanations for why happiness increases the reliance on generalized knowledge?

Answer 46

1. Hedonic. 2. Informational approach.

Question 47

What is the hedonic approach for why happiness increases the reliance on generalized knowledge?

Answer 47

Individuals will seek to experience or maintain a positive affective state. (i.e. they do not want to engage in a task that will alter their current positive mood).

Question 48

What is the informational approach for why happiness increases the reliance on generalized knowledge?

Answer 48

Because the positive affective state informs us that the environment is secure and that no action is needed, there is no need to engage in careful processing of incoming info, unless required by other demands.

Question 49

According to the Appraisal Tendency Framework, why is it that sadness is associated with careful processing, but anger and disgust are associated with superficial processing?

Answer 49

Because anger and disgust are associated with the appraisal tendency of certainty, so they lead people to evaluate the situation as being predictable and therefore to rely more on heuristic judgement.