Cognition and Emotion 1

Question 1

define affect

Answer 1

the experience of feeling or emotion

Question 2

define emotion

Answer 2

a brief but intense experience

relatively short lived

E.g. You experience the emotion of ‘fear’ as you notice a car heading directly towards you at fast speed. As the car brakes and slows down and drives around you, that feeling of ‘fear’ subsides

Question 3

define affective judgement

Answer 3

a decision on what a person likes or dislikes

Question 4

according to Watson and Clark (1994), how do they define emotion?

(What components are there that make up emotion?)

Answer 4

emotion is defined as:

• distinct
• integrated
• psychophysiological response systems
• suggested that an emotion contains 3 different response systems:
  1/ a prototypic form of behavioural expression
  2/ a pattern of consistent autonomic changes
  3/ A distinct subjective feeling state

Question 5

explain ‘a prototypic form of behavioural expression’ as a response system for emotion

Answer 5

this refers to recognising an emotion based on the specific behaviour displayed

i.e.: biting your lip = anxious or nervous

aka display behaviours like a facial expression

these can be seen by others

to some extent can be consciously controlled

Question 6

explain ‘a pattern of consistent autonomic changes’ as a response system for emotion

Answer 6

this refers to change in the autonomic nervous system

this results in physiological changes to organs and systems in the body

e.g.: heart rate increasing, sweating

Question 7

explain ‘a distinct subjective feeling state’ as a response system for emotion

Answer 7

this refers to an experience that you have that causes you to label as an emotion

taking all these components and labelling it as some sort of feeling/emotion

Question 8

what two approaches are used to classify emotional experiences?

Answer 8

1/ basic emotion approach
2/ dimensional approach

Question 9

explain the basic emotion approach to classifying emotional experiences

Answer 9

the idea that emotional experiences can be broken down into key number of basic emotions

idea that our emotions are a mix of basic types of emotions

basic emotions = the big 5

Question 10

what are the 5 basic emotions according to the basic emotion theory?
(think inside out)

Answer 10

1/ anger
2/ disgust
3/ fear
4/ happiness
5/ sadness

Question 11

what does it mean by the big 5 being pan-cultural?

Answer 11

these emotions are recognised universally regardless of culture and upbringing

Question 12

who came up with ‘the big 5’?

Answer 12

Paul Ekman

Question 13

Outline Ekman et al. (1971, 1972) study into facial recognition of emotion

Answer 13

• presented ppts with series of emotional expressions
• asked ppts to label the emotions of the expression
• looked to see whether ppts were consistent in giving a particular label to a particular emotion

FINDINGS:
- found high level of agreements over identifying a particular emotion when expressed in the face
- this was regardless of culture

Question 14

what emotion is not so pan-cultural?

Answer 14

surprise

Question 15

what is a basic emotion characterised as?

Answer 15

• distinct universal signals
  e.g.: a facial expression
• distinct physiology
  e.g.: the way your body reacts to emotion
  fear may elicit freeze, heart rate drops
• emotion needs to be seen in other primates
  see these emotions in chimpanzees or monkeys
• quick onset
• brief duration
  emotions need to last for a short period of time
• distinct thoughts, memories etc.
  emotion has to be associated with particular thoughts, memories, images
  needs to bring about some type of subjective experiences

Question 16

how did Ekman objectively measure facial expressions?

Answer 16

used FACS

facial action coding system

this measured the muscles used in the face when portraying particular emotions

these and a number of other things are things that have to be part of emotional experience in order for it to be classified as a basic emotion

Question 17

explain the dimensional approach to classifying emotional experiences

Answer 17

• the theory that suggests emotions have 2 or more fundamental dimensions
• looks further into what an emotion is
• uses an affect grid which measures how a ppt is feeling
• uses two different dimensions to measure how ppt is feeling (i.e. arousal and valence)

Question 18

what are the two dimension of emotion most widely accepted for the dimensional approach?

Answer 18

arousal and valence

Question 19

define valence
:) / :(

Answer 19

refers to the distinction between how pleasant/unpleasant or positive/negative something is

Question 20

define arousal

Answer 20

distinction between how calm or aroused/excited ppt feels

Question 21

Outline Lang (1988) study for dimensional approach to categorising emotions

Answer 21

• presented ppts with series of International Affective Picture System (IAPS) images
• asked ppts to rate pictures in terms of 2 dimensions (valence and arousal)
• rating scale used = self assessment manikin (SAM) 9 point rating scale

FINDINGS:
- c-shaped affect grid

Question 22

describe an affect grid

Answer 22

• c-shaped
  due to there being very few arousing neutral things and many neutral non-arousing things
• arousal across the X axis
• valence across the Y axis

Question 23

what is a problem with the dimensional approach?

Answer 23

some emotions combine attributes of dimensions making them incompatible with dimensional models

e.g.: nostalgia is a combination of both positive and negative valence

Question 24

identify 3 theories of emotion

Answer 24

1/ James-Lange Theory
2/ Cannon-Bard Theory
3/ Schachter & Singer 2 factor Theory

Question 25

Explain the James-Lange Theory

Answer 25

• proposed a somatic theory (relating to the body)
• theory suggests that emotional experience is as a result of change in bodily function
• behaviour comes before cognition

perception of stimulus -> bodily changes -> emotional experience

Question 26

Explain the Cannon-Bard Theory

Answer 26

• theory came about after criticism of James-Lange Theory
• suggests that emotional experience is as a result of a change in autonomic arousal that occurs simultaneously with a particular emotion
• e.g.: seeing a snake may prompt both feeling of fear (emotional response) and a racing heartbeat (physical reaction)

Question 27

Explain Schachter & Singer cognitive theory

Answer 27

• two factor theory
• proposed emotion suggests that physiological arousal determines strength of emotion
• cognitive appraisal identifies emotion felt
• cognitive appraisals comes from context from previous experience
• suggested there are 2 factors essential to experience emotion
  high physiological arousal
  an emotional interpretation of that
  arousal
• if these factors = not present, you will not feel these emotions

Question 28

Outline Schachter & Singer’s (1962) classic study

Answer 28

• told ppts they were investigating effects of a vitamin compound on vision (this was a lie)
• ppts were split into 4 groups
• 3 groups = injected with adrenaline
  adrenaline causes change in autonomic nervous system
• 1 group = injected with saline solution (this was the control group, they were not told anything about the effects of the drug they were given)
• of the 3 groups that had been given adrenaline: (informational manipulation)
• one group = correctly informed about side effects (racing heart etc.)
• one group = incorrectly informed of side effects (headaches, numb feet) this is not true of adrenaline
• one group = not informed at all

(context manipulation)
- ppts then exposed to a situation aimed to produce either joy, euphoria or anger

• emotional state of P’s later assessed

Question 29

what was the hypothesis of Schachter & Singer classic study?

Answer 29

Those who were highly physiologically aroused (adrenalin groups) but who couldn’t interpret their arousal as being produced by the drug, should feel the most emotion and that the context will influence the emotion experienced (happiness or anger)

• groups that were physiologically aroused (due to adrenaline) but could not determine the arousal as being due to the drug (due to information given) should feel most emotion. The emotion is dependent on the context as this will influence the emotion experienced
• ppts are not able to appraise the situation and say the drug caused the arousal (as they believe they have been injected with a vitamin)
• because they cannot appraise the situation, they believe they are feeling an emotion
• context = instead of the appraisal coming from context of knowing what the drug is, the context will be coming from the experience they are put into

Question 30

Outline the findings of Schachter & Singer’s classic study about emotion

Answer 30

Happy Group
- ppts that were misinformed experienced the most emotion (most happiness)

• followed by ignorant/uninformed group
• those informed about drug side effects, experienced the least emotion
  this is because they can explain why they are feeling a particular emotion (arousal comes from drug)

Angry Group
- ignorant/uninformed groups felt most emotion (angry)

• saline/control group
• informed group felt least angry

despite adrenaline groups having identical physiological responses, the experience of emotion = influenced by information previously given AND the context (situation) ppt was in

Question 31

what does Schachter & Singer classic study conclude about emotion?

Answer 31

concludes there is a cognitive component in the experience of emotion