Level 4 Psychology. Emotion Option.
Louise Phillips – Lectures 9-12: Emotion and Cognition.
Lecture 9: The relationship between emotion and cognition: Theoretical and methodological issues.
Rationality. Some historical perspectives on emotion and cognition. Some current theoretical ideas about how emotion and
cognition relate to each other. Methods of studying the interface between emotion and cognition. Mood induction procedures.
Cognitive techniques for assessing emotional bias.
References:
Oatley, K. & Jenkins, .M. (1996). Understanding emotions. Oxford: Blackwell. Chapters 1,4, 9.
Damasio, A.R. (1994). Descartes error: Emotion, reason and the human brain. NY, Grosset/Putnam. Intro.
Lecture 10: Experimental manipulations: The good and bad effects of happiness on cognition
Inducing happy, sad and neutral mood states. Does happy mood facilitate or inhibit cognition? Positive effects of positive mood
on creativity. Negative effects of positive mood on reasoning and executive function. Mood and stereotyping. Possible
explanations for the effects of happy mood.
References:
Dalgleish, T. & Power, M. (1999). Handbook of cognition and emotion. Chichester: Wiley. Chapter 25.
Bodenhausen, G.V., Kramer, G.P. & Süsser, K. (1994). Happiness and stereotypic thinking in social judgment. Journal of
Personality and Social Psychology, 66, 621-632. (Xerox HD).
Isen, A.M., Daubman, K.A. & Nowicki, G.P. (1987). Positive affect facilitates creative problem solving. Journal of Personality
and Social Psychology, 52, 1122-1131 (Xerox HD).
Oaksford, M., Morris, F., Grainger, B. & Williams, J.M.G. (1996). Mood, reasoning, and central executive processes. Journal
of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition, 22, 477-493. (Xerox HD).
Phillips, L.H., Bull, R., Adams, E., & Fraser, L. (2002). Positive mood and executive function: evidence from Stroop and
fluency tasks. Emotion, 2, 12-22. (Available as pdf file from my homepage or via EBSCO).
Lecture 11: Anxiety disorders and cognition.
General theories of the effects of emotional disorders on cognition. Information processing models of attentional bias. Anxiety
disorders: generalised anxiety disorder versus specific phobias. Preattentive and conscious effects of anxiety on attention and
memory. Implications of cognitive theories of anxiety for treatment of anxiety disorders.
References:
Dalgleish, T. & Power, M. (1999). Handbook of cognition and emotion. Chichester: Wiley. Ch 8 & 22.
Mogg, K. & Bradley, B.P. (1998). A cognitive motivational analysis of anxiety. Behaviour Research and Therapy, 36, 809848. (E-journals)
Brosschot, J.F., de Ruiter, C., & Kindt, M. (1999). Processing bias in anxious subjects and repressors measured by
emotional Stroop interference and attentional allocation. Personality and Individual Differences, 26, 777-793. (E-journals.)
See also: special issue of 2002 Cognition and Emotion, 16 (3). On cognitive biases in anxiety and depression (E-journals).
Lecture 12: Cognitive theories of depression.
Clinical depression and mood-congruent attention. Depression and automatic versus controlled processing of information.
Depression, working memory and executive functioning. The control of negative thoughts. Some clinical implications of cognitive
theories of depression.
References:
Wells, A. & Matthews, G. (1994). Attention and emotion: A clinical perspective. Hove: Erlbaum. Chapter 7.
Williams, J.M.G., Watts, F.N., MacLeod, C.M., & Mathews, A. (1997). Cognitive psychology and emotional disorders.
Chichester: Wiley. Chapter 6.
Power, M.J. et al. (2000). The directed forgetting task: application to emotionally valent material. Journal of Affective
Disorders, 57, 147-157.
See also: special issue of 2002 Cognition and Emotion, 16 (3). On cognitive biases in anxiety and depression (E-journals).
Some questions to think about in relation to these lectures:
1.
2.
Evaluate some of the prominent theories about the relationship between emotion and cognition.
Critically evaluate the hypothesis that happy mood results in reduced cognitive resources being devoted to informationprocessing.
3. Outline and evaluate the methods used to examine the effects of emotional states on cognition.
4. Is there greater support for a ‘facilitation’ or ‘inhibition’ theory of the effects of positive mood on cognition? Support your
answer with empirical evidence.
5. Do intense emotional states make us ‘irrational’?
6. To what extent do anxiety and depression have similar effects on cognitive processes?
7. Outline the role of intrusive thoughts on the effects of emotional states on cognition.
8. Outline the effects of depression on cognitive task performance. What implications do these findings have for treatment and
diagnosis of depressed mood?
9. Evaluate the effects of anxiety on pre-attentive processing.
10. Does depression result in a specific deficit of executive functioning?
11. Outline the major similarities and differences between of the effects of happy and sad mood on cognition.