Class 12: Emotions and Cognition II
What comes first, thinking or feeling?
Appraisal Theory: Thinking comes first
Example: Wake in panic, it’s 8:30, you have a 9:00 AM class, then you realize—it’s
Saturday.
New thought (“Saturday”) new emotion?
Relief
Separate Systems Theory: Emotions can come first
Example: Your cousin say’s her new husband is great, she's so happy. He's so
funny and silly especially after 4-5 whiskey sours. You hang up, no problem. Then
you feel unease.
Why?
How many whiskeys?
Schachter & Singer Theory of Emotion
Emotion is arousal + cognition
Fits generally with Cannon-Bard Central Systems Theory
Emotion only occurs if:
a. Body is aroused
b. A reason for arousal is located
c. The labeling of arousal determines emotion
d. Arousal w/o cognition leads to no emotion
Schachter and Singer Model of Emotions
Social / Environmental information
Emotionproducing event
+
Physiological
Response
Emotion
Schachter & Singer Experiment (1962)
1. Subject told study concerns effect of new vitamin
2. Given an injection:
a. Epinephrine (epi) or Placebo (saline)
b. Told that shot is arousing (informed) or not told (uninformed)
3. Told to wait in room, fill out survey
4. Also in room is confederate (poses as another subject)
a. Confed either very happy or very angry
5. Question: What emotion will the subject feel?
Results of Schachter & Singer
Confederate’s Behavior
Subject’s state
Happy
Angry
Neutral
Epi, uninformed
Happy
Angry
Afraid
Epi, informed
Neutral
Neutral
Neutral
Placebo, uninformed
Neutral
Neutral
Neutral
Placebo, informed
Neutral
Neutral
Neutral
Which is the genuine smile, A or B?
A
Fake smile
How did you know "A" was fake?
B
Genuine (Duchene) smile
Fake: Zygomatic (mouth) muscles only
Duchene: Zygomatic (mouth) +
orbicularis oculi (eyes)
Gut Feelings in the Desert:
Antoine De Saint Exupery and the Dragon Fly
I shaved carefully in a cracked mirror. From time to time I
went to the door and looked at the naked sand. … I was
thoughtful. … For the moment everything was all right. But
I heard something sizzling. It was a dragonfly knocking
against the lamp. Why it was I cannot say, but I felt a
twinge in my heart.
I went outdoors and looked round. The air was pure. …
Over the desert reigned a vast silence as of a house in
order. But here were a green butterfly and two dragonflies
knocking against my lamp. Again I felt a dull ache which
might as easily have been joy as fear, but came up from the
depths of me.
Saint Exupery in the Desert, continued
Something was calling to me from a great distance. Was it
instinct?
Once again I went out. The wind had died down
completely. The air was still cool. But I had received a
warning. I guessed, I believed I could guess, what I was
expecting.
I climbed a dune and sat down face to the east. If I was
right, the thing would not be long in coming. What were
they after here, those dragonflies, hundreds of miles from
their oases inland?
Saint Exupery in the Desert
Wreckage thrown up upon the beach bears witness to a
storm at sea. Even so did these insects declare to me that
a sand storm was on the way, a storm out of the east that
had blown them out of their oases.
Solemnly, for it was fraught with danger, the east wind
rose. … But that was not what excited. What filled me
with a barbaric joy was …that I had been able to read the
anger of the desert in the beating wings of a dragonfly.
St. Exupery, A. (1939). Wind, sand, and stars.
Separate Systems Approach to Emotions
a. Affective reactions are primary
b. Affect is basic
c. Affect is inescapable
Robt. Zajonc, 1923-2008
d. Affective reactions tend to be irrevocable, in contrast to cognitive judgments
e. Affect implicates the self: cognitive judgments center on features of objects.
f. Emotions are not always verbalizable
g. Affective reactions don't always depend on thinking
h. Affective reactions can be separated from content knowledge
"Circumstantial" Evidence for
Separate Systems Theory of Emotions
1. Physiological:
a. Hemisphere Specificity: Emotional expressions flashed
to R hemi. recalled better than to L hemi.
b. Amygdala -- direct link to sensorium, bypasses cortex
2. Developmental: Infants "know" emotions from birth.
3. Cross cultural: All cultures "know" same emotions.
4. Evolutionary: Emotion system existed long before neo-cortex
Zajonc “Mere Exposure” Experiment
Purpose: To show “emotional memory” independent of “cognitive memory”
Logic: We like things we’re familiar with.
Method:
Subjects see many cards showing a Chinese character.
Some cards shown repeatedly, others shown only once.
After viewing many cards, subjects asked:
a. Which cards did were shown repeatedly?
b. Which cards they like the most.
Outcome: Subjects can’t recall which cards saw most, BUT
Cards they like most were these cards.
Mere Exposure Study Main Point
Things seen repeatedly are safe.
We like safe things.
Liking becomes an emotional memory for repeated exposure. Even
when conscious memory fails us.
“Preferences” (liking/not liking) “need no inferences” (conscious
judgments and evaluations).
Alternative Explanation (Winkielman): Cognitive Fluency -- things
encountered previously are easier to cognize, and therefore
feel more pleasant. Example: Music sounds better 4th, 5th time.
Studies Showing Affect-Based vs. FeatureBased Memory
Hyde & Jenkins (1969)
WORD LIST A
WORD LIST
Leg
Cup
Money
Skunk
Dishrag
Pretzel
Rogers, Kuiper, & Kirker (1977)
Subs. do one of three tasks:
a. Funny
A. Count letters
B. Does word contain "e"?
C. Rate pleasantness
b. Lazy
Which group shows better
recall?
c. Athletic
Word List B
a. Sunny
b. Hazy
c. Sporty
Subs. do one of four tasks:
A. Compare fonts
B. Does word rhyme?
C. Do words mean same
thing?
D. Do words refer to me?
Which group shows better
recall?
Ekman’s Neurocultural Theory
of Emotion
I.
Facial appearances for each emotion is set by evolution.
II.
Culture affects emotion in three ways:
1. Determines what kinds of events cause us to
experience emotions.
2. Sets norms for expressing emotion—Display rules
3. Says how to act on emotions.
Ekman's Standardized Emotional Expressions
A wild boar is standing outside her
hut. What emotion does she feel?
A
B
C
Reconciling "Appraisal" (Cognitive) and "Separate
Systems" (Emotion first) Approaches
Discrepancy Theory
Soft drink, competes
with Pepsi
COKE
Mighty tree, sheds
acorns
OAK
Short funny story, ends
with punch line
JOKE
Where there is fire,
there is ______
White part of egg _____
SMOKE
Richard Lazarus
George Mandler
Schemas are mental-preparations
Built with experience
Shape our perception, search-strategies
ALBUMIN
VIOLATION OF SCHEMES --> EMOTION
Insomnia and the Attribution Process
Storms and Nisbett, 1970
Richard Nisbett
Idea: Would shifting explanation for night-time nervousness from anxious thoughts to a pill lead
reduce insomnia?
Why would this happen? How is this related to Schachter & Singer?
Study Design
Subjects: 42 insomniacs at Yale
"Arrousal Cond" "This drug....will increase your heart rate and...body
temp., You may feel like your mind is racing. ..."
What is predicted effect of this information on sleep? Why?
"Relax cond" "This drug...will lower your heart rate...body temp. And it
will calm your mind ... "
What is predicted effect of this information on sleep? Why?
Study Results
*
Minutes to Falling Asleep
Note: * Arousal pre-drug due to 2 outliers
Storms and Nisbett Questions
1. Why would emotions keep you awake? Do they explain this?
2. S & M say that "if arousal subjects attribute less arousal to their cognitions...[they will sleep
better]. What does this suggest about emotions and cognitions? What is keeping Subs awake?
What keeps anyone awake, emotions or thoughts?
3. Does misattribution lead to:
a. More potent target emotion (I was feeling somewhat worried about test, now
I am very worried)?
OR
b. Greater anxiety about the emotion, (Oh no, here comes my anxiety!! I'll
never sleep now because of my anxiety. I am worried about my worrying!)