REMINDER: PLEASE TURN OFF YOUR PHONES

PSYCHOLOGY OF EMOTION: EMOTION AND COGNITION 1

Wesley G. Moons, Ph.D. University of California, Davis Department of Psychology

APPRAISAL THEORY
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Appraisals
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Assessments of a situation/stimulus Precursor to emotional experience

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Unconstrained models
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Unlimited variations of appraisals

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Different types of appraisals specific to each situation No consistent appraisals associated with any specific emotion

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Drawbacks
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Slow process Cognitively elaborate and exhausting

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Occams razor
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Proposed by Father William of Ockham Also called parsimony

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Newtons Version
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We are to admit no more causes of natural things than such as are both true and sufficient to explain their appearances.

ALTERNATIVE APPRAISAL MODELS

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Smith & Ellsworth Model

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Appraisals lead to emotions Dimensional perspective

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Appraisal Dimensions
1.! 2.! 3.! 4.! 5.! 6.! 7.! 8.!

Attention Certainty Control-Coping Pleasantness Perceived Obstacle Responsibility Legitimacy Anticipated Effort

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Dimensional Models
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Patterns of dimensions associated with emotion But how many dimensions are there?

APPRAISAL SEQUENCES
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When appraisals give rise to emotional experience

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Different types of appraisals occur

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Most likely temporal sequence

1.!
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Primary appraisal
Automatic, uncontrollable, brief assessment of situation

2.!
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Possible physiological response

If threat/problem detected primary appraisals trigger bodily response If no threat/problem detected then no bodily response necessary

3.!
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Secondary appraisal
More deliberate, more controlled, more extensive Can amplify or diminish initial response triggered by primary appraisal

APPRAISAL TENDENCIES
!! Mutual 1.! 2.!

causality

Appraisals lead to emotions Emotions lead to appraisals

TYPES OF EMOTION
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Different emotional influences on judgment and decision-making

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Integral emotions
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Emotion is elicited as part of the judgment or decision task !! e.g., Deciding whether to convict someone or not

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Incidental emotion
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Emotion is elicited first by something irrelevant to the judgment or decision task !! e.g., Arguing with a spouse and then needing to make an investment decision

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Often incidental emotion is examined because:

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Explains emotion effects across many decision contexts Makes stronger case for irrational influences of emotion

APPRAISAL TENDENCY EFFECTS

!! Emotions !! !!

exert effects on cognition

Via emotion-specific appraisals Allows more precise predictions (beyond valence)

!! Life !!
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outcomes (Lerner & Keltner, 2000)

e.g., brain cancer, strokes, floods

Subjects predict risk of various outcomes Comparison of:

Fear (low certainty, low control) !! Anger (high certainty, high control)
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Anger (vs. fear) associated with more favorable outlook

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True for state affect and dispositional affect

MORE APPRAISAL-BASED PREDICTIONS

!! Information !!

processing:

Extent to which information is considered and evaluated

!! Appraisal !! !!

predictions (Tiedens & Linton, 2001)

Appraisals induced by emotions Focus on appraisals of certainty

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Indicator of sufficient knowledge/information

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Finding:
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More certainty decreases information processing

EMOTIONS AND ACTION TENDENCIES

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Emotions associated with particular motivations and behavioral tendencies (Lazarus, 1991)
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Anger Desire to punish Disgust Desire to purge Sadness Desire to improve emotional state

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Behavioral tendencies related to appraisals

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Patterns of cognitive appraisals (e.g., control) likely underlie behavioral tendencies

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Action tendencies also associated with judgment and decision-making

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Such as economic decisions

BEHAVIORAL TENDENCIES AND ECONOMICS

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One robust finding is the endowment effect

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Sell our own item at a higher cost than what wed pay to acquire that item Can emotions change peoples buying/selling judgments and decisions?

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Study (Lerner, Small, & Loewenstein, 2004)

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Condition 1: Participants given an item that they can sell Condition 2: Participants can buy that same item Decision task: At what price are they willing to sell (C1) or buy (C2) that item?

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Hypotheses
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Disgust Motivated to purge oneself of old and new items Sadness Motivated to change current situation

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Results
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Disgusted people sold their own item at lower prices and only bought new stuff at lower prices Sad people willing to sell their own item at lower price and willing to pay more to acquire new item

AFFECT AND MEMORY

!! Activity !!

Free associate with word:

1.! 2.!

Kiss Corpse

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Patterns of association
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Semantic associations
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e.g., dog cat e.g., corpse death

Valence associations
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AFFECTIVE ORGANIZATION OF MEMORY

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Memory organized by valence

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Negative memories more strongly linked Positive memories more strongly linked

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Mood congruency effect (Bower, 1981)

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Participants hypnotized
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Induced good mood or bad mood

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Results Mood congruency in recall (words, diary events, and childhood events) Emotion influenced free associations, fantasies, perceptions, and snap judgments of others personalities People attended to and better remembered moodcongruent information from a story

1.! 2.!

MOOD CONGRUENCY MECHANISM

!! Associative !! !!

network

Organization of valenced information THEORETICAL models (links and nodes):

Death Coffin Corpse Funeral Crying Friends Family Food

!! Spreading !! !!

Activation

Activations of closely linked node Increased accessibility of linked information

AFFECT IN ASSOCIATIVE NETWORKS

!! One

possibility: Link strength

Corpse (-) Family (+) Funeral (-)

!! A

second possibility: Level of Interconnectivity

Corpse Family Funeral (-)

(+)

AFFECT AND CREATIVITY

!! Activity !!

Free associate with word:

1.! 2.!

Carpet Chair

!! Broaden
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and build model (Fredrickson, 1998)

Positive affect allows for secure exploration !! Increased associations (flexibility)

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More innovative solutions

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Candle problem (creativity problem) !! Candle, book of matches, box of thumbtacks !! Affix candle to corkboard
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No wax can fall on table

THE END!