Discuss to what extent cognitive and biological factors interact in emotion.

I. Introduction
a. Emotion is a very complex notion that humans experience that is very difficult to
describe and explain
b. The human body has both cognitive and biological factors
i. Cognitive processes are found in the brain and are related to mental
processes
ii. Biological factors include physiological changes and responses in the
body itself
c. Cannon (1929) argued that emotions are not easily distinguishable at the
physiological level, retaliating against James and Lange (1890)s claim that the
state of the body determines the emotions humans experience
d. In fact similar patterns of autonomic arousal underlie distinct emotions such as
joy or pain, etc, so theorists have said claimed that another factor is needed to
transform the ambiguous states into specific emotions
e. Two theories, the two-factor theory (TFT), and the appraisal theory of emotion,
examine the extent to which cognitive and biological factors interact in emotion
II. TFT (Two-factor theory)
a. According to this, physiological arousal and an emotional interpretation and
labelling of the arousal interact to determine specific emotions
b. Schacter and Singer (1962) tested the TFT in their adrenaline and emotion study
i. 184 male participants told they were to receive a vitamin injection and
participate in vision experiments, but actually three groups received an
injection of adrenaline and the fourth a placebo injection of saline solution
ii. Three adrenaline groups: increased heart rate and shaky hands, no info on
side effects, or headache/numbness
iii. Two contexts to manipulate emotion: euphoria and anger (used
confederates); observational data and self-reports used
iv. In euphoria: group with no knowledge showed happier behavior and
reported feelings happier; for anger behavioral data showed that those who
knew about side effects showed less anger
v. Main finding: same arousal state could be experienced as one of two
distinct emotions depending on interpretation and labelling
c. Criticisms
i. Physiological arousal measured in rudimentary way
ii. Arousal produced by adrenaline actually neutral, not unpleasant
iii. Deception
iv. Mezzacappa et al is just one study that have found replication failures
v. Ecological validity
vi. Schacter may have emphasized the role of cognition, but he didnt link it
to cognitive states
III. Appraisal theory of emotion
a. With this theory, Lazarus (1982) did what Schacter did not; his theory is based on
the notion of appraisal: evaluation of situations according to their significance
 b. Cognition was an essential part of all emotional states for Lazarus quite like
Schacter
i. Primary appraisal: deciding whether a situation is personally relevant;
motivational relevance, motivational congruence, accountability
ii. Secondary appraisal: individuals coping options
1. Problem-focused coping, emotion-focused coping, future
expectancy
c. CRTs (core relational theme) refers to the six above appraisal components that
define specific emotions with their different combinations
d. Smith and Lazarus (1993) supports the theory
i. Participants identifying with character of story they were reading:
character appraising bad situation, and accountability from primary
appraisal was manipulated: unhelpful teacher vs poor motivation
ii. Participants reported emotional states consistent with appraisal theory
iii. Study criticized by Kuppens, et al (2003): validity and generalization
because character was fictional
e. Herrald and Tomaka (2002)
i. Directly investigated relationship between different emotions, appraisal,
and cardiovascular reactivity (biological factors)
ii. In the study a confederate made participants feel anger, shame, or pride
based on the CRTs; physiological arousal was measured by cardiac
activity and blood pressure
iii. Results consistent with appraisal theory: the interaction between cognition
and biological factors results in specific emotions
f. Speisman, et al (1964)
i. Illustrated the way cognitive appraisals affected bodys response to
stressful situations: participants shown video of boys undergoing
circumcision, soundtrack manipulated to either trauma, denial,
intellectualization, or silent condition
ii. Galvanic skin response (GSR) and heart rate measured arousal state; it
was highest in trauma condition, denial was medium, and
intellectualization and silent were lowest
iii. The way the participants appraised the situation affected their
physiological reaction, hence showing the interaction of cognition and
biological factors in showing emotion
IV. Conscious versus subconscious
a. Lazarus claimed that emotional responses based on cognitive processing, but
didnt suggest whether the process was conscious; Zajonc, 1980 argued that
emotional responses didnt have to be cognitively appraised
b. Ohman (2000)s study showed that appraisals can take place subconsciously
i. Two experimental conditions where participants with a phobia of snakes
and spiders shown images of snakes and spiders for time periods either too
short or long enough to consciously recognize them
ii. Phobic participants had very similar physiological responses regardless if
they had or had not consciously seen the creatures indicating that
appraisals can occur unconsciously
 iii. This again supports the interrelationship between cognition and biological
factors, even if appraisal occurs unconsciously
V. Conclusion
a. The TFT and appraisal theory of emotion both argue that cognition and biological
factors are both essential to emotion
b. According to both theories emotions are determined by the interaction of both
things, and cannot arise in the absence of cognition
c. In the case of skeptics (Zajonc, 1980), who argued that emotional states are
possible without any cognitive involvement do not view cognition as an
unconscious process; however, studies by Ohman show that cognition does indeed
occur at subconscious levels
d. There is much debate in the psychological community between the extent of
biological and cognitive factors in the manifestation of emotion, but the fact that
both rely on each other to elicit emotion is undeniable.