T O WHAT EXTENT DO COGNITIVE AND BIOLOGICAL FACTORS INTERACT IN EMOTION ? By: John Shammi 13 IB 2!

W HAT IS EMOTION ? Emotion can be defined as the body’s adaptive response to a particular situation.

T O WHAT EXTENT DO COGNITIVE AND BIOLOGICAL FACTORS INTERACT IN EMOTION ? 1. Two-Factor Theory 2. Appraisal Theory

T WO -F ACTOR T HEORY OF E MOTION (TFT) S CHACHTER AND S INGER (1962) Emotion depends on two factors… 1.Physiological arousal 2.Cognitive interpretation of that arousal (our mind labels it).

E XAMPLE …. If a women finds herself near an angry mob of people when she is physiologically aroused, she might label that arousal “anger.” On the other hand, if she experiences the same pattern of physiological arousal at a music concert, she might label the arousal “excitement.”

S CHACHTER AND S INGER (1962) While the strength of the physiological arousal determines the intensity of the emotional experience, its interpretation determines which particular emotion is experienced.

A PPRAISAL T HEORY OF E MOTION L AZARUS 1975 A theory of emotion which implicates that people's personal interpretations of an event determining their emotional reaction. Event ==> thinking ==> Simultaneous arousal and emotion. So the way you interpret a situation (cognitive) can effect your physiological response (biology)

A PPRAISAL T HEORY OF E MOTION L AZARUS 1975 Two ways that we think about it…. 1. Primary Appraisal: we consider how the situation affects our personal well-being. 2. Secondary Appraisal: we consider how we might cope with the situation (or who is to blame)

E XPERIMENTAL MANIPULATION OF EMOTIONS THROUGH COGNITIVE APPRAISAL S PEISMAN ET AL (1964) Aim To investigate the extent in which manipulation of cognitive appraisal could influence emotional experience. In other words, if they change the way you look at an experience, will that change your emotion towards it.

S PEISMAN ET AL (1964) Procedure: In this laboratory experiment, participants saw anxiety provoking films. Basically, a film of an aborigine initiation ceremony where adolescent boys were subjected to unpleasant genital cutting.

S PEISMAN ET AL (1964) The film was shown with three different soundtracks intended to manipulate emotional reactions. The “trauma condition” has a soundtrack with emphasis on mutilation and pain. The “intellectual” condition had a soundtrack that gave an anthropological interpretation of the initiation ceremony.

S PEISMAN ET AL (1964) The “denial condition” showed adolescents as being willing and happy in the ceremony. During each viewing of the film various objective physiological measures were taken, such as heart rate and galvanic skin response.

S PEISMAN ET AL (1964) Results: Participants in the “trauma condition” showed much higher physiological measures of stress than participants in the other two conditions. Results support the appraisal theory that the manipulation of the participants cognitive appraisal did have a significant impact.

S PEISMAN ET AL (1964) Evaluation: In lab…so it was controlled. Lacks ecological validity. Research on the role of the appraisal in real life emotional events tends to find the same relationship as laboratory research.

W HAT IS STRESS ? Stress is a biological and psychological response experienced on encountering a threat that we feel we do not have the resources to deal with. A stressor is the stimulus (or threat) that causes stress, e.g. exam, divorce, loss of job. Stress can be both positive and negative Stress is a result of both inside the body and outside the body factors

F IGHT OR FLIGHT RESPONSE IN HUMANS The fight or flight response is the automatic defensive system that is built into your body that is triggered when your body senses danger. The purpose of the fight or flight response is to either help you fight an enemy or to flee away and save yourself.

N ON -P HYSICAL THREATS CAN CREATE MODERATE FIGHT OR FLIGHT RESPONSES Threats in form of:  Emotional  Intellectual  Social/Value system __________________ Stimulated by:  Actual events  Thoughts  Imagination

W HAT HAPPENS WHEN THE FIGHT OR FLIGHT RESPONSE IS TRIGGERED ?

T HE FIGHT OR FLIGHT RESPONSE IS AN EMERGENCY STATE  Although the fight and flight response is an emergency state that your body wasn't designed to work under for long periods of time.  Constantly triggering the fight and flight response could cause some serious health problems. Eg. High blood pressure.

D OWN SIDE OF F LIGHT OR F IGHT RESPONSE The major problem arises when this response is incorrectly triggered when you perceive a situation as a threat one while its not.

E XAMPLE : For example; if your fight or flight response was triggered as a result of seeing a spider, or when you hear some noise while being at a dark place or just before you make a presentation then you must learn how to be more in control of your thoughts and emotions.