EMOTIONS A presentation by Anha Malani and Maddie Perrett.

What is an emotion? "An emotion is a complex psychological state that involves three distinct components: a subjective experience, a physiological response, and a behavioral or expressive response.” (Hockenbury & Hockenbury, 2007)

First Study: Schacter and Singer’s Two- factor Theory (1962) Two factors interact to determine specific emotions Physiological arousal Emotion interpretation and labelling of the physiological arousal Strength of the physiological arousal determines the intensity of emotion Interpretation of physiological arousal determines which particular emotion is experienced

Schacter and Singer (1962) AIM: To test the two factor theory of emotion (that emotion arises from a combination of cognition and arousal), using the hormone, adrenaline.

PROCEDURE: 8) Participants were then asked to fill out a questionnaire detailing their state of emotion. 7) Participants were observed for changes in emotion 6) Condition 2 anger: confederate completed a questionnaire at the same pace as the participant but became more and more angry as the questions became more personal. 5) Condition 1 euphoria: confederate encouraged participant to play with games inside the waiting room. 4) 4 groups were then divided into 2 subgroups 3) Last group was given a placebo. 2) All groups were told they were getting an injection of Suproxin to test its effects on vision, even though men were really receiving adrenaline. 1) 184 college males were divided into 4 groups

RESULTS: Showed that participants that were given information on the effects of adrenaline showed minimal changes in emotion because they had an accurate explanation of their emotion. But those who had been told no effect showed much higher changes in emotion because they had no explanation for their state of arousal, so they used cues of the confederate's behaviour and labelled their emotions. These participants changed their behaviour according to cognitive appraisal of their emotions, rather than specific physiological arousal, indicating that only general arousal is required.

CONCLUSIONS: Researchers concluded that emotion occurs by a process of cognitive labelling: the interpretation of physiological cues is combined with contextual cues to construct a person's subjective experience of emotion

EVALUATION: GENDER ETHICS METHODOLOGY SOCIOCULTURAL

GENDER ETHICS METHODOLOGY SOCIOCULTURAL All the participants were males, this means that it cannot be generalized to females because they may have had a different reaction. Participants were not informed of the true nature and aims of the study before. They did not know that they would be receiving adrenaline or placebo injections. Some participants did not know true effects of injection. Being fully informed of the true nature and aims of the study may result in participant bias. Researchers did not protect participants. The participants were observed through a one-way mirror, therefore this experiment may lack some ecological validity. This factor can be debated, as the culture of the participants was limited. All participants were White Americans therefore it is difficult to generalize and make an assumption using the results obtained.

Second Study: Dutton and Aron’s Swinging Bridge Theory (1974)

Dutton and Aron’s (1974) AIM: To test the causation of misattribution of arousal.

PROCEDURE: 8)Thus, for example, a story with any mention of sexual intercourse received 5 points; but if the most sexual reference was "girl friend," it received a score of 2; "kiss" counted 3; and "lover," 4. 7)Scores ranged from 1 (no sexual content) to 5 (high sexual content) according to the most sexual ref-erence in the story. 6) Stories were scored for manifest sexual con-ent according to a slightly modified version of the procedure employed by Barclay and Haber (1965). 5)The interviewers gave their numbers to the participants so they could ring them if they wanted more detail. The amount of calls made to each gender was recorded. 4) On the second page, subjects were instructed to write a brief, dramatic story based upon a picture of a young woman covering her face with one hand and reaching with the other. 3) The participants were asked to fill out a short questionnaire. It contained six filler items such as age, education, prior visits to bridge etc. 2) The interviewer explained that he/she was doing a project for her/his psychology class on the effects of exposure to scenic attractions on creative expression. 1) 85 male passersby where interviewed by either a male or female on two separate bridges (a suspension bridge that would induce fear or a sturdy bridge that would not induce fear).

RESULTS: Dutton and Aron found that men who were approached by a woman on the suspension bridge told stories with the highest sexual imagery of all the experimental groups. These men were also more likely to call the assistant, regardless of sex, but the female research assistant got the most calls.

CONCLUSIONS More males contacted the female confederate when they had just walked down the suspension bridge, which was thought to be due to their misattribution of their arousal (they believed that they were feeling sexual arousal at the sight of the female instead of feeling the leftover physiological arousal from the fear of walking across the suspension bridge). This was interpreted by the researchers to mean that the men found the woman more attractive when they had more anxiety about crossing the bridge. There were no significant differences on either bridge when the researchers used a male confederate to give the Thematic Apperception Test and his phone number for any further questions about the experiment.

EVALUATION: GENDER SOCIOCULTURAL ETHICS METHODOLOGY

ETHICS GENDER SOCIOCULTURAL All the participants were males, this means that it cannot be generalized to females because they may have had a different reaction. However, the point of the experiment was to test males because one gender had to be chose. The participants were not given the true nature of the questionnaire, so there are ethical issues in terms of informed consent. Also, not all the participants were debriefed because they had to make the call in order to be debriefed and not all participants made the call. The experiment took place in Canada, but the bridges chosen are tourist attraction sites. This means it is uncertain as to whether all the males where Caucasian. It may be different in other cultures where being alone with a woman is seen as offensive. Although the results of this experiment provide prima facie support for an emotion- sexual attraction link, the experiment suffers from interpretative problems that often plague field experiments. (PLEASE SEE NEXT SLIDE)

METHODOLOGY The main problem with the study is the possibility of different subject populations on the two bridges First, the well-advertised suspension bridge is a tourist attraction (attracts more out-of- town persons) than the nearby provincial park where the control bridge was located. This difference in subject populations may have affected the results in two ways. 1)The experimental subjects may have been less able to phone the experimenter (if they were in town on a short-term tour) and less likely to hold out the possibility of further liaison with her. 2) Differences could exist between experimental and control populations with respect to personality variables. The experimental population might be more predisposed to thrill seeking and therefore more willing to chance phoning a strange female to effect a liaison. Also, present knowledge of personality theory does not allow us to rule out the combination of thrill seeking and greater sexual imagery.

Evaluate the extent to which cognitive and biological factors interact in emotion. The next few slides are about how the aforementioned studies would be used to answer this question

How does the Two Factor Theory support the interaction between biological and cognitive factors in emotion? Perception of stimulus may lead to bodily physiological arousal Physiological arousal is necessary for emotional experience, but needs to be labeled or interpreted by cognitive appraisal of the situation If a state of unexplained bodily arousal is induced, people will look around and try to explain the arousal in terms of their environment This cognitive appraisal results in labeling of the arousal as an emotional experience.

CONNECTION OF STUDY 1 TO QUESTION: This study supports that a combination of physiological change (adrenaline) and cognitive labelling (appraisal of the situation) can contribute to changes in emotion.

Summary of Study 1 To a large extent: Biological factors affecting emotion To a small extent: Variables that cause and determine emotion (adrenaline)

How does the Swinging Bridge Theory support the interaction between biological and cognitive factors in emotion? Misattribution of arousal can also influence how much confidence one feels before completing a task. Misattribution procedures can alter physiological response to a conditioned source of a fear or arousal. Self perception and attribution play a major role in emotional response

CONNECYION OF STUDY 2 TO QUESTION: This study supports that psychological arousal is linked to a combination of variables (which are imposed) that can contribute to changes in emotion.

Summary of Study 2 To a large extent: Interaction of cognitive and emotion To a small extent: Interaction of the BLOA and result of the emotion