Emotion

• Emotion


  A strong feeling or mood that encourages us to behave in a particular way.
• McGinnies (1949)


  Aimed to see if our emotion impacted our perception by seeing if it takes us longer to say embarrassing words
• Method

  • 16 Students (8 male, 8 female)
  • Shows several words which flashes on the screen and participants were asked to read them out.
  • Neutral and taboo words.
  • Emotional arousal was measured using GSR (galvanic skin response)
• Results

  • Participants took longer to recognise and say taboo words.
  • Their emotional arousal was higher when reading the taboo words.
• Conclusion

  • Emotion does affect our perceptual set.
  • The higher the anxiety, the longer it takes us to perceive.
• Evaluation point 1

  • Strength- used an objective way of measuring arousal.
  • They measured the arousal rather than asking.
  • Increases accuracy as it doesn't rely on the participant's answer which could be deceitful.
• Evaluation point 2

  • Weakness- Could have measured embarrassment rather than arousal.
  • Participants could have taken longer due to embarrassment rather than their perception.
  • Results could be inaccurate.