Cognition & Emotion 2

• What is the definition of affect in the context of cognition and emotion?

  Affect is the experience of feeling or emotion.
• What did the Schachter & Singer study suggest about the subjective experience of emotion?

  It suggested that the subjective experience of an emotion results from the interpretation of physiological arousal within a situational context.
• What is the cognitive appraisal theory in relation to affect and cognition?

  The cognitive appraisal theory explores whether affect requires cognition and discusses the primacy debate between cognition and emotion.
• According to Zajonc (1984), how are affect and cognition related?

  Affect and cognition are separate and partially independent systems.
• What did Zajonc claim about cognitive processes and affective responses?

  Zajonc claimed that cognitive processes are not necessary to produce an affective response to a stimulus.
• What is the affective primacy debate?

  • The debate on whether emotion precedes cognition.
  • Explores if emotional responses can occur without cognitive processing.
• What is the Mere Exposure effect?

  The Mere Exposure effect is when previously presented stimuli are preferred to novel ones.
• How was the Mere Exposure Experiment conducted by Zajonc?

  Participants were presented with images subliminally while engaged in a different primary task.
• What were the results of Zajonc's Mere Exposure Experiment?

  Participants gave higher liking ratings to previously 'seen' stimuli compared to new stimuli.
• What does the primacy debate suggest about cognition and emotional experience?

  The primacy debate suggests that cognition is not required for an emotional experience.
• What was the focus of the Murphy & Zajonc (1993) Priming Experiment?

  The experiment focused on whether emotion comes before cognition or if emotion can occur after cognitive activity.
• How did the ratings of liking in the Murphy & Zajonc experiment change based on the duration of presentation?

  Ratings of liking were influenced by affective/emotional primes only when presented for 4 ms.
• According to Zajonc, what is not required to experience an emotion?

  Cognitive appraisal is not required to experience an emotion.
• Who developed a theory based on Schachter & Singer’s work?

  Richard Lazarus developed a theory from Schachter & Singer’s work.
• What does Lazarus's theory state about cognitive appraisal?

  Cognitive appraisal underlies and is an integral feature of all emotional states.
• What is cognitive appraisal in Lazarus's Appraisal Theory?

  • Cognitive appraisal is the interpretation of a situation.
  • It helps determine the nature and intensity of the emotional response.
• What types of films were shown to participants in the Speisman et al. (1964) study?

  Participants were shown anxiety-evoking films, including a Stone Age circumcision ritual and workshop accidents.
• Which narrative resulted in the least anxiety during the Speisman et al. study?

  The denial narrative resulted in the least anxiety.
• What does manipulating appraisals influence according to the Speisman et al. study?

  Manipulating appraisals influences the emotional experience.
• What are the three types of appraisals in cognitive appraisal theory?

  1. Primary appraisals: Identify if there’s a threat to well-being.
  2. Secondary appraisals: Determine available personal resources to cope.
  3. Reappraisals: Monitor and modify primary and secondary appraisals if needed.

  
• How can different emotional states be distinguished according to Smith & Lazarus (1993)?

  Different emotional states can be distinguished by the appraisal components involved.

  
• What is the focus of the study on attention and emotion?

  The study focuses on how emotional aspects of a stimulus can influence cognitive processes like attention and interpretation.

  
• What is suggested by the literature regarding attentive processes and emotion?

  The literature suggests that attentive processes may be biased by emotion.

  
• What are the two types of cognitive biases discussed?

  1. Attention bias: Selective attention to emotionally related stimuli.
  2. Interpretative bias: Tendency to interpret ambiguous stimuli negatively.
• What is the classical example of attentional bias?

  The classical example of attentional bias is seen using the Stroop Task.
• What does the normal Stroop task involve?

  The normal Stroop task involves showing names of colors in congruent/incongruent ink and asking participants to report the color of the ink.

  
• What is the emotional Stroop task?

  The emotional Stroop task involves showing both emotional and neutral words in different colored inks and asking participants to name the ink color.

  
• What does the emotional Stroop task examine?

  The emotional Stroop task examines attention to word meanings by looking at how word meaning interferes with color naming.

  
• How does trait anxiety affect performance on the emotional Stroop task?

  High trait anxiety participants show greater interference effects on the emotional Stroop than low trait anxiety individuals.
• What variant of the emotional Stroop task used faces?

  A variant of the emotional Stroop task used colored faces expressing emotion.

  
• What were the results of the emotional Stroop task using angry faces?

  Color naming latencies were slower for angry faces, indicating that angry faces capture attention away from the primary task.
• What does the dot-probe/attentional probe task examine?

  The dot-probe task examines the early allocation of attention to emotional stimuli.
• What was the focus of the study by MacLeod, Mathews & Tata (1986)?

  The study focused on the speed of responses when a dot occupies the location previously occupied by neutral versus emotional stimuli.
• What did the results show about controls and anxious patients in the dot-probe task?

  Controls showed a positive bias, while anxious patients were slower for neutral words, indicating attentional bias towards threat.
• What does the attentional bias for threat indicate in anxious patients?

  Anxious patients allocate attention to threat words, preventing attention disengagement.
• What did MacLeod & Mathews (1998) find regarding high trait anxious students and the dot-probe task?

  High trait anxious students showed bias towards threat-related stimuli only one week before an important exam.