Emotion

• Emotion

  The tendency for the brain to notice things that are exciting, interesting, or unusual
• Aim

  McGinnies wanted to see whether things cause anxiety are less likely to be noticed than things that aee emotionally neutral
• Method

  8 male and 8 female students were shown neutral and offensive 'taboo' words flashed on a screen

  Participants had ti say each word out loud

  The amount of emotional arousal was measured through their GSR
• GSR

  Galvanic Skin Response
• Results

  Participants took longer to say offensive words than neutral ones

  Taboo words produced bigger changes in the GSR than neutral ones
• Conclusion

  Emotion affects perceptual set

  Perceptual defence is used by the brain when dealing with words that cause offense or anxiety
• Evaluation

  Objective measurement- used an objective measurement of emotion. Results are less open to bias

  The delayed recognition may be caused by embarrassment rather than defense