Knowledge and emotion

Knowledge and Emotion
WHAT DO WE KNOW ABOUT
WHAT WE FEEL?
R E F E R E N C E S :
EMO T I O N . J AME S A . MC C U B B I N , P HD
C L EMS O N U N I V E R S I T Y
HA N D B O O K O F EMO T I O N S , 2 N D E D I T I O N
M. L EWI S & J . M. HA V I L A N D - J O N E S , E D I T O R S
S P E I SMA N E T A L , 1 9 6 4

So What Are Emotions?
 According to researchers, an emotion is
”a superordinate program whose function is to direct the
activities and interactions of the subprograms governing
perception; attention; inference; learning; memory; goal choice;
motivational priorities; categorization and conceptual
frameworks; physiological reactions.
(Toobey and Cosmides in Handbook of Emotions)

Emotion and Feeling – Not The Same
 Emotion: a physiological
response to change that
is hard-wired and
universal.
 Feeling: mental
associations and
reactions to an emotion
that are personal,
acquired through
experience.
 Definition by James-Lange
 To experience emotion is
to become aware of
physiological responses
to emotion-arousing
stimuli.
 This experience of
emotion is what we know
as a feeling.

Emotions Experienced = Feeling
.  Does your heart pound
because you are afraid...
or are you afraid because
you feel your heart
pounding?
 The experience of
emotion IS the feeling
afraid.
Sight of
oncoming
car
(perception of
stimulus)
Pounding
heart
(arousal)
Fear
(emotion)

Evolutionary Explanations – What Are They
There For?
 The brain is functionally specialized for solving
adaptive problems that arose during evolutionary
history:
 face recognition, foraging, mate choice, heart rate regulation,
sleep management, or predator vigilance, and each is activated
by a different set of cues from the environment.
 It would be disastrous if environmental cues activated e.g.
sleep programs at the sight of a lion – rather than those that
control fear.

Let’s Use Fear as an Example
 Makes sure that we are always protected by the
group, and not alone, abandoned and thus in danger.
 Makes sure that we respond appropriately to stimuli
that are potentially dangerous to the organism.
 Makes us yell out/emote and thus warn the group at
the sight of potential threats.
 Keeps us from taking unneccesary risks.

Biological Explanation – What We Know
 The Amygdala controls
emotions (we know this
from patients who do not
have this part of the
limbic system).
 It makes us remember
experiences better: when
the amydala is active, we
transfer information
from STM to LTM more
efficiently.
 Learn fast: dos and donts

Can We Control/Manipulate Emotions?
 Seems obvious that of
course we can! Duh!
 But can we also do so in
an experiment, where the
variables are controlled?
 Yes – this was done in a
well-known experiment
by Speisman et al in
1964.
Speisman’s Aim:
To investigate the extent to
which manipulation of
cognitive appraisal could
influence emotional
experience.

Cognitive Appraisal – does what you think affect
how you feel?

Speisman et al (1964) - Procedure
• Participants saw anxiety-evoking film of an
aboriginal initiation ceremony w/ boys subjected to
genital mutilation.
• Shown with three different soundtracks intended to
manipulate emotional reactions.
• “trauma condition” - emphasis on the mutilation and pain
• “intellectualization condition” anthropological interpretation
• “denial condition” boys willing and happy in the ceremony
 During each viewing, various objective physiological
measures were taken, such as blood pressure; heart
rate and galvanic skin response.

Results/Findings
 Participants in the “trauma condition” showed much
higher physiological measures of stress than participants
in the two other conditions.
 Results support the appraisal theory in that manipulation
of the participants’ cognitive appraisal did have a
significant impact on the physiological stress reactions.
Statistical significance is key when we discuss knowledge
here. Result were measurably not due to chance, and we
can infer a causality between variables.

Evaluation – Critical Thinking
 The data (knowlegde) produced are from a
controlled lab-experiment, and thus from an
artificial setting (low ecological validity).
 However, research on the role of appraisal in real-life
emotional events tends to find the same relationship
as laboratory research: People who have a positive
appraisal of life are not as easily stressed as people
who don’t. CBT can be helpful to treat stress!
 Conclusion: This suggests that cognitive and
biological factors contribute and interact in emotion

Knowledge and emotion

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