IB Psychology HL - CLOA - Extent of Interaction of Cognitive and Biological in Emotion

a physiological or bodily change

the cause of this change is ‘appraised’ by an individual

one then decides on an appropriate behavioural response based on the interpretation

Damasio (2000):

emotions are physiological responses to external stimuli

feelings are conscious interpretations of„ the emotion that occur when the brain appraises the cause of the emotion

useful survival mechanism

‘fight or flight’ mode allows animals to react to quickly to possible dangers

cognitive „factors (e.g. appraisal) may help moderate physiological and psychological reactions to stimuli

amygdala: associated with processing emotions and emotional memory

hippocampus: integral to the process of encoding explicit memory (e.g. semantic, procedural, episodic, etc)

Phelps (2004): in stressful situations, the amygdala alters the process of memory encoding and storage of explicit memories so that emotional events receive priority

during stressful situations, the hormones adrenaline and cortisol are activated

humans can only control irrational fear to some extent, and in those cases where they can’t control it, they experience panic attacks

anxiety, phobias, panic disorders, and PTSD indicate a malfunction in the brain€s ability to control fear

damage to the amygdala causes 0 fear response – this may endanger survival in dangerous situations

LeDoux (1999):

evolutionary theory

based on the fact that it’s important to detect and respond to danger instantly

feelings help us evaluate the level of„ danger before responding

LeDoux claims that 2 responses to danger are possible

Short response:

amygdala reacts immediately by activating response systems (i.e. fight or flight‚)

very usef„ul where a quick reaction can make the diff„„erence between lif„e and death

Long response:

sensory input goes via the sensory cortex to the hippocampus

involves evaluation of„ the stimulus and consideration o„f an appropriate response (appraisal)

Lazarus (1975):

cognitive „factors modulate our stress responses, i.e. our physiological and psychological reactions

appraisal: evaluation o„f a situation, including one’s own psychological and material resources

we base our response on our appraisal

Main study: Speisman et al. (1964)

young male participants were shown anxiety-evoking films (an aboriginal rite of circumcision)

4 soundtrack conditions: trauma ‚(emphasizes pain), intellectualization (emphasizes traditions of aboriginal culture), denial (emphasizes the boys’ feelings of anticipation of the circumcision), and no soundtrack

participants’ physiological (e.g. heart rate, galvanic skin

response)

participants in trauma condition‚ showed much higher physiological„ stress

showed that manipulating cognitive appraisal had a signifiƒcant impact on physiological stress reactions

this supports both LeDoux (1999) and Lazarus (1975)

Zajonc (1980): in some cases emotional responses may be directly triggered without the prior involvement of cognition

cognitive and biological factors are both essential to emotion

as demonstrated by Speisman et al (1964), emotion cannot arise in the absence of cognition

Zajonc (1980) has a different interpretation of cognition than what was meant – in this case cognition means basic, automatic, and largely unconscious perceptual processes

cognitive and biological f„actors interact in emotion to a significant extent, but in complex ways that are not fully understood

emotions may influence cognitive processes such as memory, and cognitive processes may influence emotions, but not much is known about how physiology ties in with all of this

discuss the validity of an argument

give both sides of the argument

give judgment by emphasizing the strengths of some arguments over others

give judgment on the relative importance of factors (biological/cognitive/sociocultural), on the theory/behaviour: how important is ____? Why is it ____? Is it culture- or gender-specific?

present all opinions with evidence