Cognitive Appraisal Theory In Psychology

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Within the cognitive level of analysis, it is aimed to study the inner processes of the mind and how it is able to guide behaviour. One of these processes is emotion, which is recognised as the body’s response to a situation, in addition to a feeling that differs from a person’s normal affective state. Firstly, Ekman et al. (1972) identified six fundamental emotions that are expressed across cultures, these included; fear, anger, surprise, sadness, happiness and disgust. So, if these primary emotions are acknowledged as universal, suggesting that perhaps emotion are biological instead of cognitive. However, emotions have shown to be a result of cognitive and/or biological facts, as they can be initiated through either physiological and/or cognitive …show more content…
As according to the appraisal theory, cognitive factors are able to modulate stress responses, this can be seen in the physiological and psychological reactions involved in the experience. Appraisal can also be seen as the evaluation of a situation, including the evaluation of one’s resources and ability to cope with a stressful event. This can also be supported by Speisman et al. (1964) who investigated the extent to which manipulation of cognitive appraisal could influence emotional experience. Participants were shown an anxiety-evoking film of an aboriginal initiation ceremony where adolescent boys were subjected to unpleasant circumcision. The film was accompanied by three different soundtracks: the “trauma condition” where there was emphasis on mutilation and pain, the “intellectualization condition” which gave an anthropological interpretation, and a “denial condition” portraying the adolescents as happy and willing. To measure the emotional reactions, various physiological measures such as heart rate and galvanic skin response were taken during the …show more content…
They investigated whether cognitive judgments are a critical part of emotional experience. Through a laboratory experiment, 185 male undergraduate students were told they were being injected with a new vitamin, Suproxin, however were actually injected with adrenaline. Therefore, subjects were aroused by an injection of adrenaline and then exposed to either anger or happiness cues. The results show that subjects later reported emotional experiences that were in line with the emotional cues. Participants who were exposed to the “angry” man interpreted their physical arousal as anger and the participants who were exposed to the “happy” man interpreted their physical arousal as happiness. This allowed the researchers to conclude that the cognitive label about a stimulus influences the type of emotion felt by an individual.

However, Schachter and Singer’s theory has limitations including the method of collecting data, as self-reports weren’t gained from the angry condition. As the researchers skewed the data in their favour, as assumptions were made that the “euphoric” reports were actually more accurate. Through the use of a placebo the researchers were able to determine that the indicated results were determined by the situation not the adrenaline,

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