Transcript Notes: CLOA

COGNITIVE
LEVELS OF
ANALYSIS:
UNIT 2
VIDEO QUESTIONS: DARLEY AND GROSS
1) Based on what you saw in the video, determine the AIM of this study?
2) Define the relavence of Darley and Gross- How can we apply this to our
understanding of cognitive psychology?
3) How can this study also broaden our understanding of the correlation between
cognitive and socio-cultural psychology>
LO 3.1: PRINCIPLES OF CLOA
PRINCIPLES OF THE COGNITIVE LEVEL OF
ANALYSIS: PRINCIPLE 1
 Principle 1: Human Beings are information
processors and mental processes guide
behavior
 Humans are active information processors.
We perceive and interpret what is going on
around us
 We often base these interpretations off of
what we already know.
 There is a relationship between people’s
mental representation and the way we
perceive and think about the world
QUICK REVIEW: SCHEMA THEORY
 Schema Theory: Mental
Representations stored in
categories (concepts) in memory.
These schemas provide guidelines
for how we interpret incoming
information.
 These schemas influence how we
“perceive” the world and create
expectations for what will happen
in specific situations.
DARLEY AND GROSS (1983)
 Aim: To investigate the role of schema in behavior
 Procedure: Show participants videos of 1 girl in 2
environments. 1 playing in a “poor” environment and 1
playing in a “wealthy” environment. Then they saw a video
of the girl taking an intelligence test. The participants
were asked to judge the “future” of the girl from the
videos.
 Results: Participants placed the “poor girl” at a 4th grade
academic level and the “rich girl” at a 5th grade academic
level
 Findings: Study demonstrated that humans have prestored schemas about poor and rich. Participants
interpreted the rest of the scene based on these schemas
PRINCIPLES OF THE CLOA: PRINCIPLE 2
 Principle 2: The mind can be studied scientifically
 Cognitive researchers use a number of scientific
methods to study the mind (e.g laboratory
experiments, neuroimaging, case studies, interviews
and archiaval research)
 The most used research method was the laboratory
experiment because it was considered to be the most
scientific.
Example Cases:
Loftus and Palmer (1974): Reconstructive Memory
Corkin et Al (1999): HM and MRI scans
PRINCIPLES OF THE CLOA: PRINCIPLE 3
 Principle 3: Cognitive Processes are influenced
by social and cultural factors.
 Research has shown that cognitive
processes such as perception, memory
and thinking are influenced by
sociocultural factors.
 Example Cases:
 Bartlett (1932) “Cultural Schema” and
memory
 DiMaggio (1997): Stereotypes and Social
Roles
COLE AND SCRIBNER (1974)
 Aim: To study how memory strategies are influenced by culture
 Procedure: Asked children from rural Liberia and from the USA to
memorize items from 4 different categories: utensils, clothes, tools
and vegetables.
 Results: Children from the US improved after practice and children
from Liberia did not unless they had attended schools
 Findings: Learning memory strategies (like “chunking”) appear to be
dependent on schooling and that the illiterate children in the study did
not use that strategy
 Conclusion: The way cognitive psychologists study memory processes
does not always reflect the way people remember in real life.
TED TALKS: CULTURE AND STEREOTYPING
QUESTIONS
 1) How did stereotypes develop?
 2) Why are stereotypes important to cognitive psychology?
 3) How can we apply the information from this podcast to our understanding of
cognitive psychology?
HOMEWORK
 Read pages 67-77 and take notes
 Reading Quiz: Thursday November 3rd
 Work on Outlines 1 & 2
3.2 EVALUATE SCHEMA
THEORY
SCHEMA AND SCHEMA PROCESSING
 A cognitive schema is a mental representation of
knowledge stored in the brain .
 It acts as a “network” of knowledge, beliefs, and
expectations about particular aspects of the
world
 Schema processing is to a large extent automatic
and involves information from two sources
 Input from the sensory system (bottom-up
processing)
 Input from information stored in memory (topdown processing)
Society’s
Beliefs
about the
traits of
males and
females
Influences
processing of Social
Information
Gender
Schema
Influences self-esteem
(only behaviors or
attitudes consistent
with gender schema
are acceptable)
HOW CAN SCHEMA’S EFFECT MEMORY
 People tend to memorize the meaning (gist) of something
not the actual wording
 People use stored knowledge to make sense of incoming
information. If information is unclear or incomplete we fill
in the blanks using our schema. (Reconstructive Memory)
 People tend to ignore information that is not in line with
their schema’s (aschematic information). This may lead to
bias in information processing (ex: Stereotyping)
 People tend to focus on information that is in line with
their schemas (ex: Confirmation Bias)
BARTLETT (1932) “THE WAR OF THE
GHOSTS”
 Aim: To investigate whether people’s memoriyy for a story is
affected by previous knowledge (schemas) and the extent to
which memory is reconstructive
 Procedure: Asked British participants to hear a story and
reproduce it after a short time and then repeatedly over a
period of months or years (serial production). The story was an
unfamiliar Native American Legend called “The War of the
Ghosts”
 Findings: Participants remembered the main idea of the story ,
but they changed unfamiliar events to make sense of the story
using terms familiar to their own cultural expectations.
BARTLETT (1932) “THE WAR OF THE
GHOSTS”
 Conclusion: Bartlett concluded that “remembering” is
an active process. Memories are not copies of
experience, but rather “reconstructions”
 Evaluation:
 The results of the study confirm schema theory (and
reconstructive memory), but was performed in a
laboratory and can be criticized for ecological validity
 Participants did not receive standardized instructions
and some of the memory distortions may be due to
participant’s guessing (demand characteristics)
BREWER AND TRYENS (1981): OBJECTS IN A
ROOM
 Aim: To investigate whether people’s memory for objects in a room (an
office) is influenced by existing schemas about what to expect in an office
 Procedure: 30 University Students, arrived individually to the laboratory
and were asked to wait in an office containing objects (e.g. desk, typewriter,
coffee pot, calendar). There were also other objects that did not conform to
the office schema (a skull, a piece of bark, a pair of pliers)
 After waiting for a period of time, participants were taken out of the office
and asked to write down everything they could remember
 Findings: Most participants recalled the schematic objects (i.e. typewriter,
desk, etc…)
 Some participants reported things that would be in a typical office but were
not present in this one (i.e. books, telephone, etc…)
 Many participants also recalled the skull.
BREWER AND TYRENS (1981) CONTINUED
 Conclusion: The study confirms schema theory (and reconstructive memory).
 Evaluation:
 Experiement was completed in a laboratory: Issues in artificiality
 Study used deception, but they were debriefed afterwards and not harmed. The
study could not have been made without deception so the deception was
justified.
 There is a sample bias. University students were the only participants so it may be
difficult to generalize the results.
VIDEO QUESTIONS: TED TALKS
RECONSTRUCTIVE MEMORY
HOMEWORK
 1) Create your own “Schema Chart” to illustrate the concept of schema
 2) Create a Chart outlining the strengths and limitations of schema theory (to use
on outline, but we will discuss next class)
 3) Reading Quiz Ch 2 (pgs 67-77) Thursday
READING QUIZ: CH 3.1 PGS 67-77
 1) Define Cognitive Psychology:
 2) What is the reconstructive nature of memory?
Provide an example of where we see reconstructive
memory in the real world?
 3) Describe or draw a graphic of the multi-store model
of memory
SCHEMA: STRENGTHS AND LIMITATIONS
CHART ACTIVITY
 In groups of 2 you will use a piece of large chart paper to draw a visual of your strengths and
limitations of schema theory (Compare charts and come up with what you think is the best
possible model)
 When finished, post your chart on the white board. When everyone is finished you will examine
each of the 4 charts and use a post-it note to provide academic feedback.
 Example:
 1 Glow: What do you Like about their chart? What made you think?
 1 Grow: What is missing from their chart? What is unclear or could use additional work/attention
 1 Burning Question: Where does this chart make your mind go? What kind of questions do you
have after analyzing their chart (think deep, philosophical thoughts)
MURDER ON A SUNDAY MORNING:
DOCUMENTARY
 As we watch the following award winning documentary that deals with CLOA
concepts such as reconstructive memory and memory models, you are to pay
close attention to these concepts.
 The conclusion of the documentary will include a timed/graded discussion as well
as a written assessment which will determine how you can tie the concepts from
this chapter to the concepts from the movie.
WORKING MEMORY TED TALK QUESTIONS:
HOW YOUR WORKING MEMORY MAKES SENSE
OF THE WORLD
 1) Describe “working memory” and “working memory capacity”
 2) What are the benefits of having a High working memory capacity?
 3) About how many things can we “hold” in our short term/working memory?
4) Describe Doolittles “strategies” for improving your working memory.
5) How can we apply this information in the field of psychology, education or
elsewhere in the real world?
3.3: EVALUATING COGNITIVE
MODELS
MEMORY MODEL 1: MULTI STORE MODEL
OF MEMORY
 One of the first models to give
an overview of basic structure of
memory.
 Based off the idea that humans
are information “processors”
 Assumes that memory consists
of a number of separate stores
and that memory processes are
sequential
MULTI STORE MODEL OF MEMORY
(CONTINUED)
 In the Atkinson-Shiffrin model the memory stores are structural
components that include control processes (eg: attention, coding
and rehearsal).
 Sensory memory registers sensory information and stores in for
around 1-4 seconds. Sensory memory is modality specific.
 Only a small amount of the sensory information is transferred into
short term memory store
 Short Term Memory (STM) has a limited capacity (around 7 items)
and limited duration (around 6-12 seconds). Information in STM is
transferred into LTM if rehearsed
 If information is not rehearsed it is lost
 Long Term Memory (LTM) is believed to be of indefinite duration
and of potentially unlimited capacity
THE SERIAL POSITION EFFECT
 The serial position effect is
believed to be linked to
rehearsal (i.e. people repeat
things in order to remember)
 The serial position effect
suggests that people remember
things better if they are either
the first (primacy effect) or last
(recency effect) item in a list of
things to remember
GLANZER AND CUNITZ (1966)
 Aim: To investigate recency effect in free recall (i/e in any order)
 Procedure: This was a laboratory experiment where participants first heard
a list of items and then immediately had to recall them in any order
 Findings: Particpants recalled words from the beginning of the list (primacy
effect) and the end of the list (recency effect) best.
 Results: The results showed a U shaped curve. If participant ts were given a
filler task just after hearing the last words, the primacy effect disappeared
but the recency effect remained.
 The recency effect could be due to words still being active in working memory
(STM). Rehersal could be a factor in transfer of information into LTM
 Evaluation: The study supports the idea of multiple stores (STM and LTM).
The study is a controlled laboratory study with highly controlled variables.
 No random allocation of particiapats to experimental conditions (not a true
experiment)
 Problems with ecological validity
WORD LIST GLANZER AND CUNITZ (1966)
MODEL 2: THE WORKING MEMORY
MODEL (BADDELEY AND HITCH 1974)
• Baddely and Hitch suggested the working
memory model as an alternative to STM
• This model challenges the view that STM
is unitary and that information processing
is a passive process
• Working memory is seen as an active
store used to hold and manipulate
information.
• This model has been developed over the
years to include findings from newer
research
THE 4 COMPONENTS OF WORKING
MEMORY
 The Central Executive: A controlling system that
monitors and coordinates the operations of the other
components (slave systems).
 The CE is modality free so it can process information in
any sensory modality but it has limited capacity.
 The Episodic Buffer: A limited capacity storage system
or interface between the other systems in working
memory. It is assumed to be controlled by the central
executive through conscious awareness.
 Handles information from various modalities.
Resembles the concept of episodic memory.
THE 4 COMPONENTS OF WORKING
MEMORY
 The Phonological Loop: handles verbal and auditory
information and is divided into 2 components
 1) The articulatory control system: the “inner voice”
 2) The phonological store: the “inner ear”. This can
hold speech-based material in a phonological form
 It is assumed a memory trace can only last from
1.5-2 seconds if it is not refreshed by the
articulatory control system
 The Visuo-spatial sketchpad: the “inner eye”. This
handles the visual and spatial information from either
sensory memory(visual information) or from LTM
(images)
EVIDENCE OF THE WORKING MEMORY
MODEL
 Evidence of this model can be found in
dual tasks experiments which assumes
there is a division of tasks between the
different slave systems
 If two tasks are done simultaneously it is
possible to perform well if separate
systems are used.
 If concurrent tasks use the same system ,
it will affect performance negatively.
ASSIGNMENT: MEMORY MODEL ANCHOR
CHART
 In groups of 4 you will be working on an assignment (begin today but will complete when I am
out on Thursday)
 You will create a visual chart of one of the 2 memory models that we discussed in class today
(Working Memory or Multi Store Model of Memory) . This large visual will be created as a
learning tool as if you were to use it to teach students (in a lower level psychology class)
 Your chart should include the following:
 __ A large colorful title
 __A large, colorful chart of your memory model
 ___Visuals/Examples to accompany each “step” of the memory model
 ___A strengths and limitations chart for your memory model (At least 2-3 points for each side)
 ___ A summary of how your model works with at least one study/evidence included (on back of
poster)
FOR THURSDAY (11/17) AND TUESDAY
(11/22)
Thursday: Work on and complete your Anchor
Charts/Visuals (Leave them on my desk)
Tuesday: Read pages 78-87 (Be prepared for a
reading quiz on the Tuesday after break. Work on
IA Introductions (Due 12/9) and begin planning
out your IA. Work on outlines 1-5
READING QUIZ
 1) What is the role of environment or schooling on memory?
 2) With respect to the following psychologists or psychological studies, explain to
what extent recovered/repressed memories are accurate?
 Sigmund Freud:
 Bartlett (War of Ghosts):
 Loftus (Car Accident Experiment):
3.4: BIOLOGICAL FACTORS AND
THE COGNITIVE PROCESS
MEMORY AND BIOLOGY
 Damage to the Hippocampus and Amnesia: HM Case Study
(Milner 1957) and (Corkin et al 1997)
 HM’s Memory:
 Could no longer store new memories, however most of his memories
from before the operation remained intact
 He could not transfer new memories (semantic and episodic) into LTM
 He could form new long-term procedural memories
 He was able to carry on normal conversations but would immediately
forget what he was talking about
THE BIOLOGY OF HM: AMNESIA
 HM and Biology: What we know
 The memory systems in the brain constitute a highly specialized and
complex system
 The hippocampus plays a critical role in converting memories from
STM to LTM
 The hippocampus is not the site of permanent storage, but rather
plays a role in how memories are organized and then stored elsewhere
in the brain
 The medial temporal region in the brain is important for forming,
organizing, consolidating and retrieving memory.
 We have multiple memory systems that are supported by distinct
brain regions
CORTISOL AND MEMORY
 Cortisol: A stress hormone secreted by the
adrenal glands in response to physiological or
psychological stress.
 During long term stress too much cortisol is
released which affects immune functioning
and memory processes
 Chronic oversecretion of cortisol may hinder
the brain in forming new memories or
accessing already existing memories
LUPIEN ET AL (2002): CORTISOL LEVELS
AND MEMORY
 Aim: To see whether it was possible to reverse memory
problems with a drug
 Procedure:
 Participants were divided into two groups: Group 1 had a
moderate level of cortisol at baseline and Group 2 had a
high level of cortisol and signs of impaired memory at
baseline
 Both groups were first given a drug preventing secretion of
cortisol (metyrapone). Then they were given a memory test.
 After this both groups were given another drug
(hydrocortisone) to restore their levels of cortisol to
previous levels. Results were compared with levels in a
placebo group
LUPIEN ET AL (2002) CONTINUED….
 Findings:
 Participants with a moderate level of cortisol who
were given metryapone had no trouble restoring
normal memory function
 Participants, who, from the start, had a high level
of cortisol had no memory improvement.
 Hydrocortisone caused even greater memory loss
Results:???????????
Evaluation:??????
Another common case used to study cortisol and
memory is Newcomer et al (1999)
TED TALK: STRESS AND THE BRAIN
 Explain how stress affects the brain:
 Biologically
 Socio-culturally
 Both:
 Create a chart or model to illustrate
these concepts.
HOMEWORK
 IA Introductions due 12/9
 Outlines 6 & 7
3.5 SOCIAL/CULTURAL FACTORS
AND COGNITIVE PROCESSES
SOCIO-CULTURAL FACTORS THAT EFFECT
MEMORY
• 1) Cultural Factors: Education and
Experiences in Daily Life
• 2) Institutionalization (prison,
orphanages, foster care, asylums
etc…)
• 3) Poverty & Environmental Stress
FACTOR 1: EDUCATION AND EXPERIENCE
(COLE AND SCHRIBNER 1981)
 Aim: To study how memory strategies are influenced by culture
 Procedure: Asked children from rural Liberia and from the USA to
memorize items from 4 different categories: utensils, clothes, tools and
vegetables.
 Results: Children from the US improved after practice and children
from Liberia did not unless they had attended schools
 Findings: Learning memory strategies (like “chunking”) appear to be
dependent on schooling and that the illiterate children in the study did
not use that strategy
 Conclusion: The way cognitive psychologists study memory processes
does not always reflect the way people remember in real life.
FACTOR 2: INSTITUTIONALIZATION
(RUTTER 2007)
 Aim: To study the effect of institutionalization on memory skills
 Procedure: Longitudal study Focused on children who had been adopted from Romanian
orphanages after the fall of communism (deprived nutrition, parental care, etc…)
 Results: Those who spent a longer time in an institution were more likely to have persistant
cognitive deficiencies
 Findings:
 For those who spent between 6 and 24 months in an institution, 12% of children demonstrated
cognitive impairment at age 6. For those who were in the institution for more than 24 months, 36%
demonstrated significant cognitive impairment. This cognitive impairment included free recall tasks as
well as other cognitive tasks.
 The researchers also observed an “unusually high level of attentional difficulties.”
 However, at the age of 4 the two groups of adopted children showed no significant differences in
intellectual development from children adopted before the age of 6 months. However, a cognitive
deficit remained in those children who had been adopted later.
 Conclusion: Institutionalization has a negative effect on cognitive abilities
FACTOR 3: POVERTY & ENVIRONMENTAL
STRESS (LISTNER ET AL 2005)
 Aim: To determine the effect of protein deficiencies on
hippocampal cell development (in rats)
 Procedure: 2 groups of pregnant rats. Control-normal nutrition
(protein-rich diet), Experiment-malnutrition (protein deficient
diet)
 Results: Rats who were deprived pre-natal nutrients were found
to have a reduction of up to 22% of the nuerons in some parts of
the hippocampus after 90 days
 Findings: Prenatal malnutrition negatively effects brain
development, specifically in memory forming areas of the brain
(hippocampus)
 Evaluation: Depriving rats of food could be considered in violation
of animal ethics. Ecologically valid as was performed in a
laboratory/controlled environment
TED TALK: THE EFFECTS OF DEPRIVATION
AND TRAUMA
 Write down key points and ideas that you can use in tomorrow’s socratic seminar:
 The seminar will discuss the following questions:
 1) To what extent do factors such as malnourishment and poverty effect cognition
(memory, learning, intelligence)
 2) What can we do in the fields of psychology, education, medicine and public
policy to lessen these “achievement gaps” for children from high
poverty/unenriched environments?
HOMEWORK
 Read the following articles/take notes in preparation for tomorrow’s
seminar/writing assignment
 You must show notes/annotations to me on ALL articles to be eligible to
participate in the seminar tomorrow.
 NY Times Article: “Reading, Writing and Thinking” by Geoffrey Nurnberg
 Detroit Free Press Article: “Toxic Stress of Poverty, Violence and Pain Alter Kid’s
Brains”
 The Daily Campus Article: “ Birth Weight’s Effect on Cognitive Development”
 US News & World Report Article: “ Survey: Student’s Face Challenges Outside the
Classroom”
DO NOW
 1) Show me your notes for Socratic Seminar (25 pts). Must have notes to be
eligible to participate in seminar
SOCRATIC SEMINAR QUESTIONS( 60
MINUTES)
 1) To what extent do factors such as malnourishment and poverty effect cognition
(memory, learning, intelligence)
 2) What can we do in the fields of psychology, education, medicine and public
policy to lessen these “achievement gaps” for children from high
poverty/unenriched environments?
WRITING PROMPT
 1) To what extent do factors such as malnourishment and poverty effect
cognition. Use specific arguments from the socratic seminar and the articles to
answer the questions
 2) Self Reflection:
 Grade yourself on your seminar performance: Base your grade on the following
factors.




Did you contribute meaningful, on-topic points and information?
Were you polite and respectful of your classmates?
Were your contributions accurate and text-based?
Use a A-F grading scale (no point value) and explain why you feel that is the grade that
you deserve
HOMEWORK
 IA Introductions due 12/9 (All individual, no group work) – See website for
examples
 Outlines 7&8
3.6: COGNITIVE RELIABILITY
MEMORY: COGNITIVE RESEARCH
 Memory is not a “tape recorder” or an exact replica of what
happened. Instead memory is a “Reconstruction” of prior events.
 Schema Theory and Reconstructive memory are only reliable to
a certain extent….so what is that extent?
 Memories are not “fixed” but instead can be lost, changed and
even created. (Loftus, 2003) Memories can even be scrambled
and manipulated in the process of retrieval.
 Humans tend to remember BIG concepts (overall meanings, the
“gist”) and then use reconstructive memory to fill in the details
 Self-Serving Bias: When memory is distorted for personal
reasons (i/e To make something sound way more awesome than it
was in real life)
BRAIN GAMES: MEMORY
 How reliable is your memory?
 Can we “trick ourselves” into having better or worse memory?
 Apply these concepts to famous psychological studies from this unit.
IN CLASS: STRENGTHS AND LIMITATIONS
 In groups of 2 you will take 2 famous cases that we have studied in this unit that
look at and evaluate 2 cognitive theories. In teams you will re-read the studies and
create a short summary or chart (should already be in your notes) to use
 Your job is to evaluate each case as well as the concept of Reconstructive Memory
as it is relavent to your case.
 You will need to make a large Strengths and Limitations Chart that you can
present to the class. When not presenting you should take note of the other
groups information and chart
 Group 1: Bartlett (1932) Schemas and Reconstructive Memory (War of Ghosts)
 Group 2: Loftus and Palmer (1974): Reconstructive Memory (Automobile Crash
Experiment)
DO NOW
 1) What do you already know about emotions?
 2) Emotions and Biology?
 3) Emotions and Cognition?
ACTIVITY: MRS EPLIN’S BRAIN GAMES
IDENTIFYING EMOTIONS
 As a class we’re going to take a test/quiz to test how good we are at recognizing
people’s emotions. If there is any discrepancy we will vote (I’ll serve as a tiebreaker) on which emotion.
 Discussion:
 1) Discuss the results. Why were we good/bad at recognizing the emotions of the
people when all we could see were the eyes.
 2) How could we alter or skew the results of the test?
 3) Do you think a group of older students would do better? Worse? What about
younger students?
CRASH COURSE: #25 FEELING ALL THE
FEELS
 What are the main concepts of emotion?
 1) What concepts deal with BIOLOGY?
 2) What concepts deal with COGNITION?
3.8: TO WHAT EXTENT DO
COGNITIVE AND BIOLOGICAL
FACTORS INTERACT IN EMOTION?
EMOTIONS: THE BASICS
Emotions are physiological signals as a reaction to
external stimuli.
 Feelings (Concious interpretationsof the emotion) arise
when the brain interprets the stimuli
 Example: “Fear”
 Fear functions as a survival mechanism in animals,
allowing them to react quickly to any possible sign of
danger
 Fight or Flight reaction in humans (Biology)
 Appraisal: helps modulate between the physical and
cognitive reaction

BRAIN, MEMORY AND EMOTION
 Emotional arousal is a form of stress that activates the stress hormones
(adrenaline, cortisol). “Survival”
 Memory of a fearful experience is stored in the cortex (explicit memory) and
the emotional memory of the experience is stored in the amygdala (implicit
memory).
 Semantic and Episodic memories are stored in the hippocampus
 This helps explain why humans can control irrational fear reactions, but not
cases where things occur outside of conscious control
 Anxiety, phobias, panic disorders and PTSD in humans indicate a malfunction
in the brain’s ability to control fear reactions.
 Humans with damage to their amygdala do not experience fear in dangerous
situations and this may endanger survival
LEDOUX’S THEORY OF THE EMOTIONAL
BRAIN
 Humans emotional reactions are flexible due to evolution.
 Learning to detect and respond to danger is important for survival
 Human’s have evolved “emotional feeling” (the conscious
experiences of feeling)
 1) The Short Route: The amygdala reacts immediately to sensory
input and activates response systems (e.g. the physiological stress
response). This is very useful in case of immediate danger where a
quick reaction is needed
 2) The Long Route: Sensory input goes via the cortex to the
hippocampus. The route involves evaluation of the stimulus and
consideration of the proper response. Also known as “Cognitive
appraisal”
LAZARUS APPRAISAL THEORY OF
EMOTION
 According to Appraisal theory, cognitive factors can modulate stress responses
 Appraisal can be seen as an evaluation of a situation, including evaluation of one’s
psychological and material resources to cope with the stressful event.
 Speisman et al (1964); Experimental Manipulation of Emotions through
Cognitive Appraisal
 Aim: To investigate the extent to which manipulation of cognitive appraisal could
influence emotional experience
 Procedure: Participants in a laboratory were shown anxiety evoking films
(aboriginal genital cutting). The films were shown with three different soundtracks
to manipulate emotional responses.
 The “Trauma condition”, “Intellectualization condition” and the “denial condition”
 During each viewing viewers were tested on their heart rate and galvanic skin
response to measure emotions
SPESIMAN ET AL (1964) CONTINUED
 Findings: The participants in the “trauma condition”
showed much higher physiological measures of stress
than the participants in the two other conditions.
 Results: These findings support the appraisal theory in
that the manipulation of the participant’s cognitive
appraisal did have significant impact on the
physiological stress reaactions. The participants in the
“trauma condition” reacted more emotionally.
 Evaluation: Laboratory experiment=rigorous controls,
lacks ecological validity. Could also be shown to support
LeDoux’s theory based on interpretation
EASTERBROOK (1959) CUE UTILIZATION
THEORY
 This theory predicts that in situations with high levels of emotional
arousal, people will tend to pay more attention and to encode the
details of the emotion arousing stimulus (central details) and not pay
attention to the details that are not central to the emotional arousal
(peripheral details)
 Rinolo et al (2003): On Accuracy of Eyewitness Statements
 Aim: To investigate the reliability of memory for a central detail of
eye witnesses to the Titanic’s Final Plunge (i.e. whether the Titanic
sank intact or broke in two before it went down).
 Procedure: The researchers used archival data (transcripts from
hearings in 1912 in US and UK) and identified 20 cases from the total
of 91 survivors who had explicitly addressed the state of the ship in
it’s final plunge
RINOLO ET AL (2003)
 Findings: 75% of the eye witnesses said the Titanic was breaking
apart during sinking and 25% said the Titanci was intact while
going down.
 Results: Because the majority of the ship survivors recalled the
ship breaking in two it can be concluded that the central traits of
the event were recalled accurately, even though the memory was
formed during high emotional arousal. It was later found that the
ship in fact sunk intact and found that memories may have been
impaired due to the traumatic event.
 Evaluation: Only investigated for one central detail and only used
a subgroup of witnesses (Opportunity sample). May have been bias
in the interrogations which could have influenced the testimony.
Could not follow up, debrief, or test for trauma as all the studies
used were dead at the time of the study.
ASSIGNMENT: INSIDE OUT AND EMOTION
 In groups of 3 (one group of 2) you will be assigned an emotional theory:
 Your job is to analyze the movie “Inside Out” and demonstrate how it relates to
your emotional theory. Use clues and evidence from the movie (Events,
characters, etc….) to create a chart that demonstrates the relationship between
the two.
 The expectation is not that your theories match up perfectly (Remember the
movie is a FICTIONAL representation) but that you can clarify the points where
your theory overlaps and the points where your theory is different.
 At the conclusion you will be expected to share out your charts and information
with your classmates
HOMEWORK
 Read pages 88-92 (Quiz Tuesday)
 IA Introduction due tomorrow by 3 PM
 Outlines due 12/20, Final exam 12/20