8: Cognition and emotion

Question 1

What is priming?

Answer 1

Activation of an idea by repeatedly thinking or about or perceiving it

Question 2

What is external priming?

Answer 2

When you keep getting exposed to something

Question 3

What is internal priming?

Answer 3

Individuals personality - some are just ready to see certain things

Question 4

What is chronic accessibility?

Answer 4

The tendency of an idea or concept to come easily to mind for an individual over a variety of stimuli and situations
This often results from repeated priming

Question 5

Some ideas are likely to be repeated throughout a child’s childhood, what might that result in?

Answer 5

A long term bias to notice, respond to and recall certain types of information (Chronic accessibility)

Question 6

Is the cause of chronic accessibility only environmental?

Answer 6

NO! can be both internal and external

Question 7

How does personality and genetics influence priming and chronic accessibility?

Answer 7

Some people are more prone to see and experience positive thing and some are more prone to experience negative emotions.
We might see the world differently based on our genetic basis for specific emotions.

Question 8

What is rejection sensibility?

Answer 8

Rejection sensibility represent chronic accessibility
Anxious expectations lead to scanning for indicators of impending rejection when discussing relationship problems
They interpret every ambiguous signal as a rejection/the partner is about to leave
Rejection sensibility become self-fulfilling because panicked response hurts relationships and increases the chances of the partner leaving

Question 9

When thinking about rejection sensibility and other forms of chronic accessibility what is important to have in mind?

Answer 9

They only come into play when relevant stimuli are present.

We can see that in a way that they are not predictors of behaviors without thinking about the contexts

Question 10

Rejection sensibility - the person might be very sweet and nice in the beginning when there is no impending rejection and then be uncaring and abusive later in the relationship when there is an impending rejection - Which of these is the “real” person?

Answer 10

BOTH - it is important to recognize that both of these are the real person. Rejection sensibility is highly context-dependent

Question 11

How can you improve for example a hostile person’s chronic accessibility?

Answer 11

By overriding those immediate responses by slowing down (count to 10), thinking consciously and considering constructive responses

Question 12

What does locus of control describe?

Answer 12

A person’s interpretation of responsibility for events.

Question 13

Internal locus of control?

Answer 13

General expectations that events are under one’s control and that one is responsible for major life outcomes

Question 14

External locus of control?

Answer 14

The general expectation that events are outside of one’s control

Question 15

What is learned helplessness?

Answer 15

When people respond to unpleasant and inescapable event by becoming passive and accepting of the situation.

Question 16

What is explanatory style?

Answer 16

Tendency that some people have to use certain attributional categories when explaining the causes of events. the 3 broad categories of attributions

• external vs internal (andres skyld vs. egen skyld)
• stable vs unstable (permanent årsag vs. unik årsag)
• global or specific (alle events vs. specifik situation)

Question 17

Stable vs unstable (explanatory style)

Answer 17

Is it something that you will always experience or was this situation unique.
Whether a person believes a repeated event will be the same or subject to change.

Question 18

Global or specific (explanatory style)

Answer 18

Global versus specific refers to whether or not a person’s explanation generalizes the event to others beyond the specific event in hand.

Question 19

Describe the pessimistic explanatory style

Answer 19

Internal, stable, and global causes for negative events.

it is associated with feelings of helplessness and poor adjustment

Question 20

Is explanatory style stable over time?

Answer 20

Yes!

Question 21

What does the entity theory say?

Answer 21

Personal qualities such as intelligence and ability is unchangeable
The goal: Demonstrating competence
But negative feedback leads to helpless response - there is nothing I can do about it

Question 22

What does the incremental theory say?

Answer 22

Intelligence and ability can change with time and experience
Goal: demonstrating and increasing competence
You CAN do something about it

Question 23

Carol Dweck - Describes 2 types of goals - what are those?

Answer 23

Judgement goals: Seeking to judge or validate an attribute in oneself (you might have the goal to convince yourself that you are smart)

Developmental goals: The desire to actually improve oneself (to become smarter)

Question 24

The balance between judgemental and developmental goals differ on 3 levels, what are those?

Answer 24

• Differ between people
• Differ within the same person in different situations
• Differ across time

Question 25

How will a person with developmental goals respond to failure?

Answer 25

With mastery-orientated behavior. Will learn and try harder next time

Question 26

How will a person with judgenmental goals respond to failure?

Answer 26

With the helpless pattern. "I can't do it" and gives up

Question 27

According to Dweck's motivational theory, the type of goal someone pursues can be determined from within or without - what does that mean?

Answer 27

Within - people are either entity or incremtantal in their beliefs/personality Without - One's goal can be determined by the way other people structure the task or situation

Question 28

What are some of the typical goals of a young adult?

Answer 28

Learning new things, education, finding a spouse

Question 29

What are some of the typical goals of an older adult?

Answer 29

More focus on emotional meaning, ties with family and friends, thinking more about the positive than the negative

Question 30

How does the goal change across lifespan?

Answer 30

Your goals change according to how much time of your life you have left - not how old you are. A young adult with a life-threatening illness tend to also have goals orientated toward emotional meaning

Question 31

what is central in Mischel's CAPS theory?

Answer 31

Individual differences in personality stem from four person variables that characterize properties and activities of the cognitive system - these variables all together explains why some people react and behave in different ways under some specific circumstances.

Question 32

Describe CAPS If.....then.....contigencies

Answer 32

If situation A, then the person does X; but if situation B, then the person does Y All the 4 personality variables combine in each individual a repertoire of behaviors

Question 33

What are basic emotions according to Ekman?

Answer 33

The most elemental emotions - they build the foundations for all other emotions They are innate, cross-cultural, be evident early in life, people should have a "build in" way of expressing it, have its own physiological basis EX of basic emotions = fear, happiness

Question 34

What are social emotions according to Ekman?

Answer 34

Emotion blends - emotions can come from combining 2 or more basic emotions. They are socially learned through classical and operant conditioning and social learning processes. EX: jealousy and melancholy

Question 35

What are Ekmans 6 basic emotions?

Answer 35

Happy, sad, anger, fear, surprise, disgust

Question 36

What is content of emotional life?

Answer 36

The specific kinds of emotions that a person experiences

Question 37

What is style of emotional life?

Answer 37

How emotions are experienced

Question 38

Researchers have defined happiness in 2 complementary ways - which?

Answer 38

1. judgment that life is satisfying | 2. Predominance of positive relative to negative emotions

Question 39

Self-report measures of happiness correlate with self-report scores on social desirability and also non-self-report scores - why is that?

Answer 39

2 explanations - Social desirability measures partially reflects having "good" traits - Part of being happy is to have positive illusions about the self

Question 40

Does money make you happy?

Answer 40

Only to a certain point - when people can afford the necessities more money doesn't influence happiness

Question 41

A person's happiness is often determined by their set point - what is a set point in this context'?

Answer 41

A homostatic degree of emotion that an individual typically experiences -> their typical mood When good or bad event happens - temporarily improvement or worsening of mood (this drift back to normal over time)

Question 42

How does habituation influence happiness?

Answer 42

Something good feels less good with repetition and bad things lessen over time When your circumstances change your feeling will only feel that way for a certain time before it returns to the normal level

Question 43

Genetics and life circumstances account for half the variability in individual happiness - what accounts for the rest?

Answer 43

Outlook - how you see things

Question 44

What is meant by "happiness can become a self-perpetuating cycle"

Answer 44

Happiness promotes behaviours and problem-solving skills that in themselves can lead to good outcomes

Question 45

Indirect model of the relationship between personality and well-being

Answer 45

Personality causes a person to create a certain lifestyle and lifestyle causes emotion reactions

Question 46

Direct model of the relationship between personality and well-being

Answer 46

Personality causes emotional reactions

Question 47

In term of the direct model what is the best predictor of positive mood and negative mood?

Answer 47

Positive - extraversion negative- neuroticism It is easier to put an extraverted in a good mood and a high on neuroticism person in a bad mood

Question 48

What do cognitive theories say about neuroticism?

Answer 48

It is caused by styles of information processing (they prefer to process negative information about themselves (but not others) They have richer networks of associations surrounding negative emotions.

Question 49

Emotional content refers to the XXXX of a person's emotional life whereas the style refers tp XXX?

Answer 49

Emotional content refers to the what of a person's emotional life whereas the style refers to how?

Question 50

What is affect intensity?

Answer 50

The intensity of experiences of emotions High affect intensity people experience emotions strongly Low affect intensity people experience emotions only mildly and don't fluctuate as much

Question 51

What is hedonic balance?

Answer 51

The balance between positive en negative emotions

Question 52

What does affect intensity represent?

Answer 52

The style of emotional life

Question 53

Emotional intelligence

Answer 53

People vary in terms of how well they understand emotional experiences in oneself and others This construct includes: accurately percieving emotions if oneself and others, understanding emotions, using emotion information to make productive and adaptive decisions and controlling and regulating one's own emotions

Question 54

Personalizing cognition

Answer 54

processing information by relating it to similar event in your own life EX: ‘My brother once had a bad gash on his head just like that, and I remember all the blood, and how upset my mother became, and my brother screaming and my mother trying to stop the bleeding, and me feeling helpless and confused.’ after seeing a mother holding a baby bleeding from the head

Question 55

Objectifying cognition

Answer 55

processing information by relating it to objective facts

Question 56

People's conscious goals

Answer 56

a persons awareness of what he desires and believes is valuable and worth pursuing

Question 57

Reducer/augmenting theory

Answer 57

people with low pain tolerance had a nervous system that amplified, or augmented, the subjective impact of sensory cues. In contrast, people who could tolerate pain well were thought to have a nervous system that dampened, or reduced, the effects of sensory stimulation

Question 58

Personal construct

Answer 58

beliefs or concepts that summarize a set of observations that are unique to an individual which that person rutinely uses to interpret and predict events

Question 59

Construction corollary

Answer 59

the fact that we use knowledge from our past to construct our anticipations Ex: We can predict that we will get wet when we go out in the rain without an umbrella because it has happened in the past

Question 60

Range collary

Answer 60

any construct can only be applied to a certain limited number of events. There is not one construct that can be used to understand all possible events

Question 61

Modulation corollary

Answer 61

 that constructs which more easily allow new events within his or her range make a person more flexible in dealing with new situations

Question 62

Exploring/extend strategy

Answer 62

refers to trying different aspects of the same reality, therefore broadening or extending our knowledge of that reality

Question 63

Exploit/define strategy

Answer 63

Deepening and consolidating one knowledge about the world | Ex: having the same job for 30 years and becomming really good at it

Question 64

Specific expectations

Answer 64

 specific areas of life, where people might be internal in one area and external in another

Question 65

Optimistic explanatory style

Answer 65

which emphasizes external, temporary and specific causes of events.

Question 66

Emotions can be defined by 4 components

Answer 66

- emotions have distinct SUBJECTIVE FEELINGS, or affects, associated with them - emotions are accompanied by BODILY CHANGES, mostly in the nervous system, and these produce associated changes in breathing, heart rate, muscle tension, blood chemistry, and facial and bodily expressions - emotions come with COGNITIONS, thoughts. The way you feel influences your thoughts and how you perceive the world - emotions are accompanied by distinct ACTION TENDENCIES, or increases in the probabilities of certain behaviours

Question 67

Action tendencies

Answer 67

increases in probability of certain behaviors

Question 68

Emotional stages

Answer 68

transitory stages that depend more on the circumstances or situation that a person is in on that specific person EX: a man is angry BECAUSE….he is feeling that way BECAUSE of something

Question 69

Emotional trait

Answer 69

table personality traits that are primarily characterized by specific emotions EX: neuroticism is primarily characterized by the emotions of anxiety and worry

Question 70

categorical approach to emotions

Answer 70

suggest emotions are best thought of as a small number of primary and distinct emotions. They try to reduce the complexity of emotions by searching for the primary emotions that underlie the great variety of emotions

Question 71

dimensional approach

Answer 71

suggest that emotions are best thought of as broad dimensions of experience (e.g. a dimension ranging from pleasant to unpleasant

Question 72

What are the 2 primary dimensions in the dimensional approach / emotional circumplex?

Answer 72

``` Pleasant - unpleasant High activation (high arousal) - low activation (low arousal) ```

Question 73

How does the emotional circumplex (= dimensional approach) derived from factor analytic studies contrast with Ekman’s approach

Answer 73

The dimensional approach focus more about the experience of emotions - grader af emotioner - more interested in the differences on the primary dimensions among people The categorical (Ekmans) approach relies more on conceptual distinctions among emotions - Primæremtioner - interested in how people differ from eachother in relation to basic emotions (group differences)