Psychology 1000 Study Guide - Quiz Guide: Sympathetic Nervous System, Amygdala, Polygraph
4 Jun 2018
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The Cognitive Component
▪ Cognitions are involved in virtually every aspect of emotion
▪ They can evoke emotional responses, they are part of our subjective experience of
the emotion, and they influence how we express our emotions and act on them
Appraisal Processes
▪ Emotions are always responses to our perception of the eliciting stimuli
▪ All perceptions involve attaching meaning to sensory stimuli
▪ Appraisals involved in emotion are especially evaluative and personal
▪ Often we are not consciously aware of the appraisals that underlie emotional
responses
▪ Some appraisals involve little more than an almost automatic interpretation of
sensory input
▪ As our cognitive abilities develop, appraisals are more likely to become ties to
language, whether or not we are consciously aware of the actual appraisals
▪ The idea that emotional reactions are triggered by cognitive appraisals rather than
external situations helps to account for the fact that different people can have very
different emotional reactions to the same object, situation, or person
Culture or Appraisal
▪ Those who study cognitive appraisal have looked for cross-cultural similarities and
differences in the thoughts and perceptions that precede emotions
▪ In one study conducted in 27 different countries, researchers found strong cross-
cultural similarities in the types of appraisals that evokes joy, fear, anger, sadness,
disgust, shame, and guilt
▪ Despite these cross-cultural commonalities in appraisal, the same type of situation
also can evoke different appraisals and resulting emotional reactions, depending on
one’s culture
The Physiological Component
▪ Many parts of the body are involved in emotional arousal, but certain brain regions,
the autonomic nervous system, and the endocrine system play especially significant
roles
Brain structures and neurotransmitters
▪ Emotions involve important interactions between cortical and subcortical areas
▪ Subcortical structures such as limbic system structures play major roles in emotion
▪ Cognitive appraisal processes involve activities in the cortex, where the mechanisms
for language and complex thought reside
▪ The ability to regulate emotion depends heavily on the executive functions of the
prefrontal cortex
▪ Thalamus…routes sensory input to various parts of the brain
▪ Amygdala…helps coordinate and trigger physiological and behavioural responses to
emotion-arousing situations
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