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IB psych SAQ – Emotion on Cognition
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IB psych SAQ on the effect of emotion on cognition that helped me score a 7 throughout the psych HL course.
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Outline/Describe/Explain the influence of emotion on one cognitive process.Describe one study into the influence of emotion on one cognitive process.
Research into the influence of emotion on cognitive processes suggests that cognitive
processes like memory – the process of encoding, storing, and retrieval of information – may be
influenced by emotion, as memories formed of highly emotional events appear to have different
characteristics than normal memories. The Flashbulb Memory Theory posits that a unique type
of episodic memory (memory about an event; combines various sensory elements e.g. visual &
auditory) can be formed from surprising & highly emotionally arousing info, which are referred to
as Flashbulb memories (FBM) – A highly detailed and vivid "snapshot" of the moment when a
surprising and emotionally arousing event happened. The leading model is the
importance-driven model: personal consequences determine the intensity of emotional
reactions. Brown & Kulik proposed the special-mechanism hypothesis, FBM’s might involve a
special neural mechanism different from ordinary memories.
Brown & Kulik, 40 Caucasians and 40 African American were asked to answer questionnaires
about their location, feelings, and recollection of when they found out about important public
events like the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. and John F. Kenndy. Results showed that
participants had very clear memories of where they were, what they did, and what they felt
when they first learned about an important public occurrence, with reports of surprise and
consequentiality. Personal relevance seemed to influence whether the participants had
memories of public events, as shown by how 75% of African American participants had a
flashbulb memory of the assassination of Martin Luther King vs 33% of Caucasian participants,
and all but one of the 80 informants had FBM about the assassination of JFK. Also, 73% said
they had FBM associated with a personal shock such as the death of a close relative.
These results support the assertion that FBMs are more long-lasting and reliable/accurate than
other memories. Since participants’ memories remained lucid long-term (the study took place
almost 10 or more years after the assassinations), reported strong emotions (ex.
consequentiality), and were vivid and detailed, it appears that emotion has a distinct effect on
the cognitive process of memory, and a unique type of memory (FMs) appears to be formed
from highly emotional info with high vividness & confidence in memory. This is further supported
by how those who were more directly emotionally connected with the assassinations (African
Americans) were more likely to report characteristics of FBM’s, Brown and Kulik illustrate the
idea that emotional events are stored in a more vivid and visceral format.
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