Deck 10: Emotion and Cognition

Question 1

Which of the following best summarizes the proposed Yerkes-Dodson law, described in your textbook?

A) People perform cognitive tasks better when they are in a positive mood than when they are in a negative mood
B) People perform cognitive tasks best when arousal levels are intermediate, neither too high nor too low.
C) People perform cognitive tasks best when their mood is neutral, rather than positive or negative.
D) People perform cognitive tasks better when guided by their emotions than when making purely logical decisions.

Answer 1

B

Question 2

Which of the following is FALSE regarding attention to emotion-inducing stimuli?

A) People complete simple cognitive tasks more slowly and less accurately when an emotional distracting stimulus is visible than when the distractor stimulus is neutral.
B) Once people who are prone to depression orient their vision toward unpleasant images, they have trouble pulling their attention away.
C) People who are prone to strong anxiety orient their vision quickly toward unpleasant images, and have trouble pulling their attention away.
D) All of the above are true; none are false.

Answer 2

C

Question 3

Which of the following proposes that positive emotions help us expand the focus of our attention, and take advantage of opportunities we might otherwise have overlooked?

A) The somatic marker hypothesis
B) The affect infusion model
C) The synaptic tag-and-capture hypothesis
D) The broaden and build hypothesis

Answer 3

D

Question 4

Which of the following kind of emotion has NOT been found to broaden people's attention, to focus on global patterns rather then detailed elements of those patterns?

A) Positive emotion with high approach motivation
B) Positive emotion with low approach motivation
C) Sadness
D) All of the above have been found to broaden people's attention.

Question 5

In studies examining people's memory for a long battery of photographs, which factor best predicted the likelihood that a photo would be remembered by most people?

A) Valence - whether the photo had positive or negative content
B) How intense or arousal-eliciting the photo was
C) The number of times participants saw each photo
D) Whether the photo included people or not

Question 6

Which of the following has NOT been documented as an effect of seeing an emotionally intense image, according to your textbook?

A) After seeing a long series of images, people are more likely to remember the emotionally intense images than the neutral images.
B) After seeing a photo that includes an emotionally intense central element, people are likely to remember the central element but not the background surrounding it.
C) After seeing a long series of images, people tend to remember not only the emotionally intense ones, but also the images that immediately followed emotionally intense ones.
D) All of the above have been documented as effects of seeing emotionally intense images.

Question 7

The research evidence on emotion and memory suggests that moderate increases in facilitate memory encoding.

A) arousal
B) pleasantness
C) unpleasantness
D) relaxation

Question 8

In a study by Cahill and colleagues (1994), researchers gave half of the participants a drug while the others received a placebo. They found that the drug interfered with memory for details of an emotionally intense story, relative to the placebo, but had no effect on memory for details of a neutral story. What did the drug used in this study do?

A) It blocks the activity of serotonin in the hippocampus.
B) It increases overall physical arousal.
C) It reduces parasympathetic nervous system influence on the heart.
D) It blocks some aspects of sympathetic nervous system activation.

Question 9

In a study by Cahill and colleagues (1994), researchers gave half of the subjects a drug that temporarily disables some aspects of sympathetic nervous system arousal, and others a placebo. All participants then watched a series of slides, accompanied by a story that was either emotionally intense or neutral. A week later, all participants answered a series of questions about the story. Which group received the highest score, on average?

A) Those who took the placebo and heard the neutral story
B) Those who took the drug and heard the neutral story
C) Those who took the placebo and heard the emotionally intense story
D) Those who took the drug and heard the emotionally intense story

Question 10

Which of the following proposes that emotional arousal enhances the consolidation of memories for events that happened during or just before the arousal?

A) The synaptic tag-and-capture hypothesis
B) The somatic marker hypothesis
C) The affect infusion model
D) The broaden and build hypothesis

Question 11

Which of the following best summarizes the findings of research on flashbulb memories?

A) Flashbulb memories are more vivid, more confidently held, and more accurate than non-emotional memories.
B) Flashbulb memories are more vivid and confidently held than non-emotional memories, but no more accurate.
C) Flashbulb memories are more vivid and accurate, but less confidently held than non-emotional memories.
D) Flashbulb memories did not differ at all from non-emotional memories.

Question 12

You have to give a presentation in one of your classes, and you know it's important to feel confident. Right before the class, however, something unpleasant happens. Which of the following emotional responses to the event is mostly likely to increase your confidence?

A) anger
B) fear
C) sadness
D) surprise

Question 13

On your way to campus one day, your car is rear-ended. Although you and the other driver are both okay, and the accident did not feel that serious, you are informed that your car is a total loss, and the other driver's insurance company is simply going to give you money to buy a new car. You'll have to buy the car quickly, and it's important that you make a good decision, but there are many complex factors to consider. According to research on emotion and cognition, which of the following emotions will most help you in making a good, careful decision?

A) Happiness
B) Anger
C) Sadness
D) Both happiness and anger will help you make a better decision.

Question 14

Which of the following statements about depression and cognition is NOT supported by research discussed in your textbook?

A) Depressed individuals tend to be less confident in their judgments than non-depressed individuals.
B) Depressed individuals are more likely to overestimate the amount of control they have over situations, as compared to non-depressed people.
C) Depressed individuals tend to gather more data and take more time before making decisions than non-depressed individuals.
D) All of the above are supported by research.

Question 15

In a study by Isen and colleagues (1987), participants were randomly assigned to watch either a funny or neutral film clip. They were then given a small candle, a matchbox, and a thumbtack, and asked to attach the candle to a corkboard on the wall. This study was designed to test the effects of positive emotion on .

A) manual dexterity
B) sense of humor
C) physical speed
D) creative thinking

Question 16

Which of the following emotion states has been found to promote creative thinking?

A) Positive mood
B) Anxiety
C) Sadness
D) Both happiness and sadness have been found to promote creativity

Question 17

Which of the following best summarizes the affect infusion model (Forgas, 1995) relating emotion to cognition?

A) People experience decision-making as inherently unpleasant.
B) People use their emotions as information in making decisions, even if the source of the emotion is unrelated to the decision to be made.
C) People's emotional experience depends on how they cognitively interpret the current situation.
D) When making a decision, people tend to choose the course of action that is most likely to make them feel good in the long run.

Question 18

Which of the following proposes that the positive vs. negative valence of affect is used as information to inform decision-making, altering people's evaluations on issues unrelated to the cause of the emotion itself?

A) The affect infusion model
B) The synaptic tag-and-capture hypothesis
C) The somatic marker hypothesis
D) The broaden and build hypothesis

Question 19

Jose is watching television one night, and sees a commercial advertising a particular brand of dish soap. The commercial is clever and funny, making him laugh. Two days later, Jose is facing an array of shelves with several brands of dish soap, and has to pick one. Although he does not even remember seeing the commercial two nights earlier, he selects that brand thinking it is probably the best. This example illustrates which of the following theoretical models?

A) The affect infusion model
B) The synaptic tag-and-capture hypothesis
C) The somatic marker hypothesis
D) The broaden and build hypothesis

Question 20

Which of the following proposes that people make decisions, in part, by subconsciously estimating their emotional response to the results of each course of action, and then choosing the course that produces the best feeling?

A) The affect infusion model
B) The broaden and build hypothesis
C) The somatic marker hypothesis
D) The synaptic tag-and-capture hypothesis

Question 21

Belinda makes a quick stop at the grocery store on the way home from work, in order to pick up a few items. She carries her keys into the store, and in her rush she almost puts them down in order to reach up for an item on a high shelf. In a flash, however, she imagines leaving the keys on the grocery shelf, forgetting them, and getting back to her car only to realize she has lost her keys. The thought is so unpleasant that she carefully puts the keys in her purse instead. This example illustrates which of the following theoretical models?

A) The affect infusion model
B) The synaptic tag-and-capture hypothesis
C) The somatic marker hypothesis
D) The broaden and build hypothesis

Question 22

In a study by Wilson and colleagues (1993), described in your textbook, participants spent time doing a task, and then chose one of several posters that had been hanging on the wall as a gift to take home. The researchers called participants three weeks later, and asked them to rate how much they liked their new poster. Which of the following best summarizes the implications of the study results?

A) When the "right" choice depends mainly on values and preferences, a gut reaction may be a better basis for decision-making than logical analysis.
B) People's initial preferences generally change, after some time has passed.
C) People make better decisions after making a careful cost-benefit analysis of the options.
D) People make better decisions when they are sad than when they are in a positive mood.

Question 23

The trolley dilemma, described in your textbook, is commonly used to study .

A) cooperation
B) moral reasoning
C) empathy
D) stress reactivity

Question 24

In the trolley dilemma, participants must decide whether to flip a switch that will divert a trolley, saving five people's live but killing one person. In the footbridge dilemma, participants must decide whether to push a large wrestler into the path of a trolley, killing that wrestler but saving the lives of five people who would otherwise have been hit. When researchers compare participants' responses to these two dilemmas, what do they find?

A) Nearly all people are unwilling to take an action that will take a life, even though it will save five others, regardless of the scenario.
B) Most people are willing to take the action that will save five lives despite killing one person, in both the trolley and the footbridge scenario.
C) Most people are more hesitant to flip the switch than they are to push the wrestler into the trolley's path, although they have the same effect.
D) Most people are more hesitant to push the wrestler into the trolley's path than they are to flip the switch, although they have the same effect.

Question 25

According to your textbook, when making a decision about a risky, but potentially rewarding situation people's emotions are NOT very responsive to:

A) the magnitude of a possible reward.
B) the possible negative consequences of the risk.
C) the probability of obtaining the reward.
D) Evidence suggests that people's emotions are responsive to all three factors above.

Question 26

After viewing a long series of emotionally intense and neutral images, people are more likely to remember the emotional images a year later.

Question 27

According to the broaden and build model, positive emotions help expand our attention more broadly across the environment, so we are more likely to detect opportunities.

Question 28

Flashbulb memories - vivid and detailed memories of emotionally intense events - tend to be more accurate than memories of neutral experiences.

Question 29

In the process of being retrieved from storage, memories can be changed, so memory is different after retrieval than before retrieval.

Question 30

As a general rule, people in a happy mood are more likely to make decisions based on careful, logical reasoning than those in a sad mood.

Question 31

According to the somatic marker hypothesis, people form stronger memories of events that were marked by bodily arousal.

Question 32

Patients with damage to a region of the brain that supports emotional influence on decisions tend to make poor decisions, despite being able to process situations rationally.

Question 33

Evidence suggests that, when making a moral decision, people typically make their decision based on emotions and then find logical reasons to justify that decision, rather than basing the decision on logic.

Question 34

Summarize the "tag and capture hypothesis" discussed in your textbook, and describe one study that supports this hypothesis.

Question 35

Explain the difference between systematic and heuristic cognition, and describe one study that documents effects of emotion on this aspect of cognition.

Question 36

Summarize the somatic marker hypothesis, and describe a real-life example (not previously discussed in class or your textbook) of this process.

Question 37

The term "cognition" is an umbrella term that covers several more specific processes, including attention, memory, reasoning, and decision-making. Describe one study finding relating emotion to each of these aspects of cognition, described in class or in your textbook.

Question 38

Western philosophy has long been skeptical of emotions, often proposing that rational logic is a better basis for decision-making. Some emotion theorists have argued, in contrast, that emotions are necessary for making good decisions. Do you think that, in general, emotions are good or bad for human decision-making? You may also argue that emotions are mostly helpful in one kind of circumstance, but mostly harmful in another (be specific about each kind of circumstance if this is your thesis). Support your argument with at least three empirical study findings discussed in class or in your textbook.