Abstracts
Abstract
Cognitive psychology and cognitive science have only recently come to acknowledge that human beings are not “pure” cognitive systems, and that emotions may be more than simply another form of cognition. This paper presents recent theoretical issues on the interaction of cognition with emotion, drawing on findings from evolutionary, neurobiological and cognitive research. These findings indicate that emotions have a fundamental and, often, universal importance for human cognitive functioning. Advanced cognitive processing, such as the processing required for text comprehension and translation, most of the time follows after a first, primary appraisal of the emotional impact of the information on the reader. This type of appraisal is momentary, non-conscious and non-cognitive, and is carried out by some system in the organism that functions with its own distinctive rules, different from those of the cognitive system. Emotional appraisal of the information sets the mode in which the organism (including its cognitive processes) will operate. Evidence suggests that negative emotions can instantly and non-consciously increase processing effort and time and decrease cognitive capacity, while on the other hand, positive emotions generally increase cognitive resources and expand attention and creativity. This implies that both cognitive processing of textual information, as well as its outcome, are influenced not only by the interpreters cognitive skill or by the emotional features of the text per se (the emotional impact that the writer has attempted to generate), but also (and perhaps most importantly) by the subjective emotional significance that the information has for each individual interpreter.
Keywords/Mots-clés:
- emotion,
- cognition,
- unconscious processing,
- text processing
Résumé
Ce n’est que récemment que la psychologie et la science cognitives se sont rendu compte que les êtres humains ne sont pas des systèmes cognitifs « purs » et que les émotions sont peut-être plus qu’une autre forme de cognition. Dans cet article nous discutons de l’interaction entre la cognition et l’émotion, sur la base de résultats d’études récentes dans les domaines de la psychologie évolutive, de la neurobiologie et de la cognition. Ces résultats montrent que les émotions ont une importance primordiale, souvent universelle, dans le fonctionnement cognitif humain. Le traitement cognitif avancé, tel que celui mis en oeuvre dans les cas de la compréhension de texte et de la traduction, a le plus souvent lieu après une première évaluation de l’impact émotionnel du texte sur le lecteur. Ce type d’évaluation est momentané, non conscient et non cognitif. Il est accompli par un système dans l’organisme ayant ses propres règles, différents de ceux du système cognitif. L’évaluation cognitive de l’information établit le mode dans lequel l’organisme (y compris ses processus cognitifs) va opérer. Il existe des données empiriques qui permettent de supposer que les émotions négatives peuvent – instantanément et non consciemment – augmenter l’effort et le temps nécessaires au traitement et diminuer la capacité cognitive. À l’opposé, les émotions positives augmentent généralement les ressources cognitives et élargissent l’attention et la créativité. Cela implique qu’aussi bien le traitement cognitif de l’information textuelle que son résultat sont influencés non seulement par les capacités cognitives de l’interprète ou par les configurations émotionnelles du texte en soi (l’impact émotionnel voulu par l’auteur) mais aussi (et peut-être même plus) par la signification émotionnelle subjective que l’information a pour chaque interprète pris individuellement.
Appendices
References
- Balota, D.A. (1983): “Automatic Semantic Activation and Episodic Memory Encoding,” Journal of Verbal Learning and Verbal Behavior 22, p. 88-104.
- Bargh, J.A. (1990): “Auto-motives: Preconscious Determinants of Social Interaction” in Higgins, T. and R.M. Sorrentino (Eds.) Handbook of Motivation and Cognition, New York, Guilford, p. 93-130.
- Boekaerts, M. (1993): “Being Concerned With Well-Being and With Learning,” Educational Psychologist 28-2, p. 149-167.
- Bornstein, R.F. (1992): “Subliminal Mere Exposure Effects,” in Bornstein, R.F. and T.S. Pittman (Eds.) Perception Without Awareness: Cognitive, Clinical and Social Perspectives, New York, Guilford.
- Bruner, J. (1990): Acts of Meaning, London, Harvard University Press.
- Davou, B. (2000): Thought Processes in the Era of Information: Issues on Cognitive Psychology and Communication, Athens, Papazissis Publishers.
- Davou, B. (in press): “The Notion of ‘Appraisal’ in the Study of Emotion: Towards an Understanding of the Cognitive Component of Emotion,” Noesis 2.
- Fredrickson, B. L., Maynard, K. E., Helms, M. J., Haney, T. L., Siegler, I. C. and J. C. Barefoot (2000) “Hostility Predicts Magnitude and Duration of Blood Pressure Response to Anger,” Journal of Behavioral Medicine 23, p. 229–243.
- Ekman, P. (1992): “An argument for basic emotions,” Cognition and Emotion 6, p. 169-200.
- Fredrickson, B. L. (1998): “What good are positive emotions?” Review of General Psychology 2, p. 300–319.
- Fredrickson, B. L. and C. A. Branigan (2005): “Positive Emotions Broaden the Scope of Attention and Thought-action Repertoires,” Cognition and Emotion 19-3, p. 313-332.
- Fowler, C.A., Wolford, G., Slade, R. and L. Tassinary (1981): “Lexical Access with and without Awareness,” Journal of Experimental Psychology: General 110, p. 341-362.
- Fridja, N. (1986): The Emotions, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.
- Hermans, D., Baeyens, F. and P. Eelen (1998): “Odours as Affective-Processing Context for Word Evaluation: A Case of Cross-modal Affective Priming,” Cognition and Emotion 12-4, p. 601-613.
- Hunt, E. (1971): “What Kind of Computer is Man?,” Cognitive Psychology 2, p. 57-97.
- Hunt, E. (1978): “Mechanics of Verbal Ability,” Psychological Review 85-2, p. 109-130.
- Hunt, E. (1980): “Intelligence as an Information Processing Concept,” British Journal of Psychology 71, p. 449-474.
- Izard, C.E. (1992): “Four Systems for Emotion Activation: Cognitive and Noncognitive,” Psychological Review 99, p. 561-565.
- Isen, A. M. (2002): “A Role for Neuropsychology in Understanding the Facilitating Influence of Positive Affect on Social Behavior and Cognitive Processes,” in Snyder, C. R. and S. J. Lopez, Handbook of Positive Psychology, Oxford, England and New York, Oxford University Press.
- Kemp-Wheeler, S.M. and A.B. Hill (1978): “Anxiety Responses to Subliminal Experience of Mild Stress,” British Journal of Psychology 78, p. 365-374.
- Kleinginna Jr., P.R. and A.M. Kleinginna (1981) “A Categorised List of Emotional Definitions with Suggestions for a Consensual Definition,” Motivation and Emotion 5, p. 345-379.
- Lazarus, R.S. (1982): “Thoughts on the Relations Between Emotion and Cognition,” American Psychologist 37, p. 1019-1024.
- Lazarus, R.S. (1984): “On the Primacy of Cognition,” American Psychologist 39, p. 124-129.
- LeDoux, J. E. (1995): “Emotion: Clues from the Brain,” Annual Review of Psychology 46, p. 209-235.
- LeDoux, J. E. (1998): The Emotional Brain, Weidenfeld and Nicolson, London.
- Leventhal, H. (1974): “Emotions: A Basic Problem for Social Psychology” in Nemeth, C. (Ed.) Social Psychology: Classic and Contemporary Integrations, Chicago, Rand-McNally.
- Libet, B. (1996): “Neural Processes in the Production of Conscious Experience,” in Velmans, M. (Ed.) The Science of Consciousness: Psychological, Neuropsychological and Clinical Reviews, London, Routledge.
- Marangos, G. (1996): Cogniticizing in the Borderline Between Philosophy of Science and Cognitive Science, Athnes, Odysseus.
- Murphy, S. and R. Zajonc (1993): “Affect, Cognition, and Awareness: Affective Priming with Suboptimal and Optimal Stimuli,” Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 64, p. 723-739.
- Neisser, U. (1967): Cognitive Psychology, New York, Appleton Century Crofts..
- Norman, D.A. (1981): “Twelve Issues for Cognitive Science,” in Norman, D.A. (ed.) Perspectives on Cognitive Science, New Jersey, Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.
- Oatley, K. and P.N. Johnson-Laird (1987): “Towards a Cognitive Theory of Emotions,” Cognition and Emotion 1, p. 29-50.
- Oatley, K. and P.N. Johnson-Laird (1985): “The Communicative Theory of Emotions: Empirical Tests, Mental Models, and Implications of Social Interaction,” in Martin, L.L. and A. Tesser (eds.) Goals and Affect, Hillsdale, Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.
- Oatley, K. and J. M. Jenkins (1996): Understanding Emotions, Oxford, Blackwell.
- Parkinson, B. (1996): “Emotions are Social,” British Journal of Psychology 87, p. 663-683.
- Sarter, M., Berntson, G. and T. Cacioppo (1996): “Brain Imaging and Cognitive Neuroscience: Toward Strong Inference in Attributing Function to Structure,” American Psychologist 51, p. 13-21.
- Schachter, S. (1964): “The Interaction of Cognitive and Physiological Determinants of Emotional State,” in Berkowitz, L. (ed.) Advances in Experimental Social Psychology 1, New York, Academic Press.
- Schachter, S. (1965): “A Cognitive-Physiological View of Emotion,” in Klineberg, O. and R. Christie (eds.) Perspectives in Social Psychology, New York, Holt Rinhart Winston.
- Silverman, L.H. (1976): “Psychoanalytic Theory: The Reports of my Death are Greatly Exaggerated,” American Psychologist 31, p. 621-637.
- Silverman, L.H. and J. Weinberger (1985): “Mommy and I Are One: Implications for Psychotherapy,” American Psychologist 40, p. 1296-1308.
- Sternberg, R.J. (1980): “Intelligence and Nonentrenchment,” Journal of Educational Psychology 73-4, p. 317-345.
- Still, A. and A. Costall (1991): “Introduction: Cognitivism as an Approach to Cognition,” in Still, A. and A. Costall (eds.), Against Cognitivism, London, Harvester Wheatsheaf.
- Strongman, K. T. (1987): The Psychology of Emotion, Chichester, John Wiley and Sons.
- Zajonc, R. B. (1980): “Feeling and Thinking: Preferences Need No Inferences,” American Psychologist 35, p. 151-175.
- Zajonc, R.G. (1984): “On the Primacy of Affect,” American Psychologist 39, p. 117-123.