The Effect of Emotion on Perception (AQA GCSE Psychology): Revision Note
Exam code: 8182
Emotion & perception
Emotion is a strong feeling such as happiness, fear, anger or anxiety
Emotion is a factor in perceptual set
Iit affects what we pay attention to, what we ignore, and how quickly we recognise things
Positive emotions make us more likely to notice things we find exciting or interesting – they may even seem bigger or brighter (perceptual sensitisation),
e.g. a football fan spots their team's colours instantly in a crowd
Negative emotions such as anxiety can make us slower to perceive things that are unpleasant or threatening – the brain briefly 'blocks' them (perceptual defence),
e.g. taking a moment longer to register your own name on a list of people who failed
McGinnies (1949)
Aim: To find out whether emotionally threatening words take longer to recognise than neutral words
Sample: 16 students (8 male, 8 female)
Method:
Each participant sat alone and watched words flash on a screen one at a time, very briefly at first and then for longer until they could say the word aloud
Some words were neutral (apple, dance) and some were taboo (b***h, p***s)
Emotional arousal was measured by galvanic skin response (GSR) – electrical changes in the skin caused by sweating
Results:
Participants took longer to recognise and say the taboo words than the neutral words
The taboo words also produced a bigger GSR, showing they caused greater emotional arousal
Conclusion: Emotion is a factor in perceptual set. The anxiety caused by the taboo words slowed their recognition – perceptual defence: the brain blocks out threatening or embarrassing information, even if only for a moment
Examiner Tips and Tricks
Remember to look at the year in which studies were published: a lot of social changes have occurred since 1949 and it is possible that if McGinnies’ study were to be replicated today it would find different results: people are far less shocked when confronted with ‘naughty’ words today than they were decades ago!
McGinnies GSR Detector Diagram
A galvanic skin response detector as used in McGinnies (1949).
Examiner Tips and Tricks
McGinnie’’s (1949) study is NOT a named study on the specification but it is a good one to use to demonstrate your understanding of the effect of emotion on perception.
Evaluation of the effect of emotion on perception
Strengths
GSR uses an objective , biological measure which cannot be faked so this aspect of the procedure is free of demand characteristics
The study has some useful applications e.g. advertisers could use the findings to present pleasant images/ideas to potential customers; schools could include only positive words/images on classroom walls to encourage a positive attitude towards learning
Weaknesses
McGinnie’s (1949) results may have been to due factors other than perceptual defence:
The participants may have been embarrassed at having to speak the taboo words aloud
They may have perceived them just as quickly as the neutral words but felt awkward about voicing them
Attempting to measure emotion is notoriously difficult as researchers cannot be 100% sure that the data they have collected in a study is purely the result of a) the emotion they have identified and b) the effect of emotion at all (i.e. the participants’ responses may be based on something else entirely)
Worked Example
Here is an example of a question you might be asked on this topic - for AO2.
AO1: You need to demonstrate knowledge and understanding of key concepts, ideas, theories and research.
AO2: You need to apply your knowledge and understanding, usually referring to the ‘stem’ in order to do so (the stem is the example given before the question)
AO3: You need to analyse and evaluate key concepts, ideas, theories and research.
After each featured question there is a ‘model’ answer i.e. one which would achieve top marks in the exam.
Elton has written the music for a song he intends to record. His songwriting partner Bernie has written some lyrics for the song: some of the lyrics are upbeat and positive and some of the lyrics are sad and negative. Elton focuses quickly on the positive lyrics as he feels that his music communicates a happy mood; it is only later that he realises that his happy music does not match the negative lyrics that Bernie has written.
AO2:
Question: Explain why Elton took longer to recognise the negative lyrics that Bernie wrote. [3]
Model answer:
Elton’s perception has been clouded by emotion: he did not initially focus on the negative words as the positive words caught his attention more quickly.
Elton may have experienced perceptual defence, blocking out the negative lyrics and not even seeing them properly when he initially read what Bernie had written.
The negative lyrics took longer for his perceptual set to process as they did not fit in with the jolly music he had written for the song.
Examiner Tips and Tricks
All of the topics in the ‘Factors Affecting Perception’ section of the specification can be explained using the term ‘perceptual set’. This term refers to the ways in which an individual prefers to take in the world around them i.e. what they notice, what they ignore. Perceptual set will be determined by a range of factors which will be dealt with individually across these pages: culture; emotion and expectation.
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