Schachter and Singer

Which approach?

Biological approach

What is an internal cue?

A physiological change, like heart rate change and feeling sleepy

What is an external cue?

Things occuring in the environment:

* A car speeds towards us
* A school bell sounds

What was the aim of this study?

To test out the two-factor theory of emotion, which is that an emotional experience comes from a cognitive label and some physiological arousal

To investigate the effect of a stooge on behavior who would be angry or euphoric

Psychology being investigated:

* Cognition: the mental process of acquiring and processing knowledge
* Emotion: the body’s adaptive response to a particular situation
* Two factor theory of emotion: an emotional experience that comes from a cognitive label and some physiological arousal
* When someone experiences emotion, physiological arousal occurs and the person uses the immediate environment to search for emotional cues to label the physiological arousal
* This cause result in misinterpretations of emotions based on physiological arousal

What are the two factors in the two factor theory of emotion?

Physiological and Psychological.

What was the research methods?

Laboratory, Questionnaire and Observation

Name the experimental design.

Independent groups.

IVs

1) The knowledge about injections (Epi Inf, Epi Mis, Epi Ign)

2) The emotional situation the ppt was placed into (euphoria or anger)

The control group was injected with…

saline solution

DVs

1) Observational data recorded by 2 observers in a one-way mirror → to what extent the ppt acted in a euphoric or angry way

2) Self-report ppts completed following the emotional arousal

How were ppts’ behavior coded in the euphoric condition?

1) joins in the activity

2) initiates a new activity

3) watches stooge

4) ignores stooge

How were ppts behavior coded in the anger condition?

Based on participant’s response:


1. agreed with a comment (+2)
2. disagreed with a comment (-2)
3. neutral to a comment (0)
4. initiates agreement/disagreement (+2 or -2)
5. watches stooge (0)
6. ignores stooge (-1)

Who were the participants of the study?

184 male college students in an introductory course to psychology, at the University of Minnesota

* They received course credit for their participation
* University health records of all ppts were checked to ensure no harmful effects from injections
* Volunteer sample

How were volunteers recruited?

* The study was advertised to students who were part of a participant pool
* From Univ. of Minnesota
* They received 2 extra points in their final exam

Why may there be a volunteer bias?

Students gained two extra points in their final exam for every hour they took part in an experiment.

What were participants told the aim of the experiment was?

To test the effects of vitamin supplements on vision.

A doctor would enter the room, then…

they’d repeat instruction, take the ppt’s pulse and inject the ppt with ‘Suproxin’

* 1 ppt changed his mind → sample = 184

When ppts were injected with Suproxin, they were injected with..

adrenalin or saline solution (placebo)

What is Suproxin?

A vitamin the ppts were told they were about to be injected with to see if it affects their eye sight.

The injection dosage given to ppts caused side effects that began…

within 3 to 5 minutes and could last up to 1 hour

What were participants in the informed condition told?

Side effects of the injection:

* Your hand will start to shake
* Your heart will start to pound
* Your face may get warm and flushed
* Provided an explanation for their feelings

What were participants in the misinformed condition told?

Told they could expect some side effects:

* Your feet will feel numb
* You will have an itching sensation over parts of your body
* You may get a slight headache
* Ppts wouldn’t have any explanation for actual side effects - control condition
* NOT IN ANGER CONDITION

How were ethical guidelines adhered to?

All ppts were cleared by the student health service to check that they would not be harmed by the injection in this study.

What were the Epi Ign and placebo groups told?

the drug was mild and harmless with no side effects.

What happened after the injection?

* Ppts were left in a room with another ppt (the stooge)
* They were told they needed to wait 20 minutes for ‘Suproxin’ to be fully absorbed

What did the euphoria ppts have to 'wait 20 mins' for?

Their vision test.

What was the room like in the euphoria condition?

Untidy: rubber bands, pencils, and scrap paper were lying around

What did the stooge do for basketball?

He doodled a fish on scrap paper

Says it’s bad, then would crumble it and attempt to throw it into the trash bin (miss)

This led him to throw a paper ball to the ppt to try and get the ppt to join

What does the stooge do for the paper airplane?

He makes a paper airplane and flies it

He then throws it at the ppt

Finally, he tears it up to make a slingshot

What does the stooge do for the slingshot?

After making the slingshot, he shoots the ppt

He then shoots at a pile of manila folders, that he eventually hits

What does the stooge do for the hula hoop?

While picking up the folders, he noticed a pair of hula hoops

He twirls one on his arm, then sits down until the experimenter returns

How many standardised behaviors did the stooge have in the euphoria condition?

14

What was the situation for the euphoric group?

Doodling (1)

Playing paper basketball (2)

Making paper airplanes (3)

Firing a slingshot (4)

Hula hooping (5)

Ppts in the anger condition completed..

a five-page questionnaire with questions that got increasingly personal (e.g. parent's income)

The stooge in the anger condition complained about…

how the injection was unfair & regularly complained about the questionnaire while completing it

As question got more personal, the stooge got..

angrier and would cross out questions

* Eventually, he ripped up his questionnaire and left the room

Epi Mis wasn’t in the..

anger condition (since it was a control)

When the session with the stooge ended…

The experimenter returned to the room, took their pulses, and had ppts fill out a questionnaire about their emotional and physiological state

Questions about how participants felt were on a scale of..

0 to 4

* e.g) How good or happy they felt

Questions related to side effects were on a scale of…

0 to 3

* e.g) Did they feel any tremor?

On their questionnaire, ppts in Epi Mis were asked about..

their side effects

Observers measured…

the extent that ppts acted happy or angry

* Ppts’ actions were coded and recorded after each stage of the stooge’s routine

After each ppt completed their final questionnaire, the experimenter…

announced the experiment was over

* They explained the deception and its necessity
* Answered any questions
* Swore subjects to secrecy

How many ppts’ data was excluded due to suspicion of the stooge?

11 ppts

How many ppts didn’t have any physiological arousal?

5

What are examples of initiates a new behavior?

* Opening the window and hurled paper balls at passersby, while laughing
* Jumping on the table, then spinning a hula hoop on his neck and the other on his leg

What was the inter-observer reliability score for euphoric?

88%

Hypotheses:

1. If a person is aroused with no immediate explanation, they will describe their feelings in terms of the cognitions available.
2. When an individual is aroused and has an explanation, they won't label their feelings in terms of the cognition available.
3. If an aroused person is in a situation which in the past could have made them emotional, they would be emotional again.

What is the double blind technique?

A control for validity.

Based on the self-report, rank the euphoric conditions from happiest to least happy

1. Epi Misinformed (1.9 self-report)
2. Epi Ign (1.78 self-report)

* More susceptible to stooge because they were unaware of why their bodies felt the way they did


3. Placebo (1.61)
4. Epi Inf - understood why they felt the way they did (.98)

What are the results of the activity index for the euphoria group?

1. Epi Mis (22.56)
2. Epi Ign (18.28)
3. Placebo (16)
4. Epi Inf (12.72)

Rank the anger conditions from angriest to least angry based on behavior:

1. Epi Ign
2. Placebo
3. Epi Inf

Rank the anger conditions based on the self-report results:

1. Epi Inf (1.91)
2. Place (1.63)
3. Epi Ign (1.39)

Epinephrine always produced internal cues, like:

a pulse increase and high amounts of tremors (placebo group experienced the opposite)

* Largest pulse increase in anger: Epi Ign compared to Epi Inf
* Epi Inf claimed to have experienced fewer palpitations than Epi Ign

This study supports the two-factor theory since:

Epi Inf was the least euphoric, and least angry since they had an explanation for their internal cues

How many times were ps pulse taken?

Twice, once prior to the injection and once immediately after talking to the stooge.

How was qualitative data generated in this study?

Two open ended questions were about their experiences during the course of the tasks.

Conclusions:

An aroused person with no explanation for the arousal describes their feelings in terms of the cognition available. The study is useful in treating people with anxiety or panic attacks as they can identify the environmental triggers that cause them to be aroused.

There are two factors involved when we experience emotions: a physiological one and a psychological one

How was the study standardised?

The confederate performed his activities in a specific order, the person injecting had a script, the pulse check, and the room setup.

Why’s there a lack of mundane realism?

Being injected with an ‘unknown’ drug, sitting with a confederate, and attempting to complete a questionnaire aren’t tasks that people complete on a daily basis.

Why’s there a lack of generalisability?

The sample consisted of males who were university students, so the results can’t be generalised to females and those of different ages.

Ethical weaknesses:

Deception: ppts thought they were receiving ‘Suproxin’ when they were getting epinephrine - they also thought that the confederate was a real ppt

Protection: The injections could’ve been physically harmful and their situations could’ve resulted in a change of psychological state

Nature vs. Nurture

Nature:

* In all the epinephrine conditions, the pulse rate increased for all participants - biological reaction as it is a hormone being released into the bloodstream

Nurture:

* In the euphoria condition, the Epi Mis group produced the highest activity index score compared to all other groups. This is because the participants may have been choosing environmental cues to explain their feelings.

Individual vs. Situational

Individual:

* Some participants may have joined in the activities because of their personality type, e.g. being more extraverted

Situational:

* Some participants may have joined in the activities because of the environment of having the stooge act in a certain way

Real-world application

Useful in treating people with anxiety or panic attacks as they can identify the environmental triggers that cause them to be aroused.