Do we think before we experience an emotion, or do we experience the emotion and then reflect on it cognitively, or both? Compare these two situations:
1. You are sitting in the waiting room of a specialist, waiting for the results of some tests done to track down the cause of chest pains that have been bothering you. The receptionist comes over to you and apologizes that the doctor has been held up but asks you to wait because he would definitely like to see you.
2. You are crossing the street, lost in thought, when there is the sudden loud blare of a horn, the screech of locked wheels and the hiss of air brakes. You jump for your life and stand trembling as a truck rumbles past, the driver angrily shouting through the window.
These two situations both involve cognition and emotion, but in very different ways. Appraisal is the foundation stone on which the emotion– cognition structure is built. Theorists maintain that our evaluation – or appraisal – of the personal significance of an event leads to an emotional reaction. Such appraisals allow us to make fine distinctions between our emotional experiences and help us to determine the extent or intensity of the emotion. For example, being criticized privately is a very different experience from a public condemnation, and the appraisal leads to a less intense emotional reaction ( be it anxiety or anger). Attention was first drawn to the significance of appraisal for emotion by Arnold (1960) and continued most strongly by Lazarus (1993), although its importance is assumed by many theorists who link emotion and cognition.
Ellsworth (1991; Smith & Ellsworth 1985) lists six dimensions of appraisal:
1. attention
2. pleasantness
3. certainty
4. anticipated effort
5. human agency
6. situational control
Each appraisal is considered to be unique, making each emotional experience unique, and the degree to which appraisals are similar determines the similarity between emotions.
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