Microsoft Word Chapter 1 done doc

33
Cognition and Regulation of Affective States : 
We need to control our emotional reactions in almost all 
social circumstances. We also need to manage our own negative 
feelings in order to function effectively. We employ various 
techniques to do so. One of them is that we engage in behaviors 
that give pleasure but are potentially unhealthy. We deliberately 
give in to our temptations in order to lift our mood. Tice and 
others (2000) have conducted an experiment where they put the 
participants in good and bad mood. They were provided 15 minutes 
break to prepare for IQ test. The bad mood subjects procrastinated 
and their mood has got lifted because of that. Another strategy 
people use to cope with negative events is ‘not to generate 
counterfactual thoughts’. So, one thinks that the negative 
outcome was completely unavoidable. This reduces the negativity 
of the emotional reaction. 
4.4.3 Affect and Cognition: Social Neuroscience Evidence : 
 
It was stated earlier that there is an interplay of affect and 
cognition, essentially they are two separate systems. Several factor 
analytic studies have clearly demonstrated that cognition and mood 
are independent dimensions. In addition, the neuroscience 
research has also confirmed the view that there exist two distinct 
systems in the brain for these two dimensions. The brain region 
that is associated with cognition is prefrontal cortex whereas the 
limbic system is associated with emotions. Some experimental 
research on game theory highlight this fact. One of the games is 
‘ultimatum game’. In this first subject is provided with some 
money. He had to offer some part of it to other individual, if the 
other individual agrees, the money is shared, and if the other 
individual doesn’t agree then no one gets anything. Classic 
economics theory would predict that the other person would accept 
any non-zero amount, whereas in reality the offers below 40% are 
rejected. The MRI studies indicated that when people make such 
judgments, both, the prefrontal cortex and limbic system were 
active. In addition, the research on delayed and immediate 
gratification through rewards also supports this distinction. 
Increased activity is observed in limbic system for immediate 
reward than for delayed reward.