Search research articles

ABOUT JoVE

Overview Leadership Blog JoVE Help Center

AUTHORS

Publishing Process Editorial Board Scope & Policies Peer Review FAQ Submit

LIBRARIANS

Testimonials Subscriptions Access Resources Library Advisory Board FAQ

RESEARCH

JoVE Journal Methods Collections JoVE Encyclopedia of Experiments Archive

EDUCATION

JoVE Core JoVE Business JoVE Science Education JoVE Lab Manual Faculty Resource Center Faculty Site

Terms & Conditions of Use

Related Concept Videos

Cognitive Theories: Schachter-Singer Theory of Emotion

Cognitive Theories: Schachter-Singer Theory of Emotion

Stanley Schachter and Jerome Singer proposed the two-factor theory of emotion, which emphasizes the interplay between physiological arousal and cognitive labeling in forming emotional experiences. This theory suggests that emotions are not simply a result of physiological responses but rather a combination of these responses and the individual's cognitive interpretation of them.
Physiological Arousal and Cognitive Labeling
According to this theory, when an individual experiences physiological...

Labeling Emotion

Labeling Emotion

Emotional labeling is a cognitive process that involves identifying and naming one's emotions, such as anger, fear, happiness, or sadness. It allows individuals to recognize and express their internal emotional states, a critical aspect of emotional regulation and communication. Labeling emotions requires more than mere recognition; it also involves drawing upon memory and contextual cues to understand the current situation and apply a corresponding emotional label. For instance, feeling...

The Influence of Cognition on Affect

The Influence of Cognition on Affect

Cognition plays a pivotal role in shaping emotional experiences, as demonstrated by Schachter and Singer’s two-factor theory of emotion. According to this model, emotion arises from a combination of physiological arousal and cognitive interpretation. The body’s physiological response to stimuli is ambiguous and only gains emotional significance through cognitive labeling. For instance, an increased heart rate and adrenaline surge while standing near an attractive person may be interpreted as...

The Influence of Affect on Cognition

The Influence of Affect on Cognition

Positive affect significantly influences cognitive processes, including evaluation, memory, creativity, and social judgments. Compared to negative affect, positive emotional states promote more favorable interpretations of stimuli, cognitive flexibility, and heuristic processing. These effects highlight emotions' powerful role in shaping how individuals perceive, remember, and interact with the world.Influence on Evaluation and AttributionWhen individuals experience positive affect, they are...

Factors Affecting Perception

Factors Affecting Perception

Perception is influenced by perceptual set, context, motivation, and emotion. Perceptual set, or perceptual expectancy, refers to the tendency to perceive things in a particular way, influenced by previous experiences and expectations. This phenomenon affects the interpretation of stimuli, creating a set of mental tendencies and assumptions that impact sensory perceptions of sound, taste, touch, and sight.
An illustrative example of a perceptual set is the scenario where an airline pilot told...

Non-Verbal Cues

Non-Verbal Cues

Non-verbal communication extends beyond gestures and facial expressions to include vocal elements known as paralanguage. Paralanguage consists of non-verbal vocal cues such as pitch, loudness, speech rate, pauses, and non-verbal vocalizations like laughter, sighs, and moans. These elements not only accompany speech but also provide critical emotional and contextual information.The Role of Paralanguage in CommunicationParalanguage adds depth to spoken language by conveying emotions and...

You might also read

Related Articles

Articles linked to this work by shared authors, journal, and citation graph.

Sort by

Same author

Cognitive control training as an add-on treatment for late-life depression: A multicenter randomized controlled trial.

Internet interventions·2026

Same author

Measuring implicit bias in height-fearful participants with the Approach-Avoidance Task.

European archives of psychiatry and clinical neuroscience·2025

Same author

The double battle: comparing the six-year course of obsessive-compulsive disorder with and without comorbid eating disorder.

Journal of affective disorders·2025

Same author

The relevance of accounting for parasympathetic as well as sympathetic arousal in threat conditioning: Methodological and clinical considerations.

International journal of psychophysiology : official journal of the International Organization of Psychophysiology·2025

Same author

Remediating cognitive inflexibility in obsessive compulsive disorder and anorexia nervosa neither moderates nor mediates treatment effects: an exploratory study.

Frontiers in psychiatry·2025

Same author

The relationship between callous-unemotional traits and internalizing psychopathology in adolescent psychiatric inpatients: a network analysis.

Child and adolescent psychiatry and mental health·2024

Search research articles

Related Experiment Video

Updated: Jun 24, 2026

The Emotional Stroop Task: Assessing Cognitive Performance under Exposure to Emotional Content

The Emotional Stroop Task: Assessing Cognitive Performance under Exposure to Emotional Content

Published on: June 29, 2016

Does emotional valence affect performance in non-emotional categorization tasks?

Mike Rinck¹, Eni S Becker

¹Behavioural Science Institute, Clinical Psychology, Radboud University Nijmegen, The Netherlands. m.rinck@psych.ru.nl

Journal of Behavior Therapy and Experimental Psychiatry

|April 14, 2009

Summary

Emotional valence, even threatening, does not automatically influence reactions. Processing stimulus meaning is necessary for emotional valence to impact responses, regardless of task relevance or how valence is presented.

More Related Videos

Perceptual and Category Processing of the Uncanny Valley Hypothesis' Dimension of Human Likeness: Some Methodological Issues

Perceptual and Category Processing of the Uncanny Valley Hypothesis' Dimension of Human Likeness: Some Methodological Issues

Published on: June 3, 2013

Brain Imaging Investigation of the Impairing Effect of Emotion on Cognition

Brain Imaging Investigation of the Impairing Effect of Emotion on Cognition

Published on: February 1, 2012

Related Experiment Videos

Last Updated: Jun 24, 2026

The Emotional Stroop Task: Assessing Cognitive Performance under Exposure to Emotional Content

The Emotional Stroop Task: Assessing Cognitive Performance under Exposure to Emotional Content

Published on: June 29, 2016

Perceptual and Category Processing of the Uncanny Valley Hypothesis' Dimension of Human Likeness: Some Methodological Issues

Perceptual and Category Processing of the Uncanny Valley Hypothesis' Dimension of Human Likeness: Some Methodological Issues

Published on: June 3, 2013

Brain Imaging Investigation of the Impairing Effect of Emotion on Cognition

Brain Imaging Investigation of the Impairing Effect of Emotion on Cognition

Published on: February 1, 2012

Area of Science:

Cognitive Psychology
Emotional Processing
Automaticity

Background:

Investigating automatic emotional responses is crucial for understanding cognitive biases.
Previous research suggests emotional stimuli can capture attention automatically.
The role of task relevance in modulating emotional valence effects remains debated.

Purpose of the Study:

To determine if threatening emotional valence automatically affects behavior when task-irrelevant.
To examine the conditions under which emotional valence influences response compatibility.
To test the hypothesis that stimulus meaning processing is a prerequisite for emotional valence effects.

Main Methods:

Five experiments employed a categorization task using financial threat, anxiety, and pleasant words.
Emotional valence was manipulated as task-irrelevant (surface feature categorization) or task-relevant (meaning categorization).
Response compatibility between word valence and required response was measured.

Main Results:

No compatibility effect was observed when emotional valence was task-irrelevant and words were categorized by surface features.
A compatibility effect emerged only when emotional valence was task-relevant or when task-irrelevant valence words were categorized by meaning.
Results were consistent across variations in valence presentation and response dimensions.

Conclusions:

Automatic emotional valence effects require the processing of stimulus meaning.
Task-irrelevant emotional information does not influence responses unless meaning is accessed.
Findings highlight the critical role of semantic processing in emotional reactivity.