Persuasive Communication - How Audiences Decide. 2nd Edition

320 Understanding Emotional Decision Making

bird-related words.^120 Smokers, but not nonsmokers, maintain their gaze longer on smoking-related

pictures than on pictures unrelated to smoking. The longer smokers fi xate on smoking-related pic-

tures, the more positively they rate them and the greater their urge to smoke.^121

Another attentional bias is termed the “weapon-focus” effect.^122 In this bias, the audience’s

attention to and memory for neutral information in scenes is substantially reduced by the presence

of emotionally signifi cant stimuli.^123 Thus, when shown scenes of crimes taking place, audience

members spend a disproportionate amount of time looking at the weapon in the scenes (e.g.,

a gun). Both the unusualness and the threat of the weapon decrease the audience’s attention to

peripheral information.^124 Moreover, the amount of time audience members spend looking at the

weapon is inversely related to their ability to remember peripheral information in the scene, such

as the face of the criminal.^125

A review of the weapon focus literature concludes that the presence of any emotionally sig-

nifi cant element in a scene makes it less likely audience members will remember neutral elements.

Instead, they are more likely to remember those same neutral elements if they occur in a scene

without an emotional component.^126 Emotionally signifi cant stimuli also degrade attention to and

memory for neutral stimuli presented immediately before the emotional stimuli.^127 For example,

reading audiences are more likely to forget words that appear just before emotionally signifi cant

words than to forget other words in the text.^128

Comprehension or “Appraisal” of Emotionally Signifi cant Stimuli

According to appraisal theory—the dominant psychological explanation of emotions—each dis-

tinct emotion the audience experiences is elicited by a distinct appraisal, or understanding, of a

situation.^129 According to this theory, a change in an audience member’s emotions, say from anger

to shame after the being called on by a speaker, is caused by a change in their appraisal of the situ-

ation, in this case from blaming the speaker for calling on them to blaming themselves for being

unable to answer the speaker’s question.^130 Table 7.2 indicates the appraisals audiences are thought

to make for several of the core emotions.

The appraisal process usually proceeds effortlessly, beneath the conscious awareness of audience

members, and generates emotions automatically.^131 Surprisingly, conscious awareness is not neces-

sary for most cognitive processes, including perception, comprehension, learning, memory, or even

the control of action.^132

A small number of appraisal dimensions—such as valence, certainty, and agency—account for

most of the different emotions that audiences experience.^133 A review of the appraisal literature

TABLE 7.2 Each Emotion Is the Result of a Distinct Appraisal

Appraisal of a Stimulus The Resulting Emotion

My expectation is violated. Surprise

Something I value is available to me. Happiness

Something I value may become available to me. Hope

Something I value is no longer available to me. Sadness

Something I value may be taken from me. Fear

Something I value has been taken from me by someone. Anger

Something I value is available because of me. Pride

Something I value has been defi led. Disgust
Something I value has been defi led by me. Shame