认知评价对主观情绪感受和生理活动的作用

心理学报 2011, Vol. 43, No.8,  898−906
原 琳 彭 明 刘丹玮 周仁来
(应用实验心理北京市重点实验室(北京师范大学), 北京  100875)
(认知神经科学与学习国家重点实验室(北京师范大学), 北京 100875)

摘 要 围绕认知评价对情绪的作用, 针对传统认知评价实验方法的缺陷, 本研究改进认知评价的操作方法, 以情绪片段为实验材料,  以事先的评价背景替代与观看同步的评价策略, 以生理指标与情绪自评反映情绪变化, 考察41 名大学生的认知评价对负性情绪的影响。结果发现,  持有利于情绪调节评价的个体, 负性情绪感受降低, 皮肤电反应减弱, 但心率无变化。研究表明, 认知评价影响个体的主观情绪体验,  并在一定程度上抑制负性情绪所致的生理唤起的增高。
关键词 负性情绪; 认知评价; 皮肤电反应; 心率

Cognitive Appraisal Influences Negative Emotion Experience and  Physiological Activity
YUAN Lin; PENG Ming; LIU Dan-Wei; ZHOU  Ren-Lai

(Beijing Key Lab of Applied Experimental Psychology (Beijing  Normal University), Beijing 100875, China)
(State Key Laboratory of Cognitive  Neurosciences and Learning (Beijing Normal University), Beijing 100875,  China)

Abstract: To control negative emotion entails avoiding the  harmful influences of bad mood, which may influence attention, memory,  subjective and physical well-being, etc. Developing effective methods of  negative emotion regulation are critical in improving mental health. The study  of cognitive appraisal has been the recent focus of this pursuit. Cognitive  appraisal is defined as a type of cognitive regulation that may eliminate  negative feelings. While much evidence of cognitive appraisal has been reported,  the studies often used inappropriate instructions and hence caused a confounding  effect due to uncontrollable cognitive activity. For example, some researchers  explicitly asked participants to try to reduce their emotional intensity by  using reappraisal. As a result, participants would use unnecessary cognitive  activities to decrease emotion, leading to the artificial inflation of appraisal  effect. In this study, an improved method was used to solve this problem and  probe only the function of appraisal on negative emotion. Three pieces of films,  the length of which were all about six minutes, were chosen to elicit emotion.  According to the emotional valence ratings, one of them was neutral while the  other two were negative. Thirty-seven participants for the main experiment were  instructed to watch the films with two physiological indexes being recorded: GSR  (Galvanic Skin Reflex) and ECG (Electrocardiography). Before and after each  film, the participants were asked to rest for four minutes. A rating for their  current mood was also made before and after the clips. Different from previous  studies, two distinct appraisals were given to two participant groups before the  second negative film started, both asked the participants to watch the films  naturally. Nineteen of the participants were told the actors’ own stories and  emphasized they just “performed”. The rest, as a control group, were told the  content in the film. At the end of the experiment, all participants were asked  if they thought the film was fabled when watching the last clip to assess  whether the appraisal background influenced their cognition of the film. The  results indicated that only GSR and self emotion rating reflected emotional  activity differences between the two groups. Analysis of covariance with the GSR  level of the first rest as covariant indicated that the GSR level in the  actors-appraisal group was lower than that in the control group when watching  the second negative film. However, during the first two films, there were no  differences between these two groups. On the other hand, analysis of covariance  with the self report before the first rest as covariant indicated that the  negative experience of actors–appraisal group was lower than that of the control  group when watching the second negative film. During the first two films, there  were no such differences. The change of GSR and negative experience, as  anticipated, indicated that appraisal decreased physiological reaction to  negative emotion. To sum up, people with the knowledge that the emotional  stimulus was fabled showed more peaceful physiological activity along with lower  negative emotion rating. These results indicate the effect of appraisal on  emotion.
Key words negative emotion; cognitive appraisal; galvanic skin  response; heart rate

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