M. Paz García-Caro

Emotional Responses to Images of Death A New Category of Emotional Processing

In the context of emotional states occurring during end-of-life processes, an understanding of emotional processing when facing stimuli associated with death would inform the study of whether these stimuli constitute a specific emotion schema whose adaptive value differs from the adaptive value of other negative and unpleasant stimuli. We investigated emotional processing when facing images of death and characterized this emotional processing according to the two-dimensional model of Peter Lang. For this purpose, a set of images of death was built and characterized along the dimensions of valence, arousal, and dominance. The degree of suffering portrayed in each image was also categorized as high, medium, or low. We found that images of death cause an emotional response that differs from the response to other types of unpleasant images and that such processing depends on the degree of suffering portrayed in the image.

Specific emotional schema of death-related images vs unpleasant images / Esquema emocional específico de imágenes relacionadas con la muerte frente a imágenes desagradables

Abstract Understanding the specific emotional responses elicited by death and how it differs from other unpleasant stimuli is essential for understanding people’s behaviour. In study I, 113 students viewed a set of unpleasant images or images of death. Death images rated lower arousal (p = .020, d = 0.31, CI [−.06 to .80]) and lower control (p = .015, d = 0.68, 95% CI [.23 to .93]) than unpleasant pictures. The results also indicated that viewing death-related images did not induce a state of anxiety; in study II, 84 students (42 participants with prior experience related to death) viewed pleasant, neutral, unpleasant and death images. The participants with prior experience reported lower arousal for death-related images (p = .004, d = 0.87, 95% CI [.45 to 1.36]). In both studies, images of death induced a specific emotional schema according to Izard’s theory that can be modulated by having previous experience.