Stanley Schachter

The Interaction of Cognitive and Physiological Determinants of Emotional State

Publisher Summary The different emotions are accompanied by recognizably different bodily states, and the direct manipulation of bodily state, by drugs or surgery, also manipulates emotional state. This chapter describes the implications of a cognitive-physiological formulation of emotion, and a series of experiments designed to test these implications. The emotional states are a function of the interaction of cognitive factors with a state of physiological arousal. Cognitions arising from the immediate situation provide the framework within which one understands and labels his feelings, and cognitive factors can lead the individual to describe his feelings with any of a variety of emotional labels, such as euphoria or anger. The experimental results suggest that given a state of physiological arousal for which an individual has no explanation, he labels this state in terms of the cognitions available to him, and by manipulating the cognitions of an individual in such a state, his feelings can be manipulated in diverse directions. Under the state of physiological arousal for which the individual has a completely satisfactory explanation, he does not label this state in terms of the alternative cognitions available. While, under the constant cognitive circumstances, an individual reacts emotionally only to the extent that he experiences a state of physiological arousal.

Cognitive manipulation of pain

Abstract The experiment tests the notion that naturally occurring states of physiological arousal are manipulable in the same way that drug-induced arousal states have proven to be. The state of arousal studied is that produced by pain from electric shock. All subjects were given a placebo before the shock experience and half were told that the side effects would cause arousal symptoms such as palpitation, tremor, etc. The other half expected no such symptoms. Subjects believing themselves to be in an artificial state of arousal failed to attribute their shock-created arousal to the shock, and found the shock less painful and were willing to tolerate more of it. This “relabeling” of a naturally occurring state was shown to occur only for subjects in a relatively low state of fear.

Pharmacological and Psychological Determinants of Smoking

: Arguments for and against low-nicotine cigarettes are examined by considering evidence relevant to the gratification of smoking and to nicotine as an addicting agent. A variety of studies indicates that smokers regulate nicotine intake and that variations in smoking rate that customarily have been interpreted in psychological terms are better understood as attempts to regulate nicotine. These findings bring into question the justification for the low-nicotine cigarette campaign.

BIRTH ORDER, EMINENCE AND HIGHER EDUCATION *

Numerous studies have indicated that eminent scientists, scholars, and men of letters tend to be first-born or only children. Data are presented which indicate that this relationship is simply a reflection of the fact that scholars, eminent or not, derive from a college population in which first-borns are in marked surplus. Factors that might explain the heavy overrepresentation of first-borns in college populations are considered.

Filled pauses and gestures: It's not coincidence

Though filled pauses and gestures frequently accompany speech, their function is not well understood. We suggest that it may be helpful in furthering our knowledge of these phenomena to examine their relationship to each other. To this end, we carried out two studies examining whether they tend to occur together, or to occur at separate times. Both faculty colloquium speakers and undergraduate subjects used filled pauses less frequently when they were gesturing than when they were not gesturing. This effect held for 30 out of 31 subjects. We suggest that detailed theories may be premature, but speculate that gestures may be an indication that the speech production apparatus has completed its search for the next word, phrase or idea and is ready to continue.

The Vocabularies of Academia

It has been demonstrated that humanists are far more likely to use filled pauses (“uh,” “ah,” or “um”) during their lectures than are social or natural scientists This finding has been interpreted in terms of the hypothesis that filled pauses indicate time out while the speaker searches for the next word or phrase Based on the assumption that the more options at a choice point, the more likely a speaker will say “uh,” it is hypothesized that the humanities are characterized by richer vocabularies (i e, more synonyms) than are the sciences An analysis of the number of different words used in lectures and in professional publications indicates that this is indeed the case Scientists consistently use fewer different words than do humanists Further, the number of different words correlates positively with the frequency of saying “uh” during lectures These findings are not restricted to academics, for in newspaper accounts, journalists use fewer different words in stories about science than in stories about the arts

III. Some causes and consequences of dependence and independence in the stock market

Abstract The fact that there are times when market movement is random and times when it is not is interpreted in terms of the hypothesis that the price of a stock is an aggregate opinion — the resultant of the opinions and decisions of a community of investors. Price, like any other opinion, will be most vulnerable to social and other sources of influence during times of uncertainty, an aggregate psychological state which can generate the kind of statistical dependence characteristic of non-random walks. Ramifications of this hypothesis are explored in a variety of stock market behaviors, such as the effect of tips, the impact of runs on trading volume during rising and falling markets, and the like.

Effects of cue prominence and palatability on the drinking behavior of obese and normal humans

This study examines the effects of cue salience and palatability (water temperature) on the water drinking of obese and normal subjects. Obese subjects drink more than do normal subjects when the water cue is prominent but do not do so when this cue is remote. Palatability does not differentially affect the drinking behavior of obese and normal subjects. These results support the extension to nonfood stimuli of the hypothesis of the hyperreactivity of the obese to prominent cues.

II. Random and non-random walks on the New York stock exchange

Abstract Daily price changes of a variety of individual stocks and of stocks indices on the New York Stock Exchange are studied for indication of randomness between 1957 and 1979. From 1957 to the beginning of 1966, this market moved randomly; from 1966 to 1979 it did not.

I. Was the South Sea Bubble a random walk

Abstract Though it is generally accepted that a random walk describes the pattern of successive price changes in the market, a review of research evidence suggests that this is by no means a universal fact. Rather than being a general description of market movement, a random walk appears adequate as a description of some markets and not of others, and during some periods of time but not others. In an attempt to understand some of the determinants of the degree of randomness, serial correlations and the runs test were calculated for daily price changes in the stock of the South Sea Company during 1715, a period of financial uneventfulness and during 1720, the period of speculative mania known as the South Sea Bubble. Market movement was distinctly non-random during 1720.