A Qualitative Multiple Case Study of an Integrated Cognitive Model of Emotion Generation
Eleni Vasilaki, Marinos Anastasakis
Abstract
There is a growing consensus that emotions are the product of modularized goal oriented cognitive processes. With this assumption in mind, we applied a cognitive model to analyze the generation of negative emotions induced by events in a group of university students. The model emphasizes the importance of cognitive processes that can lead to emotions being perceived as threatening and stress inducing. Within this cognitive framework the concepts of appraisal and goal play an important role as well as two routes for the emotion generation: the schematic and the associative route. Data were collected by interviewing 24 university students. The interview protocol contained specific questions that allowed us to assess the interviewees’ experiences and emotions related to mathematics in childhood and young adulthood. We created a coding framework based on the cognitive model we adopted, which includes categories pertaining to mathematics-related events, their appraisal and generation of emotions. Three participants described their negative experiences related to mathematics classes in childhood and young adulthood. The appraisal of these early experiences had a profound impact upon the participant’s emotion generation in later life. The main findings highlight the role of cognitive mechanisms for emotion generation.
Full Text: PDF DOI: 10.15640/jehd.v12n1a3
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