The detrimental and facilitative effects of emotion during message production

Anne Elizabeth Lindsey, Purdue University

Abstract

This dissertation contains two studies examining two different effects of emotional states on cognitive processes relevant to the production of messages. Study One is an examination of the detrimental effects of arousal on cognitive processes during the production of simple versus complex messages. Cognitive effort required to produce multiple-goal messages was hypothesized to increase significantly more than the effort required to produce single-goal messages when participants experienced very high levels of physiological arousal. Participants in the study were audiotaped while they delivered messages addressing either one or two social goals, during which time they experienced various degrees of caffeine-induced arousal. The recorded messages were examined for several hesitancy and speech disruption variables as indicators of cognitive effort. Results generally did not indicate that multiple-goal messages were more difficult to produce than single-goal messages due to either changes in participants' pulse rates or their scores on an arousal awareness scale, suggesting instead that arousal tended to supplement rather than adversely affect the output of both message tasks. Study Two examined Facilitative effects of emotion during message production. The study employed a content analysis of messages written by individuals during positive and negative emotional states to detect whether the hedonic tone and intensity of an emotion, tendencies toward Affect Intensity or participant gender would affect the degree to which messages contained evidence of exaggerated thought and semantic congruency with the hedonic tone and intensity of the emotion experienced. Results demonstrated few significant effects on message content for positive emotional states, but provided moderate or better support for many of the hypothesized effects expected for negative emotional states, Affect Intensity and gender. Messages produced by persons during negative states demonstrated a significantly tendency toward greater negativity and were characterized by greater semantic intensity as negative states increased in intensity. Persons with a greater tendency toward Affect Intensity produced messages characterized by an increase in exaggerated thought. Women tended to produce messages characterized by exaggerated thought and semantic congruency more than men as their negative emotional states increased in intensity.

Degree

Ph.D.

Advisors

Webb, Purdue University.

Subject Area

Communication

COinS