Post on 04-Jun-2020
transcript
Emotion, Neuroscience and Responses to Survey Questions:
A Neuro Potpourri*
GeorgeBishopandStephenMockabee
(bishopgf@mail.uc.edu)(Stephen.Mockabee@uc.edu)
UniversityofCincinnati*George Bishop is a retired professor of political science and currently a part-time student at the University of Cincinnati; Stephen Mockabee is an Associate Professor of Political Science, University of Cincinnati.
“Ninety-eight percent of whatthe mind does is outsideconscious awareness.”
Michael Gazzaniga The Mind’s Past
Affective-Cognitive Neuroscience: Implications for Understanding the Survey Response
• The rationalistic, enlightenment model of public opinion [Gallup>Newport] is dead!
• We don’t know what we are thinking or whywe are thinking what we are thinking
• We have no introspective access to the affective-cognitive processes underlying our responses to survey questions….So asking
More A-C Neuroscience Implications and Propositions
• Asking Rs “Why?” yields mostly plausible, after-the-fact justifications, confabulations and cognitive by-products of largely unconscious processes
• Affect&Cognitionareneuropsychologicallyinseparable&overlapping
• Affective reactions to attitude survey questions are primary: fast, intuitive, and largely unconscious
• Respondents select response categories that plausibly justify & rationalize [unconscious] affective decisions already made
Where Have All the Feelings Gone?
• Victim of “Cognitive Revolution” [1960s-] & Computer Metaphor for Mind & Brain
• Info-processing model of brain function:Input>Encoding>Retrieval[memory]>Output
• Emotion & Feelings considered essential to any neuropsychological explanation of behavior, including Verbal Responses to Qs
CASM and “Cold Cognition”: Affectless Model of Survey Response
• Comprehension: Interpret literal/semantic and pragmatic meaning of question (s)
• Retrieval: Recall relevant info from memory• Judgment/Estimation: Use info retrieved from
memory to construct judgment or opinion• Mapping: Fit judgment or opinion onto response
categories + editing—e.g. sensitivity [affect]
Neural Mechanisms of Speech Comprehension: Left Hemisphere, Cortical Language Processing
• Identification of Words: Ambiguity &Context
• Retrieval of Meanings from Memory• Combination & Integration of
Meanings/ Syntax • Construct Semantic Judgment about the
Meaning of a Sentence or Question
Tourangeau et al. (2000)
• Theory postulates 13 cognitive processes, but affect/emotion conspicuously absent
• Autobiographical memory, retrieval &estimation are core cognitive processes
• Attitude & Opinion questions based on much the same cognitive processes & strategies as temporal, factual and frequency items
Nature of Attitudes
• Memory Structures: Pre-existing evaluationsand miscellaneous “considerations”
• Belief Sampling Model: retrieval of such “considerations” based primarily on accessibility….purely cognitive process
• Judgment = Averaging, weighting & integration of “considerations”
Utility and Limits of Four-Stage Cognitive Model
• Great heuristic value, but applicable primarily to temporal questions; factual/autobiographical info; and numerical estimation
• Much less applicable to evaluative judgments/ responses to attitude & opinion questions
• Because such questions activate primarily affectivenetworks in the brain, as well as associativecognitive networks
Evidence for Role of Emotion in Responses to Opinion Questions
• Gozzi et al. (2010): Neural correlates of political opinions among respondentsinterested anduninterested inpolitics
• Harris et al.(2009): Neural correlates of beliefs among religious and nonreligiousrespondents
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fMRI: Areas Activated for Contrast Agree>Disagreewith Political Opinion Statements (Gozzi et al. 2010)
• Amygdala Part of limbic system associated with processing and memory of emotions, esp.fear & anxiety; affective intensity in general
• Ventral Putamen Dopamine-rich part of ventral striatum assoc. with processing of feelings of reward
fMRI: Areas Activated for True>False Contrast onReligious-Nonreligious Beliefs
(Harris et al. 2009)
• Anterior Cingulate Cortex Conflict, Error, Negative Emotional Stimuli
• Anterior InsulaNegative affect/appraisal
• Ventral StriatumEmotional processing, esp. reward
fMRI: Areas Activated for True-False Contrast onNonreligious-Religious Beliefs
(Harris et al., 2009)
• Ventromedial Prefrontal Cortex [Left]Self-Representation
• Parahippocampal Gyrus [Left]Memory retrieval
• Hippocampus [Left]Memory Retrieval
• Orbital Frontal Cortex [Left]Cognitive processing of decisions
• Superior Frontal and Middle Temporal Gyri [Left]Speech comprehension
http://www.news.emory.edu/news_images/BrainScan.jpg
fMRIPartisanBrain[ACC &mPFC]Activatedby:Negative InfoaboutCandidate
Caveat: Beware of Neuromania!
• Conservatives have bigger Amygdala (s); liberalslarger, more active ACCs
• “Just Because You’re Imaging the Brain Doesn’t Mean You Can Stop Using Your Head…”
• Beauty of Brain Image Does Not Speak its Psychological Significance
• Social-Psychological vs. Neurobiological levels of analysis…bridging for survey responses?
What Does It All Mean for Asking Survey Questions?
Well…we can’t fMRI everyone• It’s the Validity Thing: Knowing what we are
measuring even if it is measuring something partly or entirely different from what we think we are measuring
• What we’re measuring with many, if not most, public opinion/attitude questions is AFFECT
• Some prominent polling examples:
“Do you approve or disapprove of the way Barack Obama is handling his job as president?”
• “How-do-I-feel about him” heuristic activated automatically…telling R how much he/she likes or dislikes him [Lodge et al.]
• Respondent selects Approve or Disapprove to justify [unconscious] affective decision already made
• If asked why?...R will offer the most accessible, plausible, after-the-fact justification or rationalization—e.g., the economy/Gay marriage
Other Affect-Laden Questions and Affect-Driven Responses
• “Do you approve or disapprove of the way Congress is handling its job?”
• “How much of the time do you think you can trust the government in Washington to do what is right--just about always, most of the time, or only some of the time?
• MoodoftheCountry:“Doyoufeel thingsinthiscountryaregenerallygoingintherightdirectionordoyoufeel thingshaveprettyseriouslygottenoffonthewrongtrack?”
Rival Affect-Driven Model of Responses to Attitude & Opinion Questions
• Rs React Automatically, Affectively & Unconsciously to Attitude & Opinion Qs
• Left-brain “interpreter” constructs plausible, after-the-fact explanations, justifications, and rationalizations>“Why” Questions
• Media Coverage: Provides Plausible, After-the Fact Justifications—e.g. “the Economy”
Take-Aways• Affective-Cognitive Neuroscience is “The
New Frontier” for fully understanding the Question & Answer process
• Most attitude survey questions appear to activate primarily affective neural networks
• Conscious cognitions & responses to survey questions are largely secondary by-products of unconscious, affective decisions already made by respondent…..epiphenomena?