The Effect of Emotional Context on Affective Appraisal Open Access

Abstract

Emotions are integral to human experience, and shape how individuals feel, perceive, and

interact with their environment. In addition to experiencing emotions internally, people assign

emotional meaning to events and stimuli they observe. Emotional contexts, including emotional

states and prior affective evaluations, influence the perception and interpretation of subsequent

stimuli. The objective of this study was to investigate emotional context across different timescales

and levels of conscious awareness, including mood induction procedures (MIPs), subliminal

priming, and supraliminal priming. We sought to determine whether these emotional contexts

produce similar priming effects, and whether these effects are produced through distinct

mechanisms. In this behavioral study, participants completed an emotional appraisal task, where

emotional context and valence were manipulated. Outcomes included response time, deviation from

normative valence ratings, and directional response bias. Results revealed consistent interactions

between emotional context condition type and valence, indicating that the valence-dependent effects

of priming arise distinctly in these conditions. Specifically, the results suggest that affective

influences on emotional evaluation differ across contexts, reflecting temporal differences and

varying levels of conscious awareness.

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

Introduction.....................................................................................................................................1

Methods............................................................................................................................................6

Analysis.............................................................................................................................................9

Results.............................................................................................................................................11

Discussion......................................................................................................................................17

References......................................................................................................................................22

About this Honors Thesis

Rights statement

• Permission granted by the author to include this thesis or dissertation in this repository. All rights reserved by the author. Please contact the author for information regarding the reproduction and use of this thesis or dissertation.

School	Emory College
Department	Neuroscience and Behavioral Biology
Degree	B.S.
Submission	Honors Thesis
Language	English
Research Field	Psychology, Behavioral Sciences Psychology, Behavioral
Keyword	Mood Induction Priming Emotion Emotional Context Emotional Evaluations Affective Appraisal
Committee Chair / Thesis Advisor	Kragel, Philip, Emory University
Committee Members	Benardot, Dan, Emory University Cohen, Alexandra, Emory University

Last modified

Primary PDF

Thumbnail	Title	Date Uploaded	Actions
	The Effect of Emotional Context on Affective Appraisal ()	2026-04-08 00:05:11 -0400	Press to Select an action Download

Supplemental Files

Thumbnail	Title	Date Uploaded	Actions