Date of Award
Spring 5-1-2009
Document Type
Honors Project
Degree Name
Bachelor of Science
Department
Psychological Science
Major or Concentration
Psychology
Abstract
Research in the field of positive psychology has revealed many advantages of positive emotions. According to the undoing hypothesis (Fredrickson & Levenson, 1998), positive affect can undo the physiological effects of negative emotion. The present study examined whether positive emotions could undo the cognitive effects of negative emotion. A categorization task was used to measure changes in cognitive processing, as measured by reaction time and accuracy, of 69 college students who were induced into a positive, negative, or neutral affective state by viewing various film clips. The results of this study did not support the extension of the undoing hypothesis to cognitive processing.
Recommended Citation
Falkenstern, Melissa, "A Study of the Undoing Hypothesis and Cognitive Processing" (2009). Student Research Submissions. 125.
https://scholar.umw.edu/student_research/125