On Second Thought: Attenuating the Emotional Impact of Threatening Narratives through Rational Reconsideration

Authors:

• Charles R. Berger (Univ of California, Davis)
• Key J. Lee (University of California, Davis)

Abstract:

Dual-process theoretic perspectives and dynamical systems concepts were employed to examine the effects of rational system priming on the experiential system's processing of threatening narratives. As expected, priming the rational system after exposure to highly emotional threatening anecdotes significantly reduced reported levels of fear, sadness, anger and sorrow in response to the narratives. Exposure to experiential primes did not alter cognitive judgments of the narratives' probative value, suggesting processing asymmetries between rational and experiential systems.