THE ORGANIZATIONAL FUNCTION OF EMOTION ON COGNITIVE TASK PERFORMANCE IN INFANCY

On the basis of a set of laboratory experiments, this report deals with the organ· izational functions of emotion with the conclusion that emotions of variant hedonic tones produce organizational or disorganizing effects on cognitive task performance. The discussion centers around what are the factors through which emotion impacts cognition. It analyses the following facts: the physiological arousal and the interior experiences as important components of emotion take parts in the impacts on cogni· tion; the impacts of emotion are functioned by way of a form of motivation; the crux of these functions rests with the impacts directly upon the alternative of cognitive operating strategies. The functional value of emotion had been examined actually from different per· spectives first by Freudianism and then by Humanistic Psychology. However, during those years when Behaviorism was dominating over psychology and cognitive psychol· ogy was on the rise, emotion was in the eyes of many psychologists merely a reaction to behavior or an outcome of cognition. Consequently, the study of the role of emotion had been held back on the theoretical level for a considerable period of time. It wa