Question

A babysitter has put the children to sleep. it is dark and quiet in the house. she hears what sounds like a doorknob turning an hour before the parents are expected to be home, making her think that perhaps a stranger is trying to break into the house. according to lazarus's cognitive-mediational theory, how would the babysitter experience an emotion in this situation?

Answer 1

The babysitter would only experience an emotion after seeing what the stimulus was about and making an appraisal of that stimulus, which would occur by checking to see what caused the door to make such a noise. If the door was making a noise because of a positive reason, such as the parents being home, the babysitter would appraise this as positive and associate the noise with the family coming home in the future. If it was because someone was trying to break into the house, the babysitter would appraise this with a fearful response to the door making noises in the future.