The Cognitive Response Model – Stage Two
The second stage of the Cognitive Response Model is an elaboration of the initial stage. This stage is concerned with understanding the psychological processes involved in forming responses to what people encounter, experience and read. It argues that a cycle of three events arises whenever a person is exposed to new data or information. First, a person forms an initial response. This is likely to be emotionally-driven and has various mental steps including: pre-judging, acceptance or rejection and brain storming. Second, the person begins to organize and structure his thoughts. This is called the elaboration stage, and it involves further evaluation and thought processes such as making judgments based on the evidence, categorizing and organizing the data, and further drawing deeper conclusions (Hilgard, 1980). Finally, the person consolidates his response and formulates his opinion. This includes further reinforcement and cognitive restructuring.
The elaboration stage of the Cognitive Response Model is where the true and objective evaluation of something occurs. It is here that the person evaluates the accuracy, reasonableness and appropriateness of what they have encountered. This evaluation is driven by the previous response, and the person filters out the key points, shapes their opinions and opinions and forms judgments.
This second stage of the Cognitive Response Model is important, because it emphasizes the importance of emotion in forming responses. People, especially ones that are inexperienced or unsure of the situation, often rely heavily on their initial emotion-driven response to form their opinion. This should not be viewed as a bad thing, however; it is natural for people to feel emotional about something before reasoning and logical thought. But it is important to remember that it is not just emotion driving our interpretation – it is also the underlying thoughts, beliefs, values and judgements that shape our opinion.
The Cognitive Response Model – Stage Three
The third stage of the Cognitive Response Model elaborates further on the impact of emotion on our responses. If the initial emotional response was positive, then the second elaboration stage will likely be more positive, reaffirming the thoughts and values. If the initial response was negative, then the third stage of the model serves to enforce this negative outlook.
At this stage, the person has accepted the thoughts and values they derived from the first two stages and is re-examining the evidence to ensure that their judgments and opinions are sound. This involves further testing and evaluation, discriminating against the evidence, and further drawing conclusions. This is the stage where people are particularly vulnerable to an emotional bias, as they might reject facts and evidence that runs counter to their beliefs, opinions and values.
The third stage of the Cognitive Response Model emphasizes the importance of emotion in the evaluation and formation of opinions. People tend to filter out evidence that does not support their own views, and without the correct emotional regulation, it can be easy to go too deep into this filter. It is important to remember that emotion does play an important role in our evaluation of experiences, but it must not be allowed to take precedence over facts and logical reasoning.
