There are also instances where the cognition comes in first before emotional response though the two often happen in tandem. For instance, one gets into a coffee shop and sees another person munching a chocolate cake. H recognizes that as a health risk and processes the various risks an associated with eating it, but still goes ahead to ask for a small piece just to taste. The cognition came in first but accompanied closely with the emotional response to the situation here and the result was the emotional response sufficed. It is also worth noting that at times, there can be emotional response without necessarily there being a cognitive process. This is exemplified in an infant who will smile at the face of the mother or any person and also show anger on the face by the time the infant is eight weeks old. Here, the infant is responding to the emotional evoking pattern yet the cognitive process is still absence as the infant cannot make comparison, have no memory not capability to match events and things (Harris, 1983). These are clear indications that where to draw the line between the cognitive and the emotional line is very arbitrary and blurred.
Even the attempt to have a logical thinking is influenced by cultural affiliations and hence an emotional response is inevitable with the infiltration of the cultural feelings.
References
Harris, P. (1983) 'Infant cognition', in M.M. Haith and J.J. Campos (eds), Handbook of Child Psychology: Infancy and Developmental Psychobiology (pp. 689-782). New York:
Wiley. Retrieved August 4, 2013 http://www.society-for-philosophy-in-practice.org/journal/pdf/3-3%2019%20Woolfolk%20-%20Cognition%20and%20Emotion.pdf
Kendra Cherry (2011). What is Cognitive Psychology? Retrieved August 4, 2013 from http://psychology.about.com/od/cognitivepsychology/f/cogpsych.htm
Zajonc, R.B. (1984) 'On the primacy of affect', American Psychologist, 39,117-123. Retrieved August 4, 2013 http://www.society-for-philosophy-in-practice.org/journal/pdf/3-3%2019%20Woolfolk%20-%20Cognition%20and%20Emotion.pdf
