IEP: Theories of Emotion (3)
Theories of the Emotion Process:
1, Attempt to describe the emotion process itself.
- Begins with the perception of a stimulus (*****), either external or internal.
- The early part of the emotion process is the activity between (****) the perception and the triggering of the bodily response.
- The later part of the emotion process is the bodily response.
- These theories focus on the early part of the emotion process because—according to these theories—the specific emotion that occurs is determined (*****) during this part of the process.
2, Cognitive Theories:
- the early part of the emotion process includes the manipulation (*****) of information and so should be understood as a cognitive process. (KEY!!!!!)
- This is in contrast to theories that state that the generation of the emotion response is a direct and automatic result of perceiving (*****) the stimulus—non-cognitive theories.
- Motivations:
a, different individuals will respond to the same event with different emotions, or the same individual may at different times respond differently to the same stimulus.
"Both individual and temporal variability in reaction to an event are difficult to explain with theories that claim that stimulus events directly cause emotional response"
b, there is a wide range of seemingly unrelated events that cause the same emotion.
"...pose problems for theories claiming that emotions are unconditioned responses to evolutionary (*****) specified stimulus..."
c, Cognitive theories account for these two observations by proposing that the way in which the individual evaluates the stimulus determines (*****) the emotion that is elicited. (KEY!!!!)
Every individual has beliefs, as well as goals, personal tendencies, and desires in place before the emotion causing event is encountered. It is in light of these factors that an individual evaluates (*****) the event. (KEY!!)
2.1, Judgment Theories:
- Robert Solomon: emotion is "a basic judgment about our Selves and our place (*****) in our world, the projection of the values and ideals, structures and mythologies, according to which we live and through which we experience our lives"
- Martha Nussbaum: Judging in this context is the mental ability, "assent[ing] to an appearance". Acknowledging (*****) a particular experience or the existence of a particular state of the world
- Anger, in Solomon's theory, "What constitutes the anger is my judging that I have been insulted and offended".
- Nussbaum on anger.
She treats judgments and beliefs interchangeably (*****) and it is sometimes the case that a series (*****) of judgments constitute the emotion.
Points out how the different beliefs are related (*****) to the emotion. A change in an individual's beliefs—in his or her way of seeing the world—entails a different emotion, or none at all.
(KEY!!!!!)
- Judging is the central idea in these theories because it is something that the agent actively (*****) does, rather than something that happens to the individual. (KEY: How to account for the passivity of emotion experience?).
- in order to have an emotion the individual must (*****) judge (evaluate, acknowledge) that events are a certain way.
- One way to distinguish the judgments that are emotions from those that are not is to suggest that the judgment must be based on a certain set of beliefs. If those beliefs are present, then the emotion will occur; if they are not, then it won't.
- A second response is to be more specific about the nature of the judgment itself. The judgments related to emotions are, as Solomon says, "self-involved and relatively intense evaluative judgments ... The judgments and objects that constitute our emotions are those which are especially important to us, meaningful to us, concerning matters in which we have invested our Selves"
(Eudaimonistic!!!!!) (KEY!!!!!)
- It is also important to note that, although these theories claim that emotion is a cognitive process, they do not claim that it is a conscious or a deliberative process.
Does not necessarily require any conscious mental effort, can be spontaneous.
- Many do not consider the bodily response (*****) a necessary part of the emotion process.
- Some judgment theorists are, however, more accommodating and allow that the bodily response is properly considered part of the emotion, an effect of the judgments that are made.
Lyons' causal evaluative theory: emotion is a psychosomatic state, a bodily state caused by an attitude, in this case an evaluative attitude
2.2, Cognitive Appraisal Theories:
- developed by psychologists.
- Like the judgment theories, the cognitive appraisal theories emphasize the idea that the way in which an individual evaluates or appraises the stimulus determines the emotion.
- But unlike the judgment theories, the cognitive appraisal theories do not rely on the resources of folk psychology (*****) (beliefs, judgments, and so forth).
- The cognitive appraisal theories also offer a more detailed analysis of the different types (*****) of appraisals involved in the emotion process.
- Ira Roseman: Roseman's model has five appraisal components that can produce 14 discrete emotions.
- motivational state (appetitive, aversive), situational state (motive-consistent, motive-inconsistent), probability (certain, uncertain, unknown), power (strong, weak), and agency (self-caused, other-caused, circumstance-caused).
- The basic idea is that when a stimulus is encountered it is appraised along these five dimensions. Each appraisal component is assigned one of its possible values, and together these values determine which emotion response will be generated.
- The motivational state appraisal distinguishes between states that the individual views as desirable (appetitive) and states that are viewed as undesirable (aversive). An evaluation of whether the event includes some important aspect that is perceived as a goal or some aspect that is perceived as a punishment.
- The situational state component determines whether the desirable or undesirable quality of the event is present or absent.
The appraisal that something desirable is present and the appraisal that something undesirable is absent are both motive-consistent. On the other hand, the appraisal that something desirable is absent or something undesirable is present is motive-inconsistent.
- The probability component evaluates whether an event is definite (certain), only possible (uncertain), or of an unknown probability.
For this component, an outcome of uncertainty contributes to hope instead of joy or relief, which both involve an appraisal that the event is certain.
- The evaluation of power is the individual's perception of his or her strength or weakness in a situation.
For example, shame (weak) and regret (strong), as well as dislike (weak) and anger (strong).
- The agency component, evaluation is made about whether the event was caused by the individual, caused by some other person, or is merely a result of the situation (lacking an agent).
This appraisal usually determines to whom or towards what the emotion is directed. (*****Intentional object) (KEY!!)
Making this evaluation sometimes requires a subtle understanding of what the emotion-causing stimulus is. (Joy and liking).
- Unlike some of the judgment theorists, all of the cognitive appraisal theorists agree that the appraisals are followed by a bodily response, which is properly consider part of the emotion process.
- Roseman suggests that once the appraisals have been made, a response that has the following parts is set in motion (The complete process):
(1) "the thoughts, images, and subjective 'feeling' associated with each discrete emotion,"
(2) "the patterns of bodily response,"
(3) the "facial expressions, vocal signals, and postural cues that communicate to others which emotion one is feeling,"
(4) a "behavioral component [that] comprises actions, such as running or fighting, which are often associated with particular emotions,"
(5) "goals to which particular emotions give rise, such as avoiding some situation (when frightened) or inflicting harm upon some person (when angered)"
1, Attempt to describe the emotion process itself.
- Begins with the perception of a stimulus (*****), either external or internal.
- The early part of the emotion process is the activity between (****) the perception and the triggering of the bodily response.
- The later part of the emotion process is the bodily response.
- These theories focus on the early part of the emotion process because—according to these theories—the specific emotion that occurs is determined (*****) during this part of the process.
2, Cognitive Theories:
- the early part of the emotion process includes the manipulation (*****) of information and so should be understood as a cognitive process. (KEY!!!!!)
- This is in contrast to theories that state that the generation of the emotion response is a direct and automatic result of perceiving (*****) the stimulus—non-cognitive theories.
- Motivations:
a, different individuals will respond to the same event with different emotions, or the same individual may at different times respond differently to the same stimulus.
"Both individual and temporal variability in reaction to an event are difficult to explain with theories that claim that stimulus events directly cause emotional response"
b, there is a wide range of seemingly unrelated events that cause the same emotion.
"...pose problems for theories claiming that emotions are unconditioned responses to evolutionary (*****) specified stimulus..."
c, Cognitive theories account for these two observations by proposing that the way in which the individual evaluates the stimulus determines (*****) the emotion that is elicited. (KEY!!!!)
Every individual has beliefs, as well as goals, personal tendencies, and desires in place before the emotion causing event is encountered. It is in light of these factors that an individual evaluates (*****) the event. (KEY!!)
2.1, Judgment Theories:
- Robert Solomon: emotion is "a basic judgment about our Selves and our place (*****) in our world, the projection of the values and ideals, structures and mythologies, according to which we live and through which we experience our lives"
- Martha Nussbaum: Judging in this context is the mental ability, "assent[ing] to an appearance". Acknowledging (*****) a particular experience or the existence of a particular state of the world
- Anger, in Solomon's theory, "What constitutes the anger is my judging that I have been insulted and offended".
- Nussbaum on anger.
She treats judgments and beliefs interchangeably (*****) and it is sometimes the case that a series (*****) of judgments constitute the emotion.
Points out how the different beliefs are related (*****) to the emotion. A change in an individual's beliefs—in his or her way of seeing the world—entails a different emotion, or none at all.
(KEY!!!!!)
- Judging is the central idea in these theories because it is something that the agent actively (*****) does, rather than something that happens to the individual. (KEY: How to account for the passivity of emotion experience?).
- in order to have an emotion the individual must (*****) judge (evaluate, acknowledge) that events are a certain way.
- One way to distinguish the judgments that are emotions from those that are not is to suggest that the judgment must be based on a certain set of beliefs. If those beliefs are present, then the emotion will occur; if they are not, then it won't.
- A second response is to be more specific about the nature of the judgment itself. The judgments related to emotions are, as Solomon says, "self-involved and relatively intense evaluative judgments ... The judgments and objects that constitute our emotions are those which are especially important to us, meaningful to us, concerning matters in which we have invested our Selves"
(Eudaimonistic!!!!!) (KEY!!!!!)
- It is also important to note that, although these theories claim that emotion is a cognitive process, they do not claim that it is a conscious or a deliberative process.
Does not necessarily require any conscious mental effort, can be spontaneous.
- Many do not consider the bodily response (*****) a necessary part of the emotion process.
- Some judgment theorists are, however, more accommodating and allow that the bodily response is properly considered part of the emotion, an effect of the judgments that are made.
Lyons' causal evaluative theory: emotion is a psychosomatic state, a bodily state caused by an attitude, in this case an evaluative attitude
2.2, Cognitive Appraisal Theories:
- developed by psychologists.
- Like the judgment theories, the cognitive appraisal theories emphasize the idea that the way in which an individual evaluates or appraises the stimulus determines the emotion.
- But unlike the judgment theories, the cognitive appraisal theories do not rely on the resources of folk psychology (*****) (beliefs, judgments, and so forth).
- The cognitive appraisal theories also offer a more detailed analysis of the different types (*****) of appraisals involved in the emotion process.
- Ira Roseman: Roseman's model has five appraisal components that can produce 14 discrete emotions.
- motivational state (appetitive, aversive), situational state (motive-consistent, motive-inconsistent), probability (certain, uncertain, unknown), power (strong, weak), and agency (self-caused, other-caused, circumstance-caused).
- The basic idea is that when a stimulus is encountered it is appraised along these five dimensions. Each appraisal component is assigned one of its possible values, and together these values determine which emotion response will be generated.
 |
Roseman's model |
- The motivational state appraisal distinguishes between states that the individual views as desirable (appetitive) and states that are viewed as undesirable (aversive). An evaluation of whether the event includes some important aspect that is perceived as a goal or some aspect that is perceived as a punishment.
- The situational state component determines whether the desirable or undesirable quality of the event is present or absent.
The appraisal that something desirable is present and the appraisal that something undesirable is absent are both motive-consistent. On the other hand, the appraisal that something desirable is absent or something undesirable is present is motive-inconsistent.
- The probability component evaluates whether an event is definite (certain), only possible (uncertain), or of an unknown probability.
For this component, an outcome of uncertainty contributes to hope instead of joy or relief, which both involve an appraisal that the event is certain.
- The evaluation of power is the individual's perception of his or her strength or weakness in a situation.
For example, shame (weak) and regret (strong), as well as dislike (weak) and anger (strong).
- The agency component, evaluation is made about whether the event was caused by the individual, caused by some other person, or is merely a result of the situation (lacking an agent).
This appraisal usually determines to whom or towards what the emotion is directed. (*****Intentional object) (KEY!!)
Making this evaluation sometimes requires a subtle understanding of what the emotion-causing stimulus is. (Joy and liking).
- Unlike some of the judgment theorists, all of the cognitive appraisal theorists agree that the appraisals are followed by a bodily response, which is properly consider part of the emotion process.
- Roseman suggests that once the appraisals have been made, a response that has the following parts is set in motion (The complete process):
(1) "the thoughts, images, and subjective 'feeling' associated with each discrete emotion,"
(2) "the patterns of bodily response,"
(3) the "facial expressions, vocal signals, and postural cues that communicate to others which emotion one is feeling,"
(4) a "behavioral component [that] comprises actions, such as running or fighting, which are often associated with particular emotions,"
(5) "goals to which particular emotions give rise, such as avoiding some situation (when frightened) or inflicting harm upon some person (when angered)"
