Psychological Theories Of Emotion Research Articles

Computational Modeling of Emotion: Toward Improving the Inter- and Intradisciplinary Exchange

The past years have seen increasing cooperation between psychology and computer science in the field of computational modeling of emotion. However, to realize its potential, the exchange between the two disciplines, as well as the intradisciplinary coordination, should be further improved. We make three proposals for how this could be achieved. The proposals refer to: 1) systematizing and classifying the assumptions of psychological emotion theories; 2) formalizing emotion theories in implementation-independent formal languages (set theory, agent logics); and 3) modeling emotions using general cognitive architectures (such as Soar and ACT-R), general agent architectures (such as the BDI architecture) or general-purpose affective agent architectures. These proposals share two overarching themes. The first is a proposal for modularization: deconstruct emotion theories into basic assumptions; modularize architectures. The second is a proposal for unification and standardization: Translate different emotion theories into a common informal conceptual system or a formal language, or implement them in a common architecture.

The impact of emotion on perception, attention, memory, and decision-making

Reason and emotion have long been considered opposing forces. However, recent psychological and neuroscientific research has revealed that emotion and cognition are closely intertwined. Cognitive processing is needed to elicit emotional responses. At the same time, emotional responses modulate and guide cognition to enable adaptive responses to the environment. Emotion determines how we perceive our world, organise our memory, and make important decisions. In this review, we provide an overview of current theorising and research in the Affective Sciences. We describe how psychological theories of emotion conceptualise the interactions of cognitive and emotional processes. We then review recent research investigating how emotion impacts our perception, attention, memory, and decision-making. Drawing on studies with both healthy participants and clinical populations, we illustrate the mechanisms and neural substrates underlying the interactions of cognition and emotion.

Information Usefulness Versus Ease of Use: Which Makes a Destination Website More Persuasive?

It is important that destination marketing organizations (DMOs) understand how website design influences consumers' interest in visiting a destination. Grounded in psychological theories of emotions, this study proposes a model to predict interest in visiting the destination. Results of structural equation modeling indicate that perceived information usefulness and perceived ease of use have a positive effect on perceived enjoyment, which in turn has a positive impact on interest in visiting the destination. In addition, perceived ease of use has a much stronger effect on interest in visiting than perceived information usefulness. Implications for marketing practice and future research are discussed.

A Discrete Event Calculus Implementation of the OCC Theory of Emotion

Characters are a critical part of storytelling and emotion is a vital part of character. Readers generally credit characters with human emotions, and it is these emotions which bring meaning to stories. To computationally construct interesting and meaningful stories we need a model of emotion which allows us to predict characters’ reactions to events in the world. There are many different psychological theories of emotion; the most popular to date for computational applications is the OCC theory. This paper describes a Discrete Event Calculus implementation of the OCC Theory of Emotion. To evaluate our system, we apply it to a selection of Aesop’s fables, and compare the output to the emotions readers expect in the same situations based on a survey.

Affect Detection: An Interdisciplinary Review of Models, Methods, and Their Applications

This survey describes recent progress in the field of Affective Computing (AC), with a focus on affect detection. Although many AC researchers have traditionally attempted to remain agnostic to the different emotion theories proposed by psychologists, the affective technologies being developed are rife with theoretical assumptions that impact their effectiveness. Hence, an informed and integrated examination of emotion theories from multiple areas will need to become part of computing practice if truly effective real-world systems are to be achieved. This survey discusses theoretical perspectives that view emotions as expressions, embodiments, outcomes of cognitive appraisal, social constructs, products of neural circuitry, and psychological interpretations of basic feelings. It provides meta-analyses on existing reviews of affect detection systems that focus on traditional affect detection modalities like physiology, face, and voice, and also reviews emerging research on more novel channels such as text, body language, and complex multimodal systems. This survey explicitly explores the multidisciplinary foundation that underlies all AC applications by describing how AC researchers have incorporated psychological theories of emotion and how these theories affect research questions, methods, results, and their interpretations. In this way, models and methods can be compared, and emerging insights from various disciplines can be more expertly integrated.

CHALLENGES IN DEVELOPING COMPUTATIONAL MODELS OF EMOTION AND CONSCIOUSNESS

There is a long-standing debate regarding the nature of the relationship between emotions and consciousness. Majority of existing computational models of emotions largely avoid the issue, and generally do not explicitly address distinctions between the conscious and the unconscious components of emotions. This paper highlights the importance of developing an adequately differentiated vocabulary describing the mental states of interest, and their features and components, for the development of computational models of the relationships between emotions and consciousness. We discuss current psychological theories of emotion, highlighting specific points in the affective processes where links exist with consciousness, and possible roles played by each. We discuss examples of models that are beginning to address components of the interface between emotions and consciousness: models of social emotions, requiring explicit representations of the self; models of affective biases on attention; models of emotion and metacognition; and models of emotion regulation. We conclude with a discussion of some of the challenges associated with modeling mental states whose core distinguishing characteristic is an awareness of affective feelings, and highlight the importance of integrating the diverse approaches to emotion research and modeling currently existing within psychology and neuroscience.

Emotion, Meaning, and Appraisal Theory

According to psychological emotion theories referred to as appraisal theory, emotions are caused by appraisals (evaluative judgments). Borrowing a term from Jan Smedslund, it is the contention of this article that psychological appraisal theory is “pseudoempirical” (i.e., misleadingly or incorrectly empirical). In the article I outline what makes some scientific psychology “pseudoempirical,” distinguish my view on this from Jan Smedslund's, and then go on to show why paying heed to the ordinary meanings of emotion terms is relevant to psychology, and how appraisal theory is methodologically off the mark by employing experiments, questionnaires, and the like, to investigate what follows from the ordinary meanings of words. The overarching argument of the article is that the scientific research program of appraisal theory is fundamentally misguided and that a more philosophical approach is needed to address the kinds of questions it seeks to answer.

Putting the ‘heart’ back into community psychology: some South African examples

In this paper we explore the impact of emotional dynamics in the field of community psychology and the value of psychodynamic concepts in making sense of this. Emotional processes have often not been very well acknowledged or conceptualized in writing in the area of community psychology practice. This neglect is understandable given the individualizing, pathologizing and medicalizing assumptions underlying many psychological theories of emotion. Psychodynamic ideas may, however, make a useful contribution to understanding central concerns in community psychology in so far as they are able to shed light on emotional processes in groups, the political determinants of emotional response and the emotional dynamics of power, which are all central to the thinking of community psychologists. Using examples drawn from a long-term programme of consultation to community-based services in South Africa, we explore the potential of psychoanalytic understandings of emotional processes in illuminating some of the complexities and challenges faced in developing effective community partnerships and working towards the empowerment of communities.

THE SOCIAL CONSTRUCTION OF EMOTIONS IN THE BHAGAVAD GĪTĀ

Religious texts and historical narratives are instrumental in defining appropriate emotions and moral reasoning in a culture. In the Bhagavad Gıtā, the warrior Arjuna is faced with a twofold dilemma: are his emotions appropriate and should emotions influence his actions? The Gıtā is thought to be a redacted text with three primary layers: the original verses, the Sāmkhya/Yoga layer, and the devotional bhakti layer. Cross-cultural psychological theories of emotions are employed to analyze the layers of the Gıtā. It is argued that each of the three layers corresponds with one of three possible moral codes as proposed by R. A. Shweder and his colleagues (1997; 2000): the Ethic of Autonomy (promoting personal well-being and avoiding shame); the Ethic of Community (maintaining social order and emotional detachment); and the Ethic of Divinity (upholding cosmic order and endorsing emotional devotion). These three perspectives remain relevant for deciding emotionally laden moral dilemmas today.

A possible innovative association between the concept of inter-generational ambivalence and the emotions of guilt and shame in care-giving.

The present article suggests a tentative new theoretical association between the concept of intergenerational ambivalence and the emotions of guilt and shame in care-giving. The article bases the above suggestion on the paradigm of intergenerational ambivalence as well as on existential and psychological emotion theories dealing with guilt and shame. In certain typical care-giving situations (e.g., leading to institutionalization of the elderly) feelings of guilt can mirror personal-subjective ambivalence (micro level ambivalence) while feelings of shame can mirror institutional-structural ambivalence (macro level ambivalence). The article exemplifies this idea, using an empirical study, which was conducted in Israel (1995), about guilt emotions of care-givers in the Kibbutz versus the city, concerning the institutionalization of an elderly parent. In order to support this innovative concept in the gerontological literature, more updated empirical proof is yet needed. Conclusions and implications of the association between guilt, shame and intergenerational ambivalence are discussed, from theoretical and practical perspectives.

Introduction to the Special Issue on Emotion in Legal Judgment and Decision Making.

In the last decade, researchers have shown burgeoning interest in issues at the intersection of emotion and law. Given the longstanding interest in emotion among social (and other) psychologists, most of this research has come from a psychological perspective, but it also includes work with a legal, sociological, philosophical, and neuroscience flavor. The issues are theoretical as well as practical, influencing both psychological theories of emotion and matters of legal practice and policy. The law adopts a double standard in its treatment of emotion. In some areas, the law explicitly addresses emotion as a legitimate consideration, but in other areas, the law denies emotion any role in legal decision making. For example, legal analysis requires decision makers to consider the emotional reactions of others when classifying certain offenses for purposes of criminal culpability (e.g., “hate crimes” and “crimes of passion”), awarding damages for emotional injuries (e.g., mental suffering and emotional distress), and allowing jurors’ moral judgments to influence certain consequential decisions such as punitive damages, capital sentencing, and jury nullification. At the same time, the courts make what may be untenable presumptions when they require factfinders to ignore their affective states and evaluate evidence, such as gory crime scene photographs, dispassionately. Thus, the field of law and emotion is ripe for scholarly exploration.

Symposium 4. Cancer, 19.06.00, 14:00–15:45

Objective: Negative emotions, such as anger, anxiety, and depression, have emerged as potentially important risk factors for coronary heart disease. The purpose of this article is to consider the nature and function of emotions, to review epidemiological evidence for an association between the three negative emotions and coronary heart disease (CHD), to discuss briefly the mechanisms by which emotions may be linked to CHD, and to consider this evidence in light of theoretical insights provided by mainstream psychological research on emotions. Methods: We collected articles published between 1980 and 1998 on the relationship between each negative emotion and CHD. We also collected review articles or chapters published during the same time period that considered mechanisms by which emotions may increase CHD risk. We used a qualitative approach to review the published literature. Results: Evidence that anxiety is involved in the onset of CHD is strongest, whereas evidence for an association between anger and CHD is limited but suggestive. Although depression has consistently been linked to mortality following a myocardial infarction, evidence for its role in the onset of coronary disease is quite mixed. Numerous unresolved issues leave our current understanding of the emotion–health relationship incomplete. Psychological theories of emotion are considered to help address gaps in our knowledge. Conclusion: Growing evidence indicates that negative emotions may influence the development of CHD. The focused and specific consideration of negative emotions and their possible role in the etiology of CHD gives insight into current knowledge and suggests important directions for future research.

Symposium 12. Psychosomatic research in children, adolescents and families, 20.06.00, 14:00–15:45

Objective: Negative emotions, such as anger, anxiety, and depression, have emerged as potentially important risk factors for coronary heart disease. The purpose of this article is to consider the nature and function of emotions, to review epidemiological evidence for an association between the three negative emotions and coronary heart disease (CHD), to discuss briefly the mechanisms by which emotions may be linked to CHD, and to consider this evidence in light of theoretical insights provided by mainstream psychological research on emotions. Methods: We collected articles published between 1980 and 1998 on the relationship between each negative emotion and CHD. We also collected review articles or chapters published during the same time period that considered mechanisms by which emotions may increase CHD risk. We used a qualitative approach to review the published literature. Results: Evidence that anxiety is involved in the onset of CHD is strongest, whereas evidence for an association between anger and CHD is limited but suggestive. Although depression has consistently been linked to mortality following a myocardial infarction, evidence for its role in the onset of coronary disease is quite mixed. Numerous unresolved issues leave our current understanding of the emotion–health relationship incomplete. Psychological theories of emotion are considered to help address gaps in our knowledge. Conclusion: Growing evidence indicates that negative emotions may influence the development of CHD. The focused and specific consideration of negative emotions and their possible role in the etiology of CHD gives insight into current knowledge and suggests important directions for future research.

Psychoanalytic theories of affect

Foreword by Joseph Sandler Introduction Freud's Writings on Affect Theories of Affect in the Last Years of Freud and After His Death: Jones, Brierley, Glover Psychology and the Affects Affects and Positions: Melanie Klein, Wilfred Bion Affects as Feeling States and as Value Functions: Joseph Sandler An Ego Psychological Object Relations Model of Affect: Otto Kernberg The French School: Andre Green--A Discourse on Affects Recent Trends in Affect Theories in Psychology The Relevance of Recent Trends in Theories of Emotion in Psychology and Psychoanalytic Affect Theory Conclusions References Indexes

Chapter 25 Hypothalamic involvement in sexuality and hostility: comparative psychological aspects

Evidence presented in this article shows the representation of sexual and aggressive behaviors at the level of the hypothalamus to be more prominent than in all other brain areas involved. Indeed, there are good arguments to attribute a central position to the hypothalamus within larger structural systems encompassing the limbic system, where aspects of the behaviors involved can be influenced. So far, however, the arguments are purely descriptive and factual and do not contribute much to answering questions about hypothalamic function: the grounds for and consequences of this massive representation of apparently almost all emotionally relevant social behavioral complexes, so universally established in a diversity of species, still has to be detected. A second and equally important aspect of hypothalamic function obviously has to be related to its central position within various hormonal systems. The present article concentrated on the acute dynamics and behavioral significance of activation of the pituitary-adrenocortical and pituitary-gonadal axes. Evidence indicates that the unconditioned behavioral stimuli or the consequences of behavior, but also stimuli conditioned to emotionally relevant events, may drastically alter hypothalamic hormonal regulation. Most importantly, these hormonal consequences in themselves again seem to determine further behavior and responses in relevant situations. The evidence presented with respect to reward and aversion, associated with alterations of specific hormones of the gonadal axis, may add a new dimension to our understanding of psychoendocrine functions of the hypothalamus (see also Gary, 1975; Leshner et al., 1981; Carey, 1987). Psychologically, such data can be taken as an argument for a more thorough study of the relation between memory processes and emotion (Bower et al., 1981). However fragmentary and incomplete this review may be, it will be clear that hypothalamic substrates and directly related areas, as well as affiliated hormonal mechanisms, play a central role in many of the most complex motivational and emotional syndromes and disorders. The prime idea in this is that the psychological concomitants of hypothalamic (dys)function are as much output as input, and as much the consequences as the cause within related syndromes. Such a view places the hypothalamus at the core of psychological theories of emotion and motivation, which from their most early origin have been heavily set towards hormonal and humoral changes and their relationships with psychological experience.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 400 WORDS)

On the kinds of things that are emotions: A reply to Scherer, and Fischer and Frijda

I am honored that such distinguished emotion researchers as Professor Scherer, and Professors Fischer and Frijda have offered their comments on my paper “The social constitution of emotion.” I am also gratified that they acknowledge the main thesis of the paper, namely that in whatever respects some emotions may be said to be socially constituted, they are not constituted by the employment-by actor or observer-of socially learned and negotiated emotion labels. I thought this important to stress since too many psychologists do seem inclined to reject or neglect social analyses of emotion (and of other psychological phenomena) just because they associate them with the sort of epistemological relativism advocated by theorists such as Ken Gergen. My aim was to establish that the legitimate respects in which some emotions may be said to be socially constituted poses no threat to the objectivity of psychological theories of emotion. Professors Fischer and Frijda are concerned that I may be jousting with windmills. My paper was primarily directed against the social constructionist analysis of emotion offered by Gergen and his disciples. I do not know how representative his position is with respect to other social constructionist theorists and emotion researchers, but it does appear to be taken seriously in many quarters. Fischer and Frijda regret my neglect of “weak”,or “realist” constructionist views, such as those offered by Harre, Armon-Jones, and Coulter, and Scherer regrets my neglect of the work of those who advance cognitive appraisai theories of emotion, some of whom recognize the social origins of such appraisals. Although I consider the work of such theorists to be of direct relevance to the issues discussed in the paper, it frequently remains ambiguous with respect to the role of the cognitive labeling of emotions. Thus I neither felt comfortable citing such theorists in support of my own position, or as further exemplars of the type of position advanced by Gergen. Indeed it was precisely because I found many social and cognitive theories of emotion highly ambiguous with respect to the role of cognitive labeling that I felt obliged to author a paper arguing that cognitive labeling plays no constitutive role with respect to emotions, including those emotions that may be said to be socially constituted. Scherer is, however, correct to chide me for a crucial ambiguity of my own, with respect to the closing sentences of the paper, where it is claimed that “many

An Experimental Study of the Role of Expectation and Variation in Music

PSYCHOLOGISTS, MUSICIANS, AND LAYMAN are agreed that music is often a powerful source of affect.1 Yet we know relatively little about the basis for this power of music to arouse emotion in the listener. Studies have attempted to show that music is capable of inducing a mood effect, or that there are affective qualities in music which can be identified by listeners; they have also correlated certain musical attributes, such as the minor mode, with specific emotional reactions. But such experiments, employing introspective reports, check lists of emotions, and Galvanic Skin Response (GSR) measurements, have yielded no information about the characteristics of the musical stimuli actually involved in evoking the response. Directly relevant to this question is the theory of musical aesthetics formulated by Leonard Meyer, as presented in his Emotion and Meaning in Music. Starting from a psychological theory of emotions first proposed by Dewey, Meyer invokes the concept of expectation as a central factor determining the aesthetic response. His basic hypothesis states that affect or emotion-felt is aroused when an expectation-a tendency to respond-activated by the musical stimulus situation, is temporarily inhibited or permanently blocked.2 Expectations are products of our knowledge of the particular musical style, the individual work, and the modes of human perception and cognition. Any musical figure which deviates from the expected musical sequence is felt to be a disruption in the normal process of continuation and, hence, arouses tension in the listener, which is then resolved when a satisfactory musical resolution appears.