Jan 9 Flashcards
problem with commonsense views of emotion
familiarity with an emotional experience FUELS AN ILLUSION of knowledge that limits scientific progress
recognizing that this is an illusion is necessary for advance
assumption from Inside Out: there are few primary emotions
many theories propose a relatively SMALL, FIXED NUMBER of ‘primary’ emotions
ie. Paul Ekman argued that facial expressions can be recognized across all human cultures and that these correspond to basic categories of human emotion
the assumption that there are a few primary emotions leads to some assumptions…
- emotions are irreducible
- primary emotions are those that we have names for in English
emotions are irreducible assumption
follows from idea that there a few primary emotions
ie. primary emotions (eg. fear) are DISTINCT and can’t be further broken down
not much granularity
is there a lot of evidence that emotions are distinct and can’t be further broken down?
no
it’s also possible that emotions could be composed of DISTINCT and OVERLAPPING COLLECTIONS of building blocks
primary emotions are those that we have names for in English assumption
idea that our words for emotions ie. happiness, anger etc, correspond to a scientifically valid category of emotion
but words for emotion VARY across languages
emotions most certainly PREDATE language
we need a SCIENTIFICALLY-GROUNDED taxonomy of emotion
how do we scientifically investigate if there really are a few primary emotions?
ask specific questions
- are different emotion states made up of shared features?
- are some emotions made up of combos of other emotions?
assumption from Inside Out: emotions are rigidly triggered by specific stimuli
inside out depicts emotions as characters waiting at control panel watching projection of outside world - they jump into action when specific stimuli appears
^ this suggests emotions are simple, inflexible stimulus-response events
^ suggests they can be understood by a list of rules describing a stimulus-emotion relationship
assumption: emotions are like reflexes
emotions can be triggered by external stimuli
but there’s a lot to understand about WHICH stimuli trigger WHICH emotion under WHICH circumstances
while reflexes are similar among all people and all contexts, emotions…
VARY WIDELY across people and contexts
example of how emotions can vary widely across people and contexts
the two pics of clowns
one is at a bday party, bright and clean environment, smiling all friendly
the other is in a dirty alley, super creepy smirk
elicit very different emotions
questions we can ask to unpack the assumption that emotions are rigidly triggered by specific external stimuli
- what factors influence if and how an external stimulus evokes an emotion/which specific emotion?
- how is this influenced by learning and development?
- is this different from a simple reflex?
another assumption from Inside Out: emotions control our behaviour
in Inside Out, the emotion characters operate joysticks on control panel, controlling the little girl like a puppet
some theories of emotion (ie. William James) argue that emotions are CONSEQUENCES, not causes, of behaviour
ie. I feel afraid BECAUSE I run from the bear
^ our experiences of emotion arise from physiological changes caused by external events
questions we can ask to examine assumption that emotions control our behaviour
- what’s the directional relationship between emotion and behavioural and physiological changes associated with emotion?
- how do emotion stats map to behavioural responses and how is this modulated by context, development etc?
assumption: different emotions reside in different discrete brain regions
different emotions are found in anatomically distinct modules of the brain
fMRI and lesion studies led to this idea
ie. “fear is in the amygdala”
more recent work points to distributed networks of brain regions
questions to examine assumption that different emotions reside in different discrete brain regions
- how is emotion processed across the brain?
- can we identify neural substrates (brain region, networks of regions, populations of specific cells with marker) of specific emotion states? are these fixed?
- could we predict the precise emotion of an individual purely from examining their brain?
another Inside Out assumption: emotions are conscious homunculi
the idea that our subjective experience is created by little person inside our brain that transfers perceptions, reactions etc. to us
assumes that emotions are PURELY SUBJECTIVE experiences (ie. distinct from a biological embodiment)
the conscious experience of emotion emerges from the function of ______ ___________ but the exeprience is at the level of the ________/________
brain systems
person/animal
ie. vision emerges from the function of the retina, thalamus, and cortex but doesn’t exist in any of these uniquely
questions that allow us to examine the assumption that emotions are conscious homunculi
- how do emotions arise in the brain?
- can we separate subjective, conscious experience of emotions from emotion states?
4 things needed for a science of emotion
- expose and examine our intuitive ideas about emotion and SEPARATE these from SCIENTIFIC INSIGHT
- develop CLEAR QUESTIONS that we can investigate with the scientific method to advance our understanding
- develop clear and useful DEFINITIONS
- recognize that an emotion state can be described by DIFF KINDS of DATA
4 types of data that emotions can be inferred from
- observation of behaviour
- neuroscience measures
- conscious self-reported experience
- psychophysiology/endocrine measures
relating different fields can be a ________
challenge
kinda like translating between languages
mismatches between methods, terms, concepts etc
what may help to lead to an integrated science of emotion?
a FUNCTIONAL approach to studying emotion
that draws on INSIGHTS from behavioural science, psychology and neurobiology
neuroscience aims to explore emotion through…
their underlying mechanisms
