1. From where come from emotions? 1.1. What is an emotion and why do we have them? Some
definitions
Jordi Vallverdú
Philosophy Department
Before: anger, sadness, surprise, worry …
After: joy, surprise (again), anger (again),…
There is a strong disagreement about what emotions are, because of:
A. Disciplinary divergences (methodologies, instruments, models,…):
Philosophy, Psychology, Neurology, Sociology, Anthropology, ….
B. Emotions imply a private experience.
What is an emotion?
So…
Paraphrasing Augustine of Hippo (Confessions, XI, 14),
4th-5th Centuries CE:
“What then is an emotion? If no one asks me, I
know what it is. If I wish to explain it to him
who asks, I do not know”
Affective phenomena:
Emotion:
1. A strong feeling deriving from one’s circumstances, mood, or
relationships with others.
2. Instinctive or intuitive feeling as distinguished from reasoning
or knowledge.
Affect: Touch the feelings of; move emotionally.
Mood : A temporary state of mind or feeling.
Feeling: An emotional state or reaction.
Emotional: Relating to a person’s emotions.
Anyhow….some initial lay definitions http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/english
Vicious cycle!
Feeling
Emotion
Feeling
Emotion
Affective phenomena:
Emotion: multi-situated body mechanism to give semantic
meaning and coordination to internal and external data in order
to create action states.
Affect: outward, physical signs of emotion.
Mood : pervasive emotion over a longer period of time
• Character/personality
Feeling: the self perception of an emotional event.
Ops! Some more academic definitions…
Bees: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/12/111208142019.htm Cocroaches : https://www.sciencenews.org/article/cockroach-personalities-can-speed-or-slow-group-decisions
Anger
Sadness
Fear
Surprise
Interactive Social processes
Emotions fulfill several purposes
A. Somatic /physiological: regulating homeostatic processes
B. Behavioral/expressive: sharing clues about internal states and selecting behavior
C. Cognitive/interpretative: driving decision-making processes
D. Experiential/subjective: flavoring personally the Self data binding.
Why do we need them? Their multimodal nature
Pain Cry Avoid painful input Fear A B C D
Lutz, C. (1988), Unnatural emotions, USA: UCP Anthropological studies of Ifaluk (Southwest Pacific)
“Emotional experience is not precultural but preeminently cultural”, p. 5.
Main debates
Which is it’s nature and essence?
A. Psychobiological (and/or universal)
B. Symbolic/Ideological (culturally created)
There is no true agreement among experts about its definition.
(Human) Emotions are a mixture of bodily and cultural processes.
Emotions are multimodal.
End remarks