Luhmann and the Sociology of Emotions

Luhmann and the Sociology

of Emotions

Mauricio SalgadoPhD

[email protected]

Santiago – November 2014

Seminar

Niklas Luhmann: 30 años de Sistemas Sociales

Is Luhmann’s systems theory alexithymic?

Alexithymia describes a series of psycho-behavioural characteristics that are

expressed in the etymology of the word itself: from the Greek a- (lack), lexis-

(word) and thymos- (mood, feeling or emotion), alexithymia means literally

“without words for emotions”. The main characteristics of alexithymia can be

summarized (…) as: difficulty in identifying and describing feelings; difficulty

in distinguishing between feelings and the bodily sensations of emotional

arousal (…); constricted imaginative processes (…); and an externally

oriented cognitive style.

Luhmann’s Social Systems

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This Presentation

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There are two different thesis in Luhmann’s account of emotions

a. Emotions are tied to expectations Uncontroversial and partially correct

b. Emotions are homogeneous and internal to psychic life Controversial and

flawed

Emotions threshold phenomena among cognition, society and biology: Co-

evolution

From cognitive to social systems: Beliefs Emotions Action

From social to organic systems: Social evolution Emotions Facial

expression

My main point

Emotions in Social Systems

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Emotions represent “a sphere of problems that until now have proved quite

difficult for sociology” (1995, p. 274)


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1. Emotions are understood in the process of adaptation to fulfilment or

disappointment of claims by the psychic system

2. Claims are a sub-category of expectation, the former being the form in which a

system brings the indeterminable environment into a form that can be used

operatively

3. A claim is a condensed form of expectation in which self-commitment is increased,

and with it vulnerability

4. Emotions function as immune system: Emotions are concerned with grasping-as-

signal the noise that would otherwise disrupt the ongoing operations of the psychic

system


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First (uncontroversial) thesis: Emotions are tied to expectations

First corollary: Emotions are tied to second order expectations

In some system of interaction X, when disappointment happens, Alter is entitled by

Ego to experience the right emotion A (and not other emotion)

1. “Emotions are not representations that refer to the environment but internal

adaptations to internal problem situations in the psychic system that concern the

ongoing production of the system’s elements by the system’s elements” (1995, p.

274)

2. Only the cognitive system draws the meaningful distinctions that supposedly give

rise to or individuate particular emotions in their specificity

3. “The well-known variety of distinct emotions comes about only secondarily, only

through cognitive and linguistic interpretation” (1995, p. 275)


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Second (controversial) thesis: Emotions are unitary and internal

activations

Second (flawed) corollary: Emotions are, fundamentally, all the

sameIn some system of interaction X, when disappointment happens, emotions as different

as joy and rage are in fact identical but for different appraisals laid on the same

arousal

Third (flawed) corollary: Emotions are epiphenomenal

Emotions are residual, accidental elements in the social order

Anger, Cartesian indignation, guilt, resentment, gratitude

Emotions are not homogeneous

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Emotions can be triggered by beliefs about actions

Hatred, contempt, shame

Emotions can be triggered by beliefs about character

Anger, resentment

Emotions can be based on interactions

Envy

Emotions can be based on comparisons

Hypothesis

1. Core disgust and socio-moral disgust elicit different emotions

2. Time as well as gender are likely to differentially affect their intensity (via a

greater reliance of socio-moral disgust on cognitive appraisal)

Experimental Procedure

Participants were shown photographs of core and socio-moral disgust elicitors and

asked to provide a wide ranging rating of their emotional response to each at 3

time points

Results

• Each elicitor generated a significantly different emotional response.

• The disgust response to core elicitors weakened over time whereas socio-

moral responses intensified.

• Males and females showed similar levels of disgust to socio-moral elicitors, but

females showed higher levels to core elicitors.

Emotions are not homogeneous

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Is Disgust a Homogeneous Emotion? (Simpson et al.,

2006, M&E)

EMOTIONS

COGNITION SOCIETY

BIOLOGY

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Emotions as Structural Coupling

Beliefs Emotions Action

Social Evolution Emotions

Facial Features

From Cognitive to Social Systems

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Emotions and Social Action

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Beliefs can generate emotions that have consequences for

behaviour

[ Ego ]

Beliefs Emotions Action

[ Alter ]


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Claim that I have to be treated fairly

[ Alter ] [ Ego ]

Ego’s Belief:

Alter imposed an unjust harm on Ego

Ego’s Emotion:

Ego feels anger towards Alter

Ego’s Action Tendency:

Cause the object of the emotion to

suffer

Anger


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Claim that others have to be treated fairly

[ Alter ] [ Ego ]

Witness’ Belief:

Alter imposed an unjust harm on Ego

in the presence of some witness

Witness’ Emotion:

Witness feels ‘Cartesian indignation’

towards Alter

Witness’Action Tendency:

Cause the object of the emotion to

suffer

Cartesian Indignation[ Witness ]


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Claim that others have to be treated fairly

[ Ego ]

Ego’s Belief:

Alter has suffered unmerited distress

Ego’s Emotion:

Ego feels pity towards Alter


Console or alleviate the distress of

Alter

Pity

[ Alter ]


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Claim that we have to comply with some obligation or standard

[ Alter ]

[ Ego ]

Ego’s Belief:

Alter has violated some moral

boundary

Ego’s Emotion:

Ego feels disgust towards Alter


Ostracised; avoid

Disgust


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[ Alter ]

[ Ego ]

Ego’s Belief:

Alter is weak or inferior

Ego’s Emotion:

Ego feels contempt towards Alter


Ostracised; avoid

Contempt


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[ Alter ]

[ Ego ]

Alter’s Belief:

Ego feels contempt towards Alter

Alter’s Emotion:

Alter feels shame

Alter’s Action Tendency:

Run away; disappear; commit suicide

Shame


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[ Alter ]

[ Ego ]

Alter’s Belief:

Alter has behaved unjustly or

immorally

Alter’s Emotion:

Alter feels guilt

Alter’s Action Tendency:

Confess; make repairs; hurt oneself

Guilt

Emotions and Norms

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Emotions can generate proto-rights

Alter

Ego

Good Wrong

ContemptDisgustCartesian indignationForgiveness

GuiltShameSelf-humiliation

SatisfactionPrideContentment

GratitudeRecognitionCartesian love

Emotions and Contingency

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Axiom: In the social world, everything is neither necessary nor

impossible“Every complex state of affairs is based on a selection of relations among its

elements, which it uses to constitute and maintain itself. The selection

positions and qualifies the elements, although other relations would have

been possible. We borrow the tradition-laden term ‘contingency’ to designate

this ‘also being possible otherwise’. It alludes, too, to the possibility of failing

to achieve the best possible formation”

Niklas Luhmann, Social Sistems, p. 25


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First corollary: Emotions are tied to second order expectations

In some system of interaction X, when disappointment happens, Alter is entitled by

Ego to experience the right emotion A (and not other emotion)

Restriction

Since second order expectations can also be disappointed, then the First corollary has

to be qualified. Thus,

In some system of interaction X, when disappointment happens, despite Alter being

entitled by Ego to experience the right emotion A, Alter can indeed experience a

different emotion or no emotion at all.

First corollary (qualified): Emotions are tied to second order

expectations

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25

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1. Childhood emotional neglect or maltreatment

2. Obedience to authority

3. Ideology

4. Different moral intuitions / foundations: Harm, Fairness, Ingroup, Authority, Purity

5. In-group / out-group relationships – Parochial Altruism

Social factors that might erode or qualify emotional responses

1. Psychopaths: Low affective empathy

2. Autism: Low cognitive empathy

3. Genes, hormones, brain damage

Biological factors that might erode emotional responses


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• Infidelity: Feeling pride instead of shame or regret

• Institutional cruelty against others: Feeling satisfaction or no emotion instead of pity

or Cartesian indignation

Meta-emotions (disappointments of disappointments):

Awkwardness

• Intimacy: Satisfaction vs. Envy

• Same sex-marriage: Contempt vs. Recognition

• Authenticity: Communicate the right emotion

Emotional Divergences and Social Conflict

From Social to Organic Systems

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Faces and Emotions

AngryAshamed

ThankfulJealous

Faces and Emotions

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1. Faces evolved in favor of helping us distinguish among individuals

2. Stretches of DNA associated with facial features are more diverse than the overall

genome

3. Evidence of selective pressure at the genetic level

High variance among facial features in humans

1. Social cognition: an ability to distinguish identity and glean information from faces

2. Facial features very important in person perception – Salient in first impressions

3. People automatically evaluate faces on trait dimensions: Righteousness and

Dominance

4. Social evolution may have changed the very shape of our faces

Gene-Culture Co-evolution

Faces and Emotions

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“(…) an affect like shame recruits the sensitivities of a face

engorged with the blood of a blush. The face of the human

being, as Darwin (1872) made clear, is a hyper-sensitive and

finely muscled surface, developed through evolution and

recruited to the task of the experience and expression of

affects.”

Stenner 2004, p. 170

Concluding Remarks

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Concluding Remarks

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There are two different thesis in Luhmann’s account of emotions

a. Emotions are tied to expectations

b. Emotions are homogeneous and internal to psychic life

Regarding the second thesis, Luhmann’s sociology is alexithymic. What is

the treatment to this theoretical condition? Put the second thesis in the

garbage bin!

This allows Luhmann’s theory to be in contact with the best available science

of emotions

What does Luhmann’s sociology of emotions has to say about ‘positive

emotions’ (gratitude, satisfaction, pride)?

My main point

Luhmann and the Sociology

of Emotions

Mauricio SalgadoPhD

[email protected]

Santiago – November 2014

Seminar

Niklas Luhmann: 30 años de Sistemas Sociales

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Luhmann and the Sociology of Emotions

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