Central issues in the study of Emotions

I have tried to show that the various theorists see different circumstances, situations, worry, tension, and while central to creating emotional responses. There is disagreement whether the emotion felt itself depends on meaningful participation sympathetic nervous system. Given this diversity, there are overarching themes that all theories address the needs or address? I turn on a number of topics of interest to students of emotion and transversely been through disciplinary lines ranging from the relationship between cognition to emotion in the sense of feeling by the social context.

1. cognition and emotion

It was a few decades ago that the concept of cognition is again the study of emotion. The central question of the cognitive approach is: "What is it that the organism needs to learn to react and feel emotionally behaviorist During the conquest of America (ca. 1920 -1950), it is convenient to just? To look the behavior as such (eg gutted 5 anger) and to look around the causes of emotions (blocked action / object r anger / frustration). context, a continued sticking to an orthodox James saw was overlooked acceptable acceptable (ie, that was a feeling [the perception of] physical reactions). However, even James realized the next paper (1894) in which an object to go fix the behavior and day this essentially all the theories and positions that interact with people emotionally cognitive in the sense of a situational analysis and social environments that demand the necessary "emotional" state. the only exception is the position of Zajonc ( 1980, 1984), a set of "sensory" events called preferenda, directly on the preferences of the stage for acting and feeling their effects before and independent postulates of cognitive learning. There is no direct evidence for such events and their negative evidence (eg Mandler & Shebo, 1983), which shows that position in limbo until further evidence is produced.

2. Neurophysiology

A large part of the work on the neurophysiology of emotion has been done with non-human animals. It was perhaps inevitable, the emphasis has created a serious methodological problems distinguishing between emotional behavior and emotional experience. Researchers working with non-human aims importance of animal behavior, while most researchers of human emotions to deal with the (reported) experience emotions. Aggressive behavior is the same as anger, as some researchers have, and, for example, defensive anger more or less than the experience of anger or just provoking a certain behavior classes? After all, people are angry without being aggressive, other animals can be aggressive without being "bad"? Also, it is very convincing to argue that the effectiveness of drugs for humans, "developed by the study of anxiety behavior in animals ... testifies to take care of stress mechanisms across species" (LeDoux, 1992, p. 24). If, for example, to regulate the medication in the first place or to modulate the autonomic nervous system products and their precursors, it seems too early to talk about preserving the "mechanism fear."

One of the important dividing line between functional and psychological approaches physio / bio-based resources related to the role of the sympathetic nervous system arousal. We saw that many psychological approaches, ranging from psychological arousal and cognition model constructivist ones, assign a causal role or quasicausal to see such excitement, most Neuroscientific approaches such excitement as a result rather than a specific cause of emotional arousal. So Panksepp (1991) supports the idea that visceral changes are support systems "that facilitate behavioral end feeling," said a reified anger energizes behavior as a result of the "included" increase in heart rate (page 64). Such strong statements draw the line very clear, and probably useful to try to identify the different models. Panksepp both in the context of trying to bring psychological and physiological approaches proponents together by a common language "basic emotions," using the existing natural language expressions of folk psychology.

3. Views Social Construction

The idea that emotions are socially constructed states advocated by both psychologists and anthropologists. The chief advocate of psychologists James Averill (see Averill, 1980, 1990). Averill considers both emotional behavioral syndromes (ie, systematic behavior repertoires), but also social roles established by individuals. Essential to the development and adoption of the duty to assess the situation and the experience of the state as a passion (ie, as passive or active state). Intensity of emotional experience is regarded as a function of emotional rollers of people worried. And that biological factors obviously contribute to the emotional syndromes, social constructivists reject any notion of the basic or primary emotions. In general, social constructivists are more sensitive to the variety of possible human emotional experience than the usual procedure of seeking emotions.

Anthropologists like Catherine Lutz contributed to the constructivist position (eg, Lutz, 1988;. & AbuLughod also see Lutz, 1990). From the viewpoint of looking at different cultures and different experiences of feeling within the culture, the constructivist position attempts to account for the diversity of human experience, and in particular emotions, on the basis of a psycho-social reality that has built up a position in individual perception and his knowledge of emotional and cultural systems and structures of culture. In this context, rime, and Cisamolo Philippot (1990) have shown that the pattern of physiological responses to emotions reported at least to any significant degree dependent on social expectations and construction.

4. Do Facial Expressions Express Emotion?

Besides the relative observations of everyday experience, linking emotions and facial expression has its origin in Darwin (1872) book. Unfortunately, the impression of linking Darwin and facial expressions that Darwin believed that this face is shown as having left a number of specific adaptive survival value. In fact, the main thrust of the arguments of Darwin is that most of these shows are rudimentary or accidental, or at best, what is called in modern language pre-adaptive. In fact, Darwin particularly against the idea that "some muscles have gotten only person he could reveal to other people his feelings" Fridlund (1992b), Darwin (1872) motives and message explored, noting that anti adaptations saw his face shows prevent Darwin from viewing these shows as the main communicative.

5. The Question of Basic Emotions

The feeling that is found in most of the list of basic emotions are fear / anxiety, happiness / joy and anger. Again, the list is heavily weighted towards the negative emotions. Two 'feelings' and sometimes with his interest and surprise as distinct and separate emotions. Calling a surprise emotion depends on the interpretation of a man sharing feelings. And because there are many different "emotions such as fear and happiness, can bring a degree of surprise, how does one cope with admiration as a separate emotion. On the other hand, was a great surprise examples of differential response (see below). Insisting that the interest rate is an emotion is a more extreme position. There seems to be little basis in experience or theory to the expression of interest is indicative to consider for an emotional state, to arouse interest emotionally moving such a position far from universal. on the other hand, it is equally puzzling that the feeling of "love" (much less "desire") is never found among the basic emotions. is it because there is no clear expression "expression" can be found for love? for the time being, we need to consider various alternative points and, in particular, the results different views on face showing contact waiting for issues of basic emotions.