"How do you objectively evaluate
FEELING?"
Spinoza thought their were three basic emotions: desire, joy, and sadness. Rational Emotive Therapy (among others) demonstrate that emotions are related to thought processes. Those who prefer a cognitive approach may consider all emotion tpo be thought related if one accepts "thought" at the most primitive level of neural transmission.
There are people in the business of objectively evaluating feelings and of assisting people to objectively understand how those feelings originate, and how they may be changed or coped with.
What one is feeling is anoter matter as it is not subject to precise outside evaluation. Many studies have been conducted, however, in relating facial expression to emotion. Here is a theory presented by Ilan Shalif:
The newborn human baby is equipped with a central nervous system. This system is incessantly fed by input of the sensorium which consists of a wide variety of sense-organs and receptors. This input is perceived, analyzed and elaborated by the "central nervous system". The ongoing results of those processes are various integrations - on the level of the single nerve-cell and on higher levels of multi-nerve centers.
The inborn structures whose function is regarded as emotion are a group of multi-nerve centers of this kind. Their integrations are for inputs from receptors of the same sense or modality that originate in different parts of the body, for inputs from different senses and modalities, and also for inputs from previous integrations (memories included) or inputs from non emotional centers of integration.
Many theoreticians (evolutionists) call a certain group of multi-nerve integrations (centers) "basic emotions" (analogous to the three basic colors - green, blue, yellow). This concept has several nearly synonymous versions and names used by various authors: i.e. "inborn emotional "structures", "emotional brain activation patterns", "inborn emotional schema" "primary activation plans of emotion", etc. All of them will be referred to as "basic emotions" in this paper.
According to most theorists who use these concepts, each of the basic emotions have five main components: a) a perceptual component; b) an intra organismic activation component, c) a behavioral component, d) a subjective experience component and e) an expressive component.
The wide spectrum of specific emotions (thousands according to Ekman, et al., 1982) is composed of different combinations of a small number of basic emotions. According to Tomkins, 1962/3, 1982; Izard, 1971, 1977, 1984; Plutchik (1962, 1980, 1982) the number of basic emotions is about eight to ten. According to Ekman et al. (1982), the review of 40 years research reveals seven basic emotions which have already been established. (Only one more then Descartes', 1649, six passions of the soul.) This list (of seven) has been adopted as the basic list for the empirical verification of this theory.
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According to the lists of some theorists, the number of basic emotions is larger than ten - Scott (1980) assessed that the number is between 18 to 20, Rosman (1984) preferred a list of 13. We claim that research which will be able to extract all the basic emotions has not yet been done.
Those basic emotions are a kind of control-mechanisms that are on a higher level of evolutional-development then the I.R.M. (Inborn Releasing Mechanisms), though they act like the I.R.M. at the beginning of the life of the individual. The basic emotions are more adaptable and more flexible than the I.R.M. in the same ways (lines) that the I.R.M. are more adaptable and flexible than the inborn reflexes of the body.
Each of the basic emotions are, according to Leventhal (1982), both a control mechanism and a monitor for one of the main aspects of human life (such as security, belonging etc.). They act directly through the intra organismic, behavioral end expressive functions and indirectly by supplying input to other (none emotional) subsystems of the brain. For instance, "fear" monitors the state of the security or hazards to the existence, anger monitors the obstacles put out by others which hinder activities undertaken for the implementation of aims.
Usually it is hard to find a situation where the effect of one basic emotion is so dominant that the effect of the others is negligible. We can regard this kind of a rare situation as one of pure expression of a particular basic emotion.
Even in the first hours of life, one can see the difference between the patterns of stimuli which activate different basic emotions. For instance, sudden stimulations of high intensity (vision, sound, or touch) cause an increase in the activity of the basic emotion "fear"; while other patterns (restriction of movement, pricking of the skin, bad food) consistently cause the activation of other basic emotions.
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The most prominent and unique expression of the higher levels of activation of fear is the expression conveyed in the face as an automatic response. This expression is common to all healthy human newborn infants and to a great extent to all other ages. Each of the other basic emotions has one international-unique-facial-expression of its own. (The best known cross-cultural studies which support this claim are those of Darwin, 1872; Ekman, 1969, 1971 and Izard,1971.)
At the beginning of life (and with the first appearance of each of the inborn emotions which need certain maturation in order to become effective), one can see the strong and direct connection between a small number of patterns of stimuli and the activity of each basic emotion. In this period, the "primary emotional plans" (in Bowlby, 1969-81, terminology) which control the multi-neuronal integrations, called here basic emotions, act constantly and almost the same as reflexes. Each basic emotion has its inborn primary plan.
When there is a relevant change in the perceptual processes of a basic emotion, the input supplied by it to the integration process of that basic emotion is changes as well. The integration process, which does not necessarily include cognitive appraisals (according to Panksep, 1986 p119) directly activates the intra-organismic, behavioral and expressive action of that basic emotion. All those processes feed input to the component of the subjective feelings of that basic emotion. (According to Fonberg, 1986, the brain-site in which reside these components of the basic emotions which convert the emotional processes to subjective experience is the Amigdala of the Limbic system.)
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If one examines the effect of a specific stimulus on the activity of the emotional- primary-plan of any basic emotion in the newborn - one can observe how the end of one stage of the plan activates the following one. One sees, according to Bowlby (1969), that the perception stage of the plan activates the integrative stage of that same plan and how that stage (when completed) activates the three behavioral parts (intra-organismic, external behavior, and expressive activity).
The subjective feeling component is in interactive relation with the equivalent components of the other basic emotions. But, as each of these components is relatively independent of the others, the specific subjective experience of an individual in a specific instant comprises the sum of the activities of the subjective-feeling-components of all the basic emotions. As the activity of each basic emotion is relatively independent, one can discern at any point on the continuum of time, the specific contribution of each basic emotion (according to Izard, 1971, 1977,1984).
The relative intensity of each basic emotion varies nearly incessantly and this is what creates the specific emotional quality of the moment. Sometimes the level of activity of one of the basic emotions becomes - for a short time - very intense. When this happens, it seems as if the individual experiences only one emotion. (According to Ekman, et al., 1982, it usually last no more then ten seconds. According to Scherer et al., 1986, it very seldom lasts more than an hour.)
Usually, the emotional excitements are milder and the activity of the three or four more active emotions can easily be discerned. However, the basic emotions are parts of the living organism, and each of them has a specific life area to monitor (and a specific brain structure - as pointed at by Fonberg, 1986, and Panksep, 1986). Therefore, they never cease their activation although, for various time spans, several of the basic emotions may act as a kind of background for others.
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Variation in the levels of the subjective experience of the basic emotions is one of the most direct ways in which the ongoing emotional processes of integration of information change their mode of activity from the background to the foreground or even to the center of awareness.
Throughout the years from birth onward, the central nervous system matures. Memories, experiences and knowledge are accumulated. Cognitive and emotional schemes (in the Piajetian meaning of this concept) are constructed and reconstructed. These schemes are of a wide spectrum and of various levels of abstraction. As a result of this development, the primary plans of the basic emotions become dominated by plans of a higher level.
These super-plans enable (or enforce), in certain situations, systematic deviations from the inborn patterns of the primary plans.
(According to Ekman & Friesen, 1975, the most prominent deviations are in the facial expressions of the expressive component of adults who are in specific social situations.)
Due to the activity of these super-plans (in Bowlby, 1969-81, terminology), the integrative processes can be fed and activated by perceptions, memories, and other cognitions which are very different from the original pattern of stimuli. Due to their activity, the ability of the original pattern of stimuli to activate the integrative processes of the basic emotions in a reflexive-like way diminish greatly. The connections between the integrative processes and the other three components (organismic activity, behavior, subjective experience) diminish to an even greater extent.
During his life, the individual acquires (learns) new components which integrate with the super-plans as additions, variations or substitutions for the original or other components of older versions. He acquires proficiency that enables him to activate the other three components of these plans - intentionally or unintentionally, with awareness or without it - in ways that are very different from those of the original patterns. Even without the aid of the integrative component.
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Even the component of the subjective experience is greatly influenced by these super-plans. "Defence-mechanisms" are usually a group of super plan components (routines and subroutines or schemes) which act unconsciously or unwillingly and cause deviations of the subjective experience from its original course. Intentional activation of the facial muscles are the most common means used for volitional intervention in the activities of the basic emotions (as pointed out by Ekman, et al., 1983, Laird, 1974, 1984, and Winton, 1986).
However, these super-plans cannot abolish or suppress entirely the activity of the original primary plans even for very short durations of time. Ekman & Friesen (1975) point to the signs of the breakthrough of the results of the activity of those plans in spite of the masking of learned activation plans, for the artificial creation of facial expressions. Those leaks are important input (clues) for the perceptual activities of the abstract-verbal- sequential cognitive processes and to the intuitive-parallel-perceptual-processes of the basic emotions perceptual components.
During maturation of the individual, the automatic and reflex-like relations between the various parts of the emotional plans of the basic emotions, become weaker. In spite of the weakening which occurs in these strong relationships, there is still a strong tie between each of these components and the original pattern of the spontaneous facial expression of each basic emotion. The same holds true for the activity of the perceptual inborn component of each of the basic emotions. Izard (1984) argued that this is true even for the subjective feeling of each basic emotion.
Consequently, the adult retains those two functions very near to their original inborn state. As a result, facial expressions (of emotion) can act as a very rich inter-personal channel of communication. (The subjective experience of emotion acts like an intra-personal channel of communication.)
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As a result, items that are facial expressions of emotion are both convenient and indispensable in research of the emotional domain.
During maturation, the individual learns how to identify and consciously classify the main facial expressions of emotion and the verbal labels for part of these emotions. According to Izard (1971), most of the learning of the facial expressions occurs between the ages of 3 to 6 and that of the verbal labels between ages 7 to 11.
Many factors hinder the learning of verbal labels for emotions. The main ones are: a) The variety of observed emotions is bigger than the variety of words which can be used to label them. b) It is difficult for the observer to diagnose the subjective experience of emotion of another.
Therefore, it is difficult to receive help in learning the names of the various emotions. c) As learning the precise names for the various emotional states is not considered very important in modern life, little is done to improve the precision of labels used by people.
Consequently, learning brings bout a relatively weak tie between any specific mixture of the basic emotions (of daily life) and its verbal label. Even the learning of the names of the basic emotions themselves is not perfect and many use them incorrectly. Approximately 20% - according to Izard, 1971.
Because of these problems, the publications of previous research in the emotional field which used verbal labels of emotion are inconsistent and at times may contradict each other. For this reason, Plutchik (1980b) criticized so much the practice by scientists of relying on verbal communication alone in their research into the domain of emotions.
In most areas of human life, the system of verbal conceptualization becomes dominant. This system (the second signal system of Pavlov and the system of abstract cognitive scheme of Piajet, 1965) subjugates the cognitive system of the early years of life (the first signal system of Pavlov and the system of concrete cognitive scheme of Piajet).
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Many things combine to prevent this transition in the emotional system, the main reasons being:
a) The ties between a verbal label and the its specific emotion are not strong because of learning problems, as previously mentioned. Therefore, the interaction between the two systems is not intensive, so the abstract-cognitive-processes often fail, in attempting to dominate the emotional subsystem - even where there is a label available for the said emotion.
b) One of the results of the limited number of emotional labels (whilst there are hundreds of labels available for the naming of tens of thousand of emotional mixtures - according to Ekman, et al., 1982) is that many common concrete emotions (mixtures of basic emotions) have no verbal label. In those cases it is even harder to subjugate the emotional subsystem to the abstract cognitive subsystem.
c) Every culture has emotional areas or subjects that are not a legitimate topic for conversation. Therefore, the higher cognitive processes of individuals of a specific culture are especially handicapped in the implementation of controls on those emotions.
d) The parallel processing of all the components of the all the basic emotions (especially the perception and integration components) are usually at an advantage compared to the higher cognitive processes which are mainly sequential and need concentration and attention. This advantage is most prominent in the following situations:
1) During the intensive input of information conveyed by spontaneous facial expressions and voice intonations.
2) when one observes another and needs to rely on information that is near the threshold of perception.
3) When one needs to screen out the intentional and the non intentional distortions in the emotional communications of others.
e) The ability of the emotional subsystem to act in a reflexive-like mode in an emergency is vital to the survival of the human individual.
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f) The survival ability of mankind is greatly dependent on the use of the inborn emotional communication channel when bringing up a new generation - especially in its pre linguistic first years.
g) Fluent bi directional emotional communication is vital for the orderly continuity of satisfying interpersonal relations. This communication cannot rely solely on verbal communication of emotion as its tendency to occur in daily life is not frequent and, when it does occur, is generally very cumbersome.
For the above mentioned reasons (and others not mentioned here), in most waking hours, the basic emotions are the most dominant group of active emotional processes. They act simultaneously and concurrently to other ongoing cognitive processes in the moment to moment stream of an adult's life.
Parallel to the above subsystem, however, the abstract emotional processes subsystem is also active. In certain circumstances - to be detailed and explained later - these abstract variables are used as the main dimensions of discrimination among incoming input (information). Russell's(1980) findings about the bi-dimensional conceptualization of emotion is one of many examples to be found in the relevant publications.
In many hundreds of studies which are related to the emotional domain, the same two or three variables are encountered - the "abstract emotional dimensions". They were usually found when Osgood's semantic differential technique was implemented. Those studies were carried out in a variety of contexts and cultures (see Snider & Osgood, 1969). Thus, one can generalize from these to all mankind and to all emotional states.
These dimensions are the expressions of relative highly abstract integrations typical of the verbal domain. These dimensions are in congruence with Leventhal's (1979) abstract emotional supra-scheme and Osgood's (1964) bipolar experiential continuum along which the connotative (abstract emotional) meaning is crystallized.
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As a matter of fact, it is impossible to convey the concrete emotional quality when combinations of the abstract dimensions only are being used. This task requires dimensions of description and discrimination that have a concrete content which is compatible with the content of the basic emotions.
Osgood (1959) scrutinized in detail the difference between the abstract dimensions of the connotative meaning and the concrete dimensions of the "denotative" meaning. According to him, only the use of the denotative dimensions enable one to discriminate between concrete contents. One of the main claims of this present theory is that the basic emotions identified so far are (in the terminology of Osgood) the main denotative dimensions of the emotional domain.
This statement is in accord with Leventhal's (1979) claim that the inborn emotional structures (which he called - primary schemes) are active in an adult's life. It also accord with all the evolutionary theories that claim that the basic emotions are inborn, that their main importance is their contribution to smoother intra-group relations and to interpersonal communication.
Those two functions can be performed by the basic emotions as each of these structures include within them components which function both as the creators of the communication and as the perceivers of this kind of communication. The most common and rich channel of this kind of communication is the wide spectrum of spontaneous facial expressions.
We claim that the perceptual processes (which build the internal representations - in the terminology of cognitive theories) are activated mainly by the appropriate perceptual components of the basic emotions, without needing the participation of the abstract emotional processes. These processes might act in parallel and with levels of intensity to suit the circumstances.
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Throughout most of the hours of the day and in most interpersonal relations, the perception of the measure in which the emotion of the other is near that of oneself usually sensed intuitively.
Decisions about the interpersonal distance are made according to the difference between the internal representation of the other and the internal representation of oneself at that moment. The assessment is done by parallel information processing procedures that are not based on verbal thought processes.
These perceptual processes can usually be very successful in the task of deciphering the true emotional state of the other from his facial expression.
Therefore, in daily life, when one is receiving non verbal communications of emotion from another the main dimension of discrimination among them correlates to the main basic emotions. This holds true - even though more difficult - when the other tries to conceal them by means of systematic distortions that stem from his culture and personality.
Hirschberg, (1980) demonstrated the flexibility of the subjects in the use of different sets of dimensions of discrimination among facial expressions. Each time their task changed they concentrated on different variables and disregarded the irrelevant ones.
When information about the other is less suitable for the above perceptual processes, one relies more on the abstract emotional scheme and consequently, the main dimensions of discrimination correlate to the three well known abstract dimensions of the connotative meaning.
The main difference is not between the verbal communications and processes of perception (on one side) and information processing and the non verbal ones (on the other).
The main difference is rather between information that fits or does not fit being analyzed by the perceptual components of the basic emotions.
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More precisely - the difference is between what fits more and what fits less along a continuum. For instance, a suitable verbal communication like a poem or a sentimental story or a very important verbal communication, can be immediately relevant and available to the activity of the basic emotions.
The opposite can occur with non verbal communications of information if it is not relevant enough to the basic emotions. This can be so when facial expressions are too obvious in content or too blurred. In the first case the perceiver acts with strongly learned habits which are heavily influenced by consciousness, in the second case only very generalized assessment can be made and abstract processes are more suitable.
In daily life, the individual experiences a complex mixture of basic emotions. Usually, a certain mood continues for hours or even for longer periods with small variations. During the evolving hours, deviations of short duration occur many times. Those deviations can reach high intensities and are then called emotions. According to Ekman, et al. (1982) those emotions last up to ten seconds. Afterwards, the general mood of the time is regained.
It seems that the subjective experience of emotions is a summons for attention. The strong and short emotions are emergency calls for attention. The more enduring moods are like notices on a signboard and are about what is on the agenda or what is important for longer durations of time. As moods are the sum of the subjective-experience-components of the basic emotions, the dimensions of discrimination among these daily moods must correlate with the activities of the basic emotions.
In daily life, people usually assess the measure in which the emotions and moods of the others differ from theirs, according to non verbal communications, mainly facial expressions. Therefore, the main dimensions of discrimination among the emotions and the moods of the others correlate with the content of the main basic emotions and especially so when the discrimination is based solely on facial expressions. |
