Extended emotions

Until recently, philosophers and psychologists conceived of emotions as brain- and body-bound affairs. But researchers have started to challenge this internalist and individualist orthodoxy. A rapidly growing body of work suggests that some emotions incorporate external resources and thus extend beyond the neurophysiological confines of organisms; some even argue that emotions can be socially extended and shared by multiple agents. Call this the extended emotions thesis. In this article, we consider different ways of understanding ExE in philosophy, psychology, and the cognitive sciences. First, we outline the background of the debate and discuss different argumentative strategies for ExE. In particular, we distinguish ExE from cognate but more moderate claims about the embodied and situated nature of cognition and emotion. We then dwell upon two dimensions of ExE: emotions extended by material culture and by the social factors. We conclude by defending ExE against some objections and point to desiderata for future research

Precompetitive achievement goals, stress appraisals, emotions, and coping among athletes

Grounded in Lazarus’ (1991, 1999, 2000) Cognitive-Motivational-Relational theory of emotions, we tested a model of achievement goals, stress appraisals, emotions, and coping. We predicted that pre-competitive achievement goals would be associated with appraisals; appraisals with emotions; and emotions with coping in our model. The mediating effects of emotions among the overall sample of 827 athletes and two stratified random sub-samples were also explored. The results of this study support our proposed model in the overall sample and the stratified sub-samples. Further, emotion mediated the relationship between appraisal and coping. Mediation analyses revealed that there were indirect effects of pleasant and unpleasant emotions, which indicates the importance of examining multiple emotions to reveal a more accurate representation of the overall stress process. Our findings indicate that both appraisals and emotions are just as important in shaping coping

Emotions & judgments : a critique of Solomon : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Philosophy in Philosophy at Massey University

The idea that we are passive victims of our emotions, that they are wild and uncontrollable things which just happen to (or "in") us is very common. Robert Solomon thinks that this idea stems from a faulty philosophical analysis: the analysis that emotions are a kind of "feeling" or physiological happening. On this analysis, "feelings" and occurrences are externally caused; as such they are non-rational and involuntary, the types of things that we cannot be held responsible for. In his seminal article "Emotions and Choice." Solomon opposes this view. He wants to show that we can be held accountable for our emotions, even praised or blamed for having them. To achieve this end, he shows that emotions are rational events, and hence are importantly conceptual events. Taken to its logical conclusion, Solomon proposes that emotions are judgments. That explains, in a way in which the traditional view can't explain, why emotions are subject to rational control and conscious manipulation, and therefore why we can rightly be held accountable for them. In this thesis I agree with Solomon that the intentionality of emotions cannot be accounted for by a "Components" model. What I don't agree with is that emotions are inferior judgments. If emotions really are a species of judgment (and I see no reason why the reverse might not be true, that judgments are a kind of emotion), then Solomon has given no adequate reason for his implicit view that emotions are inferior judgments. When we look more closely at Soloman's view of judgments, we see that he wobbles between a non-componential and a componential analysis. Since it is his thesis that emotions are importantly non-componential, and that emotions are judgments, this wobbliness jeopardises Soloman's entire philosophical project. After examining the second half of "Emotions and Choice", I conclude that Soloman's strongest reason for thinking emotions are inferior judgments really has nothing to do with the nature of judgments at all. It is because he is covertly, and maybe unwittingly, holding a view of emotions as self-deceptions

Sensual feasting: Transforming spaces and emotions in Lihir

This chapter explores how shifts between differing emotions are mediated spatially and sensually. Drawing on Hochschild's (1979) concepts of 'feeling rules' and 'emotion work', the chapter questions how spatial and sensual aspects of social events may evoke particular emotions and, in turn, how feeling rules for social situations may be transformed in the process. I focus on the case of events surrounding a project for women's development in Lihir, Papua New Guinea, in the early 2000s. One form of anger, a simmering withdrawal, was changed to open conflict following a large feast to mark the opening of a sewing centre. The sensuality of feasting, with its sounds, smells, tastes and crowds, allowed women to take ownership of the centre and of their right to openly express hostility. This case allows for critical reflection on the concept of feeling rules in a setting that places less emphasis on individual emotional management and more on social relatedness.Susan R. Heme

How Do Emotions Influence Saving Behavior

Employers have moved away from traditional defined benefit pension plans to defined contribution plans such as 401(k)s. As a result, many individuals are now required to make their own retirement saving and investment decisions, which has raised concerns about their ability and desire to handle these decisions. Since investment choices have major implications for future financial welfare, it is important to understand how individuals make these decisions and to identify potential ways to improve the decision-making process. Researchers have explored various factors affecting retirement saving, such as income, age, job tenure, self-control failure, financial literacy and trust. No prior research, however, has looked at the effects of emotions on retirement savings. This Issue in Brief examines how two different emotions – hope and hopefulness – affect 401(k) participation and asset allocation. The first section defines the terms. The second section describes the structure of a recent field experiment. The third section summarizes the results, which reveal that having high hope (i.e. yearning) – for a secure retirement leads to different investment behaviors than having high hopefulness (i.e. perceived likelihood). Furthermore, threats to hope and threats to hopefulness are found to have different effects on 401(k) participation and investment decisions. The final section concludes.

Psychometric properties of the Emotion Awareness Questionnaire for children

In order to broaden the alexithymia concept, we identified six aspects in a newly developed questionnaire for children which aims to measure emotion awareness: Differentiating Emotions, Verbal Sharing of Emotions, Bodily Awareness, Acting Out Emotions, Analyses of Emotions, and Others? Emotions. First, the six-factor structure of this Emotion Awareness Questionnaire was identified in children (692 children, 9-16 years old), although the scale Acting Out Emotions showed poor psychometric properties. Second, the predictive validity of the Emotion Awareness Questionnaire showed promise with respect to self-reported somatic complaints (in samples from two different countries, the UK and the Netherlands), depression and worry. Only Acting Out Emotions did not contribute to any of the criterion variables whilst Bodily Awareness and Others? Emotions contributed in the unexpected direction. It is proposed that the Emotion Awareness Questionnaire could help to identify which specific elements of emotional (dys)functioning are related to different kinds of psychological problems

Emotions Detection based on a Single-electrode EEG Device

The study of emotions using multiple channels of EEG represents a widespread practice in the field of research related to brain computer interfaces (Brain Computer Interfaces). To date, few studies have been reported in the literature with a reduced number of channels, which when used in the detection of emotions present results that are less accurate than the rest. To detect emotions using an EEG channel and the data obtained is useful for classifying emotions with an accuracy comparable to studies in which there is a high number of channels, is of particular interest in this research framework. This article uses the Neurosky Maindwave device; which has a single electrode to acquire the EEG signal, Matlab software and IBM SPSS Modeler; which process and classify the signals respectively. The accuracy obtained in the detection of emotions in relation to the economic resources of the hardware dedicated to the acquisition of EEG signal is remarkable

Emotions, Music, and Logos

The article introduces a cognitive and componential view of religious emotions. General emotions are claimed to consist of at least two compounds, the cognitive compound and the affective compound. Religious emotions are typically general emotions which are characterized by three specific conditions: they involve a thought of God or godlike, they are significant for a person feeling them and their meaning is derived from religious practices. The article discusses the notion of spiritual emotions in Ancient theology and compares the idea of it with emotions in music. By referring to the notion of mental language, it is argued that some religious emotions are like emotions in music and as such they can be interpreted as tones of Logos