Emotion and Cognition

Lecture 1: Introduction to emotions

What are emotions?

Distinct states of the mind, displayed early in life (babies/innate).

They are a combination of these components:

1. Phenomenal Experience
2. Physiological Pattern
3. Verbal+ nonverbal expression

Typical expressions are distinct

Lecture 3: Emotion and neuroscience

Why neuroscience?

In the end, all our behavior is produced by the brain.

Neuroscience can help remove terminological vagueness  (emotion vs. cognition, basic vs. complex)

Discover underlying mechanism of emotion (and psychopathology)

MacLean’s stage of evolution

Reptilian brain: Respiration, heart

Lecture 5: Emotions and cognitions

We were assigned the paper: De Waal, F.B.M. (2011). What is an animal emotion? Ann. N.Y. Acad. Sci., 1224, 191-206.

Why the paper of De Waal?

1. Introduction of new term: anthropodenial. It means: it’s bad to deny that other animals might

Lecture 7: Emotions and social interactions

Averill on emotions

• Social function of emotions is underestimated in other theories
• Universality is overestimated (cultural differences)
• Emotions are not biologically driven

Averill’s social construct theory

• Emotions are social constructions that give shape and meaning to our social