Cognitive theories of emotion - summary of chapter 3 of Cognition and emotion: form order to disorder

Cognition and emotion: form order to disorder
Power, M & Dalgleish, T (2015)
Chapter 3
Cognitive theories of emotion

Introduction

Two main groups of theories

• The associationist tradition
  Based on semantic networks
• The constructivist position
  Appraisal theories

The starting point for the theories to be presented is an attempt to provide a cognitive account of normal emotions.

Zajonc argued that the initial procession of stimuli assesses the affective tone of the stimulus as positive or negative, safe or threatening, and that ‘cognitive’ processes occur subsequent to this affective processing.

Categorical versus dimensional approaches to emotion

Dimensions

There have been several related proposals that have focused on dimensions such as valance and arousal.

Subsequent theories have divided up the dimensions of valence and arousal.
Gray argued that the arousal system is in fact two separate systems

• The behavioural activation system
• The behavioural inhibition system
• Over-activity and/or underactivity in either leads to different emotional consequences

Watson argued that the Valence dimension should be divided into two separate orthogonal dimensions, one of which is positive and the other negative (instead of bipolar)

Although studies of self-reported emotion and affect have been taken to support the dimensional structure of emotion (with most support for two separate dimensions of Valence and Arousal), there are a number of short-comings of these studies in relation to measurement problems.

Basic emotions

Basicness means that there is a small handful of core human emotions.
This provides a framework within which to divide up, integrate and organize the confusion of our emotional experience.
Also provides a way into other important approaches to emotions (such as evolution) and the foundations for a bridge between the study of human emotions and research into the emotional experiences of other species.

A formulation of the basic emotion debate in terms of the philosophy of emotion

The concept of emotion includes an event, a perception or interpretation, an appraisal, physiological change, a propensity for action, and conscious awareness.

Emotion as a paradigm could embrace overt behaviour.

In philosophical terms, it is only meaningful to distinguish one emotion from another on the basis of the appraisal component.
A case can be made for distinguishing emotions on the basis of core components other can appraisal.
But the physiological component of emotion must principally be involved in preparing the system to carry out any behaviour necessary to satisfy the propensity-for-action component of emotion, there is considerable overlap in this.

Different emotions can give rise to similar propensities for action, and similar interpretations can give rise to different emotions.

So, emotions can only be meaningfully distinguished on the basis of their appraisal components.

A common criticism of basic emotions is that they are an empirically driven concept with little theoretical justification.
And, there are numerous conflicting definitions and proposals about what basic emotions are.

Basic emotions would be a small set of core emotions in the form of combinations of the components of event, interpretation, physiological change, appraisal, propensity for action, and conscious awareness.
Each emotion in this core set would be distinguished on the basis of its own distinct appraisal parameters.
This analysis of basic emotions allows for the possibility that different basic emotions could include similar physiological change components or be associated with similar behavioural correlates.

What are the inclusion criteria for the core emotions? 

• A strong basic emotion theory
  Suggest that there is a universal set of appraisal scenarios found in all cultures, that these appraisal scenarios are distinct from each other, and that they cannot be reduced to more fundamental appraisal components.
  Those emotions that include these core appraisal scenarios as components can rightly be called basic
• Weak basic emotion theory
  There are a number of common and central appraisal scenarios, distinct from each other, which emerge in human societies and which underlie and shape emotional development.
  The existence and development of these appraisal scenarios will differ somewhat across cultures
  Basic emotions are those that include these most common, central appraisal scenarios in their conceptualisation

A basic emotion is one that incorporates one of a core set of basic scenarios that may either be distinct and universal or merely distinct, ubiquitous and subject to minor variation.

Empirical data that would be seen as supportive of such a conceptualization.

• Data in support of the existence of a set of universal appraisal scenarios
  Each one distinct from each other and a component on a different basic emotion
  • There is almost a complete absence of research of this kind

The arguments for basic emotions

A host of different writers and researchers have pledged the cause of basic emotions.

Ekman pointed out that every investigator has obtained evidence for a central list of six basic emotins

• Happiness
• Surprise
• Fear
• Sadness
• Anger
• Disgust

The status of surprise is questioned because it is a cognitive component that could be present with any emotion, rather than being an unique emotion in itself.

There are many ‘affects’, consciously experienced valenced states that are not related to emotion but that are related to drive-states or other cognitive experiential states.

Ekman suggests nine characteristics that distinguish basic emotions

• Distinctive universals in antecedent events
• Distinct universal signals
• Distinctive physiology
• Presence in other primates
• Coherence among emotional response
• Quick onset
• Brief duration
• Automatic appraisal
• Unbidden occurrence

There is supporting evidence from the developmental priority of basic emotions and the linguistic analysis of emotion terms.

Distinctive universals in antecedent events

The nature of the appraisal associated with each basic emotion is defined functionally.
This emphasis on functionality provides a set of parameters within which to address the pan-culturally of a core set of appraisal scenarios. Namely, a small number of higher-order goals that are related to survival and self-regulation.

In this analysis, there exist a small number of core human goals that are shared across cultures.
These goals are associated with a core set of appraisal, planning and action processes relating to the attainment, maintenance and reinstatement of the goals.
Basic emotions are seen as those that incorporate appraisal processes linked to these pan-cultural universal goals.

Evidence points to some universal aspects of appraisal.
It seems that the following list of basic emotions emerges from appraisal research

• Happiness
• Fear
• Disgust
• Anger
• Sadness

Distinctive universal signals

The work on facial expression has shown that there are a small number of core emotions, each of which can be characterised by a unique configuration of facial musculature.

Different cultures label emotions in the same way.

Some argue that it is not facial expressions that are universal signals, but the single muscle actions from which the expressions are compiled.
But questions are raised about the validity of this research.

Emotion-specific physiology

A number of writers have claimed distinctive patterns of autonomic nervous system activity for anger, fear and disgust, and possibly for sadness.

It seems difficult to draw a definitive conclusion about emotion-specific physiology.
Theoretical logic would dictate that physiology is specified at the level of the requisite behaviours.

This body of research claims to distinguish

• Anger
• Fear
• Disgust
• Sadness 

Toward a core set of basic emotions

The most profitable approach to the question of basicness is in terms of a core set of basic appraisal scenarios that emerge in most, if not all, human societies, and the emotions that incorporate these appraisal scenarios are the basic emotions.

There is considerable agreement between the conclusions of the different approaches.
The core list of basic emotions:

• Anger
• Sadness
• Fear
• Disgust
• (Happiness)

These four basic emotions would involve appraisals of stimuli in terms of current goals and plans being in some way compromised .
There is also a place for an emotional response to gaols and plans being successfully maintained.
This is the function of the brief emotion state of happiness and should also be regarded as a basic emotion.

The best fit of emotions included the basic emotion model as first-order factors and a higher order factor onto which all basic emotions loaded.

Network theories

Freud argued that one or more early traumatic events, thoughts or wishes can form a ‘pathogenic nucleus’ around which later associated memories become attached according to a number of rules

• There is a linear chronological order
  The oldest memories run in sequence to the newer memories
  • There may be multiple pathways or themes that can be traced back to the original nuclear memory
• The themes are stratified around the nucleus, such that the oldest strata are resisted
• A logical chain run through the material to the nucleus.
  These logical linkages meet at memory nodes and may connect across themes as well as within them.
  Activation of the memory nodes leads to a spread of energy though the linkages to the nucleus

The main impetus for the use of networks within cognitive science came from attempts to model the relationship between linguistic concepts.
Like hierarchical arrangement of groups of nouns.

Bower’s network theory

Bower proposed that concepts, events and emotions can all be represented as nodes within a network.
The type of network consists only of labelled links. The nodes themselves had no semantic labels.

Concepts, events and emotions are all represented as nodes within the network.
Activation within the network depends on a number of factors

• The proximity of the nodes to each other
• The strength of the initial activation
• The time lapse since activation

Some of the expressive behaviour and automatic links may be innate.

Activation of one of the nodes in the network may spread to adjoining nodes.

There can be a mood-state dependent memory.

Problems and subsequent revisions

There are a number of empirical and theoretical problems with Bower’s theory.

• The theory makes the prediction that each mood state should be associated with a range of perceptual, attentional and mnemonic biases
  • But, different types of biases tend to be associated with different mood states
  • Even within the comparison of dysphoric versus happy mood states, the results were not as symmetrical as the theory predicted
    A sad mood tends to decrease the accessibly of positive memories more than it increases the accessibility of negative ones

Bower suggested a causal belonging hypothesis.
In order for the state-dependent effect to occur, subjects might need to perceive that the material to be learned has some meaningful relation to the mood state that they were experiencing.
But Bower made  no suggestions at the time about how the network theory could be adapted to take account of this suggestion.

Bower and Forgas have presented an affect infusion model.
Multiple processing strategies, which may lead to more or less affect-priming effects according to which strategy is used, and which attempts to deal with some of the empirical problems for the affect-priming network model.

A number of potential theoretical problems with Bower’s network approach

• Although network theories provide strong accounts of the intensional relations between words and concepts (the sense of words), they provide very poor accounts of extensional relations between words and those things in the world that words refer to (the referents of words)
• Because simple networks were originally designed to represent the relations between individual words, they are inappropriate for representing the structure of other domains such as events, actions and situations for which more molar forms of representation are useful
  The links between nodes in such networks are treated in an ad hoc manner.Links can be unidirectional or bidirectional, they can be excitatory or inhibitory, they have a range of labels, and they represent extremely different types of concepts.
  A theory that gives emotion the same status as individual words or concepts is theoretically confused
• The proposal that there is a literal spread of energy along the links between nodes.
  There are alternatives to this proposed literal transfer of energy
• If one accepts something resembling the sequence of event, interpretation/appraisal, conscious awareness, physiological response, and propensity for action, then it is difficult to see how this view of emotion generation has a place within Bower’s model

Other network theories

Lang’s network theory

In Lang’s network approach, propositions are represented in the network through a combination of labelled nodes and links.
Nodes in a network are taken to represent arguments that are connected by links that are labelled with predicates.

Emotions were not single coherent emotional states, but expressed in the three systems of verbal report, behaviour and physiology.
These systems were only partially synchronised with each other, so that it was possible for an individual to show an emotion-like reaction in one or two of these systems, but not in the remainder.

Objection to Lang’s three systems approach

• There is a single internal emotion state which the individual needs not be aware of, but which can be expressed through one or more of the three systems
  • But Lang has rejected this on the grounds of parsimony

Three types of propositional networks are closely co-ordinated to for an ‘emotion prototype’ or ‘emotion schema’.
These are a stimulus network, a meaning network and a response network.

One advantage of this theory is the suggestion that there may be a higher level or organisation of the information.

Appraisal theories

The initial appraisal theories required an additional step to that of physiological or somatic responses, namely that of cognitive interpretation of a physiological state, for emotion to occur.

Arousal and motivation based appraisal theories

Schachter and singer

Arousal à Interpretation (including situational information) à emotion

The basic proposal of the Schachter and Singer’s theory was that emotion involved the cognitive interpretation of a state of bodily arousal.
This state of arousal was considered to be a general one in that the same arousal underpinned both positive and negative emotion. The crucial determinant for the type of emotion experienced was how the individual explained the state of arousal.

The cognitive interpretation could be based on prior knowledge of a situation.
In situations in which individuals are unclear about why they are aroused, the interpretation may be based on external cues provided by another person.

George Mandler

In Mandler’s theory, physiological arousal is considered to arise from perceived discrepancy or from the interruption to an ongoing goal or plan.
The arousal is seen as an undifferentiated physiological state that underlies both positive and negative emotions.
Cognition determines which emotion is actually experienced.

Arousal provides the intensity of the emotional state, and cognition provides its quality.

A particular event has a dual function in that on the one hand it triggers the state of arousal and on the other hand it provides input for the cognitive interpretative process.

Many of the discrepancies and interruptions that are experienced are not derived from hardwired reflex-like mechanisms, but are based on schema-derived expectations that are not fulfilled.
The interruption of a significant life goal may contribute to the development of more chronic negative emotional states.

In the relation to the experience of positive discrepancies, Mandler pointed out that humour often works through the failure to fulfil a schema-driven expectation.

Mandler’s theory bears similarities with Schachter and Singer’s approach, but it has the advantage that the cognitive mechanisms have a more elaborate or sophisticated role to play.

Cognitive processes both lead to the initial physiological arousal and then determine the type of emotion that is experienced.

This theory shares the weakness that it is based on a single type of autonomic arousal.
There is sufficient evidence to show that there is no single undifferentiated state of arousal that is the basis for all emotions, but rather there are distinct physiological states associated with different emotions or groups of emotions.
And, sometimes it may be the emotion that causes the interruption rather than vice versa.

Weiner

Weiner proposes that the occurrence of general  or ‘primitive’ emotions may have little or no cognitive involvement.

Weiner appreciated that affective reactions were intimately connected.

Outcome à evaluation à Primitive (positive or negative emotions) + Causal attributions à Distinct emotions

The model assumes that inputs are classified into positive and negative and that the initial affective reactions are therefore of pleasure and displeasure.
These initial reactions are described as ‘outcome-dependent’. Attribution-independent emotions are normally triggered immediately and automatically.
The general positive and negative emotions are separate to the ‘distinct’ or ‘attribution-dependent’ emotions.

Undifferentiated physiological arousal is replaced by two different emotional states that have a range of motivational consequences and, the initial affective state does not provide the input for subsequent cognitive processing.

The type of account or causal explanation that individuals provide for the event or situation then determines which of the so-called distinct positive or negative emotions occur.
Key dimensions that determine which type of emotion is experienced

• Internal-external
  Whether the person perceives the cause of an event to be due to factors within the person or to factors within the environment
• Stable-variables
  The extent to which the cause is unchanging over time
• Controllable-uncontrollable
  Whether or not the cause can be influenced by the individual
• Global-specific
  The extent to which the cause has a general effect on all areas of an individual’s life or whether it only affects one specific domain

The types of attributions that individuals make for success or failure subsequently determine the types of positive and negative emotions that are experienced.

The theory was not developed specifically as a theory of emotion, but rather emotion has been fitted into the Procrustean bed of attribution theory.

Cognitive appraisal theories

Richard Lazarus

In the early version of Lazarus’s theory, emotion as considered to arise form how individuals construed or appraised their ongoing transactions with the world.
Cognitive appraisal was considered to occur in two stages

• Primary appraisal
  An initial evaluation of whether an encounter is relevant, benign positive or stressful
• Secondary appraisal
  The individual’s subsequent evaluation of coping resources and options that may be available.

Primary and secondary appraisal processes work in conjunction with each other.

Secondary appraisal coping processes can be categorized into two main varieties

• Emotion focused coping
  The individual attempts to deal with the resulting emotion state
• Problem-focused coping
  More likely to be used when the situation is appraised as changeable and therefore the individual attempts to alter the problem that is causing the distress

The weakness of this early theory lies in the fact that the theory focuses on stress in general and is not a theory of emotion perse.

Lazarus has presented a substantially modified version of his appraisal theory.
A Cognitive-motivational-relational theory.

The main proposal is that each emotion has a specific relational meaning or so-called core relational theme. The appraisal of a particular person-environment relation is unique to each emotion.
Types of appraisal

• Primary appraisal
  • Goal relevance
    The assessment of the environment for relevance to an individual’s goals
  • Goal congruency or incongruency
    An assessment of enabling versus blocking of a goal
  • Type of ego-involvement
    The extent to which an event has implications for self-esteem, moral values, life goals, and so on.
• Secondary appraisal
  An assessment of
  • Blame versus credit
  • Coping resources
  • Expectations of the future

There may be more innate mechanisms linked to the appraisal of personal harm or benefit which are termed ‘action tendencies’.
These are the basis for the physiological patterns associated with each emotion.
Secondary appraisal can enhance, override or inhibit these innate action tendencies.

But, this whole enterprise requires more supporting empirical evidence than has been provided.

Leventhal and Scherer

Leventhal and Scherer argue that the operation of cognition and emotion is one of interdependence.
They distinguish between emotion and other reflex-like responses, because emotional processes decouple automatic, reflex responses form their eliciting stimuli and provide the opportunity for more adaptive reactions.

There are three main components that constitute the emotion system. These are organized hierarchically

1. The sensory motor level
   The basic innate mechanisms that are observable from birth onwards
   They respond automatically to both internal and external stimuli
2. The schematic level
   Activated automatically.
   Includes the learned associations that begin from birth onwards which relate to emotional experience
   Integrate sensory motor processes with ‘image-like prototypes of emotional situations’.
3. The conceptual level
   A volitional level
   Includes memories about emotion, expectations, conscious goals and plans, and the self-concept
   It places the current event or situation into a longer-term temporal context

This theory has primarily been in terms of the ‘stimulus evaluation checks’. These checks occur in the sequence:

1. Novelty
   Is the stimulus sudden, intense or unexpected
2. Pleasantness
3. Relevance to goals and plans
4. Coping potential
5. Compatibility with self-concept and social norms

The insistence on the sequential nature of the evaluation checks is based on the false presupposition that because one process may sometimes depend on the outcome of another process, therefore such processes must necessarily run sequentially.
And, this theory incorporated both primary and secondary appraisal into the evaluation checks.
Also, there is little empirical evidence or testing of the theory.

Oatley and Johnson-Laird

Oatley and Johnson-Laird propose that in a system engaged in multiple goals and plans there have to be mechanisms by which priority can be assigned because not all active goals and plans can be pursued at once.
One of the important roles for emotion is to provide a possible mechanisms by which such priorities can be assigned or altered.

In practice, the effect that emotion has on the assignment of priority to goals and plans occurs through two different mechanisms, one that is evolutionary older than the other

• The older mechanism is analogous to the effect of a hormone in that the ‘emotion signal’ is said to have no internal symbolic structure of significance to the system
  The emotion signal simply sets the whole system into a particular mode
• The second type is said to be propositional
  It is symbolic and has ‘internal structure’

Emotion can occur through either route and there are several signals.

There is a set of at least five basic emotions that form the foundation for the theory.
This is based on empirical studies about emotion.

• Happiness
• Sadness
• Fear
• Anger
• Disgust

Other emotions are considered to be derived from one of these basic emotions through the inclusion of additional information.
Derived or complex emotions only involve one of the basic emotions, they offer a disjunctive theory.
But, (a critic) some complex emotions need to be defined conjunctively rather than disjunctively.

Each of the five basic emotions is linked to key junctures in goals and plans.
(Like sadness is linked to failure of a goal).
But, these junctures are sufficient but not necessary conditions for the occurrence of emotion.
Also, the emotion disgust is not dealt with extensively enough in this theory.

Summary

What should not be included in a theory of emotion

• The concept of undifferentiated arousal as the basis of emotion would now seem to be in error
  • At minimum, it is necessary to distinguish between states that are positive and states that are negative on the basis of a range of physiological and psychological evidence
• There is sufficient evidence to go one step further than the suggestion made in the argument above, and come down in favour of the idea of basic emotions
  • Basic emotions can be combined
• The initial classification of an input as effectively valent involves a cognitive process. Such a process involves a computational decision and approximate matching processes, it is irrelevant how ‘primitive’ or evolutionary old the underlying apparatus is considered to be
• One might be forgiven for thinking that emotion systems come In threes, but there is a potential desynchrony between two systems.
  A controlled processing system and an automatic processing system
  This may be sufficient
• Localist varieties of network theories have too many theoretical limitations and inadequate supporting data
  • The emergent properties of massively parallel distributed process networks may be more likely to provide a better framework for the brain and low-level automatic processes
• The importance of inhibitory as well as facilitatory processes has been emphasised by many different emotion theorists
• ­The impact of an event will vary with the importance of the goal or plan which is affected by that event and have presented supporting evidence for this proposal
  Junctures in current goals and plans are sufficient but not necessary conditions for emotion and there are numerous emotional reactions that do not fit easily into this categorisation