Dacher Keltner (professor of psychology at University of California, Berkeley) helped filmmakers understand emotions for the Pixar movie Inside Out.

Emotion Theories

Outline Review why emotion theory useful Give some positive and negative examples Introduce some features that distinguish different theories Emotions as discrete or continuous Emotions as atoms or molecules Emotions as a consequence or antecedent of emotion Review some specific influential theories Evidence for and against dual-process models of emotion

What is a Theory Theory explains how some aspects of human behavior or performance is organized. It thus enables us to make predictions about that behavior. Provides a set of interrelated concepts, definitions, and propositions that explains or predicts aspects of human behavior by specifying relations among variables. Allows us to explain what we see and to figure out how to bring about change. Is a tool that enables us to identify a problem and to plan a means for altering the situation. Create a basis for future research. Researchers use theories to form hypotheses that can then be tested. Creates a basis for building software: suggests what variables are important to measure and how they relate to each other

And can be misleading: Famous example In 80 s, the US army wanted to harness computer technolgy to automatically detect camouflaged enemy tanks. The research team went out and took 100 phtographs of tanks hiding behind trees, and then took 100 photographs of trees with no tanks. They trained a neural network. It reached near-perfect accuracy. Independent testing showed that all no tank photos taken on sunny day and all tank photos taken on cloudy day. Because neural network was black box, this is not easy to discover.

Example of dangers of a theoretical approaches (e.g., Data Mining) We ll learn about machine learning approaches Collect bunch of data Look at lots of features and try to predict some outcome Enables us to make predictions about that behavior Does not typically allows us to explain what we see and to figure out how to bring about change This can easily lead us astray

Advantages of building on theory Theory makes explicit the mechanisms that (are claimed to) underlie some behavior Allows us to explain what we see and to figure out how to bring about change Theories (typical) have good empirical support The theories we will discuss are supported by dozens of empirical studies They may still be incorrect of insufficient but are unlikely to suffer the sort of mistakes we just discussed

Example: Appraisal Theory

E.G.: Generating Emotional Response R=f(E,M)

E.G.: inferring emotional antecedents M=f -1 (E,R) Reverse Appraisal

Influential theory: Galen s 4-process model of emotion

Galen s 4-process model of emotion

Popular 2-dimensional model of emotion

Again, this theory affords implementation and prediction

Why should we care about emotion theory Provides a definition of emotion and other related concepts that influence, or are influenced by emotion, and thus a starting point for affective computing Unfortunately, psychology hasn t sorted it all out yet Different theories suggest different concepts and relationships between them E.g., Say we want to recognize emotion Give labeled data to machine learning algorithm But what are the labels? Discrete Emotion Theory: focus on discrete labels: Joy, Hope, Fear Dimensional Emotion Theory: argues discrete emotions do not exist. Instead should focus on broad dimensions: valence and arousal Affective computing researchers must make educated guess about which theory to use But their success or failure can help inform research in the social sciences

Affective computing is interdisciplinary science

For us, A theory should answer What is emotion? Emotion is a feeling Emotion is a state (of physiological arousal) A brain process that computes the value of an experience --- Le Doux A word we assign to certain configuration of bodily states, thoughts, and situational factors Feldman Barrett. God s punishment for disobedience -- St Augustine

Why no grand unified theory of emotion?

Components of emotion Emphasizes that emotion potentially impacts several aspects Cognitive: influences or influenced by thinking Physiological: related to hormones, heart-rate, sweating Expressive: relates to facial expressions, posture, vocal features Motivation: relates to goals and drives Feeling: relates to conscious awareness being in an emotional state

Phases of emotion: Emphasizes that emotions have stages Low-level: automatic cognitive processes (e.g., reflexes) Hi-level: deliberate, conscious cognitive processes Goals/need setting Examining action alternative: decision-making/action-selection Behavior preparation Behavior execution Communication with other

What is an emotion? Different theories emphasize different aspects: Appraisal theories emphasize cognitive antecedents of emotion Discrete emotion theories emphasize physiological and expressive consequences of emotion Affective computing researchers tend to draw on different theories depending on the aspects they focus on E.g: emotion recognition techniques often draw upon discrete emotion theory and avoid appraisal models

What is an emotion: theoretical disagreements Different theories can be distinguished by how they chose to define emotion with respect to the previously-mentioned components and phases Is emotion discrete or continuous? Is emotion an atom or molecule? (Barrett) Is emotion an antecedent or consequent of cognition?

Some discrete models Tomkins - Excitement, joy, surprise, distress, anger, fear, shame, dissmell (reaction to bad smell), disgust (reaction to bad taste) Ekman: Sadness, happiness, anger, fear, disgust, and surprise, Sometimes includes contempt E.g. Le Doux fear circuit

Some Dimensional models Russell s 80 circumplex model Russell & Mehrabian s 77 PAD model (pleasure, arousal, dominance)

Implications for classification / measurement Discrete Continuous Disgust Fear Surprise

Implications for classification / measurement If emotion is an atomic circuit, then all components should be aligned i.e., Facial expressions, physiological response and felt emotion should be consistently-aligned with each other Emotion can refer to the overall circuit but can be measured by any of the components Expressions should accurately reflect physiology and felt emotion Multi-modal recognition should perform the best If emotion is a molecule or mixture, components not aligned Allow that components influence each other but may be out of sync Expressions need not accurately reflect physiology and felt emotion Constructivist Theories (Feldman Barrett): Emotion is a label we assign to our sensed physiological state Appraisal theories (Scherer & Ellsworth): Emotion is a label a scientist might apply when different components align in a prototypical way

Top down Bottom up

Appraisal Theory Bottom up theories argue seeing the bear produces fearlike reactions automatically What if we knew the bear was friendly? What if we knew the bear was chained up?

Appraisal Models Appraisal models emphasize the prior beliefs and goals can shape emotional responses Explain this by arguing that cognitive processes essentially in initiating emotional responses World events are appraised along a number of dimensions: Is the event good or bad with respect to my goals Did I expect the event Can I control the event Who do I blame for the event Different patterns of appraisal will lead to different emotions I blame someone else for something bad -> Anger

Some Appraisal Models Ortony, Clore and Collins (OCC) Appraisal Variables desirability appealingness praiseworthyness certainty

Some Appraisal Models Scherer sequential checking theory Appraisal Variables Relevance Implication Coping potential Normative significance

Appraisal theory takeaway Emotions arise from appraisal of goals and beliefs Emphasizes centrality of beliefs, desires and intentions to emotion elicitation Event has no meaning in of itself Emotion arises from how event impacts goals and beliefs Same event will have different meaning to different people

Constructivist Theory Argues first step in the experience of emotion is physiological arousal Seeing the bear triggers low-level automatic reactions such as arousal and running away We next try to find a label to explain our feelings, usually by looking at what we are doing (behavior) and what else is happening at the time of arousal (environment) Thus, we don t just feel angry, happy, etc. We experience general feeling and then decide what they mean (a specific emotion)

Schachter2-factor theory

Research Example Dutton and Aron Suspension Bridge Experiment Dutton and Aron (1974) had an attractive woman ask for interviews of young men. Some were interviewed on a swaying rope bridge, 200 ft above a river. Others were interviewed on level ground. A part way through the interview, she gives them her phone number. Which group tends to call her? From rope bridge or from level ground? Over 60% from the rope bridge called her. Stories this group wrote are far more romantic. Only 30% interviewed on ground called her. Danger can provoke passion. The results of the experiment showed that the men who were approached by an attractive woman on a less secure bridge were found to experience a higher level of arousal, and had a tendency to attribute this to the presence of the woman.

Lesson: Definitions matter Geocentricity Placing earth at center of universe makes it difficult to predict motion of the planets Alchemy All substance can be decomposed into earth, water, air and fire making it difficult to predict consequences of chemical reactions Point: Theory important: allows us make specific predictions and explain variance Important steps on way to deeper understanding Recognize that technological choices depend (implicitly or explicitly) on (folk or scientific) theoretical assumptions and failure of the technology may reflect problems with theory, not software

Most emotion theories are dual-process theories

Dual process models

Maybe dual processes are a cognitive illusion Argue against this view (Descartes's Error) One CAN separate emotion and cognition It s seductive Reflect longstanding theoretical and folk distinctions Consistent with some data But it is argued this data has limited ecological validity (e.g., see also Gigerenzer) It is fun (and publishable) to show people are irrational But this leads to impoverish understanding of both Cognition w/o emotion is a broken thing

Emotional cognition: an example Emotion about: Acting in a dynamic and evolving world Juggling multiple goals and preferences Confronting opportunities and threats Emotion can be rational (e.g., Simon; Frank) Emotion can be sequential (e.g., Schrer) Emotion follows rules (e.g., Frijda) Marsella and Gratch (2009), EMA: A process model of appraisal dynamics, Journal of Cognitive Systems Research, 10(1), pp. 70-90.

Collecting data for validation Compare model's behaviour to human data by assessing emotional responses, appraisal variables, coping tendencies Capture facial expressions, gestures and postures Not to reconstruct actual inference and emotions of actor Describe encoding that generates emotional transitions that seems plausible

Bird scenario attention surprise fear Aggressive selfprotection Concern for bird Active helping strategies

Emotion AND Cognition The majority of everyday thinking involves Acting in a dynamic and evolving world Juggling multiple goals and preferences Confronting opportunities and threats Emotion evolved hand-in-hand with cognition Two sides of the same system Attempts to separate them leads to anomalous behavior Yet that is what much of emotion psychology implicitly or explicitly strives to do

Mechanically Separate Ventral Medial/Orbital Prefrontal Cortex damage Phineas Gage Able to do simple laboratory cognitive tasks BUT show serious deficits Abnormalities in emotion - Severe impairments in judgment and decision-making in real-life Sequential decision-making preserved but becomes unfocused, non-goaldirected

Empirically separate Emotion & Cognition over time Emotions unfold sequentially hand-in-hand with cognitive processes But many experiments break such sequences Explore one-shot decision tasks: Lotteries (Reisenzein) Ultimatum games (economic expeiments) A common misinterpretation of this data Emotion is parallel and unthinking

Empirically separate Emotion & Cognition in the moment (Clore, Schwarz) Emotions inform decisions But many experiments separate emotion from decision Induce an emotion: Play happy/sad/angry music Read happy/sad/angry stories Make people perform an irrelevant task Buy something Play ultimatum game Show logically irrelevant emotion biases decision making A common misinterpretation of this data: Emotion separate from cognition Emotion bleeds over and creates biases i.e., model emotion as rational decision making + bias term