IDENTIFYING BASIC EMOTIONS: COGNITIVE APPRAISALS Cognitive appraisal patterns the same

for each emotion across cultures.

THINK ABOUT A TIME WHEN YOU FELT JOY! Novelty/Expectedness: Expected or

Unexpected? Unpleasantness: Pleasant or Unpleasant? Goal Obstruction: Goal blocked or facilitated? Unfairness: Fair or unfair? External causation: Event caused by

someone else? self? Coping ability: Able to cope? Unable to cope? Immorality: Moral or immoral? Self-consistency: Affected self-esteem

negatively? Positively?

SCHERER (1997) – DO UNIVERSAL COGNITIVE APPRAISALS EXIST?

6 Regions•North/Central Europe•New World•Asia•Mediterranean Basin•Latin American•Africa•Total Sample

7 Emotions

•Joy•Anger•Fear•Sadness•Disgust•Shame•Guilt

8 Cognitive Appraisals

•Novelty•Unpleasantness•Goal Obstruction•Unfairness•External Causation•Coping Ability•Immorality•Self-consistency

[Scherer, K.R. (1997). The role of culture in emotion-antecedent appraisal. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 73, 902-922.]

QUESTIONS! Which emotion provides the BEST evidence

for universal cognitive appraisals?

Which emotion/s show cross-cultural differences in cognitive appraisals?

Which cognitive appraisal shows the greatest cross-cultural differences?

Which two emotions have the most similar pattern in cognitive appraisals?

JOY

ANGER

FEAR

DISGUST

SADNESS

SHAME

GUILT

[Scherer, K.R. (1997). The role of culture in emotion-antecedent appraisal. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 73, 902-922.]

(Scherer, 1997)

A FEW INTERESTING PATTERNS… In general, all countries show same appraisal

patterns for same emotions

Joy = MOST UNIVERSAL APPRAISALS!

Cultural Differences: for all emotions except JOY: African countries Latin American countries

**Researchers unsure whether morality is a universal cognitive appraisal dimension[Scherer, K.R. (1997). The role of culture in emotion-antecedent ap

praisal. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 73, 902-922.]

SO, HOW MANY BASIC EMOTIONS EXIST? Agreement on 5: joy, sadness, anger,

disgust, and fear

Ekman says 7: anger, fear, surprise, sadness, disgust, contempt, happiness

Disagreement on whether more than 5 exist.Contempt?Surprise?Love?

BASIC EMOTIONS OVERVIEW Strengths

Evidence exists for universal emotions Clear evidence to distinguish negative

emotions

Weaknesses Disagreement on number of basic emotions Less success distinguishing positive emotions Cross-cultural differences are present too!

Barrett’s work, Morality Dimension

The battle continues!

COGNITIVE APPRAISAL THEORY View #1: Appraisals cause emotion

View #2: Emotions cause appraisals

May be universal (i.e., basic emotions)

May be culturally-specific (i.e., social constructionist)

[Schirmer, A. (2014). What is an emotion? Modern thoughts and concepts. Emotion (Chapter 3, pp.42-69). Los Angeles, CA: Sage.]

COGNITIVE APPRAISAL THEORY Some are older and more primitive

Pleasantness Goal Significance Coping Potential Novelty/Familiarity

Some are younger and more complex Immorality Responsibility

We consciously and unconsciously assess

COGNITIVE APPRAISAL: COMPONENT PROCESS MODEL (CPM; SCHERER)

Changes in other emotion components

Emotion

New appraisals

Emotional experience changes!

COGNITIVE APPRAISAL: COMPONENT PROCESS MODEL (CPM; SCHERER)

Relevance Check

Check of Event

Implications

Check of Coping

Potential

Check of event

significance

[Schirmer, A. (2014). What is an emotion? Modern thoughts and concepts. Emotion (Chapter 3, pp.42-69). Los Angeles, CA: Sage.]

CPM: RELEVANCE CHECKING Is this event relevant to my well-being?

Novelty /

Expectedness

Pleasantness

Goal Significance

Approach / Avoidance Behavior

[Schirmer, A. (2014). What is an emotion? Modern thoughts and concepts. Emotion (Chapter 3, pp.42-69). Los Angeles, CA: Sage.]

CPM: IMPLICATIONS CHECK What are the outcomes and

consequences of this event?

Causality

Possible

Outcomes

Goal Conduciveness

[Schirmer, A. (2014). What is an emotion? Modern thoughts and concepts. Emotion (Chapter 3, pp.42-69). Los Angeles, CA: Sage.]

CPM: COPING CHECK Can I cope with this event?

Controllability

Resources to cope

Coping Potentia

l

[Schirmer, A. (2014). What is an emotion? Modern thoughts and concepts. Emotion (Chapter 3, pp.42-69). Los Angeles, CA: Sage.]

CPM: NORMATIVE EVENT SIGNIFICANCE Can I cope with this event?

Is this event immoral or

moral?

Does this event violate

cultural norms?

[Schirmer, A. (2014). What is an emotion? Modern thoughts and concepts. Emotion (Chapter 3, pp.42-69). Los Angeles, CA: Sage.]

COGNITIVE APPRAISAL THEORY Strengths

Explains a large number of emotionsExplains why people may experience the

same event, but report different emotions

WeaknessesToo many dimensions to provide accurate

testDifficult to assess quick, unconscious

appraisalsCan we experience emotion without

appraisal?

SOCIAL CONSTRUCTIVIST APPROACH Accounts for cultural differences in #

emotions present in a language

English: 500-2000 emotion words Malay (Indonesia): 230 emotion words Ifaluk (Western Pacific): 50 emotion

words

SOCIAL CONSTRUCTIVIST APPROACH Culture constructs our emotions

Emotions are learned from society’s values, norms, and practices

We cannot experience an emotion until we learn to interpret events according to society’s standards

Rejects evolutionary idea of biologically pre-programmed emotions

SOCIAL CONSTRUCTIVIST APPROACH Begins with analysis of emotional language

Suppression or expression of the emotion varies by culture Ex: Shame (Japan) vs. Guilt (US)

Experience of the same emotion as severe or mild varies by culture Ex: Shame

Over time, emotions have dropped out of language altogether Ex: “accidie” in Middle Ages

PERSPECTIVES OF EMOTION: SUMMARY Evolutionary

Emotions developed to solve adaptive problems and to increase survival of gene

Biology determines our emotions

PERSPECTIVES OF EMOTION: SUMMARY

Eliciting Event

ANS Activity Expressive BehaviorSubjective Feelings

PERSPECTIVES OF EMOTION: SUMMARY Evolutionary

Emotions developed to solve adaptive problems and to increase survival of gene

Biology determines our emotions

Cognitive AppraisalOur interpretation of the event determines

our emotions

PERSPECTIVES OF EMOTION: SUMMARY

Cognitive Appraisal

ANS Activity Expressive BehaviorSubjective Feelings

Eliciting Event

PERSPECTIVES OF EMOTION: SUMMARY Evolutionary

Emotions developed to solve adaptive problems and to increase survival of gene

Biology determines our emotions

Cognitive Appraisal Our interpretation of the event determines our

emotions Simpler → Universal; Complex → Culturally-Specific

Social Constructivist Cognitive appraisal of event determines our emotions But, our culture provides the context through which

we interpret the emotion-eliciting event

PERSPECTIVES OF EMOTION: SUMMARY

Cognitive Appraisal

ANS Activity Expressive BehaviorSubjective Feelings

Eliciting Event

CULTURE