Summary Emotion and Cognition
(Lectures + Literature)
The student will gain a broad understanding of classic and modern theories on emotion and its
expressions and a deeper understanding of how theoretical concepts and hypotheses in this area can be
applied to empirical phenomena and practical problems.
1
,Week 1: Introduction to emotions
Lecture 1 – 03/02/2025:
Why would we want to study emotions?:
1. Emotions have a huge impact on our daily life
o Not a day goes by without experiencing or expressing an emotion.
o Emotions help us remember things, they bias our attention, they help us forget things.
(Memory/Attention/Feelings)
o Entertainment: want to be happy/thrilled
2. Emotions are important for survival and social skills
o Emotions are really important survival mechanisms. What would happen if any
species does not have fear, it would very quickly die out.
3. Some mental disorders are extremes of emotional states (extreme forms of emotions)
o For example: anxiety disorders can be seen as an extreme form of fear.
4. Our well-being depends on emotion
The concept of emotions – what are emotions?:
There are a lot of different theories about emotions. But what all of those theories have
in common is that they consist of these 3 components:
1. The phenomenal experience of the emotion
a. The thing that goes on in your brain, the conscious awareness.
Conscious experience of the emotion.
2. Physiological pattern
a. Automatic physiological responses. Your heartrate may increase when
you get emotional, or you start to sweat.
3. Verbal + nonverbal expression
a. Think of facial expressions, posture, the tone of your voice.
Emotion schema:
Imagine being confronted with this scenario where you get bitten
by a snake in your face. You have the stimulus information which
enters your eyes, ears or pain in your face. This information
changes your pupil size and your level of arousal. In the end you
will express your emotions.
What are emotions?:
Emotions and emotional expressions are distinct states of the mind, some of them are already
displayed early in life (innate, hard-coded). For example the basic emotions fear, surprised and disgust
are being observed in very young children.
The nice thing about studying emotions/emotional expressions in very young children is that they
don’t have all those filters that adults have. Children take less into account.
Humans aren’t the only species that have emotions.
Emotions are always surprising and individual differences are always there (also in the animal
kingdom).
2
, The concept of emotions – properties of emotions?:
Emotions are complex.
We know different categories of emotions. This suggests that they should be distinct from each other.
Also, some emotional expressions occur already very early on in life. Those are also usually the ones
that we see across cultures.
Properties (characteristics) of emotions:
• Distinct from what?
• How universal?
Ambiguous expressions of emotion:
Emotional expressions can be very complex and can be very ambiguous.
Emotions can be subtle.
Clear expressions of emotion:
Less subtle.
Strong differences/variety across individuals in how people express their different emotion states!
99% of emotion literature is based on the 6 basic emotional expressions:
Paul Ekman stated that there are 6 basic
emotional expressions (anger, fear, happy,
sad, surprised, disgusted). We now know
that there is a lot more going on and that
emotional expressions in real life are a lot
more complex and ambiguous.
The 6 basic emotional expressions are
considered universal across cultures. Most
of them can already be seen in very young
children.
However: in real life, how often do you see such clear expressions? Not very often. There are 6 basic
emotional expressions, but these can be mixed (so called mixed emotions).
Emo expressions in humans:
Many emotions are expressed in the human face. Our face is set up perfectly
for expressing emotions. We have a lot of fine muscles with which we can
express very subtle micro expressions. The muscles underlying emotional
expressions are complex and connected to each other.
Some emotions are not displayed by the face (jealousy).
As such, there is lots of variability. There are studies that used botox to study
the effect of these muscles in emotion recognition. Facial Feedback Theory.
3
, Emotion properties (characteristics):
1. Relatively distinct emotion categories, but mixed-emotions are also possible.
a. This means that emotions are typically categorized into distinct types (e.g., happiness, sadness,
anger, fear), but people can experience multiple emotions at the same time (e.g., feeling both
happy and sad about a major life change).
2. Subtle differences across subjects and how they express themselves.
a. While emotions are universal to some extent, different people may feel or show the same
emotion in slightly different ways due to personality, culture, upbringing, or situational factors.
Emotion recognition across cultures:
Paul Ekman can be considered as the founder of the Basic Emotion Theory. Paul Ekman: “Emotions are
universal across cultures”. Paul Ekman was inspired by Charles Darwin, he also wrote a book about emotion. He
stated that there is a lot of similarities in how different species of animals express emotion.
New Guinea study (1971):
The New Guinea study (1971) was conducted by Paul Ekman to investigate whether facial expressions
of emotion are universally recognized across different cultures. In this study:
1. Participants were shown pictures of faces displaying different emotions.
2. They were asked to match these pictures to stories representing six basic emotions:
happiness, sadness, anger, surprise, disgust, and fear.
3. The goal was to determine whether people from a remote culture, who had little
exposure to Western influences, would interpret facial expressions in the same
way as people from Western societies.
A key point of debate was whether people could describe emotions in facial expressions consistently. Initially,
when simply asked to describe facial expressions, there was no agreement due to variability in responses.
However, when Ekman structured the task differently – asking participants to match facial expressions to
specific emotional stories – they consistently selected the same stories across cultures. This provided strong
evidence that facial expressions of emotion are universal.
Validity of Ekman’s study:
Russell (1994): “There is low agreement about the classification of expressions”
→This suggests that people may not always associate a specific facial expression with a single,
distinct emotion, challenging Ekman’s idea of universal expressions. Another problem was that the
participants categorized Caucasian faces.
Critics:
1. Research was low in ecological validity (real world scenario’s not taken into
account).
a. Ekman’s research used posed facial expressions rather than spontaneous
ones in real-world settings. Critics argue that emotions in real life are more
dynamic and context-dependent, making his findings less applicable
outside the lab.
2. Low overlap between phenomenal experience and facial pattern.
a. Just because someone displays a particular facial expression doesn’t mean they feel the
corresponding emotion strongly.
3. Arbitrary categorization.
a. The classification of emotions into six (or later expanded) discrete categories is seen as
somewhat artificial. Emotions may not fit neatly into these boxes, and different cultures may
interpret expressions differently.
4. Dimensions are better.
a. Instead of categorizing emotions into fixed types, some researchers (like Russell) propose
dimensional models, which represents emotions along dimensions of valence (pleasant-
unpleasant) and arousal (high-low).
4
(Lectures + Literature)
The student will gain a broad understanding of classic and modern theories on emotion and its
expressions and a deeper understanding of how theoretical concepts and hypotheses in this area can be
applied to empirical phenomena and practical problems.
1
,Week 1: Introduction to emotions
Lecture 1 – 03/02/2025:
Why would we want to study emotions?:
1. Emotions have a huge impact on our daily life
o Not a day goes by without experiencing or expressing an emotion.
o Emotions help us remember things, they bias our attention, they help us forget things.
(Memory/Attention/Feelings)
o Entertainment: want to be happy/thrilled
2. Emotions are important for survival and social skills
o Emotions are really important survival mechanisms. What would happen if any
species does not have fear, it would very quickly die out.
3. Some mental disorders are extremes of emotional states (extreme forms of emotions)
o For example: anxiety disorders can be seen as an extreme form of fear.
4. Our well-being depends on emotion
The concept of emotions – what are emotions?:
There are a lot of different theories about emotions. But what all of those theories have
in common is that they consist of these 3 components:
1. The phenomenal experience of the emotion
a. The thing that goes on in your brain, the conscious awareness.
Conscious experience of the emotion.
2. Physiological pattern
a. Automatic physiological responses. Your heartrate may increase when
you get emotional, or you start to sweat.
3. Verbal + nonverbal expression
a. Think of facial expressions, posture, the tone of your voice.
Emotion schema:
Imagine being confronted with this scenario where you get bitten
by a snake in your face. You have the stimulus information which
enters your eyes, ears or pain in your face. This information
changes your pupil size and your level of arousal. In the end you
will express your emotions.
What are emotions?:
Emotions and emotional expressions are distinct states of the mind, some of them are already
displayed early in life (innate, hard-coded). For example the basic emotions fear, surprised and disgust
are being observed in very young children.
The nice thing about studying emotions/emotional expressions in very young children is that they
don’t have all those filters that adults have. Children take less into account.
Humans aren’t the only species that have emotions.
Emotions are always surprising and individual differences are always there (also in the animal
kingdom).
2
, The concept of emotions – properties of emotions?:
Emotions are complex.
We know different categories of emotions. This suggests that they should be distinct from each other.
Also, some emotional expressions occur already very early on in life. Those are also usually the ones
that we see across cultures.
Properties (characteristics) of emotions:
• Distinct from what?
• How universal?
Ambiguous expressions of emotion:
Emotional expressions can be very complex and can be very ambiguous.
Emotions can be subtle.
Clear expressions of emotion:
Less subtle.
Strong differences/variety across individuals in how people express their different emotion states!
99% of emotion literature is based on the 6 basic emotional expressions:
Paul Ekman stated that there are 6 basic
emotional expressions (anger, fear, happy,
sad, surprised, disgusted). We now know
that there is a lot more going on and that
emotional expressions in real life are a lot
more complex and ambiguous.
The 6 basic emotional expressions are
considered universal across cultures. Most
of them can already be seen in very young
children.
However: in real life, how often do you see such clear expressions? Not very often. There are 6 basic
emotional expressions, but these can be mixed (so called mixed emotions).
Emo expressions in humans:
Many emotions are expressed in the human face. Our face is set up perfectly
for expressing emotions. We have a lot of fine muscles with which we can
express very subtle micro expressions. The muscles underlying emotional
expressions are complex and connected to each other.
Some emotions are not displayed by the face (jealousy).
As such, there is lots of variability. There are studies that used botox to study
the effect of these muscles in emotion recognition. Facial Feedback Theory.
3
, Emotion properties (characteristics):
1. Relatively distinct emotion categories, but mixed-emotions are also possible.
a. This means that emotions are typically categorized into distinct types (e.g., happiness, sadness,
anger, fear), but people can experience multiple emotions at the same time (e.g., feeling both
happy and sad about a major life change).
2. Subtle differences across subjects and how they express themselves.
a. While emotions are universal to some extent, different people may feel or show the same
emotion in slightly different ways due to personality, culture, upbringing, or situational factors.
Emotion recognition across cultures:
Paul Ekman can be considered as the founder of the Basic Emotion Theory. Paul Ekman: “Emotions are
universal across cultures”. Paul Ekman was inspired by Charles Darwin, he also wrote a book about emotion. He
stated that there is a lot of similarities in how different species of animals express emotion.
New Guinea study (1971):
The New Guinea study (1971) was conducted by Paul Ekman to investigate whether facial expressions
of emotion are universally recognized across different cultures. In this study:
1. Participants were shown pictures of faces displaying different emotions.
2. They were asked to match these pictures to stories representing six basic emotions:
happiness, sadness, anger, surprise, disgust, and fear.
3. The goal was to determine whether people from a remote culture, who had little
exposure to Western influences, would interpret facial expressions in the same
way as people from Western societies.
A key point of debate was whether people could describe emotions in facial expressions consistently. Initially,
when simply asked to describe facial expressions, there was no agreement due to variability in responses.
However, when Ekman structured the task differently – asking participants to match facial expressions to
specific emotional stories – they consistently selected the same stories across cultures. This provided strong
evidence that facial expressions of emotion are universal.
Validity of Ekman’s study:
Russell (1994): “There is low agreement about the classification of expressions”
→This suggests that people may not always associate a specific facial expression with a single,
distinct emotion, challenging Ekman’s idea of universal expressions. Another problem was that the
participants categorized Caucasian faces.
Critics:
1. Research was low in ecological validity (real world scenario’s not taken into
account).
a. Ekman’s research used posed facial expressions rather than spontaneous
ones in real-world settings. Critics argue that emotions in real life are more
dynamic and context-dependent, making his findings less applicable
outside the lab.
2. Low overlap between phenomenal experience and facial pattern.
a. Just because someone displays a particular facial expression doesn’t mean they feel the
corresponding emotion strongly.
3. Arbitrary categorization.
a. The classification of emotions into six (or later expanded) discrete categories is seen as
somewhat artificial. Emotions may not fit neatly into these boxes, and different cultures may
interpret expressions differently.
4. Dimensions are better.
a. Instead of categorizing emotions into fixed types, some researchers (like Russell) propose
dimensional models, which represents emotions along dimensions of valence (pleasant-
unpleasant) and arousal (high-low).
4
