Transcript Document 7837684

Interacting Bodies and
Interacting Minds.
The case of Emotions
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Isabella Poggi
Dipartimento di Scienze dell’Educazione
 Università Roma Tre
 [email protected]
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Lyon – 15-18 June 2005
Outline
1. Emotion and communication
2. Communication and Expression of emotions
3. Emotions from mind to mind
4. Contagion and Empathy
5. Induction of emotions, persuasion, and deception
6. Conclusion
1.
Emotion and communication
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Research on multimodal communication has overviewed the
multifaceted possibilities of our body to convey information
about the world, our beliefs, goals, emotions, identity.
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But body behaviour shows many different levels of
intentionality and consciousness.
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This work proposes a set of criteria
to distinguish communication from non communication,
to define different ways in which information passes from
mind to mind.
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It focuses on a particular domain: the communication of
emotions
2.
Communication and Expression
of Emotions
2.1. Communication: A general definition
A has the Goal G to cause B to believe belief K
In order to this goal, A produces a signal s that A believes is linked to
belief K, in both A’s and B’s minds, in terms of a Communication Siystem CS
Internal Goals
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CONSCIOUS
A is angry at B and tells him: “I
am angry at you”
UNCONSCIOUS
A does not want to show he is
angry at B but inadvertently pulls
a long face while staying with B
TACIT
A emphasizes the comment of his
discourse with a higher vocal
intensity
External Goals
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BIOLOGICAL FUNCTION
The stickleback’s reddened abdomen;
Human blushing
SOCIAL FUNCTION
The nurse’s dress
piercing
ARTIFACT FUNCTION
The gasoline red light
2.2
Communication of emotions:
a strict and a broad definition
STRICT
BROAD
A feels an emotion E
A feels an emotion E
A has the goal G1 that B know A
feels E
A has the goal G1 that B know A
feels E
A has the goal G2 that B know A
has the goal G1 that B know A
feels E
In order to goals G1 and G2, A
produces a communicative
signal CS of emotion E
Prof. A, while seeing Prof.B, tells
her: “I’m glad to see you”.
In order to goals G1, A produces
a communicative signal CS of
emotion E
Prof. A, while seeing Prof. B,
spontaneously smiles at her.
2.3
Expression of emotions
A feels an emotion E and, driven by the physiological correlates of
emotion E, produces a behavior (e.g. smokes avidly) or exhibits a
morphological trait (gets pale), that is, an Expressive Signal ES
 Another Agent B, from this perceivable ES, can come to believe
that A is feeling Emotion E
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Egocentric
 Emotional expression is only
aimed at giving vent to the
emotion itself, at relieving A
from too high an arousal, but
not to let another Agent
believe that A is feeling that
emotion
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A is alone, she is very angry
and to give vent to her feeling
smashes a glass on the floor
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Communicative
Emotional expression is
precisely aimed at having
someone else believe that
A is feeling an Emotion
A is very angry at B, and to
express her anger she
smashes a glass on the
floor
2.4
Communicative expression
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A type of communication
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Different from egocentric
expression
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On the Agent’s mind
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Not about the external world
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Agent not necessarily
conscious of delivering the
Emotional Signal
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Not a sentence but, typically,
a voice pitch, a smile, a
grimace, a beat gesture, an
interjection
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Communicative goal:
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A blush, a tic, a beat gesture
– Biological function,
unconscious or tacit goal
– No meta-goal of
communicating the goal of
communicating
3
Emotions from mind to mind
3.
Emotions from mind to mind
An emotion is a subjective state: a pleasant or unpleasant state
that we feel within our body, and that, by definition, cannot be felt
by any other person exactly in the same way we do feel it.
 So, an emotion can, and sometimes does, remain in our mind, but
often it can pass through to other minds.
 We can feel an emotion and not communicate it: we can
communicate, but not emotions. Finally, people may know about our
emotions – they may even feel them – also if we do not perform any
communicative act.
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Emotions can flow from one mind to another in many ways:
Transmission
Communication
Obstentatious expression,
Simulation
Induction
Contagion
Faked expression
Masking
Expression
Empathy
Concealment
3.1
The flowing of emotions
 Transmission
E
 Induction
 Communication
E
E
E
3.2
Communication, Transmission, Induction
An emotion is communicated when
 A produces an expressive signal ES in order to the goal that B
believe A feels an emotion E
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An emotion is transmitted when
 A feels an emotion E
 and this causes that
 also B comes to feel emotion E
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But…
 Transmission necessarily requires that A (really) feels an emotion
 In some cases, B comes to feel an emotion also if A does not
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An emotion is induced in B any time
a belief about Agent A
 causes Agent B
 to feel an emotion E
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3.3
The induction of emotions
The belief that induces an emotion in B
may concern:
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an event that occurs
to A
a feature of A
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A stumbles and falls down  B
is worrried
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A is beautiful  B falls in love
with her
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A suddenly comes after B  B
is scared; A does something
funny  B is amused
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an action of A
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a communicative action
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A tell B che B won the contest
 B exults
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an emotion of A
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A tells B she is happy  B is
happy too
3.4
Induction as an effect,
induction as a goal
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EFFECT
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Action
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Communicative 
action
A tells B that C got
married, while not
knowing B loves C 
B becomes sad
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Emotion
A has a sad face and
he does not know
that B is seeing him
 B becomes sad
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A inadvertedly does
something funny  B
is amused
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GOAL
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A hides B’s purse
to make him angry
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A tells a joke to B,
to make him
amused
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A shows his anger
to make B afraid
3.5
B’s and A’s emotion
Identical or Similar
Reciprocal
Complementary
A communicates her joy to B to have
B feel joy too.
The teacher expresses her passion to
a shooltopic, and the pupil start to
feel interest in it
A tells B that A likes B, in order to
have B like A
A tells B she is upset in order for B
to feel pity of A;
A tells B she feels proud to make B
feel envious
4
Contagion and Empathy
4.1
Emotional contagion
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Emotional Contagion is
the induction of a similar emotion in B caused by the
expression of an emotion by A
Contagion occurs when
The production of an expressive signal ES by A causes B to
feel an emotion that is similar or identical to A’s
1. A feels E
2. A produces a expressive signal SE of emotion E
3. B perceives SE
4. B produces SE
5. B feels the same emotion as A or a similar one
4.2
Contagion as an effect or as a goal
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An
undeliberate
effect
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A goal
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While waiting for
the exam, A
walks up and
down nervously,
and B becomes
nervous too
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A and B may be
conscious or not
of feeling the
emotion and of
producing the
signal
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The political
journalist
expresses his
indignation with
passion to have
readers
indignated too
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A is conscious of
producing the
signal, and may
deceive: s/he
may not really
feel the emotion
4.3
Empathy
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Empathy is
the induction in B of an emotion, due to B’s belief
that A feels a similar or reciprocal emotion
The belief that A feels an emotion E may come to B
either from actual communication or expression
or by inference (through reasoning or putting one in
the other’s shoes)
4.4
Contagion vs. Empathy
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Necessary vs. nonnecessary emotion
expression and emotion
feeling
Contagion requires that A (whether
sincerely or not) express an
emotion
B’s Empathy does not require
- that A express his emotion
- that A feels (or pretends to feel) an
emotion
If A is a“cold” and B is “warm”, B might
anyway empathise
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Whose emotion, whose goal
In contagion, A’s emotion is functional
to A’s goals, while B’s emotion is
functional to B’s goals
In panic , A’s panic is aimed at saving A, B’s
panic at saving B
In Empaty, B’s emotion is functional
to A’s goals:
If I am sad for my misfortune, when you
empathize you are not sad for your but
for my misfortune
This is why Empathy may lead to
Altruism
5.
The induction of Emotions,
Persuasion,
and Deception
5.
Emotion induction, persuasion, and deception
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We often want to induce emotions in others because emotions have
a strong motivating effect, that is, they induce to action.
Social influence and persuasion often exploit emotion induction.
When emotion induction is deliberately aimed at persuasion, and
when it in its turn depends on our emotion display, we may need to
display also emotions we don’t feel, or not to let others know how
much we want want to display our emotions.
Moreover, to induce emotions more effectively, we must not show
we want to induce emotions. Therefore, to induce an emotion in B
while not letting B know about my emotion, sometimes A must
pretend to feel emotions she does not feel or pretend she does not
want to communicate her emotions
5.1
Deceptive emotion expression
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Obstentatious expression of
an emotion
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To induce B to do something,
A wants him to feel guilty: so
A pretends she does not know
B is seeing her, and she
silently cries
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Mother feels tenderness for
her child’s pranks, but she
pretends to be angry, to
prevent him to do it again
A feels an emotion, wants B to
know it, but does not want B to
know A wants B to know this; so A
pretends her expression to be
spontaneous and not deliberate,
but wants to be sure that B will
perceive it
Expression of a faked
emotion
A is not feeling an emotion, but
pretends she is feeling it and
expresses it through its typical
expressive signal
5.2
To deceive about emotions
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Emotion Simulation
A does not feel an emotion, but
wants B to believe he does, so he
produces a communicative signal
of that emotion (display rules,
Ekman 1978).
Emotion Masking
A feels an emotion, but wants B to
believe he feels another emotion,
so he produces the corresponding
signal
Emotion Concealment
A deos not want B to knwo he
feels a certain emotion, so he
inhibits its expressive signals
Questi casi possono ben avere uno
scopo
di
induzione,
ed
eventualmente un ulteriore scopo
di influenzamento.
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A shows sad at the funeral of an
acquaintance
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Professor A hates her colleague, but
when she meets her, she smiles to her
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Ekman’s “poker face” : to show
impassible
Professor A meets a colleague she
hates, but she dissimulates her
hostility
A hides her being afraid of B, so B
does not know how much power he has
over A
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6.
Conclusion
Our bodies, beside referential contents,
very importantly convey emotions to each
other.
 But it is very important to distinguish when
our emotions are consciously or
unconsciously transimitted, induced,
received by other people, when they are
faked or masked, and when and why we
come to feel them through empathy or
contagion
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