Darwin's Theories on Emotions and Evolution

A collection of interconnected responses that occur together, including subjective experience, expressive behavior, physiological changes, and coping mechanisms. Not all emotions exhibit all components, and some are sufficient while none are necessary.

Socially prescribed ways of responding in specific situations, learned through cultural socialization. These roles are independent of personal feelings or physiological changes.

The process of evaluating a situation and deciding how to respond emotionally. Individuals assess the situation's significance, potential threats, and personal relevance.

Powerful, uncontrollable emotional states often viewed as overwhelming and beyond a person's control. They involve a sense of being caught or taken over by the emotion.

Anger is not merely aggression but a learned response influenced by social factors and cultural norms. It is triggered by perceived injustice and can have both beneficial and detrimental consequences.

Contrary to pre-wired notions, emotions are not hardwired but constructed from past experiences, social knowledge, and interpretations of the environment. They are not innate, but rather emerge from complex interactions within the brain.

The ability to differentiate and express a wide range of nuanced emotions. People with high granularity can articulate their feelings more precisely and have a richer emotional vocabulary.

A computational technique used to extract and analyze subjective information from text data, such as opinions, emotions, and sentiments. It involves analyzing language patterns, identifying key terms, and classifying sentiment polarity.

Darwin argued that emotions are not just feelings, but also have a biological basis shaped by evolution. This means emotions contribute to survival, signaling to others and ensuring our ancestors' success. Additionally, human emotions are continuous with animal emotions.

Darwin believed that human facial expressions are innate and deeply embedded in our biology. This is why we are drawn to faces and can see them even in random patterns. It suggests an evolutionary predisposition towards recognizing faces, possibly due to their social significance.

Darwin believed that basic emotions are universal across cultures. He argued that if emotions are rooted in evolution, they should be present in all humans regardless of cultural background.

Modern evolutionary theories suggest that emotions serve a communicative purpose, enabling individuals to signal their intentions and manipulate social situations. Facial expressions are not simply a readout of emotions, but rather a tool for social interaction.

Developed by Paul Ekman, it analyzes facial expressions by identifying specific muscle movements called "Action Units". FACS provides an objective way to study facial expressions, independent of subjective interpretation. However, it focuses solely on the movements, leaving the actual emotion open to interpretation.

This phenomenon describes the unsettling feeling we experience when encountering something that looks almost human but not quite. This particularly applies to facial expressions, as our sensitivity to social cues makes even slight imperfections jarring.

This theory proposes that emotions are a product of our physiological responses to stimuli. Instead of feeling an emotion first and then reacting physically, we react physically first and then experience the emotion as a result.

The tendency to see faces in random or vague stimuli is called Pareidolia. This phenomenon may have evolved as a way to detect faces in the environment even when partially obscured.

This theory suggests that emotions arise from our bodily reactions to events. We experience fear because our body reacts in a specific way, like increased heart rate and sweating.

This theory argues that emotions and bodily reactions happen simultaneously. An event triggers both the emotional feeling and physical changes in the body at the same time.

This theory proposes that emotions are a combination of physical arousal and cognitive interpretation. We first experience physiological arousal and then interpret the situation to label our emotion.

This is a physiological response to perceived threats, preparing the body to either fight or flee. It's activated by the sympathetic nervous system.

This system controls the body's involuntary functions like heart rate, breathing, and digestion. It has two branches: sympathetic and parasympathetic.

This hypothesis suggests that our facial expressions can influence our emotional experience. Making a certain facial expression can actually trigger the corresponding emotion.

This theory emphasizes the role of cognitive evaluation in determining emotions. It suggests that we experience emotions based on how we interpret and assess a situation.

This concept relates to the motivational aspect of emotions. It refers to the tendency to act in a specific way, triggered by an emotion. For example, fear might lead to a tendency to flee.

This theory proposes that emotions arise from appraising an event as being relevant to personal goals and well-being. The core relational theme of the event determines which emotion is experienced.

This approach emphasizes how emotions arise from the way we process information. It suggests that emotions occur when our cognitive system encounters a disruption or interruption.

This theory views emotions as a form of communication. It proposes that emotions have both propositional (factual) and emotional (feelings) components, and they serve to communicate information to others.

This model proposes that different components of appraisal, such as novelty, pleasantness, and control, contribute to the experience of different emotions.

This model focuses on assessing the dynamic changes in appraisals over time. It seeks to understand how our interpretations and evaluations evolve as situations unfold.

These are the continuous variables that define different aspects of emotions. They allow us to categorize and understand the different dimensions of emotional experience.

This model uses three dimensions—valence, arousal, and dominance—to represent the spectrum of emotional experiences.