Are Emotions Cognitive?

[levinas12]

Emotions are true in the sense that they are real. If you experience fear it is a true emotional state whether it is justified (a bear) or not (a butterfly). They are generally in-built, such as the fear of heights or can be a learned reaction following a traumatic emotional episode.

I think that you seem to be expecting them to be more than they actually are: simple, basic and entirely automatic states of mind which have been selected to help us pass on our genes.

But how do emotions help us pass on our genes unless they in some way reveal reality to us? If I didn’t feel fear, then I wouldn’t perceive the bear as a threat - and the bear would probably eat me thus precluding my future gene transferals.

By the way, perceptions are also automatic reactions which we cannot control. Are you saying that perceptions do not disclose reality to us?

Yes, sometimes perceptions are mistaken. The stick looks bent in the water. But for the most part perceptions are veridical. I see and hear a “real” bus coming down the street and I “automatically” hop on it (without weaving chains of reasoning to validate its reality).

 

[Bradski]

But how do emotions help us pass on our genes unless they in some way reveal reality to us? If I didn’t feel fear, then I wouldn’t perceive the bear as a threat - and the bear would probably eat me thus precluding my future gene transferals.

If there is rustling in the woods, then those who don’t experience any fear won’t run away. If it’s just the wind, then no problem. If it’s a bear, then they don’t get to pass on their genes.

If you feel fear, then you run away. Sometimes you are running from nothing, but you will always live a little longer to pass on your genes. A false positive is harmless.

If you love your children, you will do your best to protect them. If you would hate to lose your wife, you will work harder to keep her happy. If you feel anger at someone, it better prepares you physiologically to fight. If you feel disgust, it prevents you eating things that might kill you. If you feel contempt, it allows you to feel superior to someone.

They are all there for a reason.

 

[levinas12]

“… current thinking emphasizes their interdependence in ways that challenge a simple division of labor into separate cognitive and emotional domains.” - scholarpedia.org/article/Cognition_and_emotion

Thanks for the cite.

There is a nice article on emotions in the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy:

plato.stanford.edu/entries/emotion/

 

[STT]

Psychologists certainly believe that emotions are linked to cognitions. Similarly, both cognitions and emotions are connected to motivations. In the modern cognitive school of psychology, it is thought that cognitions come first and lead to emotions. There are, however, alternative views, including the primacy of emotions. In the Gestalt school of psychology during the early 1900’s, it was believed that every cognition has at its core an emotion; the cognitions are, in other words, “affectively-tinged.”

I think that emotions come first since otherwise a baby could not survive otherwise.

 

[STT]

Yet, if emotions are not in some sense “veridical”, how can they maximize anything?

Emotions are like engine whereas thinking is the steering wheel. One helps us to move and another gives direction.

 

[GEddie]

Emotions are like engine whereas thinking is the steering wheel. One helps us to move and another gives direction.

Or, rather, emotion is the gas pedal, conscious thought is the steering, and the inertia of the subconscious acts as a brake.

ICXC NIKA

 

[STT]

Or, rather, emotion is the gas pedal, conscious thought is the steering, and the inertia of the subconscious acts as a brake.

ICXC NIKA

I guess your definition is better. Thanks.

 

[1Lord1Faith]

What do you mean by cognition? Disclosure of what’s really happening out there in the world? If so, emotion can be cognitive. For example, without fear, we can’t be aware of the “threatening” nature of a situation.

By cognition, I mean thought (verb). Why do you keep using the word disclosure instead of discovery?

We can be aware of a threat through observation, fear is not a requirement.

 

[abucs]

How else was Dante possible?

In which way?

 

[abucs]

I’ve never heard of emotions described as cognitive. Though I have heard of both emotions and thoughts described as “mental states” but I don’t think they’re the same thing. I assume by ‘cognition’ you mean a thought. A thought can be expressed as a sentence, whereas an emotion cannot. Even the sentence “I am angry” expresses a thought, not the emotion anger.

I think there is a question of whether putting thoughts into words is only ever a summary of thought? That is, that thoughts and words are not commensurate, even though, save for meditation and epiphany moments we tend to think they are.

Were there thoughts before language? If so, what forms did the thought take? Does language enhance thought or limit thought, or both in different ways?

Taking a transcendent view, thoughts and emotions may ultimately come from the same place but accessed differently through our material bodies.

Also there is a great deal of prose, music and poetry which expresses emotion much more than thoughts.

Not arguing, just thinking out loud. lol (pun intended).

 

[GEddie]

Taking a transcendent view, thoughts and emotions may ultimately come from the same place but accessed differently through our material bodies.

I’d rather hold that emotion arises **from **the workings of our solid bodies, while thought – although it resides in the heads of our bodies – has a somewhat different path.

ICXC NIKA

 

[abucs]

Hi GEddie, maybe you are correct.

Would you hold to the position that the peace i feel when praying is simply arising from the workings of my body?

Would you hold to the position that the fear a child feels when encountering a nightmare is simply arising from the workings of his body?

Would you hold to the position that the love a wife feels for her husband is simply arising from the workings of her body?

or is it a reaction to a stimulus (sometimes from our bodies) on a spiritual plane that is then expressed through our bodies?

Thanks.

 

[Bradski]

Hi GEddie, maybe you are correct.

Would you hold to the position that the peace i feel when praying is simply arising from the workings of my body?

Would you hold to the position that the fear a child feels when encountering a nightmare is simply arising from the workings of his body?

Would you hold to the position that the love a wife feels for her husband is simply arising from the workings of her body?

or is it a reaction to a stimulus (sometimes from our bodies) on a spiritual plane that is then expressed through our bodies?

Thanks.

I think that it may seem that if we deconstruct emotions to be a simple physiological response to stimuli then it belittles, for example, love. And someone might argue that thre must be something else going on somewhere. Surely love is more that?

I think that there is. But understanding what emotions are, why they are there and the purpose they seve does nothing to reduce their impact on us.

Just because I know that there are evolutionary reasons for some physical and mental states does not make them any less real.

 

[inocente]

I think that it may seem that if we deconstruct emotions to be a simple physiological response to stimuli then it belittles, for example, love. And someone might argue that thre must be something else going on somewhere. Surely love is more that?

I think that there is. But understanding what emotions are, why they are there and the purpose they seve does nothing to reduce their impact on us.

Just because I know that there are evolutionary reasons for some physical and mental states does not make them any less real.

You may wish to look away now, as this article summarizes research on the brain states of romantic love. But as it says, hopefully that doesn’t diminish the power of being in love. psychologytoday.com/blog/neuronarrative/201402/what-neuroscience-tells-us-about-being-in-love

I think one reason for researching emotions is to treat disorders. Understanding fear is important for treating PTSD and other anxiety disorders. Fear appears to be a brain state induced by body signals or by recalling a memory of a traumatic event. psychologytoday.com/blog/the-athletes-way/201302/decoding-the-neuroscience-fear-and-fearlessness

abucs - seems less is known about nightmares, but adults who’ve been in combat have more of them, and so do all/most small children, so nightmares may relate to coping with heightened vulnerability. neuro.hms.harvard.edu/harvard-mahoney-neuroscience-institute/brain-newsletter/and-brain-series/nightmares-and-brain

 

[GEddie]

Hi GEddie, maybe you are correct.

Would you hold to the position that the peace i feel when praying is simply arising from the workings of my body?

It can be.

There is a book (that I haven’t read yet) that links prayer to changes in the brain. The brain mediates feelings and is part of the body.

Would you hold to the position that the fear a child feels when encountering a nightmare is simply arising from the workings of his body?

Well, yeah.

The nightmare results from subconscious images and feelings stored in the brain, which is again, part of the body. Dreams reside in the head of the body.

Would you hold to the position that the love a wife feels for her husband is simply arising from the workings of her body?

The feeling of love and attachment is mediated by the hormones of the body. That’s why the feelings aren’t always there.

or is it a reaction to a stimulus (sometimes from our bodies) on a spiritual plane that is then expressed through our bodies?

Thanks.

If the stimulus comes “from our bodies”, then you just answered your own question.

Even when the stimulus comes externally to our being, the feelings themselves are mediated by our bodies.

We are thinking (and feeling) bodies!

ICXC NIKA.

 

[GEddie]

I think that it may seem that if we deconstruct emotions to be a simple physiological response to stimuli then it belittles, for example, love. And someone might argue that thre must be something else going on somewhere. Surely love is more that?

I think that there is. But understanding what emotions are, why they are there and the purpose they seve does nothing to reduce their impact on us.

Just because I know that there are evolutionary reasons for some physical and mental states does not make them any less real.

Why should it belittle love, etc, to say that it is mediated by our body?

We do not have a body; we are a body.. The human body makes you somebody!

That a feeling arises in our solid being doesn’t make it less our own.

ICXC NIKA

 

[abucs]

I think that it may seem that if we deconstruct emotions to be a simple physiological response to stimuli then it belittles, for example, love. And someone might argue that thre must be something else going on somewhere. Surely love is more that?

I think that there is. But understanding what emotions are, why they are there and the purpose they seve does nothing to reduce their impact on us.

Just because I know that there are evolutionary reasons for some physical and mental states does not make them any less real.

Then we get into the Matrix question of what is real and whether there are primary and secondary realities.

Certainly for those that hold to our reality being created we think in terms of primary and secondary realities.

Because ours is a created reality then moving love from the primary to the secondary does belittle it in terms of an intellectual categorisation and search for the ultimate reality.

We are told in the NT that “God is Love” and certainly a loveless primary reality cannot be reconciled with Christianity. If love exists in the primary reality beyond creation then that love is transcendent. Because our reality was created for us to come to know God, and God is love, then in Christian thought we must have access to that transcendent reality. That is, the emotion of love cannot be reduced to the material in Christian thought. IMHO.

 

[o_mlly]

What is the role of emotions (if functioning properly) in “disclosing” the truth about particular situations?

For example, “fear” discloses what is immediately threatening.

What “disclosures” might be associated with other emotions?

Fear at the prospect of an arduous task toward a real physical or spiritual good may lead to vicious behavior. Sloth comes to mind.

While children are likely to feel fear at such a prospect, adults habituated to the virtue of courage do not. That is, we can and should rationally control and habituate our passions in order that they move us to act or not leading us to virtue instead of vice.

Can one order one’s passions to the real goods of life? See:
youtube.com/watch?v=Ow0lr63y4Mw

 

[Bradski]

Why should it belittle love, etc, to say that it is mediated by our body?

It’s not the how that some people may find rather stark and soulless, but the why.

 

[Bradski]

You may wish to look away now, as this article summarizes research on the brain states of romantic love. But as it says, hopefully that doesn’t diminish the power of being in love.

There is a danger that knowing more about emotional states, psychology, the physical make-up of the brain and it’s processes, especially as it relates to evolutionary development, causes one to start looking at things from the outside in a rather detached manner.

I did a soccer coaching course a few years back. It was quite involved and technical and we were encouraged to ‘deconstruct’ games that we watched and work out why certain things were happening. The guy running the course actually warned us at one point that knowing more about the game would, in some ways, detract from our enjoyment of it.

I still love watching my home team and I still love my wife, so no problems yet.