#1 - Qu’est-ce qu’une émotion ?

Summary

In this video, David Sander, a professor of emotional psychology at the University of Geneva, explores the complex field of affective sciences. He discusses the foundational question of what emotions are, tracing the intellectual history from thinkers like Aristotle and Darwin to modern research in psychology, neuroscience, sociology, and other fields. Sander presents a definition of emotions involving five key components: the triggering event, the peripheral bodily responses, motor expressions, action tendencies, and subjective feeling. He highlights the significance of these components in understanding the universality and variability of emotions across individuals, offering a holistic view of emotional processes.

Takeaways

• 😀 Affective sciences is an interdisciplinary field involving psychology, philosophy, neuroscience, sociology, economics, and computer science.
• 😀 Emotions have been a subject of interest for prominent thinkers like Aristotle, Descartes, and Darwin.
• 😀 The definition of emotion explored in this video includes five key components: triggering event, peripheral response, motor expression, action tendencies, and feeling.
• 😀 Emotions are triggered by the subjective evaluation of an event’s relevance to personal goals, values, or concerns.
• 😀 A positive emotional response occurs when an event aligns with personal goals, while a negative response happens when it conflicts with them.
• 😀 The peripheral response of an emotion involves bodily reactions mediated by the peripheral nervous system.
• 😀 Motor expressions of emotions manifest through facial expressions, gestures, posture, or voice.
• 😀 Emotions prepare individuals to act, either by approaching or avoiding the emotional trigger.
• 😀 The feeling component of emotion allows for conscious awareness and reflection on one’s emotional state.
• 😀 The multi-componential definition of emotion focuses on shared aspects of emotional experiences rather than trying to define each emotion separately.
• 😀 Affective sciences seeks to understand emotions in terms of their causes, effects, and measurement, with a focus on the commonality across different emotional experiences.

Q & A

What is the main focus of the video?

The video focuses on explaining the concept of emotions, including their components and how they are studied in affective sciences, a field that integrates various disciplines like psychology, neuroscience, sociology, and more.

What are the key disciplines involved in the study of emotions?

The key disciplines involved include psychology, philosophy, neuroscience, sociology, economics, and computer science.

What does the term 'affective sciences' refer to?

Affective sciences refer to the multidisciplinary field of research that studies emotional processes, combining insights from various disciplines to understand emotions better.

How does the video define emotion?

The video defines emotion as a rapid process focused on an event, consisting of two stages: an evaluation of the event’s relevance to our goals and values (trigger), followed by a set of responses including physiological reactions, expressions, action tendencies, and feelings.

What are the five components of an emotion according to the video?

The five components are: (1) the triggering component, (2) peripheral physiological responses, (3) motor expression (such as facial expressions and gestures), (4) action tendency (preparing the individual to act), and (5) the subjective feeling or experience of the emotion.

How does the video explain the trigger of an emotion?

The trigger of an emotion is explained by how we evaluate the relevance of an event, whether real or imagined, in relation to our goals, concerns, or values. If the event aligns with our goals, it results in a positive emotion; if it contradicts our goals, it leads to a negative emotion.

Why do different people experience different emotions in response to the same event?

Different people experience different emotions in response to the same event because of the subjective nature of emotional evaluation, which varies depending on individual goals, values, and concerns.

What role does the peripheral nervous system play in emotions?

The peripheral nervous system plays a role in the physical manifestations of emotions, such as changes in heart rate, sweating, and other physiological responses that occur outside the brain, but within the nervous system.

How do emotions prepare individuals to act?

Emotions prepare individuals to act by triggering action tendencies, such as approaching or avoiding the emotional trigger, thereby motivating adaptive responses to the environment.

What is the importance of the subjective feeling component of emotion?

The subjective feeling component is crucial because it allows individuals to become aware of and reflect on their emotional state, providing insight into their emotional experiences.