Emotion processes in social and political contexts: the case of affective polarisation.

Democratic societies have to face the challenge of increasing affective polarisation - a strong, emotionally fuelled, opposition between adherents of different political parties, or conflicting views and attitudes in different social groups. Social and psychological sciences can contribute to a better understanding of this phenomenon and the special role of emotion theory and research in this respect. In their invited contribution, Bakker and Lelkes note the lack of conceptual precision of the term affective and invite emotion scientists to fill this notion with a theoretical structure that encourages systematic research across different problem areas and cultures. Two invited comments on this article support this initiative but favour an approach that privileges discrete emotions. In his comment, Von Scheve argues that intentionality and the associated action tendencies are essential to understand the emotional basis of polarisation. Halperin et al., based on a conceptual analysis and their own empirical research, they highlight the multi-faceted emotion of disappointment, covering both negative and positive aspects, as the most promising candidate. Finally, I consider the potential role of mixed or blended emotions as well as the potential contributions of appraisal theory, especially with respect to appraisal bias and ensuing emotion dispositions and action tendencies.

Emotional expressivity in singing. Assessing physiological and acoustic indicators of two opera singers' voice characteristics.

In an earlier study, we analyzed how audio signals obtained from three professional opera singers varied when they sang one octave wide eight-tone scales in ten different emotional colors. The results showed systematic variations in voice source and long-term-average spectrum (LTAS) parameters associated with major emotion "families". For two of the singers, subglottal pressure (PSub) also was recorded, thus allowing analysis of an additional main physiological voice control parameter, glottal resistance (defined as the ratio between PSub and glottal flow), and related to glottal adduction. In the present study, we analyze voice source and LTAS parameters derived from the audio signal and their correlation with Psub and glottal resistance. The measured parameters showed a systematic relationship with the four emotion families observed in our previous study. They also varied systematically with values of the ten emotions along the valence, power, and arousal dimensions; valence showed a significant correlation with the ratio between acoustic voice source energy and subglottal pressure, while Power varied significantly with sound level and two measures related to the spectral dominance of the lowest spectrum partial. the fundamental.

Emotion regulation via reappraisal - mechanisms and strategies.

Emotion regulation, and in particular cognitive reappraisal. Gross has been booming in theory development and empirical research for the last two decades. A large number of publications have demonstrated the importance of these mechanisms for understanding and promoting well-being and mental health. It is thus timely for Cognition and Emotion to examine the current state of theory in this domain. The resultant invited article, authored by Uusberg, A., Ford, Uusberg, H., and Gross, aims to expand the scope of reappraisal theory by extending their recent reAppraisal model by suggesting different forms of goal commitment and situation construals. Their suggestions are commented on by Kashdan and Goodman from a purpose in life perspective, Ehring, and Woud from a clinical psychopathology perspective. In this editorial, I briefly discuss the lack of specification of the goal construct, which is central to the reappraisal model. Moreover, I point to recent evidence showing that problems may arise because of appraisal biases, in the case of individuals prone to inappropriate evaluations of situations. I suggest that future work in this domain could benefit from increased interaction between theorists and researchers working on appraisal and reappraisal processes.

Emotion processes and perceptual control of action choice.

This editorial introduces an invited article by Andreas Eder on a new perceptual control theory of action choice, based on the comparison of real and simulated interoceptive signals generated by action alternatives. Eder extends the cognitive action-control framework, postulating a bi-directional connection between outcomes and actions by introducing "emotional feelings", defined as valued interoceptive signals from the body. An invited commentary by Agnes Moors compares this theory with her own goal-directed theory of action control. While agreeing on the central role of a control cycle and the goal-directed nature of emotional actions, Moors disagrees on the content of the representations involved in the control cycle and the nature of the feelings involved. A second commentary by Bob Bramson and Karin Roelofs discusses the issues of the distinction between perception control vs. action control, the need for biologically plausible implementation alternatives, and potential implications for psychopathology and clinical intervention. Finally, the potential relevance of predictive coding theory and the role of appraisal processes in emotion generation with respect to their bearing on action comparison and choice are discussed.

Theories in cognition & emotion - social functions of emotion.

It is widely recognised that emotions have important social functions, particularly with respect to the interaction between individual needs and preferences and socio-cultural norms and values. So far, however, a general theoretical framework has been missing for the social functions of emotion. In this issue of the special theory section of Cognition & Emotion, an invited article by Keltner et al. proposes an expanded version of social functionalist theory entitled "How emotions, relationships, and culture constitute each other", which attempts to remedy this situation. Two invited commentaries, by Manstead and Von Scheve, welcome this attempt but enumerate issues in need of further elaboration, such as the interaction between relational needs and cultural norms, the necessity to consider situational context and cultural differences, and a more stringent specification of "functionality". The remainder of the current introductory article briefly outlines some areas in need of attention from social emotion theories, such as the effect of social and technological change on the elicitation and regulation of emotions. Here, earlier work is cited that evokes the danger of a potential waning of shame and guilt feelings due to changing values, norms, and self-ideals (for example, the growing importance of self-related values such as freedom and the weakening of prosocial values such as the responsibility for the common good). Another problem is group polarisation leading to negative emotions such as hate and potential violence taken together, the contributions to this theory section highlight the importance of creating a comprehensive theoretical framework for studying the social functions of emotions.

Theory convergence in emotion science is timely and realistic.

Over the last century, emotion research has been beset by the problem of major disagreements with respect to the definition of the phenomenon and an abundance of different theories. Arguably, these divergences have had adverse effects on theory development, on the theoretical foundations of empirical research, and on knowledge accumulation in the study of emotion. Similar problems have been encountered in other areas of behavioural science. Increasingly, there have been calls to work towards some form of theory integration. In contrast, here an effort is made to show that a reasonable degree of theory convergence in the area of emotion science can be attained by adopting a design feature-based working definition of emotion and highlighting the basic agreement on the components of the dynamic emotion process. The aim is to invite constructive discussion on communalities and divergences between different theories and foster the development of more complementary theoretical frameworks to guide future empirical research.

Learned helplessness revisited: biased evaluation of goals and action potential are major risk factors for emotional disturbance.

The present theory section deals with learned helplessness produced by pervasive experiences of failure or negative events, leading to decreased motivation and risk for depression. In their target article, Boddez, van Dessel, and de Houwer apply this concept to different forms of psychological suffering and propose a goal-directed mechanism -generalisation over similar goals. Duda and Joormann define goal similarity by action-outcome contingencies and highlight individual differences in attribution styles. Brandstätter proposes incentive classes as the organising principle for goal similarity and explores outcomes such as deterioration of cognitive ability. Mikulincer and Lifshin focus on differences between goals and introduce the notion of motivated helplessness, serving as an anxiety buffer in uncontrollable life settings. Finally, potential contributions from emotion science are outlined, in particular individual differences and biases in appraising goals and coping potential likely to produce negative emotion dispositions. In conclusion, the need to elaborate a more comprehensive theoretical framework for helplessness that can guide empirical studies using multifactorial and longitudinal designs is emphasised. Given the strong increase in the prevalence of anxiety and depression worldwide, better understanding of predispositions and eliciting factors is needed for early diagnosis and the development of intervention programmes to reduce psychological suffering.

Emotions, social coordination, and the danger of affective polarisation.

Smooth social interaction requires interindividual coordination. This Theory Section addresses the nature of the processes involved and the potential dangers of malfunctioning coordination. In her invited article, Butler provides a general overview of the processes involved, including interpersonal synchronisation, and advocates a dynamic systems framework for further research. In their commentary, Carré and Cornejo concur in principle but highlight the importance of the meaning attributed to the spontaneous expressive movements in naturally occurring interactions and the nature of the respective social situations. Suhay, in her commentary from a political science perspective, highlights the need for synergy based on social coordination for successful democratic governing. In commenting on the problem of political polarisation because of malfunctioning social coordination, introduced by Butler, Suhay adds the important role played by social identity and emotion. Of particular importance are affective reactions based on "evaluative biases" in favour of information that bolsters one's views and rejection of information that challenges them. I conclude this editorial by referring to recent data on affective polarisation, pleading for more multidisciplinary research on the phenomenon, and arguing for a more substantial contribution from the cognitive and emotion sciences. In particular, I outline the "predictive coding" framework and the potential contributions from emotion science.

The mystery of emotional mimicry: multiple functions and processing levels in expression imitation.

Mimicry of appearance or of facial, vocal, or gestural expressions emerges frequently among members of different species. When such mimicry directly relates to affective aspects of an interaction, researchers talk about "emotional mimicry". Emotional mimicry has been amply documented but its functionality is still debated. Why and when do people mimic the expressions of others, who benefits, the mimicker or the mimicked, and how do they benefit? Which processes underlie emotional mimicry? Is it completely automatic and unconscious or can it be deliberate and conscious? The current Theory Section addresses these questions from different theoretical perspectives. The invited article by Hess and Fischer focused on the role of mimicry in social regulation and social bonding. The invited comment by Krets and Akyüz highlights information gathering and prediction in social interaction. The invited comment by Bernhold and Giles emphasizes vocal communication and its role in interpersonal accommodation. In this editorial, I propose the different theoretical perspectives may be integrated by assuming a multilevel appraisal and response generation mechanism. I also suggest that emotional mimicry research may be broadened by including social learning, vocal imitation, interspecies comparisons, and affective computing approaches.

Linear and non-linear relationships among the dimensions representing the cognitive structure of emotion.

While dimensional models play a key role in emotion psychology, no consensus has been reached about their number and nature. The current study sheds a new light on this central issue by examining linear and non-linear relationships among the dimensions in the cognitive emotion structure. The meaning of 80 emotion terms was evaluated on 68 features representing appraisals, action tendencies, bodily reactions, expressions, and subjective experiences by 213 English-speaking US, 156 French-speaking Swiss, and 194 Indonesian-speaking Indonesian students. In a two-dimensional valence and arousal representation, neither linear nor non-linear relationships were observed. In a four-dimensional valence, power, arousal, and novelty representation, both linear (e.g. a positive relationship between valence and power) and non-linear (e.g. a strong positive correlation between valence and power found only for positively valenced emotion terms) relationships were observed. Joy- and sadness-related emotion terms where about as well represented by the two- than by the four-dimensional representation. However, especially anger- and surprise-related terms were only adequately represented by the four-dimensional representation. These findings were generalisable across the three languages. Even though a two-dimensional structure fits the data well in general, four dimensions are needed to sufficiently represent the cognitive structure of the whole gamut of human emotions.

The Emotion Process: Event Appraisal and Component Differentiation.

Much emotion research has focused on the end result of the emotion process, categorical emotions, as reported by the protagonist or diagnosed by the researcher, with the aim of differentiating these discrete states. In contrast, this review concentrates on the emotion process itself by examining how ( a) elicitation, or the appraisal of events, leads to ( b) differentiation, in particular, action tendencies accompanied by physiological responses and manifested in facial, vocal, and gestural expressions, before ( c) conscious representation or experience of these changes (feeling) and ( d) categorizing and labeling these changes according to the semantic profiles of emotion words. The review focuses on empirical, particularly experimental, studies from emotion research and neighboring domains that contribute to a better understanding of the unfolding emotion process and the underlying mechanisms, including the interactions among emotion components.

Are concepts of achievement-related emotions universal across cultures? A semantic profiling approach.

Verifying that conceptualisations of emotions are consistent across languages and cultures is a critical precondition for meaningful cross-cultural research on emotional experience. For achievement-related emotions tied to successes or failures, such evidence is virtually non-existent. To address this gap, we compared Canadian, German, Colombian, and Chinese university students' (NTotal = 126) perceptions of affective, cognitive, motivational, physiological, and expressive characteristics of 16 achievement-related emotions using a psycholinguistic tool for profiling emotion concepts (Achievement Emotions CoreGRID). Cross-cultural similarity of emotion concepts quantified through double-entry intraclass correlations was generally high, and highest for their affective, cognitive, and motivational components. However, results also point to cultural variation, particularly for physiological and expressive components. Variation in perceived physiological characteristics was most pronounced for boredom, and for comparisons of Canada, Germany, and Colombia with China. Implications for theoretical propositions of universality of emotion concepts and future research on achievement-related emotions are discussed.

Studying appraisal-driven emotion processes: taking stock and moving to the future.

Appraisal theories of emotion, and particularly the Component Process Model, have claimed over the past three decades that the different components of the emotion process (action tendencies, physiological reactions, expressions, and feeling experiences) are essentially driven by the results of multi-level cognitive appraisals and that the feeling component constitutes a central integration and representation of these processes. Given the complexity of the proposed architecture of emotion generation, comprehensive experimental tests of these predictions are difficult to perform and thus evidence has been slow to appear. Complementing earlier work on self-reported appraisal, a massive amount of empirical results from studies with experimental designs based on appraisal manipulation, using electroencephalographic and electromyographic measures, now confirms many of the theoretical predictions with respect to the effect of different appraisal checks, their interactions, and their exact timing. A major issue for future research is the nature of the coherence or synchronisation of the appraisal-driven components in the unfolding emotion process. It is suggested that interdisciplinary multi-team research will be needed to face the theoretical and methodological challenges of experimentally investigating the dynamics of the emotion process.

The semantic structure of emotion words across languages is consistent with componential appraisal models of emotion.

Appraisal theories of emotion, and particularly the Component Process Model, claim that the different components of the emotion process (action tendencies, physiological reactions, expressions, and feeling experiences) are essentially driven by the results of cognitive appraisals and that the feeling component constitutes a central integration and representation of these processes. Given the complexity of the proposed architecture, comprehensive experimental tests of these predictions are difficult to perform and to date are lacking. Encouraged by the "lexical sedimentation" hypothesis, here we propose an indirect examination of the compatibility of the theoretical assumptions with the semantic structure of a set of major emotion words as measured in a cross-language and cross-cultural study. Specifically, we performed a secondary analysis of the large-scale data set with ratings of affective features covering all components of the emotion process for 24 emotion words in 27 countries, constituting profiles of emotion-specific appraisals, action tendencies, physiological reactions, expressions, and feeling experiences. The results of a series of hierarchical regression analyses to examine the prediction of the theoretical model are highly consistent with the claim that appraisal patterns determine the structure of the response components, which in turn predict central dimensions of the feeling component.

The nomological network of emotion knowledge and emotion understanding in adults: evidence from two new performance-based tests.

Emotion understanding, which can broadly be defined as expertise in the meaning of emotion, is a core component of emotional intelligence and facilitates better intra- and interpersonal outcomes. However, to date only very few standard tests to measure emotion understanding in healthy adults exist. Here, we present two new performance-based tests that were developed and are scored based on componential emotion theory and large-scale cross-cultural empirical findings. These instruments intend to measure facets of emotion understanding that are not included in existing tests. The first test (Geneva EMOtion Knowledge test - Blends; GEMOK-Blends) measures the ability to understand and label emotional experiences of a target person from a description of emotion features covering five emotion components (appraisal, feeling, action tendencies, expression, and physiology) embedded in a written vignette. The second test (GEMOK-Features) measures semantic knowledge about which features from each component are characteristic of emotion episodes described by a specific emotion label. In four studies, we found evidence for the good internal consistency and construct validity of these tests. Both tests were positively correlated with other emotional abilities and cognitive ability and showed meaningful associations with a variety of personality and demographic variables.

Effects of achievement contexts on the meaning structure of emotion words.

Little is known about the impact of context on the meaning of emotion words. In the present study, we used a semantic profiling instrument (GRID) to investigate features representing five emotion components (appraisal, bodily reaction, expression, action tendencies, and feeling) of 11 emotion words in situational contexts involving success or failure. We compared these to the data from an earlier study in which participants evaluated the typicality of features out of context. Profile analyses identified features for which typicality changed as a function of context for all emotion words, except contentment, with appraisal features being most frequently affected. Those context effects occurred for both hypothesised basic and non-basic emotion words. Moreover, both data sets revealed a four-dimensional structure. The four dimensions were largely similar (valence, power, arousal, and novelty). The results suggest that context may not change the underlying dimensionality but affects facets of the meaning of emotion words.

The expression of emotion in the singing voice: Acoustic patterns in vocal performance.

There has been little research on the acoustic correlates of emotional expression in the singing voice. In this study, two pertinent questions are addressed: How does a singer's emotional interpretation of a musical piece affect acoustic parameters in the sung vocalizations? Are these patterns specific enough to allow statistical discrimination of the intended expressive targets? Eight professional opera singers were asked to sing the musical scale upwards and downwards (using meaningless content) to express different emotions, as if on stage. The studio recordings were acoustically analyzed with a standard set of parameters. The results show robust vocal signatures for the emotions studied. Overall, there is a major contrast between sadness and tenderness on the one hand, and anger, joy, and pride on the other. This is based on low vs high levels on the components of loudness, vocal dynamics, high perturbation variation, and a tendency for high low-frequency energy. This pattern can be explained by the high power and arousal characteristics of the emotions with high levels on these components. A multiple discriminant analysis yields classification accuracy greatly exceeding chance level, confirming the reliability of the acoustic patterns.

Emotion perception from a componential perspective.

The common conceptual understanding of emotion is that they are multi-componential, including subjective feelings, appraisals, psychophysiological activation, action tendencies, and motor expressions. Emotion perception, however, has traditionally been studied in terms of emotion labels, such as "happy", which do not clearly indicate whether one, some, or all emotion components are perceived. We examine whether emotion percepts are multi-componential and extend previous research by using more ecologically valid, dynamic, and multimodal stimuli and an alternative response measure. The results demonstrate that observers can reliably infer multiple types of information (subjective feelings, appraisals, action tendencies, and social messages) from complex emotion expressions. Furthermore, this finding appears to be robust to changes in response items. The results are discussed in light of their implications for research on emotion perception.

Introducing a short version of the Geneva Emotion Recognition Test (GERT-S): Psychometric properties and construct validation.

The ability to accurately interpret others' emotional expressions in the face, voice, and body is a crucial component of successful social functioning and has been shown to predict better outcomes in private and professional life. To date, emotion recognition ability (ERA) has mostly been measured with tests that heavily rely on static pictures of the face and on few emotions, restricting their content validity. Recently, Schlegel, Grandjean, and Scherer (Psychological Assessment, 26, 666-672, 2014) published a new test that measures ERA in a more comprehensive fashion, by (1) including a wide range of 14 positive and negative emotions and (2) using video clips with sound that simultaneously present facial, vocal, and bodily emotional cues. This article introduces the short version of the Geneva Emotion Recognition Test (the GERT-S), and presents two studies (total N = 425) that examine the internal consistency, factor structure, and convergent and discriminant validity of the test. The results show that the GERT-S is a unidimensional test with good internal consistency. Furthermore, the GERT-S was substantially positively correlated with other ERA tests, with tests of emotional understanding and emotion management, and with cognitive ability. Taken together, the present studies demonstrate the usefulness of the GERT-S as an instrument for the brief and reliable assessment of ERA. It is available, free of charge and in seven different languages, for academic research use. Given the brief test-taking time (approx. 10 min) and its possible administration via different online platforms, the GERT-S can easily be integrated by researchers into their own studies.

The perception of changing emotion expressions.

The utility of recognising emotion expressions for coordinating social interactions is well documented, but less is known about how continuously changing emotion displays are perceived. The nonlinear dynamic systems view of emotions suggests that mixed emotion expressions in the middle of displays of changing expressions may be decoded differently depending on the expression origin. Hysteresis is when an impression (e.g., disgust) persists well after changes in facial expressions that favour an alternative impression (e.g., anger). In expression changes based on photographs (Study 1) and avatar images (Studies 2a-c, 3), we found hystereses particularly in changes between emotions that are perceptually similar (e.g., anger-disgust). We also consistently found uncertainty (neither emotion contributing to the mixed expression was perceived), which was more prevalent in expression sequences than in static images. Uncertainty occurred particularly in changes between emotions that are perceptually dissimilar, such as changes between happiness and negative emotions. This suggests that the perceptual similarity of emotion expressions may determine the extent to which hysteresis and uncertainty occur. Both hysteresis and uncertainty effects support our premise that emotion decoding is state dependent, a characteristic of dynamic systems. We propose avenues to test possible underlying mechanisms.