Theories Presented in Understandable Narrative

Theories Presented in Understandable Narrative

How Emotion Shapes Behavior

The authors (Baumeister, DeWall, Vohs and Zhang) claim that the popular theory about emotion -- that the primary function of emotion is the "direct causation of behavior" -- is an incomplete understanding of emotion. They believe that emotion is in fact a "feedback system" and that the feedback influence on human behavior is "indirect" (Baumeister, et al., 2007). In other words, the theory rejects the idea that the purpose of emotion is to cause behavior "directly." Going further into their theory, the authors believe that emotion operates in order to "stimulate" a learning process. For example, a person in early evolutionary history confronts a tiger -- or another dangerous predator -- for the first time. Certainly it would take a few seconds for the primitive individual to "cognitively appraise the danger" which then triggers a brain response which is fear, and from there the motor response kicks in and the person runs. But having had this happen once, the next time the individual encounters a threat like that, the previous emotion provides "feedback" -- in effect, learning -- and that learned experience obtained through initial emotional response allows the person to run before experiencing fear. Hence, conscious emotional states "promote learning and alter guidelines for future behavior" (Baumeister, p. 168).

Automaticity and Emotion

The theory that Barrett and colleagues promote in this essay, first of all, takes the "commonsense approach to emotion" to task. The authors reject the notion that emotions like sadness, fear or anger are like "…primitive" entities just "lying in wait within the brain or body, ready do spring forth automatically…" when there are "triggers" to set them off (Barrett, 2007, p. 175). However the theory put forward in the Barrett, et al., model is called "dual-process model" -- a more sophisticated understanding of emotion -- in which the authors posit that first there is the "basic emotion" (fear, anger, sadness, etc.) followed by the "appraisal approach" (cognitive processes "automatically elicit and determine the quality and intensity" of the emotional responses). In other words, persons don't just have knee-jerk responses to emotional situations; there is immediately after initial emotional trigger, a cognitive appraisal response.

Attitudes and Evaluations: A Social Cognitive Neuroscience Perspective

Authors Cunningham and Zelazo have no doubt that when the brain automatically evaluates a situation that action is "crucial for survival." But they take the subject deeper in their model. In addition to an automatic evaluation, there needs to also be a "reflective evaluative process" in order to store information from present experiences for use in future experiences (Cunningham, et al., 2007). Basically this theory is that "reflective evaluative processes" are created (based on experience) in the prefrontal cortex (PFC), which takes the formulation of evaluation to a higher level, beyond attitude and beyond basic emotional responses. In other words, the PFC house learned "rules" and they play a key role when humans evaluate situations.

Affect and Proto-Affect in Effective Functioning