1. Hoorcollege - Using Media week 5
Emotion & media
Hoorcollege - Using Media week 5

2. Agenda Learning goals Looking back Types of emotion How emotions work
The purpose of emotions
Summary: emotion and media

3. Learning goals By the end of this hoorcollege you should:
Know the difference between basic emotions and complex emotions
Be aware of some theories of emotion
Understand the roles that emotion plays in our life
Understand the importance of emotion in decision making
Know how emotion can affect a person’s reaction to persuasive messages

4. Looking back

5. Types of emotion

6. Activity
Discuss with your neighbour what type of emotions you can think of
For each emotion you identify try to demonstrate it
Write each one down

7. Basic emotions

8. 6 Basic emotions

9. 6 Basic emotions (robot version)

10. Basic emotions
It is argued that at least the 6 basic emotions are universal in humans (and some animals)
Research tends to back this up
Tribes in Samoa can recognize these emotional expressions on western faces
However, human emotional life is more complex

11. Complex emotions

12. Complex emotions
One theory suggests that complex emotions are mixtures of basic emotions
They rely on our ability to (self-)reflect on ourselves and others as persons in time and circumstance
Pity is based on our assessment of how a person came to be in the situation they are in
If a friend fails an exam
Because they were ill all term
Because they were out partying the night before
Embarrassment is created when you reflect on a “failure” that is not expected of you given your status and social role
Complex emotions are often seen as essentially human
Research suggests that animals do not share these emotions (although there is much debate here)

13. How emotions work

14. Activity: imagine this situation
What is the emotion you feel?
Why do you feel it?
Discuss this with your neighbour

15. How emotions work: common sense
You see danger
You feel fear
You run

16. James-Lange theory of emotions
This seems totally against common sense and our experience of emotion, but some research has suggested that it is correct (e.g. heart-rate playback in response to pictures of attractive females). But overall it is not accepted today.
You see danger
You run  increased heart-rate
You are aware of the physical response
Therefore you feel fear

17. Schachter-Singer theory of emotions
Here the important element of emotion is our cognitive evaluation of our response - we examine and attribute an emotion to it, this can vary. Again like memory and attention, it is our consciousness that gives meaning to things and decides what we do. Emotion is an active process too.
You see danger
You run  increased heart-rate
You evaluate this response in your cognitive system
You assign an emotional feeling

18. Culture and emotions
This theory suggests that there is a cognitive element to emotion and this means that emotion may be affected by culture:
Accida was a recognized complex emotion before 1400, but disappeared
Individualist cultures (e.g. USA) experience more ego-focused emotions (anger, frustration, pride),
Collectivist cultures (e.g. Japan) experience more other-focused emotions (shame, belonging, sympathy)
German schadenfreude
Gezelligheid?
Accida - a mixture of boredom with one’s religious duties, putting them of and sadness at one’s religious failings
Schadenfreude - an enjoyment of another misfortune

19. Emotion as an automatic / active process
The Schachter-Singer theory suggests that the emotions we feel as a result of a stimulus are actively chosen by our cognitive system
However, this does not mean that we can choose not to react on a physical (visceral) level
We respond to some stimuli (esp. danger) immediately and then we assign an emotion

20. Snake or stick?
What happens here is that your Amygdala takes over and gets your visceral system to react immediately - this is known as the low road. The attribution of the emotion depends on your evaluation in your cognitive system of what it is you see, this takes around 10 times longer, which might mean you have been bitten.

21. Stick or snake?: how it works
This model supports the Schachter-Singer theory

22. The purpose of emotions

23. Activity: what purpose do emotions serve?
Discuss this question with your neighbour
Based on what we have seen so far what is the purpose of emotion?
What other purposes do you think they might have?

24. The purpose of emotions
Evolutionary - survival
Fight / flight mechanism (stick or snake?)
Social bonding
Making our lives meaningful
Help us to make decisions

25. Imagine life without emotion

26. Damasio’s theory of emotion
Neurologist Antonio Damasio studied people with damage to their ventromedial prefrontal cortex (VMPC)
These people still had the visceral response to stimuli, but they did not assign emotional feeling to it
This suggests that the VMPFC is where we assign feelings to stimuli
People with certain types of VMPFC damage have problems acting in social situations and making decisions

27. Emotion and decision making
The experience of patient EVR
Damasio has suggested that emotion is not the opposite to rationality - it is essential to it
Emotion gives choices meaning and this meaning helps us make decisions
Imagine trying to choose a car based only on rational criteria

28. The purpose of emotions
Evolutionary - survival
Fight / flight mechanism (stick or snake?)
Social bonding
Making our lives meaningful
Allowing us to make decisions
Emotion is a powerful motivator of action

29. Emotion as a motivator

30. Summary: emotion and media
The aim of using media to deliver persuasive messages is to change behaviour
We have seen that emotion is a very powerful (perhaps the most powerful) motivator of action
Engaging the receiver’s emotions can help you achieve the desired behavioural change
Positive emotions can make them more open to your message and more likely to decide to act (decision making)
Negative emotions can also work (fear / jealousy appeals) if used carefully and ethically
But creating negative emotions can work against your message
As with all tools of persuasion they must be used ethically
Indeed given the power of emotions to motivate, we have to be very careful