scholarly journals Evolutionary continuity between humans and non-human animals: Emotion and emotional expression

2021 ◽  
Vol 64 (4) ◽  
pp. 19-36
Author(s):  
Zorana Todorovic
Keyword(s):  
Emotional Expression ◽  
Evolutionary Origin ◽  
Emotional Expressions ◽  
Adaptive Function ◽  
Basic Emotions ◽  
Adaptive Challenges ◽  
Sentient Beings ◽  
Evolutionary Continuity

This paper deals with the evolutionary origin and the adaptive function of emotion. I discuss the view that emotions have evolved as functional adaptations in both humans and non-human animals in order to cope with adaptive challenges and to promote fitness. I argue that there is evolutionary continuity between humans and animals in emotions and emotional expressions, and discuss behavioural argument for this thesis, specifically, Darwin?s and Ekman?s research on similarities in how humans and animals express their basic emotions. In addition to this argument, I provide neuroscientific evidence that supports the claim that basic emotions are evolutionary old and shared among humans and many other animals. Finally, I conclude that animal emotions can be considered the bases and roots of our emotions that connect us to other sentient beings.

scholarly journals Typical emotional expression in children’s drawings of the human face

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Eleonora Cannoni ◽  
Giuliana Pinto ◽  
Anna Silvia Bombi
Keyword(s):  
Emotional Expression ◽  
Visual Cues ◽  
Age Groups ◽  
Emotional Expressions ◽  
Basic Emotions ◽  
Preferential Expression ◽  
Human Figure ◽  
Figure Drawings ◽  
Number Of Faces ◽  
Human Faces

AbstractThis study was aimed at verifying if children introduce emotional expressions in their drawings of human faces, and if a preferential expression exists; we also wanted to verify if children’s pictorial choices change with increasing age. To this end we examined the human figure drawings made by 160 boys and 160 girls, equally divided in 4 age groups: 6–7; 8–9; 10–11; 12–13 years; mean ages (SD in parentheses) were: 83,30 (6,54); 106,14 (7,16) 130,49 (8,26); 155,40 (6,66). Drawings were collected with the Draw-a-Man test instructions, i.e. without mentioning an emotional characterization. In the light of data from previous studies of emotion drawing on request, and the literature about preferred emotional expressions, we expected that an emotion would be portrayed even by the younger participants, and that the preferred emotion would be happiness. We also expected that with the improving ability to keep into account both mouth and eyes appearance, other expressions would be found besides the smiling face. Data were submitted to non-parametric tests to compare the frequencies of expressions (absolute and by age) and the frequencies of visual cues (absolute and by age and expressions). The results confirmed that only a small number of faces were expressionless, and that the most frequent emotion was happiness. However, with increasing age this representation gave way to a variety of basic emotions (sadness, fear, anger, surprise), whose representation may depend from the ability to modify the shapes of both eyes and mouth and changing communicative aims of the child.

Form Follows Function: An Investigation Into the Categorical Boundary of Surprise

2018 ◽  
Vol 122 (5) ◽  
pp. 1824-1842
Author(s):  
L. Y. Lo ◽  
W. O. Li ◽  
L. P. Lee
Keyword(s):  
Human Behavior ◽  
Emotional Expression ◽  
Internal Validity ◽  
Emotional Expressions ◽  
Basic Emotions

The concept of basic emotions has been widely accepted in explaining human behavior. Yet, there is still no consensus on the distinctiveness of surprise. This study tried to compare the discreteness of surprise with that of other basic emotions in terms of their categorical distinctiveness. For this study, 27 undergraduates were recruited, and a new set of morphing sequences of different emotional expressions from two young Chinese posers was created. The results show that surprise is over-generalized to the perception of fear and that the categorical boundary is less discrete than for other emotional expression pairs. This blending is perhaps due to their confusion on both the perceptual and production levels. Additionally, a choice between external and internal validity when picking emotional expression stimuli is also discussed.

scholarly journals I Show You How I Like You: Human-Robot Interaction through Emotional Expression and Tactile Stimulation

2000 ◽  
Vol 29 (544) ◽  
Author(s):  
Dolores Canamero ◽  
Jakob Fredslund
Keyword(s):  
Facial Expressions ◽  
Emotional Expression ◽  
Tactile Stimulation ◽  
Human Robot Interaction ◽  
Physical Contact ◽  
Emotional Expressions ◽  
Emotional States ◽  
Robot Interaction ◽  
Basic Emotions ◽  
Physical Manipulation

We report work on a LEGO robot capable of displaying several emotional expressions in response to physical contact. Our motivation has been to explore believable emotional exchanges to achieve plausible interaction with a simple robot. We have worked toward this goal in two ways. <p>First, acknowledging the importance of physical manipulation in children's interactions, interaction with the robot is through tactile stimulation; the various kinds of stimulation that can elicit the robot's emotions are grounded in a model of emotion activation based on different stimulation patterns.</p><p>Second, emotional states need to be clearly conveyed. We have drawn inspiration from theories of human basic emotions with associated universal facial expressions, which we have implemented in a caricaturized face. We have conducted experiments on both children and adults to assess the recognizability of these expressions.</p>

scholarly journals The Emotional Expressions of Chinese People in Batam Island

2014 ◽  
Vol 30 (1) ◽  
pp. 26-44
Author(s):  
Wilis Srisayekti ◽  
Jeany Hesty Buana
Keyword(s):  
Social History ◽  
Emotional Expression ◽  
Analysis Data ◽  
Emotional Expressions ◽  
Display Rules ◽  
Chinese People ◽  
Basic Emotions ◽  
The Public ◽  
The Social ◽  
Research Findings

Chinese people have long been a subject in the social history in Indonesia and their emotional expressions in front of the public especially have been affected by history. The previous empirical research findings in the Batam Island showed that Chinese people had unique emotional expression and this uniqueness may inflict interpersonal conflict with people of other ethnicities. This research was held to describe the emotional expression of the Chinese in the Batam Island. Their expressions compared with those of non Chinese. The adapted Display Rules Assessment Inventory (Matsumoto & Yoo, 2007) were distributed to the research participants (men and women in the Batam Island, totally 195 Chinese and 132 non Chinese). The analysis data result were presented in percentage and it showed that there were several similarities and differences between these two ethnic groups on (1) the display rules of seven basic emotions and (2) the display rules of emotion toward targeted persons, both in public and in private places. Based on the socioculutral paradigm, this finding will help solve any interpersonal – related problems faced by the Chinese with people of other ethnicities in the Batam Island.

Beyond the Basics: The Evolution and Development of Human Emotions

2006 ◽  
Vol 32 ◽  
pp. 73-94 ◽  
Author(s):  
Robyn Bluhm
Keyword(s):  
Emotional Expression ◽  
Neural Circuits ◽  
Cultural Practices ◽  
Human Beings ◽  
Basic Emotions ◽  
Evolution And Development ◽  
Human Emotions ◽  
Paul Griffiths ◽  
Evolutionary Continuity ◽  
Fast Responses

The suggestion that at least some emotions are modular captures a number of our intuitions about emotions: they are generally fast responses to a stimulus, they are involuntary, and they are easily distinguished (at least in most cases) from one another; we simply know that, for example, anger feels different than fear. Candidates for modular emotions are usually the so-called “basic” emotions - anger and fear are good examples of these. Defenders of emotion theories that focus on basic emotions, such as Paul Ekman in psychology and Paul Griffiths in philosophy, emphasize the advantages of theories that stress the evolutionary continuity of emotional expression and link emotions to the activity of neural circuits that are similar in human beings and other animals.In this paper, however, I will examine arguments for the discontinuity of emotions in human beings, as compared with other animals. Owing to a combination of cultural practices and neuroanatomy, both our emotional “wiring” and our emotions are unique.

The Integration of Emotional Expression and Experience: A Pragmatist Review of Recent Evidence From Brain Stimulation

2017 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
pp. 27-38 ◽  
Author(s):  
Caruana Fausto
Keyword(s):  
Emotional Expression ◽  
Supplementary Motor Area ◽  
Emotional Experience ◽  
Anterior Cingulate ◽  
Emotional Expressions ◽  
Affective Neuroscience ◽  
Common View ◽  
Frontal Operculum ◽  
Affective Experiences ◽  
Stimulation Of

A common view in affective neuroscience considers emotions as a multifaceted phenomenon constituted by independent affective and motor components. Such dualistic connotation, obtained by rephrasing the classic Darwin and James’s theories of emotion, leads to the assumption that emotional expression is controlled by motor centers in the anterior cingulate, frontal operculum, and supplementary motor area, whereas emotional experience depends on interoceptive centers in the insula. Recent stimulation studies provide a different perspective. I will outline two sets of findings. First, affective experiences can be elicited also following the stimulation of motor centers. Second, emotional expressions can be elicited by stimulating interoceptive regions. Echoing the original pragmatist theories of emotion, I will make a case for the notion that emotional experience emerges from the integration of sensory and motor signals, encoded in the same functional network.

Does Emotional Expression Moderate Implicit Racial Bias? Examining Bias Following Smiling and Angry Primes

2021 ◽  
Vol 39 (5) ◽  
pp. 570-590
Author(s):  
Afsaneh Raissi ◽  
Jennifer R. Steele
Keyword(s):  
Black Men ◽  
Emotional Expression ◽  
Black Male ◽  
Contrast Effect ◽  
Racial Bias ◽  
Emotional Expressions ◽  
Negative Attitudes ◽  
Negative Stereotypes ◽  
Implicit Racial Bias ◽  
Affect Misattribution Procedure

Given the pervasiveness of prejudice, researchers have become increasingly interested in examining racial bias at the intersection of race and other social and perceptual categories that have the potential to disrupt these negative attitudes. Across three studies, we examined whether the emotional expression of racial exemplars would moderate implicit racial bias. We found that racial bias on the Affect Misattribution Procedure only emerged in response to angry but not smiling Black male faces in comparison to White (Study 1) or White and Asian (Study 3) male faces with similar emotional expressions. Racial bias was also found toward Asian targets (Studies 2 and 3), but not only following angry primes. These findings suggest that negative stereotypes about Black men can create a contrast effect, making racial bias toward smiling faces less likely to be expressed in the presence of angry Black male faces.

scholarly journals Emotion and Gender Typicality Cue Sexual Orientation Differently in Women and Men

2020 ◽  
Vol 49 (7) ◽  
pp. 2547-2560
Author(s):  
R. Thora Bjornsdottir ◽  
Nicholas O. Rule
Keyword(s):  
Sexual Orientation ◽  
Gay Men ◽  
Emotional Expression ◽  
Positive Emotion ◽  
Role Expectations ◽  
Emotional Expressions ◽  
Gender Typicality ◽  
Gender Role Expectations ◽  
Gender Inversion ◽  
And Gender

Abstract Heterosexual individuals tend to look and act more typical for their gender compared to gay and lesbian individuals, and people use this information to infer sexual orientation. Consistent with stereotypes associating happy expressions with femininity, previous work found that gay men displayed more happiness than straight men—a difference that perceivers used, independent of gender typicality, to judge sexual orientation. Here, we extended this to judgments of women’s sexual orientation. Like the gender-inversion stereotypes applied to men, participants perceived women’s faces manipulated to look angry as more likely to be lesbians; however, emotional expressions largely did not distinguish the faces of actual lesbian and straight women. Compared to men’s faces, women’s faces varied less in their emotional expression (appearing invariably positive) but varied more in gender typicality. These differences align with gender role expectations requiring the expression of positive emotion by women and prohibiting the expression of femininity by men. More important, greater variance within gender typicality and emotion facilitates their respective utility for distinguishing sexual orientation from facial appearance. These findings thus provide the first evidence for contrasting cues to women’s and men’s sexual orientation and suggest that gender norms may uniquely shape how men and women reveal their sexual orientation.

scholarly journals Identifying Emotional Expressions: Children’s Reasoning About Pretend Emotions of Sadness and Anger

2020 ◽  
Vol 11 ◽  
Author(s):  
Elisabet Serrat ◽  
Anna Amadó ◽  
Carles Rostan ◽  
Beatriz Caparrós ◽  
Francesc Sidera
Keyword(s):  
Emotional Expression ◽  
Contextual Information ◽  
Pretend Play ◽  
Recognition Task ◽  
Young Group ◽  
Emotional Expressions ◽  
Sources Of Information ◽  
Ability Test ◽  
Facial Information ◽  
Final Sample

This study aims to further understand children’s capacity to identify and reason about pretend emotions by analyzing which sources of information they take into account when interpreting emotions simulated in pretend play contexts. A total of 79 children aged 3 to 8 participated in the final sample of the study. They were divided into the young group (ages 3 to 5) and the older group (6 to 8). The children were administered a facial emotion recognition task, a pretend emotions task, and a non-verbal cognitive ability test. In the pretend emotions task, the children were asked whether the protagonist of silent videos, who was displaying pretend emotions (pretend anger and pretend sadness), was displaying a real or a pretend emotion, and to justify their answer. The results show significant differences in the children’s capacity to identify and justify pretend emotions according to age and type of emotion. The data suggest that young children recognize pretend sadness, but have more difficulty detecting pretend anger. In addition, children seem to find facial information more useful for the detection of pretend sadness than pretend anger, and they more often interpret the emotional expression of the characters in terms of pretend play. The present research presents new data about the recognition of negative emotional expressions of sadness and anger and the type of information children take into account to justify their interpretation of pretend emotions, which consists not only in emotional expression but also contextual information.

scholarly journals EVENT-SPECIFIC EMOTIONAL EXPRESSION OF PERSONS WITH DEMENTIA IN LONG-TERM CARE: PRELIMINARY RESULTS

2019 ◽  
Vol 3 (Supplement_1) ◽  
pp. S420-S420
Author(s):  
Kyung Hee Lee ◽  
Ji Yeon Lee ◽  
Bora Kim ◽  
Marie Boltz
Keyword(s):  
Health Care Providers ◽  
Emotional Expression ◽  
Long Term Care ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Emotional Expressions ◽  
Care Providers ◽  
Personal Care ◽  
Term Care ◽  
Meal Time

Abstract Although dementia-related language, comprehension, and memory deficits occur fairly early stage in dementia, persons with dementia retain the ability to express their emotion even in the late stage of disease. However, health care providers do not know how to interpret emotional expressions that could be utilized as important signals of underlying needs and care preferences in persons with dementia. The purpose of this study was to explore the event-specific emotional expressions of persons with dementia in long-term care over a 6-month period. This was a longitudinal study using repeated observations. Emotional expressions were videotaped when three specific events (personal care, meal time, and activity) occurred at baseline, month 3 and month 6. A total of nine observations was made for each participant. We enrolled 13 participants so far; ten participants were completed 6 month follow up. The mean score of MMSE at baseline was 4.38; that of ADL was 16.62. On average, persons with dementia showed 9.93 episodes of positive emotional expression (PEE) per minute and 1.81 episodes of negative emotional expression (NEE) per minute. We found between person variations for both PEE and NEE. PEE and NEE were different by three types of events. Specifically, persons with dementia showed more PEE with activity than personal care and meal time and more NEE with personal care than the other two events. This study will provide better understanding of event-specific emotional expressions, and inform the development of emotion-oriented interventions programs to improve the psychological well-being of persons with dementia.

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