8 - EMOTIONS & EMOTIONAL BOWL
The complexity of emotions in competitive decision-making has one
other major dimension within the Emotive Energy Behavioral Diagram, the
Emotional Bowl. All of us readily recognize the existence of positive
and negative emotions (the 1st dimension of the EEBD represented by the
Hedonic Scale). We also quickly acknowledge an intensity factor (the EEBD's
2nd dimension shown through the Action Curve and the Efficiency Space).
But we also recognize emotional variety. Fear and anger are negative
and may erupt with equal intensity, but they are not the same. Love
and admiration are both positive, but they, too, seem to be different
regardless of their intensity. For the EEBD to be complete, it needs
to reflect the different types of emotions within the positive and
negative realms. Further, it must account for the varying intensities
ascribed to each type.
Perhaps the best support for the intensity and variety dimensions
of emotions are the ideas of Harold Schlosberg and Robert Plutchik.
(Krech, et al., 1982, p. 458-460)
Both of these researchers recognized a conic or bowl shape to the range
of emotional expression they studied (see Figure 10). Schlossberg
preferred the conic approach, and acknowledged polar aspects of
emotions - pleasant versus unpleasant, attention versus rejection.
In the left half of Figure 10, Schlosberg's "pleasant/unpleasant"
line directly corresponds to the Hedonic Scale. Also, the conic profile
has the distinctive "V" shape of Figure 5 while its inverted apex
marked "sleep" also corresponds well to the the point of indifference
(or sleep) of Figure 5. Yet, perhaps its key feature is the line
marked "activation level." Schlosberg clearly recognized variations
of our energized state.
Plutchik also adheres to a positive/negative split of emotions
with good (approach) versus bad (avoid) bi-sections.
(Plutchik, 1980, p. 156)
Plutchik's halved grapefruit model (or "orange" as he prefers)
diagramed in Figure 10 also maps well to the diagram of Figure 7.
Both have the same "U" profile with the point of least emotion
(indifference) at the bottom, and Plutchik more clearly shows that
some emotions are stronger variants of others. "Terror" is a stronger
variant of "fear" which, in turn, is a stronger variant of
"apprehension." Similarly, "grief" is a heightened sadness while
sadness is a strengthened variant of pensiveness. This approach
corresponds well with increasing power as we move away from
indifference along the Hedonic Scale/Action Curve (or move outward
from the bottom of the citrus fruit). The closer we get to our highest
or lowest values, the stronger and clearer our emotions become.
The closer we get to indifference, the weaker and less discernible
our emotions seem, hence the lack of names around the bottom portion
of Plutchik's citrus diagram as well as the layman's belief that brain
activities at this level are "unemotional." Nevertheless, unemotional
brain activities (at least in mammals) may not normally occur. As
Elizabeth Duffy put it:
"... between emotion and nonemotion, ... no clear
differentiation can be made since activation occurs in a continuum,
from a very low degree to a very high degree."
(Duffy, 1962, p.12)
What we traditionally classify as emotions are simply
dramatic energy shifts within our body accompanied by outward signals
- a smile, a frown, tears, or trembling. Using light as an analogy
(as Plutchik likes to do), many stars in the heavens are so far away
as to be visible with only the most powerful telescopes. Their light
is exceedingly dim, and at best, they have been given a catalog number
instead of a name. On the other hand, the three bright stars in the
"belt" of the constellation Orion are easily seen on cold, clear nights
in January in the northern hemisphere. They are so obvious that they
were given names long ago - Alnitak, Alnilam, and Mintaka. Though all
of the stars give off light, only the bright ones get names. And so
it is with emotions. Only the stronger and obvious ones (either visibly
or audibly) get names even though the subtle emotions are made of the same
"stuff" - that "stuff" being energy (emotive energy).
Figure 10.
(diagram from Krech, et al., 1982,
p. 459)
One other point before leaving Plutchik's citrus model
is its three-dimensional quality. The need for three dimensions
comes from having multiple values of equal strength. For instance,
fear of an earthquake might be just as emotionally intense as a
jealous rage, and for some, both may be just as low (negative) on
the Hedonic Scale. Plotting them two-dimensionally on the EEBD
would result in the exact same plot. Yet, we readily admit that
the two are distinctly different. Since we acknowledge that rage
is different from fear, another dimension must exist to represent
these different yet sometimes equally powerful emotions. The three
dimensional structure of the EEBD incorporating Plutchik's ideas
enables this representation.
But rather than Plutchik's three-dimensional solid, I have
scraped out the insides of his citrus fruit to create a "bowl" shaped
area outlined by the Action Curve. (See Figure 11 below.)
This bowl, wherein all emotional expression can be plotted, will be
termed the "Emotional Bowl."
Figure 11.
(modified from Plutchik, 1980, p. 157)
One important qualification of the emotional bowl must be made.
As presented herein, it definitely represents emotions of humans. Much
of the emotional bowl is probably experienced by advanced primates. To
a lesser extent, other mammals may experience some of the range expressed
by the bowl. However, reptiles and lower forms of life are not likely to
have much (if any) range of emotional expression even though the exhibit
some fundamental emotions such as fear and rage. According to Paul
Maclean's Triune Brain Theory, the rudimentary and coarse behavior of
lower creatures is a reflection of our evolutionary past. The reptilian
brain is sufficiently advanced enough to maintain essential internal
and external behaviors but little else. The evolutionary advancement
which created the paleomammilian brain (essentially the addition of the
limbic system) enlarged the range and variety of behaviors and emotions
of mammals. In particular, it is the limbic system which enables the
intensity factor essential to Plutchik's model:
"... the limbic system has the capacity to turn up or down
the 'volume' (intensity) of feelings that guide behavior required for
self-preservation and preservation of the species."
(MacLean, 1990. pg. 23)
One last area of the emotional bowl which needs exploration is
depression. Though Plutchik did not provide a direct reference to it
in either his model or his table of Primary Emotion Dimensions, it
showed up in his other diagrams and was associated with the dimension
of "reintegration" which also included grief, sadness, and dejection.
(Plutchik, 1980, p. 217)
MacLean has emotional dimensions but only six: feelings of desire,
feelings of fear, feelings of anger, feelings of dejection, feelings
of joy (gratulant), and feelings of affection.
(MacLean, 1990. pg. 438)
"Dejection" would be the dimension common to both models and which
would be associated with depression.
I highlight this area not only for its importance to clinical
psychology and psychiatry but also for a new model recently published
by Gregg Henriques, the Henriques-Beck Behavioral Shutdown Model (BSM).
Henriques reduces behavior to an energy investment strategy whereby any
organism must get a net gain for its energy expenditures:
"... the BSM suggests that depression is actually an
evolved defensive strategy. ... behavior can be thought of as the process
of expending energy or working in order to control and structure the
environment in a way that allows for survival (and giving) rise to a
cost benefit ratio of behavioral investment, a ratio much like that
in economics. ... Broadly speaking, behavioral shutdown should result
if an organism is getting a poor return (i.e., high costs, little benefit)
from its behavioral investment. ... This understanding gives rise to the
Behavioral Shutdown Model which suggests that depression may represent
an evolved tendency to decrease behavioral expenditure in response to
chronic danger, stress, or consistent failure to achieve one's goals."
(Henriques, 2001. pg. 2-3)
Further, the EBBSM adheres to the fundamental structure of the
emotional bowl by allowing for variations of intensity:
"Behavioral shutdown should be a matter of degree, thus
the BSM also accounts for why depressive symptoms exist on a continuum
that ranges from chronic, severe depressions to minor depressions to
low mood."
(Henriques, 2001. pg. 4)
If we polish the diagram up a bit, the original Emotive Energy
Behavioral Diagram comes into view (Figure 11). Though it may have
seemed foreign beforehand, hopefully, it has become more familiar and
acceptable. The Hedonic Scale is the dark line at the bottom. Again,
many people refer to it as "my list of priorities" or "my likes and
dislikes." The Action Curve, on top, represents the power limit of
any value on the Hedonic Scale. It indicates the maximum resources
someone is willing to expend in order to seek a goal or avoid a hazard.
The higher a value is placed on the Hedonic Scale, the more TEM resources
are available for seeking it as marked by the Action Curve. On the other
hand, the lower a value is placed on the Hedonic Scale, the more resources
we make available for avoiding the threat. The Action Curve also
circumscribes a bowl/saddle shaped region where all of our emotions are
mapped. Though any two emotions may share the same value and power, they
still may differ in expression. Love and happiness may both command high
points as values with equal empowerments upon the Action Curve, but the
feelings are different. The Emotional Bowl provides the three-dimensional
quality necessary to show this. Finally, the Efficiency Space, the grey
area inbetween the Hedonic Scale and the Action Curve, is the heart of what
we call "shopping" or "bargain hunting" or "making a deal." It reflects
our attempt to seek goals or avoid hazards in the most efficient manner
in order to conserve resources. It also reflects how decisions are
performed. The idea/value of highest power takes control of behavior,
but it takes control with as little energy as possible, thus, catering
to the Law of Life Efficiency.
Figure 11.
Hedonic Tone:
Up until now, I have been identifying various parts of the Emotive
Energy Behavioral Diagram, but the next step is to understand how they all
function together. Going back to Bill Powers' Perceptual Control Theory
(PCT), he describes all behavior as based upon control systems architecture.
Using an automobile analogy, Powers describes how PCT accounts for us
keeping an automobile from running off the road into a ditch or some
other obstacle:
"It's not hard to figure out how steering effort should change
as the scene in the windshield changes. If you see yourself too far to the
right, your steering effort changes toward the left. ... Just the opposite
relationship holds if the car is too far to the left; the steering effort
changes ... by an amount that depends on how far (off) the car appears to
be. ... whichever way the car is seen to be deviated relative to the road,
the steering effort must change in the opposite direction."
(Powers, 1998, p.4)
Powers notes that to determine deviation from a path, some mechanism to
define the correct path must exist. As stated earlier, he terms this
the "reference signal." In our minds, we hold an image of what we want
to see through the windshield of a car. This is the reference signal.
As the car drifts away from that reference, we correct back to the
desired path by turning the steering wheel.
However, the "reference signal" is not quite so simple. As we drift
off a road, we become defensive knowing that being off the road brings
dangers. This defensiveness is an energy shift from our balanced internal
state to an imbalanced one which increases energy flowing into the
sympathetic nervous system (SNS) while simultaneously shutting down the
parasympathetic nervous system (PNS). Pumping up blood flow to the SNS
makes more energy available to the steering behaviors (including the
formation of these behaviors in the brain). Shutting down the PNS
conserves energy by restricting energy to our non-critical defensive
visceral organs such as those tied to digestion. As these changes
take place, we get a "nervous" feeling or tenseness as energy becomes
active in our outer muscles. Concurrently, we sense a "sinking feeling"
in our guts as blood is diverted away from the digestive system.
This later sensation is likely due to the muscles of the the lower
viscera relaxing, not only reducing blood usage, but dropping and
vacating space in the chest cavity, thus, allowing greater expansion
potential for the heart and lungs which will need it for "fight or
flight" behaviors. What is key is our ability to sense this internal
change. And not only do we sense the change, we recognize it as
unpleasant and begin work to return to a more balanced (and pleasant)
state. Thus, the "feeling" of happiness is also a "reference signal."
Not only do we steer a car back onto the correct path (road), but we
"steer" our feelings back into a more pleasant state (or path) of
balance.
This feeling can be likened to a needle on an emotional gauge
which helps us monitor how we are adapting to life. The needle for
our emotional gauge will be termed our "hedonic tone."
As we experience life, hedonic tone moves back and forth on the Hedonic
Scale reflecting our emotional state at any given moment. It will move
to the positive region of the Hedonic Scale when we feel good. It will
drop to the negative region as we feel stress. By monitoring it, we
can judge our interactions with the environment and make adjustments
as necessary. Again, hedonic tone, though described as a needle on a
gauge, is actually a sensation of changes in visceral blood flow and
muscle tone. Nevertheless, it is the "reference signal" by which we
determine our present internal/external circumstance. All of our
behaviors are designed to help guide this sensation into a range
which we denote as "feeling good."
Over the eons, natural selection has correlated "feeling good"
with seeking whatever benefits our survival. "Feeling bad" has been
correlated to anything dangerous to us. Good feelings came with the
balanced distribution of energy resources to all bodily systems - the
epitome of health and well-being. Bad feelings came when the body
became defensive and diverted internal resources to thwart environmental
hazards. This specialized imbalance jeopardized some bodily systems
placing them in stress. Our ancestors learned to recognize this physical
change inside their bodies. They learned to seek the balanced and safe
feeling of well-being and to avoid the imbalanced and defensive feeling
of stress. It is this sense of the internal distribution of energy that
is the hedonic tone.
But unlike dials and gauges in a vehicle, the hedonic tone
is unseen and unheard. The hedonic tone is felt - sometimes
a sinking feeling, sometimes a feeling of warmth or an expansive
feeling of energy. It can even be a tingling sensation coming down
the side of the head and the body, or it can be a chill going up the
spine. Emotive tone has many faces placed upon it by the Emotional
Bowl, but whatever the expression, we sense it as being either good
or bad. We instinctively know if the hedonic tone tells us to seek
or avoid. Sometimes when logic fails us and we "can't put a finger"
on something, we turn to our sixth sense, to our hunches and intuition,
in order to guide us in making decisions. Even at these times, it is
really the hedonic tone upon which we rely.
For the sake of simplicity I portrayed the hedonic tone as a
singular entity which, in reality, is multi-faceted. As stated before,
the hedonic tone has two primary expressions: positive and negative.
Since the two operate somewhat independently, two secondary expressions
also occur: low emotion and mixed emotion. If both emotive subsystems
become quiet, a low emotional state ensues and is denoted as "unemotional."
Mixed emotions may also come when realizing that a good friend is moving
away. Happiness for the friend's future will intermingle with sadness
for the loss of a close companionship. (This mixed emotion is sometimes
called "bittersweet.") Another mixed emotion may be all negative as
when fear and anger entangle during a fight. Or it may be all positive
as when love and inspiration co-mingle. When emotions are mixed, the
hedonic tone becomes multifaceted and will reflect all aspects together.
In fact, there may be even more hedonic tones than there are
sections of Plutchik's citrus fruit. Back to the analogy of the
Emotive Energy Behavioral Diagram (EEBD) being like a steel drum or
pan, the hedonic tone can be thought of like the notes on a pan. Just
as multiple notes can be played together and in any sequence, multiple
emotions can also be invigorated together. And though the richness
and fullness of music requires all of the chords and harmonies be
played together, a single melody can still be picked out, one note
at a time. So, too, can a single emotion be highlighted even though
others may also be active. For now, the emotional "chords and melodies"
can wait. During this initial discussion, I will tend to play the
"emotional pan" with one mallet and pick out melodies only. The
hedonic tone will be treated as a single entity.
One last and crucial factor to point out here is that hedonic
tone (emotion) occurs AFTER a decision is made. The decision has
already been made in the brain before the visceral and extremity
changes take place. It is BECAUSE of a decision process that the
SNS and PNS are altered and emotions happen. Emotions are the smoke
from the fires of the brain. This may run counter to the beliefs
of many, but it can be explained easily through Bernard Baars'
Global Workspace Theory of consciousness ...
