Tag: Emotion

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34. Emotion and Decision-making

Emotion and Decision-making

This article is a summary of a series of articles published in 2022, the first of which can be found at https://rational-understanding.com/2022/01/12/emotions/

The variables involved in the decisions of an individual person comprise:

  • The satisfiers and contra-satisfiers that an act is likely to cause.
  • The change in status of those satisfiers and contra-satisfiers between absent, latent, precarious, and entrenched.
  • The probability of those satisfiers and contra-satisfiers occurring as a result of the act.
  • The needs affected by those satisfiers and contra-satisfiers. Most affect several needs.
  • The current state of those needs, i.e., wholly satisfied, partly satisfied, and so on.
  • The change in the level of satisfaction of those needs.
  • The holon affected by the satisfier or contra-satisfier.

These variables are too many for rational and objective analysis, even if we had the time. So instead, we use emotion as follows.

  • Positive and negative emotions attach to needs. Typical positive emotions are happiness, joy, and exhilaration. Typical negative ones are fear, disgust, and anxiety.
  • If needs are fully satisfied, then our emotions are neutral. If they are not, then our emotions are negative.
  • A satisfier will alter the status of a need by increasing its level of satisfaction. The greater the increase, the greater the reduction in negative emotion.
  • For a short time, we will also experience a positive emotion. Positive emotions are, however, transient. This is because we must continuously act to survive, and positive emotions reduce our motivation to do so. So, they merely act as a short-term reward for successful acts.
  • A contra-satisfier reduces the level of satisfaction of our needs, and so, increases our negative emotional state.

A decision to act is made by totalling the effects of all satisfiers and contra-satisfiers associated with it, to assess the overall change in our emotional state. The process involved is akin to that of an analogue computer.

  • The lower a need in the ERG (existence, relatedness, growth) hierarchy, the greater the weight, or relative importance, we give to it. Greatest weight is normally given to existence needs.
  • The less satisfied a need, the greater the weight we give to it.
  • The closer the beneficiary of a satisfier or the victim of a contra-satisfier is to us, the greater the weight we give to their needs. Greatest weight is given to our own needs.
  • The resulting change in emotional state is associated with the relevant satisfier or contra-satisfier, and we remember these associations for use as future shortcuts.
  • The greater the probability that the act will deliver a satisfier or contra-satisfier, the greater the weight we give to the latter. Greatest weight is given to satisfiers or contra-satisfiers that are certain to occur.
  • We then aggregate the weighted changes in negative emotion attached to the relevant satisfiers and contra-satisfiers. If the result is an overall reduction in negative emotions, then we will act. If it is an increase, then we will not.
  • If the overall change is greater than a certain threshold, then this can trigger a biochemical reaction, such as the fight or flight syndrome.

This process, including any cognitive elements, is biological in nature and has almost certainly evolved in animals over time. Simpler versions of the process are likely to exist in non-human animals and are also likely to have existed in our ancestor species.

The emotional associations, weights and thresholds are established by a combination of genetics, socialisation, and experience. So, the process can be carried out relatively quickly and subconsciously. For example, it takes relatively little time to know whether we are happy or unhappy with a proposed course of action.

There is, however, considerable variation between individuals. For example, empaths will give a higher weight than average to the effect of satisfiers and contra-satisfiers on others; psychopaths will give the same effects a lower weight than average; and narcissists will give a higher weight than average to the need for positive regard.

Culture also has an effect. For example, values and norms create what we refer to as conscience. Acting contrary to conscience generates the negative emotion of guilt.

Socialisation affects the emotional value that we attach to satisfiers and contra-satisfiers. For example, continued exposure to advertising can create a belief that products and services will reduce negative emotions, and thus, lead us to indulge in “retail therapy”. Socialisation can also affect how we vote in elections.

Fortunately, if we have the time, and particularly if the decision that we need to make is a novel one, we can consciously verify our decisions before acting. The process involved is described at https://rational-understanding.com/2021/10/22/consciousness/ .

Decisions made by holons comprising more than one person can differ in several respects. A decision is more likely to be based on research and consciously reasoned argument. There may be formal established processes. Debate and consultation may be involved, bringing with them the perspectives and interaction styles of several individuals. Nevertheless, every holon is ultimately led by an individual person and they are subject to the emotional processes described above. As a minimum, this can influence the decision. A recent example is the disastrous economic decisions made, against all advice, in 2022, by the UK’s 50-day Prime Minister.

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04. Emotions

Emotions

Introduction

Snow and ice are important to the Inuit people and their lexicon includes 93 words to describe them in their different guises. However, there are only a dozen basic words for snow and another ten for ice. The remaining words are modifications that provide additional meaning. A similar principle applies to emotions. They are important to us and the English language contains many words to describe our different emotional states. 271 of these are listed in the following publication by the University of California, Berkeley.

Fortunately, most psychologists believe there to be just a few basic emotions and regard the remainder as combinations of these. For example, it has been suggested that hate is a combination of fear, anger, and distrust. There is little agreement among psychologists on which emotions are basic and which are compound. In fact, there is little agreement on what is defined as an emotion and what is not. Opinions differ from author to author, but many regard anger, sadness, fear, disgust, joy, and surprise as basic emotions. So, these, together with one notable omission, love, are what I will discuss in the next article.

General Features of Emotions

Emotions have an external cause. As mentioned in the previous article, they are associated with satisfiers, or those external things that satisfy our needs, and contra-satisfiers, or those external things which cause harms we wish to avoid. Emotions attach to satisfiers or contra-satisfiers. These, in turn, attach to needs and contra-needs. For example, fear attaches to existential threats. Bearing in mind that most satisfiers and contra-satisfiers affect several needs or contra-needs, it is unsurprising that many emotions are also of a compound nature.

The emotions that we experience have an evolutionary basis. They help us to make decisions in the interest of our survival and the propagation of our genome. However, they evolved when we lived together in fewer numbers and in a more natural environment. Some of our emotional reactions are also inherited. This is particularly the case when a satisfier or contra-satisfier impacts on our more basic needs or contra-needs. For example, threats to life cause fear. Others associated with the satisfiers of our higher needs may well be learned, for example anger caused by an opposing political stance.The emotions that we experience have an evolutionary basis. They help us to make decisions in the interest of our survival and the propagation of our genome. However, they evolved when we lived together in fewer numbers and in a more natural environment.  Some of our emotional reactions are inherited. This is particularly the case when a satisfier or contra-satisfier impacts on our more basic needs or contra-needs. For example, threats to life cause fear. Others associated with the satisfiers of our higher needs may well be learned, for example anger caused by an opposing political stance.

Involuntary facial displays can be associated with emotions, allowing others to recognise the latter and to act accordingly. In fact, some psychologists use facial display as a criterion for differentiating emotions from moods and feelings. The facial displays associated with our basic emotions are relatively easy to recognise. However, those associated with compound emotions are more difficult and it is easy to make mistakes.

People can, of course, give facial displays of emotion deliberately or in an unconscious attempt to mitigate a difficult situation.

Emotional Contagion

The concept of emotional contagion has been recognised by researchers for well over a century. However, the work of Hatfield, Cacioppo, and Rapson in 1993, has been of particular value in providing an understanding. You can read more about their work here.

In summary, people express their emotions through facial expression, body language, posture, and behaviour. When interacting with others we often mimic these. If, for example, someone smiles at us we will smile back. Mimicry is normally an unconscious process that helps us relate to others. It is closely associated with empathy. However, by mimicking an emotion we also begin to feel it. A positive feedback process then occurs. The more strongly we feel the emotion the more genuinely we express it. The more genuinely we express it the more strongly we feel it, until it becomes fully a part of our experience. Positive feedback can also take place between the communicating individuals, leading to emotional convergence. Our expressions can be picked up by others nearby, and emotion can, therefore, spread throughout a group.

Emotional contagion can affect any group of people, for instance in family or social contexts, work environments, via TV, social media, email, and advertising. Most particularly, contagion can occur in crowds, such as political rallies.

Such externally acquired emotions do, of course, affect our decisions. Both positive and negative emotions can proliferate in this way. However, it is almost impossible for the emotion, love, to proliferate in a group because no easily recognised facial expression is associated with it. Furthermore, because contra-satisfiers elicit stronger and more rapid emotional responses than satisfiers, negative emotions can spread more readily than positive ones.

To add to the problems of negative emotional contagion, people in groups often delegate personal responsibility for their actions to the group or, if one exists, the group leader. This can free them from the constraints of personal conscience.

In the next article I will discuss our basic emotions in more detail.

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03. How Needs and Contra-Needs Motivate Us

How Needs & Contra-Needs Motivate Us.

Variational Principles

Variational principles exist widely in the physical world. They state that a physical object, system, or event will behave in a way which minimises or, in some cases, maximises some physical quantity. The most famous of these is Fermat’s Least Time Principle which states that the path taken between two points by a ray of light is the path which takes least time.

Similar principles apply to human decision-making and behaviour. We will first attempt to satisfy the need which has greatest value to us, i.e., the need which is most pressing. Furthermore, we will attempt to satisfy it in a way which demands least use of personal resources or the resources of those close to us.

First Variational Principle – Pressing Needs

Behaviour is physical action or communication to satisfy our needs. It involves the application of resources available to us. Behaviour can be simple, i.e., directed towards a single need, or complex and directed towards several needs. In Maslow’s view, most behaviour is multi-motivated, i.e., determined by several needs rather than just one. For example, eating may satisfy one’s hunger, need for comfort, and need to socialise.

We tend to address our most pressing needs first, but priorities differ according to the individual and circumstances. The behaviours that we adopt contribute significantly to the perception of our personality, therefore.

Second Variational Principle – The Efficient Use of Resources

People aim to satisfy each personal need as efficiently as possible, i.e., in a way which yields the maximum benefit for the least expenditure of personal resources. For example, if a person walks across a park to a gate in the opposite corner he or she will do so in a straight line unless other needs are satisfied by not doing so. In this way our resources can be used to provide greatest satisfaction across all our needs.

The Role of Emotion in Decision-making

Many higher animals experience emotion and, in the human being, evolution has built on that foundation. Most psychologists now recognise that emotions are an integral part of the human reasoning and decision-making process. They are not, as so often portrayed, the enemy of reason. We may be able to make a logically or mathematically based decision in very simple circumstances, such as whether to buy 4 apples for a pound at one stall or five identical apples for a pound at another. However, the circumstances surrounding most decisions are far too complex for this. In such circumstances, it is emotions that motivate our behaviour. They are used to “tot up” the effects of satisfiers and contra-satisfiers, i.e., those things which cause our needs to be satisfied or which cause harms we wish to avoid.

We experience several basic emotions, and they fall into two classes. Those associated with satisfiers are regarded as positive and those associated with contra-satisfiers are regarded as negative. Our decisions aim to improve our overall emotional state by increasing the former and reducing the latter. Note that it is satisfiers and contra-satisfiers, i.e., external causes, that are evaluated rather than our internal needs and contra-needs. So, for example, the presence of a contra-satisfier such as a disease, and the absence of a satisfier such as food will both contribute to a negative emotional state.

Our overall emotional state depends on whether the status of each satisfier or contra-satisfier is: absent; latent; precarious; or entrenched. Here, “latent” means capable of manifesting, for example when a satisfier is promised, or a contra-satisfier threatened. “Precarious” means present but insecure. “Entrenched” means present, solidly established, and unchangeable.

Emotions are experienced on a scale from mild or non-existent to strong or overwhelming, depending on the priority of the need or contra-need and the status of the satisfier or contra-satisfier. Most of the time our emotions are low key, for example a mild feeling of discontent, and we are capable of consciously verifying our decisions and making rational choices. These lower key emotions are used to “tot up” the predicted effects of our decisions before they are implemented. For example, if we decide to behave in an anti-social manner, then we are likely to predict social censure, which is of course a contra-satisfier. This will contribute to feelings of anxiety which may cause us to alter our decision.

However, when emotions are very strong or overwhelming, we experience stress. Hormones are released which prepare our bodies for swift action in the face of an immediate risk or opportunity and we respond almost entirely unconsciously. This is, of course, an inherited survival mechanism which, on average, enables us to survive and prosper when there is no time for the conscious verification of our decisions. It does, however, carry with it a strong risk of error.

When making more considered decisions about our behaviour we carry out a form of risk/benefit/cost assessment. In this context, “risk” means the likelihood that our behaviour will result in the anticipated benefits and/or dis-benefits. “Cost” is the value that we place on the resources used.

The “benefits” of any behaviour are reductions in negative emotions, such as fear and grief, and increases in positive emotions, such as happiness. These benefits are due to increases in the status of satisfiers and decreases in the status of contra-satisfiers. For example, a benefit results when access to food increases or when a risk of disease decreases.

Dis-benefits, on the other hand, are increases in negative emotions and decreases in positive emotions. They are due to decreases in the status of a satisfier or increases in the status of a contra-satisfier.

Benefits and dis-benefits can of course, cancel one another out and, depending on their relative magnitude, may yield a nett benefit, no overall benefit/dis-benefit, or a nett dis-benefit. The magnitude of benefits and dis-benefits are, in turn, determined by several factors related to needs and contra-needs which will be described in a future article.