Klaus R. Scherer

What are emotions? And how can they be measured?:

Defining “emotion” is a notorious problem. Without consensual conceptualization and operationalization of exactly what phenomenon is to be studied, progress in theory and research is difficult to achieve and fruitless debates are likely to proliferate. A particularly unfortunate example is William James’s asking the question “What is an emotion?” when he really meant “feeling”, a misnomer that started a debate which is still ongoing, more than a century later. This contribution attempts to sensitize researchers in the social and behavioral sciences to the importance of definitional issues and their consequences for distinguishing related but fundamentally different affective processes, states, and traits. Links between scientific and folk concepts of emotion are explored and ways to measure emotion and its components are discussed.

Vocal communication of emotion: a review of research paradigms

The current state of research on emotion effects on voice and speech is reviewed and issues for future research efforts are discussed. In particular, it is suggested to use the Brunswikian lens model as a base for research on the vocal communication of emotion. This approach allows one to model the complete process, including both encoding (expression), transmission, and decoding (impression) of vocal emotion communication. Special emphasis is placed on the conceptualization and operationalization of the major elements of the model (i.e., the speakers emotional state, the listeners attribution, and the mediating acoustic cues). In addition, the advantages and disadvantages of research paradigms for the induction or observation of emotional expression in voice and speech and the experimental manipulation of vocal cues are discussed, using pertinent examples drawn from past and present research.

Universals and cultural differences in the judgments of facial expressions of emotion.

We present here new evidence of cross-cultural agreement in the judgement of facial expression. Subjects in 10 cultures performed a more complex judgment task than has been used in previous cross-cultural studies. Instead of limiting the subjects to selecting only one emotion term for each expression, this task allowed them to indicate that multiple emotions were evident and the intensity of each emotion. Agreement was very high across cultures about which emotion was the most intense. The 10 cultures also agreed about the second most intense emotion signaled by an expression and about the relative intensity among expressions of the same emotion. However, cultural differences were found in judgments of the absolute level of emotional intensity.

The World of Emotions is not Two-Dimensional

For more than half a century, emotion researchers have attempted to establish the dimensional space that most economically accounts for similarities and differences in emotional experience. Today, many researchers focus exclusively on two-dimensional models involving valence and arousal. Adopting a theoretically based approach, we show for three languages that four dimensions are needed to satisfactorily represent similarities and differences in the meaning of emotion words. In order of importance, these dimensions are evaluationpleasantness, potency-control, activation-arousal, and unpredictability. They were identified on the basis of the applicability of 144 features representing the six components of emotions: (a) appraisals of events, (b) psychophysiological changes, (c) motor expressions, (d) action tendencies, (e) subjective experiences, and (f) emotion regulation.

The Relationship of Emotion to Cognition: A Functional Approach to a Semantic Controversy

Abstract We first review the main points in the dispute about whether emotion is primary and independent of cognition (Zajonc), or secondary and always dependent upon cognition (Lazarus), and suggest that the dispute is largely one of definition. Because definitional disputes seldom clarify substantive, theoretical points, we suggest a variety of questions regarding cognition-emotion interaction. To stimulate discussion of these issues, we propose a componential model in which emotions are seen to develop from simpler, reflex-like forms (“wired-in” sensory-motor processes) to complex cognitive-emotional patterns that result from the participation of at least two distinct levels of memory and information processing, a schematic and a conceptual level. These systems are typically activated by a continuous stimulus check process which evaluates five environment-organism attributes: novelty; pleasantness; goal conductiveness; coping potential; and consistency with social norms and self-relevant values. Questi...

Emotions evoked by the sound of music: Characterization, classification, and measurement.

One reason for the universal appeal of music lies in the emotional rewards that music offers to its listeners. But what makes these rewards so special? The authors addressed this question by progressively characterizing music-induced emotions in 4 interrelated studies. Studies 1 and 2 (n=354) were conducted to compile a list of music-relevant emotion terms and to study the frequency of both felt and perceived emotions across 5 groups of listeners with distinct music preferences. Emotional responses varied greatly according to musical genre and type of response (felt vs. perceived). Study 3 (n=801)--a field study carried out during a music festival--examined the structure of music-induced emotions via confirmatory factor analysis of emotion ratings, resulting in a 9-factorial model of music-induced emotions. Study 4 (n=238) replicated this model and found that it accounted for music-elicited emotions better than the basic emotion and dimensional emotion models. A domain-specific device to measure musically induced emotions is introduced--the Geneva Emotional Music Scale.

Emotion Inferences from Vocal Expression Correlate Across Languages and Cultures

Whereas the perception of emotion from facial expression has been extensively studied cross-culturally, little is known about judges’ ability to infer emotion from vocal cues. This article reports the results from a study conducted in nine countries in Europe, the United States, and Asia on vocal emotion portrayals of anger, sadness, fear, joy, and neutral voice as produced by professional German actors. Data show an overall accuracy of 66% across all emotions and countries. Although accuracy was substantially better than chance, there were sizable differences ranging from 74% in Germany to 52% in Indonesia. However, patterns of confusion were very similar across all countries. These data suggest the existence of similar inference rules from vocal expression across cultures. Generally, accuracy decreased with increasing language dissimilarity from German in spite of the use of language-free speech samples. It is concluded that culture- and language-specific paralinguistic patterns may influence the decoding process.

Evidence for universality and cultural variation of differential emotion response patterning.

The major controversy concerning psychobiological universality of differential emotion patterning versus cultural relativity of emotional experience is briefly reviewed. Data from a series of cross-cultural questionnaire studies in 37 countries on 5 continents are reported and used to evaluate the respective claims of the proponents in the debate. Results show highly significant main effects and strong effect sizes for the response differences across 7 major emotions (joy, fear, anger, sadness, disgust, shame, and guilt). Profiles of cross-culturally stable differences among the emotions with respect to subjective feeling, physiological symptoms, and expressive behavior are also reported. The empirical evidence is interpreted as supporting theories that postulate both a high degree of universality of differential emotion patterning and important cultural differences in emotion elicitation, regulation, symbolic representation, and social sharing.

The dynamic architecture of emotion: Evidence for the component process model

Emotion is conceptualised as an emergent, dynamic process based on an individuals subjective appraisal of significant events. It is argued that theoretical models of emotion need to propose an architecture that reflects the essential nature and functions of emotion as a psychobiological and cultural adaptation mechanism. One proposal for such a model and its underlying dynamic architecture, the component process model, is briefly sketched and compared with some of its major competitors. Recent empirical evidence in support of the model is reviewed. Special emphasis is given to the dynamic aspect of emotion processes, in particular the sequence of appraisal checks and the synchronisation of response systems, as well as the capacity of the model to predict individual differences in emotional responding.

2005 Special Issue: A systems approach to appraisal mechanisms in emotion

While artificial neural networks are regularly employed in modeling the perception of facial and vocal emotion expression as well as in automatic expression decoding by artificial agents, this approach is yet to be extended to the modeling of emotion elicitation and differentiation. In part, this may be due to the dominance of discrete and dimensional emotion models, which have not encouraged computational modeling. This situation has changed with the advent of appraisal theories of emotion and a number of attempts to develop rule-based models can be found in the literature. However, most of these models operate at a high level of conceptual abstraction and rarely include the underlying neural architecture. In this contribution, an appraisal-based emotion theory, the Component Process Model (CPM), is described that seems particularly suited to modeling with the help of artificial neural network approaches. This is due to its high degree of specificity in postulating underlying mechanisms including efferent physiological and behavioral manifestations as well as to the possibility of linking the theoretical assumptions to underlying neural architectures and dynamic processes. This paper provides a brief overview of the model, suggests constraints imposed by neural circuits, and provides examples on how the temporal unfolding of emotion can be conceptualized and experimentally tested. In addition, it is shown that the specific characteristics of emotion episodes can be profitably explored with the help of non-linear dynamic systems theory.