Posted by Estella on May 17, 2006, at 22:38:55
In reply to Re: opinion survey » Estella, posted by wildcardII on May 17, 2006, at 20:52:09
> 1. do animals (dogs, cats, rats etc) have emotions? how about human infants?
> i believe so, most definitely...that is my intuition too :-)
> 2.which seems to be most central to emotion?
> i think it takes more than just one emotion. i believe that all play a major part in functioning.yeah. i am going to get to looking at the function of emotions. different emotions seem to have different functions. it might be possible to abstractly characterise the function of emotion in general... or it might not...
what i meant by the question (sorry i wasn't so clear) was that if we consider emotions in generaly (all the varieties of emotion) then typically they exhibit all of the following features:
-body changes (racing heart etc)
-cognition / judgment / belief / apppraisal (that is dangerous etc)
-phenomenology / the felt quality / the experiential aspect / what it is like (how happiness feels)and so i was wondering whether emotions (in general) require all of those features... or whether one of those features might be necessary and sufficient for emotion (so if emotions are body changes, for example then if you have the body changes in the absence of cognition and phenomenology then you are having an emotion).
but... it might well be the case that different emotions have different identity conditions. so one aspect might be most central for one kind of emotion, while another aspect might be most cenral for another kind of emotion etc.
does this make sense?
what do you think?> 3. are unconscious emotions possible?
> yes, i truly believe that every person has unconscious thoughts as well as emotions...okay.
it seems to be a fact that we have unconscious beliefs (in the sense that no theorist really disputes that any more).
e.g., I believe the sun is hot. i believe this all the time. when i am asleep and when i am awake. when i am thinking of other things and when i am in a coma. i do not have to consciously think 'the sun is hot' i can continue to believe it in the absence of being consciously aware of it.re emotions...
whether emotions can be unconscious or not is still disputed.
we can distinguish three related claims:1) while emotion must be consciously experienced the CAUSE of your emotion may be repressed / displaced.
(e.g., you are mad at your boss but you don't know why you are mad or you think you are mad at your dog)do you think that happens?
2) while emotions must be consciously experienced precisely which emotion you are experiencing (fear, anger etc) might be in error.
do you think that happens?
3) it is possible to be in an emotional state without being aware that you are experiencing an emotion at all (you think you aren't in an emotional state - but in fact you are).
do you think that happens?
(i think the third claim is more in line with emotions being unconscious because it seems more in line with beliefs being unconscious when you aren't aware that you believe the sun is hot).
hope that wasn't confusing.
thanks for your input :-)
poster:Estella
thread:645293
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/social/20060513/msgs/645344.html