Cognition in emotion : an investigation through experiences with art

130 Pages·2007·0.823 MB·English

by  Roald, Tone

Cognition in Emotion
Consciousness
10
Liter& ture
the Arts
General Editor:
Daniel Meyer-Dinkgräfe
Editorial Board:
Anna Bonshek, Per Brask, John Danvers,
William S. Haney II, Amy Ione,
Michael Mangan, Arthur Versluis,
Christopher Webster, Ralph Yarrow
Cognition in Emotion
An Investigation through
Experiences with Art
TonE RoAld
Amsterdam - New York, NY 2007
Cover image: detail of Like is Only Known by Alike by Anne Thorseth, 2000,
with kind permission of the artist
Cover Design: Aart Jan Bergshoeff
The paper on which this book is printed meets the requirements of “ISO
9706:1994, Information and documentation - Paper for documents -
Requirements for permanence”.
ISBN: 978-90-420-2333-8
ISSN: 1573-2193
©Editions Rodopi B.V., Amsterdam - New York, NY 2007
Printed in the Netherlands
Table of Content

Acknowledgements 8

Introduction 9
0.1 Emotions in Psychology 12
0.2 Emotions and Metaphysics 12
0.3 Emotions in “Post-modernity” 13
0.4 Emotion and Cognition 15
0.5 Description of Emotion Terms 16

Chapter One
Describing Emotion 19
1.1 Emotions as Feelings 19
1.2 Emotions as Cognition 22
1.3 Emotions as Brain Processes 23
1.4 Feelings, Cognition or Brain Processes? 24
1.5 Problems of Concepts and Definitions 25
1.6 Characteristics of Emotion 28
1.7 Lasting Issues? 31

Chapter Two
Describing Cognition 33
2.1 About Cognition 33
2.2 The Zajonc-Lazarus Debate 34
2.2.1 “Preferences Need No Inferences” 35
2.2.2 The Necessity of Cognition in Emotion 39
2.2.3 Final Outline of the Debate 40
2.3 Damasio’s Somatic Marker Hypothesis 41
2.4 Embodied Cognition 42
2.5 Concluding Remarks 43

Chapter Three
Theories about the Emotion-Cognition Relationship 45
3.1 The Neuropsychological Level 45
3.1.1 Conditioning of Fear in Rats 46
3.1.2 Split-Brain Patients 46
3.1.3 Separate Systems? 48
3.2 The Functional Level 49
3.2.1 Psychoanalysis 49
3.2.2 Cognitive Label of General Arousal 50
3.2.3 Cognitive Models 51
3.2.4 The Problem of Experience 51
3.3 The Phenomenal Level 52
3.3.1 Early Accounts 54
3.3.2 Later Accounts 55
3.3.3 Concluding Remarks 57

Chapter Four
Experiences with Art 59
4.1 Aesthetic Pleasure 60
4.2 Art Understanding 62
4.2.1 Perception of the “Good Gestalt” 63
4.2.2 Experience of “Pictorial Representation” 64
4.2.3 Experience of Artistic Symbols 65
4.2.4 A Developmental Perspective 65
4.2.5 A Neuro-Aesthetic Approach 66
4.2.6 Summary 66
4.3 Emotional Appreciation 66
4.3.1 Rudolf Arnheim 67
4.3.2 Aesthetic Emotions 68
4.4 Aesthetic Fascination 69
4.4.1 Cathartic Pleasure 69
4.4.2 A Jungian Perspective 71
4.5 The Aesthetic Experience 71
4.5.1 Phenomenological Psychology 71
4.5.2 Features of the Aesthetic Experience 73
4.6 Art Appreciation and “Embodied Imagination” 74
4.7 Experiences of Art as a Contemplation of Signs 75
4.8 Experiences of Art as a Hermeneutical Endeavour 77
Chapter Five
A Phenomenological Study of Art Appreciation 81
5.1 Methodology 81
5.1.1 Interview Guide 82
5.1.2 Procedure 82
5.1.3 Analysis 83
5.2 Findings 85
5.2.1 Emotions without Conscious Cognition 85
5.2.2 Somatic Experiences in Art Appreciation 88
5.2.3 Volitional Aspects of Emotions 93
5.3 Classifications of Affect 94
5.3.1 Affect 95
5.3.2 Mood 96
5.3.3 Emotions 97
5.3.4 Feelings 100

Chapter Six
Discussion 105
6.1 Discussion of Findings 105
6.1.1 Emotion without Conscious Cognition 105
6.1.2 Somatic Experiences in Emotion 107
6.1.3 Volitional Aspects 107
6.2 Methodological Reflections 109
6.2.1 Issues of Particularity 109
6.2.2 Issues of Language and First-Person Perspective 110
6.2.3 Incommensurability? 112
6.2.4 What is Art? 113
6.2.5 “Normal” Emotions 113
6.3 Conclusion 113

Bibliography 117

Index 127
Acknowledgements

Many people have been directly involved in the production of this
book, and I would like to take this opportunity to express my
gratitude. I would like to thank my husband, Thomas Collier, who left
his mark on every page and was present on every day that it took me
to gather my thoughts and words for this book. I would also like to
acknowledge my two mentors: Bjarne Sode Funch, who so aptly
communicates in matters of art and life, and whose generosity and
integrity remain a source of inspiration, and Simo Køppe, who so
eloquently shares his scholarly aplomb and thoroughgoing knowledge
of psychology. Moreover, I would like to extend my thanks to Esbjerg
Museum of Art for helping facilitate this research as well as to all the
interviewees, who gave generously of their time and experience.
Thanks also to Andreas Roald and Jonna Clæsøe for helping with the
layout, and to Dina Haffar, Morten Jørgensen, Sofie Nielsen and Ann
Kathrin Storenes for commenting on various parts of the book. The
cover image, ‘Like is Only Known by Alike’ (detail), is used with the
kind permission of Anne Thorseth, and the image of ‘Downward
Trend’ is used with the kind permission of Nina Saunders. Thank you
both. I would also like to extend my thanks to all other family and
friends. This book is dedicated to my mother, Aud Judith.
Introduction

If you can conceive yourself, if possible, suddenly stripped of all the emotion with
which our world now inspires you, and try to imagine it as it exists, purely by itself,
without your favorable or unfavorable, hopeful or apprehensive comment…No one
portion of the universe would then have importance beyond another; and the whole
character of its things and series of its events would be without significance,
character, expression, or perspective.

William James
The Varieties of Religious Experience (1893, p. 147).

With these words, William James, one of the founding forces of
modern psychology, asserts the centrality of emotions in human
experience – without emotions there is nothing but a void of
insignificance, no experience of colour and meaning, no guide to our
actions. Such statements are not new, and similar proclamations have
been made countless times throughout history by artists, philosophers
and other psychologists. Artistic traditions have constantly wrestled
with questions relating to emotions, such as their influence on human
relations, the way they interact with each other and how they define us
as human beings. Emotions appear as essential ingredients in most
human actions and interactions, facilitating the brightest and darkest in
human conduct. Their significance is evident, as one most often
remembers events that are rich in emotional content and not merely
the humdrum happenings. Emotional instability also leads to much
suffering and is a pervasive aspect of many mental disorders.
Emotions are vital to a wide array of human experiences and
contribute to their unique qualities (Dolan 2002).
In this book, various forms of emotions are explored because,
although the importance of emotions seems obvious, their nature
appears elusive. Numerous positions exist to this enigma and to divine
the nature of emotion is proving a complex and extensive task. One
main position, for instance, holds that emotions are animalistic, brute
impulses, largely without association to reason (a Neo-Stoic view
currently held by e.g. Cosmides and Tooby, 2000, 2006; see also
Nussbaum 2001). Proponents of this position contend accordingly that
emotions need to be thoroughly restricted by thought so that fully
rational and, thereby, useful citizens will emerge. Conversely, others