Russell’s Model for Construction of Emotion

1. Russell’s Model for Construction of Emotion A Two-dimensional Description of Core Affect

2. Summary of Model • Two primitives of conceptual framework: • Core Affect • Perception of affective quality • Attributed affect • Components of emotional episodes • Traditional vs. alternative view of emotional episodes

3. Core affect • Definition: “neuropsychological state consciously accessible as the simplest raw feelings evident in moods and emotions” • Two dimensions: • Pleasant to Unpleasant • Activation to Deactivation

4. Core affect (cont.) • Emotional or non-emotional • Primitive, universal, and simple • Not cognitive or reflective and need not be attributed to an Object (stimulus) • Mood: prolonged core affect without an Object • A person’s core affect is always present • We are most conscious of affect when it is undergoing a change • Can disappear completely from consciousness

5. ACTIVATION DISPLEASURE PLEASURE DEACTIVATION Core affect — Illustration

6. Causes of Core Affect Changes • External stimuli • Internal biological changes • Caused by natural events, or • Drugs such as stimulants, depressants, etc. • Usually change is due to a combination of causes

7. Perception of Affective Quality • Affective Quality: “a property of the stimulus: it’s capacity to change core affect” • Every object and event has an AQ • The perception of the AQ influences the reactions to any Object/event • Although AQ changes core affect, a stimulus with a certain AQ can cause no affect change and core affect can change in the absence of any external stimulus

8. Attributed Affect • Three features: • Change in core affect • Object • Attribution of core affect to the Object • Two functions beyond core affect: • Guides attention and behavior toward Object • The main route to the affective quality of the Object

9. Components of Emotional Episodes • Antecedent Event • Affective Quality • Core Affect • Attribution • Appraisal: Involves judgments of the Object • Instrumental Action: “Object is a problem that requires a behavioral solution”

10. Components of Emotional Episodes (cont.) • Physiological and Expressive Changes • Subjective Conscious Experience: metacognitive judgments • Emotional Meta-Experience: • Person experiences an emotion • Not introspective • A categorization of one’s state • Emotion Regulation (self-control)

11. Traditional view of Emotion Subjective Feeling e.g., afraid Nonverbal Signal e.g., face, voice Event e.g., danger Emotion Autonomic Pattern Instrumental Action e.g., flight

12. Alternative View of Emotion Core Affect Perception of Affective Quality Attribution to Object Prototype of a Specific Emotion Appraisal Action Emotional Meta-Experience Emotion Regulation