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Very Short Introductions #081
A brief introduction to emotions
Was love invented by European poets in the middle ages, as C. S. Lewis claimed, or is it part of human nature? Will winning the lottery really make you happy? Is it possible to build robots that have feelings? These are just some of the intriguing questions explored in this new guide to the latest thinking about emotions.
Drawing on a wide range of scientific research, from anthropology and psychology to neuroscience and artificial intelligence, Emotion: The Science of Sentiment takes the reader on a fascinating journey into the human heart. Illustrating his points with entertaining examples from fiction, film, and popular culture, Dylan Evans ranges from the evolution of emotions to the nature of love and happiness to the language of feelings, offering readers the most recent thinking on real life topics that touch us all.
Drawing on a wide range of scientific research, from anthropology and psychology to neuroscience and artificial intelligence, Emotion: The Science of Sentiment takes the reader on a fascinating journey into the human heart. Illustrating his points with entertaining examples from fiction, film, and popular culture, Dylan Evans ranges from the evolution of emotions to the nature of love and happiness to the language of feelings, offering readers the most recent thinking on real life topics that touch us all.
Unknown Binding
First published June 28, 2001
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1184 people want to read
About the author
Dylan Evans
38 books78 followersDylan Evans is the founder of Projection Point, the global leader in risk intelligence solutions. He has written several popular science books, including Risk Intelligence: How to Live with Uncertainty (2012), Emotion: The Science of Sentiment (2001) and Placebo: The Belief Effect (2003), and in 2001 he was voted one of the twenty best young writers in Britain by the Independent on Sunday. He received a PhD in Philosophy from the London School of Economics in 2000, and has held academic appointments at King's College London, the University of Bath, the University of the West of England, and University College Cork, and the American University of Beirut.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 67 reviews
July 24, 2024
Emotion is a fairly modern word. Philosophers such as Plato and Hume used defining sets of words to categorize a range of human feels in their early writings. They did their best to describe the complexities of our deepest sentiments, which are incredibly interesting to read. Nowadays, I feel like they would have been confused, baffled, or uninterested in putting such a complex range under a wide umbrella as emotion. I can envision them even scoffing at me with the comparison. This got me thinking. How do you describe emotion? Well, this book takes an interesting look at when the word was first used, how the term butts heads with a number of vastly different states of mind, and even covers those who champion emotional intelligence over the more positive and negative connotations of the term. Hello, Vulcans!
***If you are wondering, there are quite a few Star Trek references. It’s uber fascinating! 🖖
// Basic emotions.
One of my favorite chapters! Is emotion inherited or is it innate? Anthropologists from yesteryear give some prime examples that argue in both directions. Joy and sadness are often described as moods rather than emotions, so how in tarnation do we process that? Easy there, Chris, your displaying aggression. Better not let your emotions get the best of you! But is being upset an emotional state? Is this a subjective feeling or a show of emotion? The philosophical chapter tries to decipher it.
// Cultural emotion.
The first cultural study in the book covers writings around the world. I find it heartwarming to know that no matter where poetry is written, it elicits the same visceral emotional responses from readers around the world. Ah, Leaves of Grass gets me every time. The book also argues that facial expressions are universal signs of emotion and that they are imprinted in the human genome. Some cultures seem to hide their emotions better than others. These ‘poker faces’ do not mean a certain group of people lack emotion; it’s just argued that it takes a little longer for the conscience in some to spark a response to the brain. Fascinating!
Other interesting concepts are covered. Why are fear and disgust instant emotional responses, whereas passion and love are often subdued? Would we know what love is if we were never told about it or read about it? When was the first mention of love in text?
// Are emotions useful?
This was a fascinating chapter. What if we removed fear? Well, we would all not survive as long as we do. What about removing jealousy? It turns out that partners want someone to be a tad bit jealous. This emotion reinforces a bond of companionship. Well, if the said person stays and does not run into someone else’s arms, that is.
The last bit was a lecture on anger. Not all emotions are hunky-dory. The way in which we engage, deal with, and vent anger is an incredibly engaging topic. A philosopher states quite simply that anger is like a clogged plumbing pipe. It must be emptied or vented every so often to give the structure some relief. This is what therapy offers. A way to calm the nerves and flush away the emotion that may get a person to act out or destroy their health internally.
Overall, this book was great! It gave me quite a few other long-form recommendations to check out. When emotions are broken down by anthropologists, they start to make a bit more sense. So the next time you read about a character's emotions “getting the better of them," have a chuckle, because unless it’s explicitly stated, this blanketed term could have over 1,000 connotations. :D
⭐ | Rating | ⭐
❖ 4.5 out of 5 ❖
***If you are wondering, there are quite a few Star Trek references. It’s uber fascinating! 🖖
// Basic emotions.
One of my favorite chapters! Is emotion inherited or is it innate? Anthropologists from yesteryear give some prime examples that argue in both directions. Joy and sadness are often described as moods rather than emotions, so how in tarnation do we process that? Easy there, Chris, your displaying aggression. Better not let your emotions get the best of you! But is being upset an emotional state? Is this a subjective feeling or a show of emotion? The philosophical chapter tries to decipher it.
// Cultural emotion.
The first cultural study in the book covers writings around the world. I find it heartwarming to know that no matter where poetry is written, it elicits the same visceral emotional responses from readers around the world. Ah, Leaves of Grass gets me every time. The book also argues that facial expressions are universal signs of emotion and that they are imprinted in the human genome. Some cultures seem to hide their emotions better than others. These ‘poker faces’ do not mean a certain group of people lack emotion; it’s just argued that it takes a little longer for the conscience in some to spark a response to the brain. Fascinating!
Other interesting concepts are covered. Why are fear and disgust instant emotional responses, whereas passion and love are often subdued? Would we know what love is if we were never told about it or read about it? When was the first mention of love in text?
// Are emotions useful?
This was a fascinating chapter. What if we removed fear? Well, we would all not survive as long as we do. What about removing jealousy? It turns out that partners want someone to be a tad bit jealous. This emotion reinforces a bond of companionship. Well, if the said person stays and does not run into someone else’s arms, that is.
The last bit was a lecture on anger. Not all emotions are hunky-dory. The way in which we engage, deal with, and vent anger is an incredibly engaging topic. A philosopher states quite simply that anger is like a clogged plumbing pipe. It must be emptied or vented every so often to give the structure some relief. This is what therapy offers. A way to calm the nerves and flush away the emotion that may get a person to act out or destroy their health internally.
Overall, this book was great! It gave me quite a few other long-form recommendations to check out. When emotions are broken down by anthropologists, they start to make a bit more sense. So the next time you read about a character's emotions “getting the better of them," have a chuckle, because unless it’s explicitly stated, this blanketed term could have over 1,000 connotations. :D
⭐ | Rating | ⭐
❖ 4.5 out of 5 ❖
October 18, 2019
This book was required reading for my Psychology of Emotions class and I thoroughly enjoyed reading and discovering more about emotions. Dylan Evans writing is very accessible and interesting, for example: chapter two is titled, "Why Spock Could Never Have Evolved." I especially enjoyed reading about Paul Ekman's research in with the Fore in New Guinea. My very favorite quote: "Our common emotional heritage binds humanity together, then, in a way that transcends cultural difference. In all places, and at all times, human beings have shared the same basic emotional repertoire."
July 15, 2020
Really interesting Short. Much more engaging than Keynes haha. And I found the chapter on AI mind bending. Self-evolving software, wow!
May 23, 2017
Drawing from the prevailing literature, Evans summarizes what might be regarded as a prevailing view of emotions (the book’s subtitle is, “The Science of Sentiment”). Rather than casting emotions as solely negative (to be controlled), or positive (the glue that holds the social world together), Evans sees a blend of head (reason) and heart (emotion) that works together as “emotional intelligence,” an optimal emotion state that “involves having just the right amount” along the lines of Aristotle’s golden mean. Evans then seams together nature (universal and biological emotions: joy, distress, anger, fear, surprise and disgust) with nurture (the culturally-specific emotions that “have elaborated on this repertoire, exalting different emotions, downgrading others, and embellishing the common feelings with cultural nuances…”). Evans adds one more category that he calls “higher cognitive emotions,” that “are universal, like basic emotions, but exhibit more cultural variation [and] also take longer to build up.” These he lists as love, guilt, shame, embarrassment, pride, envy and jealousy. Evans also distinguishes emotions that are immediate and short-lived from moods that last longer.
Evans does not tie emotions to motivation that provides the “reason” for behavior. As an alternative perspective, emotions might be seen more broadly as the full suite of evolutionarily-derived motivation structures that support survival and that run across a continuum, from instinctive to disposition, to Evans’ more cognitively-directed emotions, and from immediate expressions to the more general moods that reflect one’s state with the world. These emotion structures function in an integrated way. They contain the ‘reason’ for behavior, which is what we need or don’t need, the specific objects (with memory recognition) that are pertinent to need and threats, and behavior (active seeking, or reactive defending) that links (instinctively, dispositionally, or consciously) relevant objects with the need or threat.*
Even with Evans’ attempt to blend emotion and reason,** he keeps them in separate categories when they should be kept together, functioning as part of the same emotion structure. Ultimately, as far as personal behavior, we act or react to the world based on a needs and threats and ‘reason’ coordinates ends and means to help us solve our needs and to defend against threats. Cognition/consciousness does not replace emotions but overlay them. Evans himself suggests this point in his reference to Joseph LeDoux’s (1996) example of someone startled upon seeing a shadow on the pathway. Basic emotion kicks in first, but this is then followed by a conscious appraisal that brings in other clues that show that the shadow is a stick and not a snake, thereby relaxing the startle reaction. LeDoux suggests the possibility that at least some other emotions operate similarly. In an anger scenario, reason doesn’t replace anger but, rather, informs the body that its emotional well-being depends, for example, on not fighting back or quitting (a job) in a particular instance. Here mind contrasts the immediate with a broader context (or a longer-term and more overriding need) and performs its regulatory, adaptive function that way.
The culture-specific emotions that Evans mentions are variations on an underlying theme. Evolution designs us to be part of a group because this was necessary for survival. The underlying need is to be part of a group, and this comes with a full repertoire of social emotions to make that happen. But the specific content (rules, dress, mores, etc.) varies by group and culture, just as Evans suggests.
As a final note, pleasure (various forms) might be better seen as an emotional state, rather than just another emotion, where energy is quiet because need has been satisfied. Pain, in Schopenhauer’s sense, is also a need state (need to satisfy, need to defend) that is experienced as urge, frustration, fear or anger. But unlike pleasure, this pain state functions also to activate energy that, if of sufficient intensity, results in (motivates) behavior to satisfy or alleviate pain.***
*These emotions also can be experienced inwardly only, without behavior, when (1) they lack sufficient intensity; (2) they are masked so they are felt but not expressed; (3) they are suppressed because of the pain that is felt; or, (4) when they are overridden by broader, more important and longer-term interests or concerns.
** For example, Evans paraphrases Robert Frank: “Not only are there passions within reason, but there are reasons within passion.”
*** This is akin to the utilitarian pleasure and pain notions as overarching emotions, except the utilitarian focus is on the external objects that stimulate pleasure or pain whereas Schopenhauer moves these inside, which is the basis for why the self cares in the first place (why pleasure or pain is experienced vis-à-vis specific stimuli). Seen this way, the self functions as an integrated entity that (1) wants/doesn’t want specific things; (2) “suffers” pain because of what it needs or doesn’t need, which supplies the motive force for overt action/reaction, and (3) experiences pleasure when there’s success. Evans’ account of moods also reflects this broader view of emotion. When one is in a good state, there’s joy, happiness or contentment (needs are being met). When one suffers from a long-standing feeling that needs are not being met, then depression results.
Evans does not tie emotions to motivation that provides the “reason” for behavior. As an alternative perspective, emotions might be seen more broadly as the full suite of evolutionarily-derived motivation structures that support survival and that run across a continuum, from instinctive to disposition, to Evans’ more cognitively-directed emotions, and from immediate expressions to the more general moods that reflect one’s state with the world. These emotion structures function in an integrated way. They contain the ‘reason’ for behavior, which is what we need or don’t need, the specific objects (with memory recognition) that are pertinent to need and threats, and behavior (active seeking, or reactive defending) that links (instinctively, dispositionally, or consciously) relevant objects with the need or threat.*
Even with Evans’ attempt to blend emotion and reason,** he keeps them in separate categories when they should be kept together, functioning as part of the same emotion structure. Ultimately, as far as personal behavior, we act or react to the world based on a needs and threats and ‘reason’ coordinates ends and means to help us solve our needs and to defend against threats. Cognition/consciousness does not replace emotions but overlay them. Evans himself suggests this point in his reference to Joseph LeDoux’s (1996) example of someone startled upon seeing a shadow on the pathway. Basic emotion kicks in first, but this is then followed by a conscious appraisal that brings in other clues that show that the shadow is a stick and not a snake, thereby relaxing the startle reaction. LeDoux suggests the possibility that at least some other emotions operate similarly. In an anger scenario, reason doesn’t replace anger but, rather, informs the body that its emotional well-being depends, for example, on not fighting back or quitting (a job) in a particular instance. Here mind contrasts the immediate with a broader context (or a longer-term and more overriding need) and performs its regulatory, adaptive function that way.
The culture-specific emotions that Evans mentions are variations on an underlying theme. Evolution designs us to be part of a group because this was necessary for survival. The underlying need is to be part of a group, and this comes with a full repertoire of social emotions to make that happen. But the specific content (rules, dress, mores, etc.) varies by group and culture, just as Evans suggests.
As a final note, pleasure (various forms) might be better seen as an emotional state, rather than just another emotion, where energy is quiet because need has been satisfied. Pain, in Schopenhauer’s sense, is also a need state (need to satisfy, need to defend) that is experienced as urge, frustration, fear or anger. But unlike pleasure, this pain state functions also to activate energy that, if of sufficient intensity, results in (motivates) behavior to satisfy or alleviate pain.***
*These emotions also can be experienced inwardly only, without behavior, when (1) they lack sufficient intensity; (2) they are masked so they are felt but not expressed; (3) they are suppressed because of the pain that is felt; or, (4) when they are overridden by broader, more important and longer-term interests or concerns.
** For example, Evans paraphrases Robert Frank: “Not only are there passions within reason, but there are reasons within passion.”
*** This is akin to the utilitarian pleasure and pain notions as overarching emotions, except the utilitarian focus is on the external objects that stimulate pleasure or pain whereas Schopenhauer moves these inside, which is the basis for why the self cares in the first place (why pleasure or pain is experienced vis-à-vis specific stimuli). Seen this way, the self functions as an integrated entity that (1) wants/doesn’t want specific things; (2) “suffers” pain because of what it needs or doesn’t need, which supplies the motive force for overt action/reaction, and (3) experiences pleasure when there’s success. Evans’ account of moods also reflects this broader view of emotion. When one is in a good state, there’s joy, happiness or contentment (needs are being met). When one suffers from a long-standing feeling that needs are not being met, then depression results.
May 24, 2012
Maybe I'm too much of an anti-positivist to be able to enjoy this book. As an intro to emotions I'd say it's pretty good and written in a funny way with examples from sci-fi and robotics. But I'm having some problems with the fact that Evans constantly refers back to some kind of rather loosely defined primordial time of being when we were some sort of cave men. To me it just isn't relevant to speculate about the evolutionary roots of emotion, what matters is how emotions effect us today.
Some of the research he quotes is also pretty shakey at least in ethical terms. One aparently found that rape victims responded slower to the Stroop test (saying what color the ink of a word is) when the words were related to rape. I mean, WTF they actually found rape victims and subjected them to that!??
So I do prefer more sociological or even psychological accounts of emotion to this, one thing could be to check out Thomas Scheff that is mentioned in the book also.
Some of the research he quotes is also pretty shakey at least in ethical terms. One aparently found that rape victims responded slower to the Stroop test (saying what color the ink of a word is) when the words were related to rape. I mean, WTF they actually found rape victims and subjected them to that!??
So I do prefer more sociological or even psychological accounts of emotion to this, one thing could be to check out Thomas Scheff that is mentioned in the book also.
January 12, 2020
Về cơ bản thì trong cuốn sách này tác giả đứng về phía cho rằng cảm xúc có vai trò tích cực trong cuộc sống của con người (thay vì quan điểm tiêu cực cho rằng "Cảm xúc là kẻ thù của thành công" chẳng hạn). Cá nhân mình chưa hoàn toàn thuyết phục với những gì tác giả đưa ra, nhưng chúng cũng có những điểm thú vị nhất định.
Cuốn sách chia thành 5 chương, với các nội dung về các chủ đề
- Cảm xúc là như nhau ở tất cả mọi người, hay phụ thuộc vào từng điều kiện cụ thể (của từng văn hóa, từng địa phương...)
- Vai trò của cảm xúc lý giải theo quan điểm tiến hóa
- Các con đường tắt để cải thiện cảm xúc của nhân loại từ trước đến nay
- Mối quan hệ giữa cảm xúc và lý trí
- Cảm xúc cho các cỗ máy
Dù cuốn sách này không giúp ích nhiều trong việc cải thiện tâm trạng (như mình đã kì vọng), nhưng nếu bạn nào muốn tìm hiểu ngắn gọn về cảm xúc thì đây vẫn là một cuốn nên đọc. Cơ mà cũng vì đây là cuốn dẫn luận rất ngắn, nên các nội dung trong cuốn sách chủ yếu mang tính chất giới thiệu, nếu muốn tìm hiểu kĩ hơi chắc sẽ cần những cuốn sách đồ sộ hơn.
Cuốn sách chia thành 5 chương, với các nội dung về các chủ đề
- Cảm xúc là như nhau ở tất cả mọi người, hay phụ thuộc vào từng điều kiện cụ thể (của từng văn hóa, từng địa phương...)
- Vai trò của cảm xúc lý giải theo quan điểm tiến hóa
- Các con đường tắt để cải thiện cảm xúc của nhân loại từ trước đến nay
- Mối quan hệ giữa cảm xúc và lý trí
- Cảm xúc cho các cỗ máy
Dù cuốn sách này không giúp ích nhiều trong việc cải thiện tâm trạng (như mình đã kì vọng), nhưng nếu bạn nào muốn tìm hiểu ngắn gọn về cảm xúc thì đây vẫn là một cuốn nên đọc. Cơ mà cũng vì đây là cuốn dẫn luận rất ngắn, nên các nội dung trong cuốn sách chủ yếu mang tính chất giới thiệu, nếu muốn tìm hiểu kĩ hơi chắc sẽ cần những cuốn sách đồ sộ hơn.
February 16, 2020
Heel toegankelijke non-fictie over emotie met pertinente vragen over de oorsprong en definitie van het concept emotie. Aandacht voor hedendaagse tendenzen, AI, Gaming, robotica, ethiek.
Tegelijk filosofisch qua vraagstelling waarbij je na het lezen van het boek nog een uitgebreide bibliografie en 'verder-lees-lijst' meekrijgt.
Boeiend geschreven
en geen recensie maar wel iets meer over Evans lees je hier
https://www.trouw.nl/nieuws/nacht-vd-...
Tegelijk filosofisch qua vraagstelling waarbij je na het lezen van het boek nog een uitgebreide bibliografie en 'verder-lees-lijst' meekrijgt.
Boeiend geschreven
en geen recensie maar wel iets meer over Evans lees je hier
https://www.trouw.nl/nieuws/nacht-vd-...
March 4, 2015
For the most part, this is a pretty good introduction to the scientific study of emotion, and an intriguing defense of emotional decision-making.
On the other hand, I feel inclined to make a defense of my mentor C. S. Lewis, at whom the author makes an impertinent sideswipe. In discussing whether a new emotion can be 'invented', so to speak, he alleges that Lewis claims (in The Allegory of Love) that 'falling in love' was invented in romances of the high middle ages, then adduces the biblical 'Song of Songs' as evidence against this. This is a serious misrepresentation of what Lewis is saying. If the author had actually read the Allegory, he would realise that it is primarily a very high-level and scholarly analysis of various medieval- and renaissance-era works of romances (The Romance of the Rose, The Canterbury Tales, The Faerie Queen and others). Lewis' claim is that many of our ideas of chivalrous romance stem from this period, not that there was some kind of sea-change in Western psychology.
Anyway, apart from this particular calumny, the book is actually quite good, and I recommend it.
On the other hand, I feel inclined to make a defense of my mentor C. S. Lewis, at whom the author makes an impertinent sideswipe. In discussing whether a new emotion can be 'invented', so to speak, he alleges that Lewis claims (in The Allegory of Love) that 'falling in love' was invented in romances of the high middle ages, then adduces the biblical 'Song of Songs' as evidence against this. This is a serious misrepresentation of what Lewis is saying. If the author had actually read the Allegory, he would realise that it is primarily a very high-level and scholarly analysis of various medieval- and renaissance-era works of romances (The Romance of the Rose, The Canterbury Tales, The Faerie Queen and others). Lewis' claim is that many of our ideas of chivalrous romance stem from this period, not that there was some kind of sea-change in Western psychology.
Anyway, apart from this particular calumny, the book is actually quite good, and I recommend it.
August 2, 2018
As the title implies, a very short intro to emotions. Talks about emotions in an evolutionary-psychologyish way: conjectures and hypothesis of how they evolved. Discusses some of the more "complicated" social emotions such as jealousy, shame and greed.
A point that gets repeated over and over is that it is meaningless to separate "heart" and "head". Reasons are based in emotions, which are in turn based on (past) reason. If you don't want to do something, the thought of doing that thing anticipates an undesirable outcome, therefore you don't "want to" do it. Trust your emotions.
Will need a more substantial read for those wanting to go deeper.
A point that gets repeated over and over is that it is meaningless to separate "heart" and "head". Reasons are based in emotions, which are in turn based on (past) reason. If you don't want to do something, the thought of doing that thing anticipates an undesirable outcome, therefore you don't "want to" do it. Trust your emotions.
Will need a more substantial read for those wanting to go deeper.
July 14, 2015
This book changed the way I look at emotions.. The author did great job explaining the evolutionary roots of emotions like love, anger, sadness, and even jealousy.. and how CRUCIAL they are for the survival of species. Emotions are not extra leftovers of logic and consciousness, they are sometimes logic itself protecting a specie from self-destruction and extinction.. 5 stars without hesitation!
July 10, 2012
Very rarely you find a book covers the subject matter and is easy to read. Wonderful introduction to Emotions and its science. Thoroughly enjoyed reading it
December 30, 2024
「情緒這個詞就像爵士樂，雖然無法定義，可是只要你一看見或感受就會知道是它。」
情緒是一種「共通語言」嗎?
若不受情緒影響，是否更容易生存？
情緒是生物本能嗎？還是由文化所塑造？
未來是否有可能創造出具備情感的機器人？
本書的開頭便告訴了我們，「情緒」難以定義。啟蒙運動時期的思想家認為情緒對於社會的建立不可或缺，因此展現情緒很合理。然而，對浪漫派來說，情緒和理智基本上是相互矛盾的東西，情感的秘密只能由「詩」來解開，一個人不可能同時擁有「情緒」和「理智」。即使到了現代，對於情緒，我們仍然很難有一個完整的結論。 這本可以說是融合了人類學、心理學、神經科學以及人工智慧等多個領域的研究，帶領讀者踏上一段深入人心的探索之旅。
1.何謂情緒？ 它和「心情」一樣嗎？
如同快樂和愉悅不同，但都是在指你的狀態不錯。
愉悅是一種基本情緒，每次出現只維持幾秒鐘就結束。而快樂是一種心情，持續時間相對情緒長了許多，可以從數分鐘到數小時。心情造成的背景心態會提升或降低我們對情緒刺激的敏感程度。
可以說快樂比愉悅更重要，因為快樂能持續更久的時間。
2.沒有情緒的生物是否比較符合演化偏好
大家應該看過科幻恐怖片裡出現的高階生物，牠們普遍缺乏情緒（冷血），且看起來似乎比我們更加聰明。這時會很好奇「情緒」對於人類來說是不是一顆絆腳石？會阻礙人類的發展。其實這個論點自古代西方文化中已存在許久，從柏拉圖開始，許多西方思想家將情緒是為明智行動的阻礙（情緒負面論）。
與這其相反的觀念——情緒正面論，則是認為情緒對於人類生存是不可或缺的要素。根據這個論點，缺少情緒的生物會比我們更加缺乏智慧。雖然有人或許會覺得很震驚（畢竟大多數人對於一個人太過 emo 是無好感的），不過科學研究皆已提出正面的論點。
我們不能否認一個人太過情緒化對於事情的進展毫無幫助，也有可能導致人們做出無法挽回的事。情緒正面論的主張並非指emo 很好，而是認為最佳的方式是混合「理性』與「情緒」，而不是只能在這兩者間二選一。整體來說，擁有情緒的好處遠大於它的壞處。
3.機器人能擁有情感嗎？
近年使用chatGPT的人數越來越多，它可以幫助人類解決工作與生活上的問題，並「冷靜地」提供相關建議給你，看起來比真人可靠，又能適當的給予情緒價值，在許多人眼裡，說不定會比較想和機器人相處。
在未來，機器人能擁有像人類一樣的情感嗎？
這裡引出了一個重要問題：如何讓機器體驗人類的情緒？要實現情感的擁有，機器必須具備自我意識，而「意識」至今仍是一個謎。這也被視為人類與人工智慧之間最主要的差異。我們所推崇的ChatGPT，也許正因為不具備情感，才能夠務實地提供各種有用的建議。
情緒是一種「共通語言」嗎?
若不受情緒影響，是否更容易生存？
情緒是生物本能嗎？還是由文化所塑造？
未來是否有可能創造出具備情感的機器人？
本書的開頭便告訴了我們，「情緒」難以定義。啟蒙運動時期的思想家認為情緒對於社會的建立不可或缺，因此展現情緒很合理。然而，對浪漫派來說，情緒和理智基本上是相互矛盾的東西，情感的秘密只能由「詩」來解開，一個人不可能同時擁有「情緒」和「理智」。即使到了現代，對於情緒，我們仍然很難有一個完整的結論。 這本可以說是融合了人類學、心理學、神經科學以及人工智慧等多個領域的研究，帶領讀者踏上一段深入人心的探索之旅。
1.何謂情緒？ 它和「心情」一樣嗎？
如同快樂和愉悅不同，但都是在指你的狀態不錯。
愉悅是一種基本情緒，每次出現只維持幾秒鐘就結束。而快樂是一種心情，持續時間相對情緒長了許多，可以從數分鐘到數小時。心情造成的背景心態會提升或降低我們對情緒刺激的敏感程度。
可以說快樂比愉悅更重要，因為快樂能持續更久的時間。
2.沒有情緒的生物是否比較符合演化偏好
大家應該看過科幻恐怖片裡出現的高階生物，牠們普遍缺乏情緒（冷血），且看起來似乎比我們更加聰明。這時會很好奇「情緒」對於人類來說是不是一顆絆腳石？會阻礙人類的發展。其實這個論點自古代西方文化中已存在許久，從柏拉圖開始，許多西方思想家將情緒是為明智行動的阻礙（情緒負面論）。
與這其相反的觀念——情緒正面論，則是認為情緒對於人類生存是不可或缺的要素。根據這個論點，缺少情緒的生物會比我們更加缺乏智慧。雖然有人或許會覺得很震驚（畢竟大多數人對於一個人太過 emo 是無好感的），不過科學研究皆已提出正面的論點。
我們不能否認一個人太過情緒化對於事情的進展毫無幫助，也有可能導致人們做出無法挽回的事。情緒正面論的主張並非指emo 很好，而是認為最佳的方式是混合「理性』與「情緒」，而不是只能在這兩者間二選一。整體來說，擁有情緒的好處遠大於它的壞處。
3.機器人能擁有情感嗎？
近年使用chatGPT的人數越來越多，它可以幫助人類解決工作與生活上的問題，並「冷靜地」提供相關建議給你，看起來比真人可靠，又能適當的給予情緒價值，在許多人眼裡，說不定會比較想和機器人相處。
在未來，機器人能擁有像人類一樣的情感嗎？
這裡引出了一個重要問題：如何讓機器體驗人類的情緒？要實現情感的擁有，機器必須具備自我意識，而「意識」至今仍是一個謎。這也被視為人類與人工智慧之間最主要的差異。我們所推崇的ChatGPT，也許正因為不具備情感，才能夠務實地提供各種有用的建議。
December 6, 2021
great introduction full of details and also brief. I specifically enjoyed the meaning of the word "amae".
March 29, 2017
a rather good book. Emotion is an understudied subject in cognitive science. This short introduction, though not comprehensive as it should not be, it creates a good priming.
April 18, 2022
Wonderful Introduction to Emotions.
Deus Vult,
Gottfried
Deus Vult,
Gottfried
June 16, 2025
The VSI series feels like a collection of extremely well researched podcasts 🩷 I love them.
March 2, 2020
Definitely opened the appetite, looking forward to reading an extended version.
March 1, 2023
The first two chapters were enjoyable to read : Evans describes what is an emotion, he talks about how emotions evolved throughout history and how they helped us to survive. This part was quite enjoyable to read.
The last chapters just made me feel less and less interested in finishing the book. Instead of focusing on humans' emotions, the author writes a lot about robots' ones ... Which is ... unpredicted.
In one of the last chapter, Evans makes a parallel between animal rights and robot rights ... I mean ... This makes no sense.
Overall, the first two chapters are 3/5 (even if I am doubtful regarded to the ethical characteristic of some of the studies quoted ...) and the last three are 2/5. I would have appreciated a more deeply focus on human emotions, instead of focusing on the hypothetic robots' capacity to feel emotions in the future.
The last chapters just made me feel less and less interested in finishing the book. Instead of focusing on humans' emotions, the author writes a lot about robots' ones ... Which is ... unpredicted.
In one of the last chapter, Evans makes a parallel between animal rights and robot rights ... I mean ... This makes no sense.
"Just as some people are prepared to use violent means to defend animal rights, so some people might join force with the oppressed robots to free them from their slavery."
Overall, the first two chapters are 3/5 (even if I am doubtful regarded to the ethical characteristic of some of the studies quoted ...) and the last three are 2/5. I would have appreciated a more deeply focus on human emotions, instead of focusing on the hypothetic robots' capacity to feel emotions in the future.
May 24, 2012
Amazon Review:
Was love invented by European poets in the Middle Ages or is it part of human nature? Will winning the lottery really make you happy? Is it possible to build robots that have feelings? These are just some of the intriguing questions explored in this guide to the latest thinking about the emotions. Drawing on a wide range of scientific research, from anthropology and psychology to neuroscience and artificial intelligence, Emotion: The Science of Sentiment takes the reader on a
fascinating journey into the human heart.
Was love invented by European poets in the Middle Ages or is it part of human nature? Will winning the lottery really make you happy? Is it possible to build robots that have feelings? These are just some of the intriguing questions explored in this guide to the latest thinking about the emotions. Drawing on a wide range of scientific research, from anthropology and psychology to neuroscience and artificial intelligence, Emotion: The Science of Sentiment takes the reader on a
fascinating journey into the human heart.
August 19, 2018
I appreciate the lucidity of the language used for it makes research in the area sound simpler to common masses. But I expected the inclusion of more research studies happening in the area. I liked the way the author has addressed the issue of how emotions affect our reasoning and vice versa.
I too believe that it is high time we do away with the belief that emotions and logic are two mutually exclusive processes of the mind.
I too believe that it is high time we do away with the belief that emotions and logic are two mutually exclusive processes of the mind.
July 3, 2021
Kinda unexpected how comforting it is for me that emotion is such a natural, biological, material entity derived from evolution. I feel validated haha. Rekomen!
December 29, 2024
Although I’ve already read several books on emotions, I still found this one worthwhile, particularly for its exploration of the functions of emotions.
The author, Dylan Evans, begins the book by introducing a system developed by philosopher Paul Griffiths, which categorizes emotions into three groups:
1. Basic emotions – joy, distress, anger, fear, surprise, and disgust.
2. Higher cognitive emotions – such as love, guilt, pride, and jealousy.
3. Culturally specific emotions.
This framework not only reconciles the academic debate between those who see emotions as universal (e.g., Paul Ekman) and those who view them as culturally specific (e.g., Lisa Feldman Barrett) but also provides a practical way to understand why emotions are essential to human functioning.
In the book's second edition, Evans includes a new chapter on machines' abilities to detect and simulate emotions. To explain why some scientists advocate for creating emotions in machines, he introduces Herbert Simon’s theory, which posits that emotions serve as "interception recognition," helping to solve the complex problem of action selection. Simon goes as far as suggesting that emotions are merely interception recognition. I was surprised this theory wasn’t introduced earlier in the book, as it offers an excellent explanation for the role of basic emotions, even if it falls short in accounting for higher cognitive and culturally specific emotions.
For higher cognitive emotions, Evans discusses economist Robert H. Frank’s theory. Frank argues that emotions such as love and guilt help resolve various commitment problems. For instance, guilt earns trust by persuading others you are less likely to cheat, while love convinces others of one’s fidelity. Frank also notes that humans have evolved physical signals, such as blushing and a racing heart, to reliably communicate these emotions.
The author also examines emotions through Gigerenzer’s concept of ecological rationality. He critiques the narrow rationality framework used by logicians and economists, which evaluates the rationality of choices based on preferences without questioning the preferences themselves. Instead, it is perfectly sensible to discuss whether certain preferences are rational. For example, "it is reasonable to want to be liked by a few friends but unreasonable to want to be adored by everyone in the world". By shaping what we value and pursue, emotions make us rational. In a social species like humans, emotions are doubly useful, as we can turn to the emotions of both ourselves and others for guidance. As Pascal famously said, "The heart has its reasons."
The book also covers topics such as the universality of emotions, the evolutionary origin of emotions, tools invented by humans to induce emotions, how emotion guides moral behavior, and emotions' effects on attention, memory, and logical reasoning. While these sections do not stand out, they are still interesting to read.
Overall, this book is a concise and insightful introduction to the study of emotions.
The author, Dylan Evans, begins the book by introducing a system developed by philosopher Paul Griffiths, which categorizes emotions into three groups:
1. Basic emotions – joy, distress, anger, fear, surprise, and disgust.
2. Higher cognitive emotions – such as love, guilt, pride, and jealousy.
3. Culturally specific emotions.
This framework not only reconciles the academic debate between those who see emotions as universal (e.g., Paul Ekman) and those who view them as culturally specific (e.g., Lisa Feldman Barrett) but also provides a practical way to understand why emotions are essential to human functioning.
In the book's second edition, Evans includes a new chapter on machines' abilities to detect and simulate emotions. To explain why some scientists advocate for creating emotions in machines, he introduces Herbert Simon’s theory, which posits that emotions serve as "interception recognition," helping to solve the complex problem of action selection. Simon goes as far as suggesting that emotions are merely interception recognition. I was surprised this theory wasn’t introduced earlier in the book, as it offers an excellent explanation for the role of basic emotions, even if it falls short in accounting for higher cognitive and culturally specific emotions.
For higher cognitive emotions, Evans discusses economist Robert H. Frank’s theory. Frank argues that emotions such as love and guilt help resolve various commitment problems. For instance, guilt earns trust by persuading others you are less likely to cheat, while love convinces others of one’s fidelity. Frank also notes that humans have evolved physical signals, such as blushing and a racing heart, to reliably communicate these emotions.
The author also examines emotions through Gigerenzer’s concept of ecological rationality. He critiques the narrow rationality framework used by logicians and economists, which evaluates the rationality of choices based on preferences without questioning the preferences themselves. Instead, it is perfectly sensible to discuss whether certain preferences are rational. For example, "it is reasonable to want to be liked by a few friends but unreasonable to want to be adored by everyone in the world". By shaping what we value and pursue, emotions make us rational. In a social species like humans, emotions are doubly useful, as we can turn to the emotions of both ourselves and others for guidance. As Pascal famously said, "The heart has its reasons."
The book also covers topics such as the universality of emotions, the evolutionary origin of emotions, tools invented by humans to induce emotions, how emotion guides moral behavior, and emotions' effects on attention, memory, and logical reasoning. While these sections do not stand out, they are still interesting to read.
Overall, this book is a concise and insightful introduction to the study of emotions.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
September 26, 2022
The second of this series I've dipped into was not as cohesive or involving as Education: A Very Short Introduction, but it was an informative overview all the same, told with a subtle sense of humor ("Since the dawn of humanity, people have regularly come together to dance and take drugs." All right!)
Strangely, I had never heard of the research of Paul Ekman, who demonstrates convincingly the universality of emotions, at least basic ones. This discussion in chapter 1 alone makes the book worth its time.
Chapter 2 briefly outlines the genetic and biological grounds for emotion -- not new to readers of Behave: The Biology of Humans at Our Best and Worst or The Selfish Gene, but I was pleased to see a little tie-in to Adam Smith's The Theory of Moral Sentiments.
Chapters 3 and 4 show the author at his best, with entertaining romps through manipulations to our emotions -- try a rave, seems the conclusion -- to how emotion can influence thought, or even somehow constitute it. I'm sure there is a more exacting term for what chapter 4 is doing but I'll keep it in mind for future reading.
Chapter 5 is on artificial intelligence having emotions. The book was written twenty years ago, but there doesn't seem much more interesting to say about emotion and AI. I'll evaluate it when I encounter it, I guess.
Strangely, I had never heard of the research of Paul Ekman, who demonstrates convincingly the universality of emotions, at least basic ones. This discussion in chapter 1 alone makes the book worth its time.
Chapter 2 briefly outlines the genetic and biological grounds for emotion -- not new to readers of Behave: The Biology of Humans at Our Best and Worst or The Selfish Gene, but I was pleased to see a little tie-in to Adam Smith's The Theory of Moral Sentiments.
Chapters 3 and 4 show the author at his best, with entertaining romps through manipulations to our emotions -- try a rave, seems the conclusion -- to how emotion can influence thought, or even somehow constitute it. I'm sure there is a more exacting term for what chapter 4 is doing but I'll keep it in mind for future reading.
Chapter 5 is on artificial intelligence having emotions. The book was written twenty years ago, but there doesn't seem much more interesting to say about emotion and AI. I'll evaluate it when I encounter it, I guess.
January 6, 2025
Not the best. Very interesting but it just seemed strange to me that a PhD in Economics wrote a thesis centered around a psychological topic, which would be fine since there are overlaps between the two disciplines, but he stuck almost entirely on evolutionary psychology (even though emotions tend to be studied often by social and developmental psych) and he made almost no arguments from economic perspectives. Doing this made the short book overly reductive and very boring, at least to me. A further consequence of the expertise mismatch lead the author to make many conclusions that just were not supported in the book and may not have been supported at the time (this book is quite outdated having been published in 2001).
This is likely just splitting hairs but he also called Paul Ekman “the anthropologist” when he is a psychologist that spent so much time studying emotions that he was one of the main consultants on the movies Inside Out and Inside Out 2, among so many other things.
I do think it’s a very good summary of one way of looking at emotions but the errors in the conclusions and sources was just too glaring for me.
This is likely just splitting hairs but he also called Paul Ekman “the anthropologist” when he is a psychologist that spent so much time studying emotions that he was one of the main consultants on the movies Inside Out and Inside Out 2, among so many other things.
I do think it’s a very good summary of one way of looking at emotions but the errors in the conclusions and sources was just too glaring for me.
March 11, 2025
Evans, writing from an evolutionary psychology perspective, discusses the fascinating phenomenon of emotion, covering such topics as the difference between basic (anger, sadness, etc.) and higher cognitive emotions (shame, guilt, jealousy, etc.), the use of emotions, the mood of happiness, the role emotion play sin memory, critical thinking, the use of empathy as well as the question of whether robots can have emotion. Regarding robots, he argues that, since it is widely recognized that emotions are a bodily phenomenon, even if robots could have emotions that would be the same as ours since they have different bodies so to speak. While there is always more that could be said about a topic like emotions, I think Evans did a great job at exploring the topic from his particular perspective and, as such, I would encourage others to read it.
November 8, 2023
Excellent short introduction
Excellent short Introduction.
I just loved this series by Oxford University Press. These are comprehensive introductions, a literature review written by expert scholars but for common readers. I have listed few out of 100s they have published. And this is third I am reading.
I will be reading one more, "History of emotions" in this series on the same topic.
I teach n studied this topic as a part of Organizational behavior. However haven't read such a nice in depth review.
Highly recommend to anyone interested in emotions. Managers, trainers, counselor, coaches, n students all shall benefit from this lucid write up.
Excellent short Introduction.
I just loved this series by Oxford University Press. These are comprehensive introductions, a literature review written by expert scholars but for common readers. I have listed few out of 100s they have published. And this is third I am reading.
I will be reading one more, "History of emotions" in this series on the same topic.
I teach n studied this topic as a part of Organizational behavior. However haven't read such a nice in depth review.
Highly recommend to anyone interested in emotions. Managers, trainers, counselor, coaches, n students all shall benefit from this lucid write up.
August 11, 2025
This is an interesting audiobook, but it’s probably better read than actually listened to.
It is essentially a review psychological, philosophical, and scientific perspectives on human emotions from Aristotle to the present day.
The author spends 30 minutes, talking about artificial intelligence and trying to relate that to human emotions. If he’s going to go down that path, he needs to update this work. It was published in 2019, and advances in AI in the last three years have been massive..
It is essentially a review psychological, philosophical, and scientific perspectives on human emotions from Aristotle to the present day.
The author spends 30 minutes, talking about artificial intelligence and trying to relate that to human emotions. If he’s going to go down that path, he needs to update this work. It was published in 2019, and advances in AI in the last three years have been massive..
November 17, 2019
Another one of those books which I bought mindlessly based on the title. But this time, it worked out well. Dylan Evans writing is easy to understand which makes the reading very accessible and interesting. But the book is quite short, finished it around 2-3 hours.
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It is really just an introduction, but a worthwhile one at that.
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Read my full review
https://aarifbillah.com/emotion-the-s...
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It is really just an introduction, but a worthwhile one at that.
.
Read my full review
https://aarifbillah.com/emotion-the-s...
July 25, 2025
Good introduction
I thoroughly enjoyed the book.The first 3 chapters were by far the best going into detail about the theory and experiments. I would've preferred more references to the area of psychology being referred to. Also the last chapter is still on topic but quite different in the sense that it is more to do with technology and ideas of whether artificial intelligence can ever have emotions or feelings.
I thoroughly enjoyed the book.The first 3 chapters were by far the best going into detail about the theory and experiments. I would've preferred more references to the area of psychology being referred to. Also the last chapter is still on topic but quite different in the sense that it is more to do with technology and ideas of whether artificial intelligence can ever have emotions or feelings.
June 21, 2017
A really short book that provides a basic overview of emotions and its relation to reason. The topics covered are eclectic and not comprehensive; Dylan does a good job of introducing emotional processes, to someone who is a novice, from his vantage point. I did lean a few new things, but believe there are better introductory texts around (though not as brief!)
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