If desired, instead of using y to specifically represent the Emotional Units (i.e., anxiety or affect) invested in an entity, y may be used to represent the Emotional Units invested in an entity as a fraction of the total Emotional Units available to an individual. The total Emotional Units available in an individual’s system is the total amount of emotional energy that he or she has available to do work by valuing entities.
If an individual’s total emotional energy available to do work by valuing entities fluctuates on an ultradian rhythm cycle (e.g., those lasting 24 hours or less such as the sleep cycle) or on an infradian rhythm cycle (e.g., those with periods longer than the circadian day, such as menstrual cycles), then this can be modeled with trigonometric functions beneath the entire equation. The y-variable in turn would come to represent the amount of Emotional Units invested in an entity for the fulfillment of a specific purpose as a fraction of the individual’s total Emotional Units available. Moreover, this fraction can be scaled, for example, to one hundred, so that it can readily be seen as a percentage. Biological rhythms, and the use of trigonometric functions, would be of use for assessing Category IV Emotions (Emotive States), as they would take place over longer stretches of time, such as months or years.
A sample coefficient for a biological rhythm that the equation could be multiplied against is the following:
Scale / ( a × cos ( ( x + k ) / ( h π ) ) + a + b )
- Where the cosine is measured in radians,
- x represents the time elapsed since zero,
- a represents the amplitude of the sinusoidal curve (i.e., half the range that an individual’s total available Emotional Units fluctuates),
- b represents the available Emotional Units or energy that do not vary,
- k represents the horizontal shift of sinusoidal function, which is useful for determining when an individual has their maximum and minimum levels of Emotional Units available (crests and troughs),
- h represents half the period
- and the Scale simply scales the proportion (typically set to 100)
For example, if an individual has only one biological rhythm influencing the total Emotional Units available, the rhythm is on a period of 24 hours with a maximum of 32 Units occurring at noon and a minimum of 2 Emotional Units occurring at midnight (i.e., amplitude of 15 and base 2), the elapsed time is measured in hours, and the fraction is scaled to 100, then it could be represented by the following expression:
100 / ( 15 × cos ( ( x – 12 ) / ( 12 π ) ) + 15 + 2 )
In the Avoidance of Pain function below with Form Two of Attention, the variable y would instead represent the Emotional Units invested in an entity as a fraction out of the total Emotional Units available to value entities in an individual’s system. The equation would take on the following form:
Sample function for the value of an entity (i.e., Anxiety invested in an entity) as a proportion of the total Emotional Units available to value entities in the individual’s system.
If more than one biological rhythm is being considered, as in the case of synergistic relationships between two or more biological rhythms, or alternatively if two separate biological rhythms contribute to the Emotional Units available, then the b variable would go outside the parenthesis. The b-variable represents the base Emotional Units or bare minimum available that cannot fluctuate if the individual is alive. However, b could certainly be represented by another trig function or pair of functions whose crests and troughs are in opposition if they arise from different sources.
If two biological rhythms have a synergistic relationship with one another (i.e., one’s presence amplifies the influence of the other), then they are multiplied and b would be better placed outside the parenthesis:
( a × cos ( ( x + k ) / ( h π ) ) + a ) × ( a × cos ( ( x + k ) / ( h π ) ) + a ) + b
VALUATION AS A PROPORTION OF TOTAL EMOTIONAL UNITS AVAILABLE
As an example, in the two graphs below, the individual’s valuation of one entity is held constant at two Emotional Units (2 E.U.) in the top graph. In the bottom graph, this valuation of the entity is shown as a proportion of the total Emotional Units the individual has available to value entities based upon the information above: amplitude of 15; period of 12 hours with peak at emotional energy at noon and minimum emotional energy at midnight; a base energy of two Emotional Units; and scaled to 100.
Figure 12.16 from Affect Engineering: A Unified Field Theory of Emotion, p. 574. At noon (12 hours, 36 hours, and 60 hours) the Emotional Units invested in the entity take up a smaller portion of the individual’s total system reserves, at the troughs in the bottom graph. At midnight (24 hours, 48 hours, and 72 hours), the Emotional Units invested in the entity take up 100% of the Emotional Units in the individual’s system available to value entities, at the crests in the graph. All other variables are held constant.
ENTROPY
In physics, entropy generally refers to energy that is unavailable to do work. In the context of thermodynamics, a state of maximum entropy would be achieved in a closed system when the matter and energy become uniform and inert (i.e., heat death). One example would be the temperature of a room equalizing over time, or ice in a glass of water melting.
In the context of the equation in Affect Engineering, entropy similarly refers to emotional energy (i.e., Emotional Units) that is unavailable to do work. Work, in this case, entails being used to value entities. Entropy then, is a measure of the Emotional Units that are not available to value entities in either the Avoidance of Pain functions (e.g., anxiety, negative affect) or the Pursuit of Pleasure functions (e.g., negative anxiety, positive affect). Entropy may arise from a number of routes:
- The activation thresholds of valuing neurons becomes too great for metabolic processes or the individual overcome. This might be brought about by neural fatigue.
- Alternatively, the deactivation threshold of valuing neurons may be too low for the individual to regain control of them. This might happen if valuing neurons are firing uncontrollably (e.g., during a seizure) and become unavailable for mobilization by the individual.
- Valuing neurons have become hijacked, for instance, by drug abuse. Stimuli in the environment or intense physical sensations that are not initiated cognitively, such as physical pain from a broken leg, may also hijack valuing neurons, though the degree to which this occurs could potentially be reduced cognitively thereafter, such as by redirecting Attention once the sensation has become linked to an entity, purpose, and contingencies.
- Neural cell death
With Entropy referring to the “Emotional Energy Not Available to Do Work,” it may be represented alongside the other trigonometric functions, but would be subtracted from them.
Entropy implemented into the sample function for the value of an entity (i.e., Anxiety invested in an entity) as a proportion of the total Emotional Units available to value entities in the individual’s system. Form Two of Attention is used above and only one biological rhythm is presumed to modify the individual’s Emotional Units available to value entities.