Categories of Emotions and Organizing Principles in Affect Engineering

This is the sixth article in a series designed for the layperson and it overviews the organizational principles behind how emotions are classified in Affect Engineering and also provides a general description of many of the basic emotions. It will begin with a list of questions that it aims to address. The sections that follow will be in two parts each. The first part will be a short statement that answers each question as succinctly as possible. The second part will either be an explanation that goes into more detail where needed or explain some of the more nuanced implications of the short answer.

QUESTIONS

1. How are emotions organized in Affect Engineering?
2. What are the core distinguishing features used to classify emotions in Affect Engineering?
3. What would a general description of the main emotions in each category of emotions sound like?

How are emotions organized in Affect Engineering?

SHORT ANSWER

Emotions in Affect Engineering are grouped into one of four categories: Emotions of the Self; Interpersonal Emotions; Compound Interactive Emotions; Emotive States.

IN DEPTH EXPLANATION

Emotions in Affect Engineering are grouped into one of four categories based upon a handful of features. Emotions that concern a single individual’s objectives and that take place over a relatively shorter time frame (e.g., minutes as opposed to days or weeks) are grouped together under Category I Emotions, Emotions of the Self or the Intrapersonal Emotions.

Emotions that involve empathy (e.g., scenarios where individuals imagines themselves in an other party’s position experiencing something) where they vicariously experience the other party’s success or failure in a passive manner without attempting to influence the outcome are grouped together under Category II Emotions. These are called the Interpersonal Emotions or the Four Degrees of Empathy in Affect Engineering.

Emotions that involve empathy and where individuals are attempting to influence the outcome of the other party’s situation while they are vicariously experiencing their success or failure are grouped together under Category III Emotions. These are called the Compound Interactive Emotions.

Lastly, emotions that are influenced more heavily by the amount of elapsed time, that are somewhat more unique in how they arise, or that are characterized by an interplay between multiple objectives (e.g., three or more objectives) are grouped together under Category IV Emotions, the Emotive States.

What are the core distinguishing features used to classify emotions in Affect Engineering?

SHORT ANSWER

The core distinguishing features used to classify emotions in Affect Engineering are primarily derived from answers to the following questions:

1. At what rate is the individual’s valuation of an entity for a purpose changing?
2. What is the Appraisal of an entity, and will its acquisition lead towards or away from restoring equilibrium between the purpose at hand and its complementary purpose?
3. Is empathy is involved?
4. If empathy is involved, is the self actively attempting to influence the outcome for the other party’s success or failure, or is the self simply observing and vicariously experiencing the other party’s situation in a passive manner?
5. What is the time frame over which an entity’s valuation is changing? Is it a drastic change?
6. Is there an interplay between three or more purposes or other variables in the functions?
7. What type of response is the self engaging in (e.g., aggressive, evasive, or neither)?

IN DEPTH EXPLANATION

The main feature used to distinguish one emotion from another in Affect Engineering is the rate of change in an entity’s valuation for the fulfillment of a purpose. For Category I Emotions, Emotions of the Self, the rate of change of an entity’s valuation for a purpose over time is the primary distinguishing feature between different emotions. This value may be increasing or decreasing at either an accelerating rate or a deaccelerating rate. It may also be staying the same.

The Appraisal of an entity, which is concerned with whether the entity’s acquisition will lead towards a restoration of equilibrium between a purpose and its complementary purpose or away from equilibrium, determines whether an Avoidance of Pain function is used as opposed to a Pursuit of Pleasure function. Each of these types of functions has different emotions that fall under their domains, although the emotion of Content is an exception as it falls under both. The Avoidance of Pain emotions under Category I Emotions include: Sadness, Grief, Fear, Anger, Disgust, Relief, and Content. The Pursuit of Pleasure emotions under Category I Emotions include: Happiness, Euphoria, Courage, Guilt, and Content.

Empathy, or the self imagining itself experiencing a situation as another party, is present in all Category II, all Category III Emotions, and in some Category IV Emotions. In the case of Category II Emotions, the self’s vicarious experience is purely passive, akin to watching a movie and identifying with one of the characters in it. In the case of Category III Emotions, the self is actively attempting to influence the outcome of the situation for the another while also vicariously experiencing the other’s success or failure.

Category IV Emotions, or Emotive States, are those where the duration of the situation is taken into consideration when classifying an emotion; Category Four Emotions also include emotions that are characterized by an interplay between three or more objectives, and this category includes emotions that arise due to specific variables in the functions that may be consistently elevated, depressed, unknown, or fluctuating wildly, among several other possibilities.

Lastly, regarding the self’s response type (e.g., to a threat of harm to an entity), if the self’s response involves aggression and moving against a threat of harm, attempts to evade a threat of harm, or neither of these, then this would alter the classification of the emotion being expressed. This applies primarily to the Category I Emotion of Anger, and is used to distinguish Anger from both Disgust and from Relief.

What would a general description of the main emotions in each category of emotions sound like?

SHORT ANSWER

Category I Emotions, the Intrapersonal Emotions, include the emotions related to purposes that only concern the self, and no empathy is involved. They are: Sadness; Grief; Fear; Anger; Content; Happiness; Euphoria; Courage; Guilt, Disgust, Relief.

Category II Emotions, the Interpersonal Emotions, or Four Degrees of Empathy, include the emotions that concern the self and others when the empathizing party is passive and not actively trying to influence the outcome of the other. They are: Love and Vicarious Pride; Pride and Vicarious Love; Sympathy and Vicarious Shame; Shame and Vicarious Sympathy; Hatred and Vicarious Humiliation; Humiliation and Vicarious Hatred; Antipathy and Vicarious Mercy; Mercy Vicarious Antipathy; Neutrality, Vicarious Loneliness; Loneliness, Vicarious Neutrality.

Category III Emotions, the Compound Interactive Emotions, concern the self and others when the empathizing party is actively trying to influence the outcome of the other. They are: Benevolence; Jealousy; Malevolence; Envy. Each of the these four emotions may also be one of two types, Indulgent or Protective. Category III Emotions are comprised of both a Category I and a Category II emotion.

Category IV, the Emotive States, often concern the time frame over which some valuations are established, and include emotions that are characterized by the interplay between multiple purposes or variables within the functions. Some examples include: Surprise; Joyfulness; Restlessness; Helplessness; Confusion; Limerence. Other more culturally specific, obscure, or lesser known emotions would likely fall under this category if they cannot be explained by the other three Categories.

IN DEPTH EXPLANATION

A brief explanation of each emotion along with a sample graph where applicable, follows below. A more in depth explanation of each of the emotions along with examples, descriptions of what variables in the functions could lead to these emotions arising, how the self can regulate these emotions, and instances of other miscellaneous emotions will follow in the remaining six articles (articles 7-12).

The Category I Emotions: Intrapersonal Emotions

Sadness

Sadness felt for a particular entity is characterized by an individual’s valuation of the entity rising at a steady rate. This could be due, for instance, to the entity becoming more difficult to acquire.

Grief

Grief felt for a particular entity is characterized by an individual’s valuation of the entity rising at an accelerating rate, oftentimes approaching a vertical asymptote (i.e., towards positive infinity). A steep slope or a vertical asymptote could arise due to the self’s realization that the entity is either nearly impossible to attain or no longer attainable at all.

Fear

Fear felt for a particular entity is characterized by an individual’s valuation of the entity initially being low and somewhat uncertain before rising and tapering off again. This could be due to new information becoming available concerning a threat of harm to an entity or the inability to prevent the threat of harm (e.g., low efficacy and a high probability of the harm happening). This could happen if a threat of harm was initially dismissed as negligible, but is later revealed to be significant.

Anger, Disgust, and Relief

Anger felt for a particular entity is characterized by an individual’s valuation of the entity lowering and the presence of aggression against a threat of harm to it; aggression distinguishes Anger from the emotions of Disgust and Relief. Anger’s presence would be indicated by the self actively eliminating a threat of harm, that is to say, demonstrating aggression against it.

Disgust felt for a particular entity is also characterized by an individual’s valuation of the entity lowering. However, evasion or evasive action is the critical component in this case; evasive action distinguishes Disgust from the emotions of Anger and Relief. Disgust could arise due to the self taking action to successfully evade a threat of harm to the entity, for instance, by moving the entity away from the threat of harm.

Relief felt for a particular entity is characterized by an individual’s valuation of the entity lowering, but without aggression or evasion; the lack of aggression or evasive action distinguishes Relief from the emotions of Anger and Disgust. Relief could arise due to the threat of harm to the entity simply not happening, or the threat of harm having a low likelihood and becoming negligible through chance.

Content

Content felt for a particular entity is characterized by an individual’s valuation of the entity remaining the same or at a low level, such as at or near its existential value. This could be due to the entity simply not having all that much importance to the individual, or if the entity’s valuation has remained steady for an extended period of time and is being used as a benchmark of sorts to compare against other entities. Valuations for two separate entities are listed below on the same graph.

Happiness

Happiness felt for a particular entity is characterized by an individual’s valuation of the entity descending at a steady rate towards negative infinity. It is important to keep in mind that the negative symbol here (-), for Negative Anxiety, does not symbolize good or bad, but simply means that further acquisition of the entity will lead away from equilibrium between the purpose at hand and its complement or opposing purpose. The entity is already in ample supply, and further acquisition of it is akin to increasing a stockpile of a resource that is already possessed in a sufficient amount. In contrast, for emotions gauged with Anxiety (i.e., Positive Anxiety), the positive Appraisal value implies that acquiring the entity will lead towards a restoration of equilibrium.

Euphoria

Euphoria felt for a particular entity is characterized by an individual’s valuation of the entity descending at a steady rate towards negative infinity. Similarly to Happiness, the entity is already in ample supply, and further acquisition of it is akin to increasing a personal stockpile. Approaching a vertical asymptote could be due to an instance of extremely good fortune, such as winning the lottery or becoming obsessed with and successfully collecting a specific entity, or suddenly acquiring the means to engage in an enjoyable activity such as traveling. The primary risk here arises from other entities and objectives that are being ignored or neglected, as euphoria felt for successfully acquiring a specific entity in excess for the fulfillment of the purpose will necessarily come at the expense of successfully achieving other objectives that the individual is not fulfilling.

Courage

Courage felt for a particular entity as it relates to the fulfillment of a purpose is characterized by an individual’s valuation of the entity initially having a low absolute value (i.e., closer to zero) and being somewhat uncertain before increasing and tapering off again. It is similar to the graph for Fear in this sense, but because Negative Anxiety is used its value descends negatively towards negative infinity before tapering off again. Like for courage, this could be due to the availability of new information concerning a threat of harm to an entity or the inability to prevent the threat of harm (e.g., high efficacy or a low probability of the threat of harm to the entity). If the acquisition of an entity initially seemed unattainable, but new information later suggests that the individual can more easily acquire it, then they would feel emboldened or encouraged to obtain the entity under this model.

Guilt

Guilt felt for a particular entity is characterized by an individual’s valuation of the entity initially having a high absolute value, and then rising towards its existential value (i.e., its absolute value diminishes and returns closer towards one in this case). Guilt is modeled as a missed opportunity by an individual in Affect Engineering, and this could arise due to the self initially possessing a good chance or favorable odds to acquire the entity (e.g., high initial efficacy and low threat components), but failing to acquire the entity nonetheless. This often times happens with procrastination for individuals, where they may have initially had time to complete a task, but because they failed to act with urgency, they end up not succeeding.

The Category II Emotions: Interpersonal Emotions or the Four Degrees of Empathy

All of the Category II Emotions involve empathy. However, the party that is vicariously experiencing the other party’s success or failure only does so passively. They do not attempt to influence the outcome of the other party’s situation, and oftentimes cannot interact with the other party. They only observe and mirror them.

When the self is the passive party, they will feel either Love and Vicarious Pride, Sympathy and Vicarious Shame, Hatred and Vicarious Humiliation, or Antipathy and Vicarious Mercy.

When the self is the active party and is aware that they are being passively observed by someone empathizing with them, then the roles essentially flip. The self vicariously experiences the other party vicariously experiencing their situation. That is to say, the self imagines they are another party imagining that they are the original individual. When this happens, Pride and Vicarious Love, Shame and Vicarious Sympathy, Humiliation and Vicarious Hatred, or Mercy and Vicarious Antipathy may be felt by the self in Affect Engineering’s framework.

Love and Vicarious Pride; Pride and Vicarious Love

Love and Vicarious Pride felt for another party are characterized by the self wanting the other party to succeed, and the other party does succeed. This may take one of two forms, depending on which functions are being used for the self (top left and bottom left graphs of the next two images) and their vicarious valuation of the other party (top right and bottom right graphs of the next two images).

For Pride and Vicarious Love, the self would have agency and the graphs would be flipped, with the self’s valuation of an entity being on the right, and their imagining of the other party vicariously experiencing their success on the left . . . vicariously experiencing the other party wanting to vicariously experience the self’s own success and the self succeeds.

Sympathy and Vicarious Shame; Shame and Vicarious Sympathy

Sympathy and Vicarious Shame felt for another party are characterized by the self wanting the other party to succeed, but the other party fails. This may take one of two forms, depending on which functions are being used for the self (top left and bottom left graphs of the next two images) and their vicarious valuation of the other party (top right and bottom right graphs of the next two images).

For Shame and Vicarious Sympathy, the self would have agency and the graphs would be flipped, with the self’s valuation of an entity being on the right, and their imagining of the other party vicariously experiencing their failure on the left. In contrast to Vicarious Love, with Vicarious Sympathy the self would be vicariously experiencing the other party wanting to vicariously experience the self’s own success, but because the individual failed then that awareness of the disappointment (Shame) is felt along with Vicarious Sympathy.

Hatred and Vicarious Humiliation; Humiliation and Vicarious Hatred

Hatred and Vicarious Humiliation felt for another party are characterized by the self wanting the other party to fail at their objective, and the other party does fails. This may take one of two forms, depending on which functions are being used for the self (top left and bottom left graphs of the next two images) and their vicarious valuation of the other party (top right and bottom right graphs of the next two images).

For Humiliation and Vicarious Hatred, the self would have agency and the graphs would be flipped, with the self’s valuation of an entity being on the right, and their imagining of the other party vicariously experiencing delight at their failure on the left . . . vicariously experiencing the other party wanting to vicariously experience the self’s own failure, and the self ultimately fails. This could arise from the other party feeling like the self did not deserve to achieve whatever goal was sought.

Antipathy and Vicarious Mercy; Mercy and Vicarious Antipathy

Antipathy and Vicarious Mercy felt for another party are characterized by the self wanting the other party to fail at their objective, but the other party ultimately succeeds. Vicarious Mercy in this sense is the sensation by the self that the other party either avoided a harm that they deserved or achieved a goal that they did not deserve to achieve. This may take one of two forms, depending on which functions are being used for the self (top left and bottom left graphs of the next two images) and their vicarious valuation of the other party (top right and bottom right graphs of the next two images).

For Mercy and Vicarious Antipathy, the self would have agency and the graphs would be flipped, with the self’s valuation of an entity being on the right, and their imagining of the other party vicariously experiencing frustration at their success on the left. In contrast to Vicarious Hatred, they would be vicariously experiencing the other party wanting to vicariously experience the self’s own failure, but the self ultimately succeeds. This could arise from the other party feeling like the self did not deserve to achieve whatever goal was sought, and that the self, in essence, escaped justice.

Neutrality, Vicarious Loneliness; Loneliness, Vicarious Neutrality

Neutrality and Vicarious loneliness felt for another party are characterized by the self neither reacting to the success nor failure of the other party. It is akin to indifference, and the graph for the self is similar to Content.

For Loneliness and Vicarious Neutrality, the self would have agency and the graphs would be flipped, with the self’s valuation of an entity being on the right, and their imagining of the other party not reacting to their success or failure on the left.

The Category III Emotions: Compound Interactive Emotions:

The primary distinction between Category III Emotions and Category II Emotions is that for Category III Emotions, the self also has agency, and is able to perform actions that can influence the outcome of the scenario for the other party. Category III Emotions are also comprised of both a Category I and Category II Emotion.

For Category III Emotions, the distinction between Indulgent Type and Protective Type depends on the Appraisal of the entity being valued for actions that the self may take. Indulgent Type emotions involve a negative Appraisal towards the restoration of equilibrium and a Pursuit of Pleasure Emotion for the self. Protective Type emotions involve a positive Appraisal towards the restoration of equilibrium and an Avoidance of Pain emotion for the self.

Lastly, for any of the Protective Type Emotions listed below, Anger may be substituted for Disgust or Relief depending on the approach type used by the self (i.e., aggression, evasion, or neither), as all three are considered Avoidance of Pain Emotions in Affect Engineering.

Benevolence: Indulgent Type and Protective Type

Benevolence entails the self wanting the other party to succeed, and the self successfully performs an action to ensure that the other party succeeds. The other party ultimately succeeds.

Jealousy: Indulgent Type and Protective Type

Jealousy entails the self wanting the other party to succeed. However, the self is unable to successfully perform an action to ensure that the other party succeeds and the other party ultimately fails. Jealousy’s definition here is more precise and limited, but still in line with the fear of losing loyalty (e.g., to a third party, see jealousy); this definition does not include being covetous, as this would violate the 1:1:1:1 ratio that Affect Engineering adheres towards. Coveting a rival’s situation would be a separate object and would involve a separate emotion. In Affect Engineering, that third party does not need to be another person; it may be any activity or thing that can fulfill the other party’s desire where the self failed to do so.

Malevolence: Indulgent Type and Protective Type

Malevolence entails the self wanting the other party to fail. The self is able to successfully performs an action to ensure that the other party fails and the other party ultimately does not succeed.

Envy: Indulgent Type and Protective Type

Envy entails the self wanting the other party to fail. The self is not able to successfully performs an action to ensure that the other party fails and the other party ultimately succeeds. Envy in this context refers to contempt for another’s gain or resentment that arises from the other party’s fortune. The gain, in this case, is the other party escaping a fate that the self considered deserved (e.g., the perception that the other escaped justice). It is comparable to the standard definition of envy, but does not include desiring what the other party has, as this would also violate the 1:1:1:1 ratio in Affect Engineering, in much the same way that being covetous would for jealousy. If the individual desires what the other party has, then that would be a separate purpose and it would involve an additional emotion.

The Category IV Emotions: Emotive States (and other miscellaneous emotions)

Category IV Emotions, or Emotive States, are include all other emotions not mentioned up to this point. As mentioned earlier, Category IV Emotions include those where the duration of the situation is taken into consideration when classifying an emotion, emotions that are characterized by an interplay between three or more objectives, and emotions where certain variables in the functions may be consistently elevated, depressed, unknown, or fluctuating wildly, among other possibilities. Difficult to generalize and culturally specific emotions would often fall under this category, as, more often than not, they are characterized by an interplay between multiple objectives (e.g., three or more). This category is necessarily broader and more expansive than the other three, and permits some flexibility within Affect Engineering’s classification scheme.

Surprise

Surprise felt for an entity is characterized by a sharp change in the valuation of an entity for a purpose. This could be due, for instance, to the Appraisal variable switching from negative to positive or vice versa. A sudden, unexpected change in any other variable could also lead to Surprise arising.

Joyfulness

Joyfulness felt by the self is characterized by the individual having a significant amount of Negative Anxiety invested into several different entities, often times for different purposes. All of the entities all possessed in ample supply and can be stockpiled easily, and with respect to the purpose or purposes at hand, accomplishing them would be relatively easy.

Restlessness

Restlessness felt by the self is characterized by the individual having a significant amount of Anxiety invested into several different entities, often times for different purposes. All of the entities are needed and in short supply. With respect to the purpose or purposes at hand, accomplishing them will be relatively difficult and a general state of unease would be expected. Restlessness would be the counterpart to Joyfulness.

Helplessness

Helplessness felt by the self for an entity is characterized by the individual having a chronically low sense of control over their situation. This could be modeled by low efficacy components, or even an inability of the self to effectively regulate the emotions themselves. Graphs for Helplessness might take on a variety of different appearances.

Confusion

Confusion felt by the self for an entity is characterized by one or more variables in the function being unknown, only known within a certain range, or varying unpredictably from one instance to another. The valuation of the entity for a specific purpose might oscillate within whatever range is possible based on what is known or suspected with the given information the individual knows.

Greed

Greed in Affect Engineering would be modeled as conflict between at least three purposes. The self, by fulfilling one purpose for the self ends up preventing another party from fulfilling a purpose. Moreover, the self wanted the other party to successfully achieve their purpose, but the self’s actions prevented this. A hypothetical scenario will follow to explain this with the author as the subject.

Scenario A: Buying cookies from a pastry shop for friends.

The subject, Marcus, goes to a pastry shop to buy cookies for his friends. His friends want to enjoy some of the pastry shop’s cookies but they cannot get to the shop to order any before it closes. However, Marcus is able to go and he is more than happy to go there and purchase some cookies to make them happy. However, on his way back to delivering them to his friends, the smell of the cookies proves irresistible and Marcus eats all of the cookies before his friends get to try any of them.

The three objectives under consideration:

1. Marcus’s friends (the other party) want to eat some cookies from the pastry shop but are unable to go there themselves. Their situation and objectives are experienced vicariously by Marcus (i.e., mirrored).
2. Marcus wants to help his friends achieve their objective (eating the cookies) and is able to go to the pastry shop to get the cookies for them.
3. Marcus wants to eat the cookies for himself.

The first two objectives would fall under the Category III emotion of Jealousy, and would be of the indulgent type if Marcus simply could not resist the cookies despite having enough of his own. If Marcus was starving to death and the only way to avoid expiring from hunger was by eating the cookies, the case could be made that it was of the protective type, but this would be unlikely. The third objective, wanting to eat the cookies for himself, would fall under the Category I emotion of Happiness and is a separate objective that is in opposition to the other two.

The collective dynamic between these three objectives would be labeled Greed in Affect Engineering. In the image below, Marcus wanting to eat the cookies would be one of the topmost graphs. Marcus wanting to help his friends enjoy some of the cookies but failing to do so would be on of the bottommost graphs below.

Romantic Love, Limerence and Other Emotions

Romantic love, limerence, and some of the more obscure emotions would likely fall under Category IV as many involve an interplay between three or more objectives. These, and other lesser known emotions such as Schadenfreude, Sonder, Callosity, Sehensucht, Hiraeth, and potentially others will be addressed with Category IV Emotions (article 12).

Preview

In the remaining articles, each category of emotion will be examined more in depth with either contemporary examples or hypothetical ones. Some of the relationships between variables will also be explored with sample functions comprised of the variables introduced in the first five articles. A sample function for both the Avoidance of Pain and Pursuit of Pleasure equations is provided below.

The categories of emotions and their application to real life scenarios can, fortunately, be explored without getting into too much of the math.

Previous: Article 5 of 12 Empathy in Affect Engineering

Next: Article 7 of 12 Category I Emotions: Intra-personal Emotions or Emotions of the Self

Empathy in Affect Engineering

This article gives an overview of empathy in Affect Engineering and is the fifth article in a series designed for the layperson that explains the basics of Affect Engineering as a theory of emotions. Each article will begin with a list of questions that it will aim to address. The sections that follow will be in two parts each. The first part will be a short statement that answers each question as succinctly as possible. The second part will either be an explanation that goes into more detail where needed or explain some of the implications of the short answer.

QUESTIONS

1. How is empathy represented in Affect Engineering?
2. Can the regulation or intensity of empathy in the individual be modeled in Affect Engineering?
3. Can empathy, if it is extended towards other sentient lifeforms, inanimate objects, or intangible entities, be modeled in Affect Engineering?

How is empathy represented in Affect Engineering?

SHORT ANSWER

Empathy is mathematically modeled in Affect Engineering using imaginary numbers, that is to say, √(-1) or “i”. The variable used to signify whether or not empathy is involved is “Self-Distinction.” Vicarious valuations and emotions are mapped on a complex plane, with the real values marking the elapsed time.

IN DEPTH EXPLANATION

Empathy in Affect Engineering is generally understood as a person’s capacity to imagine the self as an other (i.e., non-self) experiencing a feeling. Individuals imagine themselves experiencing how an other would value an entity for a purpose and what they would feel with respect to the entity in a given scenario; this is modeled in a fashion similar to the emotions of the self (Category I emotions in Affect Engineering) and empathy’s presence is signaled by the variable of “Self-Distinction.” Self-Distinction answers the question, “Is the entity being valued for a purpose held by the self, or is the individual imagining the self as an other valuing the object for a purpose held by the other?”

Self-Distinction, in Affect Engineering, is a distinct variable (i.e., having a limit to what its inputs may be) and may only equal either +1 or -1. If the valuation for an object/entity concerns a purpose held by the individual (no empathy involved), then Self-Distinction equals +1. Alternatively, if the valuation for an object/entity concerns a purpose held by an other (empathy involved), then Self-Distinction equals -1. In the functions of Affect Engineering, Self-Distinction is taken to the one-half power (i.e., square root) and is positioned alongside the base of the functions. If no empathy is involved, the output becomes √(+1) or simply one, and a Cartesian plane is used. If empathy is involved, the output becomes ✓(-1) or “i” and an Argand plane (i.e., complex plane) is used to map the valuations for the imaginary numbers, which would then correspond to a vicarious valuation (i.e., the self imagining itself as an other).

Even though individuals are imagining themselves as an other valuing the entity, the 1:1:1:1 ratio (i.e., one entity may be given one value by one person for the fulfillment of one purpose) is still upheld as a principle, but it becomes a 2:2:2:2 ratio where the self’s own valuations respond to or combine and interact with what they imagine the other to be experiencing. This occurs in Category II Emotions (Interpersonal Emotions), Category III Emotions (Compound Interactive Emotions), and some Category IV Emotions (Emotive States).

Although the neurological model above may look overwhelming, it is perhaps easiest to look at one part of it at a time and keep in mind that the relationships are primarily associative; that is to say, things that happen together or in a chain are considered to be linked. When empathy is involved, the box “Other” [located in the middle near the top] in the chart is used, and indicates that the variable of Self-Distinction is -1. The above neurological model is based upon a function for a Category III Emotion in Affect Engineering (Compound Interactive) where the individual is attempting to influence the outcome of the other’s situation. It is also of the protective type for Category III emotions, as the self is attempting to avoid pain and Anxiety is being used to measure value. The counterpart to this would be an indulgent type, where the individual is attempting to pursue pleasure with Negative Anxiety being used.

Excitatory and inhibitory synapses are also incorporated just as in the model for the emotions of the self. Similarly, cognitive appraisal based approaches (starting with the cognitive processes that influence affect and feeling) would begin at top of the chart with signals and neural activity flowing in a predominantly downward direction. Alternatively, more physiological based approaches (starting with the affect and feeling itself) would start at the bottom of the chart with signals and neural activity generally flowing upwards to associate the feeling to something cognitively meaningful.

As the relationships are associative, these groups of neurons are modeled to be firing together and/or in sequence to one another to signify that they are related to one another. For instance, neurons firing to signal a particular entity might be marked with value for a purpose depending on how much Anxiety is being invested into them (i.e., valuing neurons firing at the same time, along with a cluster of neurons corresponding to the purpose they are being valued for). For scenarios concerning empathy, that is, where the individual imagines the self as an other, mirror neurons that fire both when the valuation concerns the self and someone or something the self is observing are one possible means by which an individual’s value system might be organized; alternatively, the individual might possess a separate group of neurons specifically tasked for vicariously valuing an other’s response. Either one of these possibilities could be modeled. In the above neurological model, the individual is acting to influence the outcome of the observed party (i.e., the other), and the two purposes are linked to one another; the perceived success or failure of the other has an influence on a purpose held by the self.

Can the regulation or intensity of empathy in the individual be modeled in Affect Engineering? 

SHORT ANSWER

Yes, the regulation and intensity of empathy can be modeled with coefficients and modifiers to those coefficients to signify the self’s identification level with an other.

IN DEPTH EXPLANATION

The different degrees to which an individual may or may not empathize with an other is modeled with coefficients alongside the functions in Affect Engineering.  It is well documented throughout history that people, for one reason or another, identify with certain groups of people or animals more easily than others. For groups that people do not identify with, they might even ignore them altogether, treating them as if they did not even exist. These coefficients are just outside of the Self-Distinction variable and represent the identification level of the self to an other target when empathy is involved. A larger coefficient (e.g., one) indicates that the self strongly identifies with the other individual and vicariously values the entity to the same degree that they would if they themselves were in the other’s position.

Identification levels can be illustrated with hypothetical sentient blobs of color and subtractive color mixing; this is a parallel for identifying with others based on socially constructed concepts such as race.

In the above identification chart, green blobs would be expected to identify strongest with other green blobs, because they share the fact of their greenness together. A coefficient of one for the identification level implies that the self identifies with the other perfectly. The self’s identification level with the other green blob is 100% and does not influence the self’s capacity to empathize at all; this serves as a baseline. Hence, the identification level chart above for the colored blobs reveals that a green blob would identify with another green blob perfectly.

In contrast, a smaller coefficient, (e.g., one-half or 1/2) would model that the self vicariously values the entity for a purpose at one-half of the intensity that they imagine an other would experience it at. Subsequently, the intensity of the emotion felt will be reduced. Blue and yellow paint mixed together will yield green; from a green blob’s perspective, this would lead to an identification level of one-half for both the yellow and blue blobs. This might be valuable to the individual for distancing the self from the plight of others in the face of overwhelming tragedy, in order to mitigate vicariously felt trauma. It might even just stem from the fact that yellow and blue are different enough from green that this could lead a green blob to not having a strong personal connection to the target (i.e., the other). This might serve the aim of resource management, given that empathizing with everyone and everything would potentially exhaust one’s available emotional resources quickly. Alternatively, it might stem from bias against the unknown.

A green blob in this case, might be expected to identify with a blue or yellow blob at one-half the level they would if they were in their position themselves. What this means is that the green blob would internalize vicarious valuations at approximately one-half the level a blue or yellow blog perceives them. It would take the vicarious valuations of two blue blobs, two yellow blobs, or a blue and a yellow blob together to equal that of one green blob, if they were all experiencing the same trauma or plight.

In cases where the coefficient for identification is set to zero, the self has no vicarious valuation for what they imagine an other would experience it (i.e., reduced to zero). The self effectively does not identify with the other at all, which might arise in scenarios where the self deems it is necessary to distance itself from an other. It might also arise from refusing to acknowledge the other as being worthy of empathy. This might be done by the individual in cases where an other or group of others is dehumanized so that the self does not empathize with their suffering, such as in scenarios where the other has committed offenses that the self deems unforgivable (e.g., war crimes, or serial killers). The usefulness here might be for resource management of emotional energy, or for maintaining one’s worldviews concerning morality and adherence to a code of ethics. If the self empathizes with an other whose conduct persistently violates what the self considers acceptable behavior, then cognitive dissonance would be one of the expected results; choosing to not identify, and subsequently not empathize with the other, would be one way to resolve the cognitive dissonance, or prevent it from arising in the first place.

In the above illustration, the green blob has not identified at all with the red blob, its complementary and opposite color. No matter how many red blobs are present, because the coefficient for the green blob’s identification level with the red blobs is zero, the green blob will effectively dismiss any and all vicarious valuations that arise from observing a red blob. It bears mentioning that such a blanket generalization of the red blobs would likely be fraught with errors in most cases.

On the opposite end, if one wished to model a situation where the self over-empathizes (e.g., hyper-empathy) or vicariously experiences the valuations and corresponding emotions to a greater degree than they imagine the other would experience it, then this could be modeled with coefficients greater than one.  For example, a coefficient of three where empathy is involved, or 3 x √(-1), would hold that the self vicariously values the entity at three times the intensity that they imagine the other to experience it. This identification level formation may be voluntary, involuntary, or a mix of both depending on what assumptions a scientific observer wishes to use in a setup of function in Affect Engineering.  Notwithstanding, the corresponding intensity of the emotion felt would also be modeled to be greater in the above example.  A person who is overly sensitive to the wants and needs of others may easily blow things out of proportion if they overestimate an other’s situation in this manner, and feel the emotion more strongly than they would if they were in that position themselves. This might happen, for instance, between a parent and a child.

Can empathy, if it is extended towards other sentient lifeforms, inanimate objects, or intangible entities, be modeled in Affect Engineering?

SHORT ANSWER

Yes, empathy, if extended towards other sentient lifeforms, towards inanimate objects, or towards intangible entities for which the individual imagines what the object would feel if it could feel, can be modeled in Affect Engineering.

IN DEPTH EXPLANATION

The extension of empathy is not limited to other human beings in Affect Engineering. It may be extended towards other creatures (e.g., animals, pets, plants, other wildlife), towards inanimate objects (e.g., rocks, personal possessions like a doll or stuffed animal, vehicles, etc), or towards intangible concepts (e.g., ideas, fictional characters in a story, vague labels for groups of people, nations, etc). In each of these cases there are important things to consider.

Empathy Extended Towards Other Lifeforms 

This is perhaps the most easily recognizable and relatable form of empathy due to the individual being able to readily witness the responses, behaviors, and actions of an other (e.g., lifeform in this case) they are empathizing with. Its usefulness in these scenarios is also somewhat self-evident as it is often directly tied to survival, or at least it is easier to make this connection when other lifeforms are involved. For instance, if, while hiking in a wooded area, one encounters and startles a mountain lion, being able to empathize with, or at the very least, grasp a rudimentary understanding of the mountain lion’s state of heightened alarm, becomes potentially life saving knowledge. One’s chances of surviving the encounter unscathed would go up significantly by taking this into account and backing away slowly instead of continuing in a business as usual manner.

Empathy Extended Towards Inanimate Objects

Regarding inanimate objects such as stuff animals and dolls, the use of empathy can serve a number of functions.  In childhood, it may serve the role of helping a child to develop their empathy skills through practice and imaginative play. A stuffed teddy bear for example, is not going to give any feedback at a tea party, so it compels the child to imagine and anticipate the needs, albeit imaginary, of the toy.

Imaginative play with a stuff teddy bear is essentially empathy practice, more so if the child at play holds up both ends of the conversation, such as by asking the stuffed animal or doll, “Would you like some more tea?” and then responds for the stuffed bear, “Yes, I would. Thank you.”

While the parallels for this to eventually empathizing with people are readily apparent, sometimes empathizing with an inanimate object simply serves the function of inspiring them to take better care of the inanimate object. Plenty of people have given nicknames to the cars they drive, private planes they fly, boats they pilot, or they have anthropomorphized other machines, vehicles, or material possessions they own. If they are an adult, one would presume that they have hopefully already learned to empathize with other people, and are not doing it to practice for future human interactions. In the case of these inanimate objects, anticipating the maintenance needs of large/heavy machinery is also important for keeping it functioning properly. Like stuffed animals, dolls, or action figures, these inanimate objects cannot say what they need, unless they have been electronically programmed that way, such as a car’s check engine light.

Empathy Extended Towards Intangible Concepts 

Thirdly, regarding the use of empathy with intangible objects, empathy may also be employed for other uses, such as a means of self-comfort (e.g., in the case of a lonely child with an imaginary friend) and is not solely restricted to practice. Empathizing with intangible objects may also be used for entertainment value, such as in the case of reading a fictional horror and romance novels. It may also be used for projective purposes if one wishes to forecast what a loosely defined group of people or things might value, feel, or do, such as a culture, society, or country, if they do not have a clearly defined center.

Summary

In sum, for each of these cases, where the self empathizes with other lifeforms, inanimate entities, and intangible entities, empathy can be modeled in Affect Engineering with the variable of Self-Distinction. However, as the employment of empathy in these instances goes from the more concrete (e.g., fauna and flora that have motives that can be reasonably deduced from evidence) towards the increasingly abstract (e.g., stuffed animals, dolls, statues, and cars with motives that are frequently fabricated) it is important to keep in mind that empathy is oftentimes imaginative in its nature. This is both a blessing and a curse.

Preview

The organizing principles behind the four categories of emotions in Affect Engineering will be covered in the sixth article. Thereafter, each emotion’s core distinguishing features will be covered in the remaining six.

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