Do Emotional Burdens Feel Like Physical Burdens

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Do Emotional Burdens Feel Like Physical Burdens?
Conceptual Metaphors and Somatic Imagery in
Appraisal
Lisa M. LindemanUniversity of Wisconsin,
Madisonllindeman_at_wisc.edu
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Emotional Reactions to Life Events
You lose your job.
DevastationThe ground has crumbled beneath your
feet.
ReliefA burden has been lifted. Youre free.
Same event, different emotions
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Cognitive Theories of Emotion

• Emotions often depend on appraisals how events
  are conceptualized, interpreted or
  construed.(Arnold Gasson, 1954 Arnold, 1960,
  1970 Lazarus, 1966 )
• Negative appraisals lead to emotion
  pathology.(Abramson et al., 1989 Beck, 1976
  Ellis, 1973)

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Multiple Pathways to Emotion
Arnold Lazarus Frijda Scherer Roseman Smith
Kirby
LeDoux Watson Zajonc Cosmides Toobey
Emotion
Tomkins Ekman
Physical pain or pleasure
Facial feedback
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How Do Concepts Create Emotion?
?
Conceptual Evaluation
Emotional Response
This bill is too much for us to handle.
Sadness, despair

• What are the causal mechanisms?
• How does cognition influence the body?

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What Does Cognitive Science Say About Concepts?

• Embodied Cognition
• Concepts are rooted in bodily sensorimotor
  experience(Lakoff Johnson, 1980 Barsalou,
  1999 Glenberg Kaschak, 2002 Stanfield
  Zwaan, 2001)
• Not arbitrary symbols
• Sensations and actions are the building blocks of
  abstract thought

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Concepts as Simulations

• Concepts involve the mental simulation of
  perception and action(Gallese Lakoff, 2005
  Gallese, 2003)
• Imagery shares neural substrates with actual
  perception and action. (Finke, 1980 Kosslyn et
  al., 1979, 1993 Cooper Shepard, 1973 Farah et
  al., 1988)
• Multimodal neurons in sensorimotor cortices
• The same neural substrate used in imagining is
  used in understanding.

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Conceptual Metaphor Theory

• We think metaphorically.(Lakoff Johnson, 1980
  Reddy, 1993)
• A sensorimotor domain of experience is used to
  conceptualize an abstract domain.
• Metaphorical concepts also involve the mental
  simulation of perception and action(Gallese
  Lakoff, 2005 Gallese, 2003)

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Metaphorical Simulation Model of Emotion

• Abstract concepts in appraisal are metaphorical.
• Appraisal metaphors also involve the simulation
  of perceptions and action.
• Simulations are felt as emotions.
• Simulation leads to some corresponding bodily
  changes and direct stimulus effects.
• Sensorimotor imagery found to have physiological
  effects (Lang et al., 1980 Bauer Craighead,
  1979 Carroll et al., 1982 Kojo, 1985, 1990)

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Metaphor Simulation Model
Some emotions are simulations of bodily
experiences that result when we conceptualize the
abstract, personal meaning of an event in terms
of that experience.
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Example Devastation

• CONCEPT Sudden total loss of financial or
  emotional support
• METAPHOR Loss of physical supportThe bottom
  fell out. They pulled the rug out from underneath
  me.
• SIMULATION Falling, earthquake
• FEELINGS Imbalance, shakiness, weightlessness,
  loss of muscle tone in legs, increased heart rate

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Example Disgust

• CONCEPT Exposure to disagreeable message,
  dangerously abnormal act, or gruesomeness
• METAPHOR Contact with a foul tasting objectHer
  speech was distasteful. The guy is a slimeball.
• SIMULATION Tasting something rotten, rancid,
  bitter
• FEELINGS Nausea, gagging, unpleasant sensations
  in mouth and throat

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Social and Moral Disgust

• Left anterior insula involved in tasting foul
  substances, also in subjective experience and
  observation of disgust(Phillips et al., 1997
  Wicker et al., 2003)
• Stimulation of anterior insula ? feelings of
  nausea and sickess, unpleasant sensations in
  mouth and throat(Penfield Faulk, 1955
  Krolak-Salmon et al., 2003)
• Innate oral revulsion for bitter subtances, but
  social disgust arises later in development(Peiper
  , 1963 Steiner, 1979 Rozin et al., 1986)

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Example Emotional Burdens

• CONCEPT Obligation, work, difficulty, financial
  debt
• METAPHOR Physical burdenI have a lot on my
  shoulders. Im under a lot of pressure.
• SIMULATION Carrying a heavy load
• FEELINGS Heaviness, pressure, strain, tension in
  shoulders, labored breathing

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Experiment Background

• When shouldering a heavy weight, hills look
  steeper (Bhalla and Proffitt, 1999)
• What if the burden were emotional rather than
  physical?
• Would slope estimates increase?

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Experiment Procedure
Emotion Induction Voice recording of statements
similar to guided imagery You have so much work
to do.
Visual Measure
Two-Dimensional Images of Hills
Verbal Measure What is the angle of incline?
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Stimuli
Photos (8)
Drawings (4)
Frontal Views(3)
Side Views(9)
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Results Physical vs. No Burden
Average Percent Overestimation for All HillsN
41, 18 Burden / 23 No Burden
Visual Estimate
Verbal Estimate
NON SIGNIFICANT
NON SIGNIFICANT
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Results Physical vs. No Burden
Side ViewsN 41, 18 Burden / 23 No Burden
Visual Estimate
Verbal Estimate
p lt .05
p lt .05
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Results Physical vs. No Burden
Side Views Artists DrawingsN 41, 18 Burden /
23 No Burden
Visual Estimate
Verbal Estimate
p lt .05
p lt .05
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Conclusion

• Physical burdens make unambiguous two-dimensional
  side views of hills look steeper.
• Next steps Investigate effects of emotional
  burdens on slope perception for this subset of
  hills.

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Thank You!

• Lyn Y. Abramson
• Richard J. Davidson
• Morton Gernsbacher
• Art Glenberg
• Heather Abercrombie
• Jack Nitschke
• Jessica A. Prochaska
• Emily R. Mouilso
• Sam D. Swenson
• Liz Majka

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Questions
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Conceptual vs. Linguistic Metaphor

• Conceptual
• Non-verbal / Pre-verbal
• Represents a way of seeing things
• Takes the form of mental simulations of
  perceptions and actions
• Motivates linguistic expressions, gestures, art
  and symbol

• Linguistic
• Verbal (arises age 4)
• More colorful, specific
• Can become cliché
• Rough reflection of underlying metaphorical
  concepts

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Development of Metaphors

• Not arbitrary but based on common human
  experiences
• A sort of associative learning
• Originally, the two domains are conflated but
  later one comes to represent the other.(Johnson,
  1997 Grady, 1997)

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Conceptual Metaphor Evidence

• Linguistic
• Systematicity of metaphorical expressions
• Novel extensions of conventional metaphors
• Polysemy
• Psychological
• Mental images for idioms constrained by
  conceptual metaphors governing idiom(Gibbs
  OBrien, 1990)
• See Metaphors We Live By, by George Lakoff and
  Mark Johnson (1980)

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Metaphors As Byproducts?

• Metaphors for emotion
• Metaphorical descriptions of emotion
• Reflect emotion phenomenology

• Metaphors in appraisal
• Apt metaphors for life event
• Predict emotion phenomenology

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Groups
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Emotional Experience

• Mental
• Subjective sensations intrinsic to imagery
  involving various sensory modalitiesHeaviness,
  pressure, tingling
• Physical
• Physiological and motor effects of imageryMuscle
  tension, labored breathing, warmth or coldness
• Innate responses to imagined stimuliIncreased
  heart rate, flinching, gasping, hunger, goose
  bumps

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Multiple Pathways to Emotion
Where the Metaphor Simulation Model Fits In
Real-World EventSensorimotor stimuli, remembered
or imagined stimuli
Cognitive Processing
CONCEPTUAL METAPHOR
Innate or learned EMOTION response programs,
physiological processes, or behavioral reflexes
EMOTIONBodily sensations and motor impulses
(from SOURCE DOMAIN of metaphor)
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Example Feeling Unimportant

• CONCEPT Being unimportant to others
• METAPHOR Being too light to have any effect on
  your physical surroundingsI am nothing. I carry
  no weight. People look right through me.
• SIMULATION Light weight, unperturbed motion
• FEELINGS Lightness, uncomfortable lack of motor
  resistance

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Example Frustration

• CONCEPT Lack of freedom of choice, limitations
• METAPHOR Physical restraint, lack of freedom of
  movement
• SIMULATION Struggling to move, being all tied up
• FEELINGS Sensations of pressure around the arms
  and upper body, urge to break free of the
  restraint

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Sadness, Hopelessness

• CONCEPT Inability to act or perform a task due
  to personal failure, helplessness
• METAPHOR Inability to move due to bodily
  failureIm too weak to get through this crisis.
  I dont have the energy to reach the finish line
  for this project.
• SIMULATION Paralysis, exhaustion
• FEELINGS Lethargy, immobility, sluggishness

This homework is impossible!
Ill never get my thesis done!
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• The mind is its own place, and in itself, can
  make heaven of Hell,
• and a hell of Heaven. -- John Milton
• There is nothing either good or bad
• but thinking makes it so.
• -- Shakespeare