Emotions are bodily and social processes that are shaped by cultural influences and biological constraints that are best understood in an evolutionary context. The scientific study of emotions goes back more than a century, but has been consistently hampered by a lack of consensus regarding how to define and how to measure emotion. Obviously, the study of collective emotional processes in Cyberspace depends to a large degree on operational definitions of what constitutes emotions and conventions regarding measurement. This presentation will outline some of the theoretical assumptions regarding what emotions are, how they come about in the individual and in social interaction, and how different affective components, such as feeling, expression, and physiological activation relate to each other.

Emotions are typically conceived of as brief changes (seconds to minutes) in bodily states, in response to external or internal events of personal significance. I will discuss how emotions differ from related concepts, such as attitudes, opinions, and moods. Some emotion theories refer particularly to certain “basic emotions” that are thought to be universal, such as happiness, or anger. In contrast, some researchers argue for a dimensional approach to emotions. Here emotional states are described according to their position in a two- or three dimensional space that includes hedonic valence, arousal, and dominance. This is the framework chosen by the CYBEREMOTIONS consortium. However, due to certain theoretical considerations and recent empirical evidence, we have also considered a bivalent framework, where co-activation of positive and negative states is possible. This has particular consequences for the measurement of emotions from text by sentiment analysis.

Lastly, I will discuss how emotions in the individual may relate to emotions in social interactions at different levels of complexity (such as dyads or triads, small groups, institutions, communities), and how emotion and emotion regulation are best considered together.

• Legal notice:
  

  Copyright (c) Pielaszek Research, all rights reserved.
  The above materials, including auxiliary resources, are subject to Publisher's copyright and the Author(s) intellectual rights. Without limiting Author(s) rights under respective Copyright Transfer Agreement, no part of the above documents may be reproduced without the express written permission of Pielaszek Research, the Publisher. Express permission from the Author(s) is required to use the above materials for academic purposes, such as lectures or scientific presentations.
  In every case, proper references including Author(s) name(s) and URL of this webpage: https://science24.com/paper/28466 must be provided.

1. Cyberemotions in the Laboratory