The subjective experience of emotion: a fearful view
Section snippets
Measuring subjective experiences
Before considering different approaches to subjective experiences, it is important to discuss how these unobservable private events are studied. Scientific assessments of inner experiences require some form of self-reporting [12, 13]. People can typically give either a verbal or a nonverbal report of information to which they have introspective access, but cannot provide a verbal report of information that is only processed nonconsciously [6, 14, 15]. Fractures between conscious and
Contemporary views of subjective emotional experiences in relation to brain circuits
Four contemporary approaches to subjective emotional experiences in the brain, and the historical roots of each, are described below. Included are approaches in the traditions of Charles Darwin, William James, behaviorism, and cognitive psychology.
1. The Neuro-Darwinian Approach: Subjective Fear is an Innate State of Mind Inherited from Animal Ancestors. In his treatise on human and animal emotion, Darwin defined emotions as innate “states of mind” that humans have inherited from animal
Conscious feelings in clinical assessment
A major reason why people seek the help of mental health specialists is because they feel bad and want to feel better. A treatment that reduces behavior (freezing, behavioral timidity, avoidance) and physiology (hyperarousal) but does not diminish subjectively reported fearful feelings is not likely to be viewed as a satisfactory outcome by the afflicted person.
In the contemporary cognitive therapy literature, self-reports, and the subjective experiences that these reports reflect, have not
Conflict of interest statement
Nothing declared.
Funding
Funded in part by the James S. McDonnell Foundation 21st Century Science Initiative in Understanding Human Cognition – Special Initiative.
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