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Cambridge University Press
0521816521 - Feelings and Emotions - The Amsterdam Symposium - Edited by Antony S. R. Manstead, Nico Frijda, and Agneta Fischer
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1

Introduction

Antony S. R. Manstead, Nico H. Frijda,
and Agneta H. Fischer

THE AMSTERDAM SYMPOSIUM

This book arose from the twenty-four keynote papers presented at a meeting that had the same title as this volume: "Feelings and Emotions: The Amsterdam Symposium." It was held in June 2001, in Amsterdam, and was hosted by the Department of Psychology at the University of Amsterdam.

Our purpose in organizing this symposium was to review the current state of the art of research on emotions from a multidisciplinary perspective. Stock-taking of this kind has been undertaken before. In 1927 a meeting was held under the title Feelings and Emotions: The Wittenberg Symposium (Reymert, 1928). In 1948 Feelings and Emotions: The Mooseheart Symposium was held in Chicago (Reymert, 1950); and in 1969 Feelings and Emotions: The Loyola Symposium took place at Loyola University, again in Chicago (Arnold, 1970). Those interested in knowing more about these earlier Feelings and Emotions symposia can find the title pages of all three of these books reproduced in the present volume, following p. 4.

The Amsterdam Symposium was inspired by these previous efforts and borrowed its title from them. The turn of the century seemed to be an appropriate moment to take stock of current scientific reflection on emotions. Emotions are central to human behavior and experience. This central role notwithstanding, theory and research had largely ignored emotions during most of the twentieth century. This situation changed rather dramatically during the last thirty years of that century, however. An upsurge of interest was apparent in a number of disciplines, including psychology, biology, sociology, anthropology, philosophy, neuroscience, economics, psychiatry, and cognitive science. Important research was performed in all of these fields, and major new insights were obtained. It seemed worthwhile to us, the organizers of the symposium, to reflect on where we now stand.

FIGURE 1.1. Pictured above are eighteen of the twenty-four speakers at the Amsterdam Symposium. From left to right: Batja Mesquita, Nancy Sherman, Candace Clark, Frans de Waal, Robert Frank (in rear), Bob Solomon (in front), Keith Oatley, John Cacioppo, Arne Ohman, Rick Shweder, Klaus Scherer, Jaak Panksepp, Bob Zajonc, Peter Salovey, Kent Berridge, Peggy Thoits, Jon Elster, and Nico Frijda.

With the assistance of an advisory board of eminent figures in the field of emotion, twenty-four keynote speakers were invited to summarize their views of the domain. They represented most of the disciplines mentioned above. Each speaker made a forty-five-minute presentation; and following each half-day group of three lectures there was a forty-five-minute general discussion. The number of keynote speakers was limited by our expectation that four days would be the maximum that most participants (speakers and audience alike) could devote to the symposium, and by our determination to avoid parallel sessions. The speakers invited therefore emerged from a severe selection process. We began with a much longer list of speakers, each of whom would have merited an invitation. Although we were of course disappointed and frustrated by not being able to include some prominent and productive researchers, we were (and remain) convinced that the final selection of speakers struck a good balance between the importance of the speaker's own theoretical contribution to emotion research and the need to have a range of academic disciplines.

In addition to the keynote presentations and general discussions, two poster sessions were held. About 150 posters were accepted by the program committee. These sessions enabled the presenters (many of whom were Ph.D. students or postdoctoral researchers) to present their own work and interests to others, including, of course, the keynote speakers and other established researchers who attended the meeting.

As well as thanking the keynote speakers, all of whom are represented in this volume, and the audience, who helped to create lively and interesting discussions, we would like to acknowledge the financial support that made the symposium (and therefore this book) possible. Generous support was received from the Royal Netherlands Academy of Science (KNAW); the Netherlands Organization for Scientific Research (NWO); the Netherlands Convention Bureau; the European Commission; the European Association of Experimental Social Psychology; the board of the University of Amsterdam; the Department of Psychology at the University of Amsterdam, and the experimental and social psychology programs within that department.

We also thank the members of the advisory committee who helped in suggesting potential keynote speakers from the various disciplines and to evaluate proposals made by the organizers: Roy D'Andrade, Paul Ekman, Jan van Hooff, Richard Lazarus, George Mandler, Martha Nussbaum, Keith Oatley, Jaak Panksepp, W. Gerrod Parrott, Bernard Rimé, Herbert Simon, and Robert Zajonc.

Last but not least, we express heartfelt gratitude to Reyna Veldhuis, who was a superb conference manager, and our sincere thanks to Albina Shayevich, who provided invaluable help with the indexing of this book.

THE PRESENT VOLUME

The rest of the chapters in this book provide what we believe to be a representative coverage of the major research domains in the study of emotions. These include the nature of basic emotional mechanisms, from a psychological and from a neuroscientific point of view (Berridge, Cacioppo et al., Isen, Öhman & Wiens, Panksepp, Zajonc); the neural correlates of emotional processes (Damasio, Winston & Dolan, Panksepp); the nature of emotional feelings (Cacioppo, Damasio, Winston & Dolan, Frijda, Panksepp); the relationships of emotions to action, rationality, and decisions (Elster, Frijda, Isen, Mellers); the nature of the processes leading to, as well as constituting, emotions (Dunn, Ekman, Scherer); and critical issues surrounding the very concept of emotions, such as those of its presumed passivity, or its distinction from rationality (Elster, Oatley, Shweder, Solomon). In several chapters the authors investigate the fundamental role of emotions in social interaction and in moral issues (Clark, de Waal, Frank, Salovey et al., Sherman), and the complex ways in which emotional experience and behavior relate to the social and cultural context (Clark, Mesquita & Markus, Shweder).

The chapters also clearly reflect the diversity of current methodological approaches to the study of emotions: neuroscientific investigations (Berridge, Damasio, Winston & Dolan, Panksepp); experimental psychological approaches (Cacioppo et al., Isen, Öhman, Mellers, Scherer, Zajonc); questionnaire research in experimental or interview contexts (Mesquita, Salovey); ethologically inspired observations of humans (Dunn) and infrahumans (de Waal); sociological and/or anthropological analyses (Clark, Shweder, Thoits); the analysis of fiction (Oatley); and theoretical reflection (Ekman, Elster, Frank, Frijda, Sherman, Solomon).

We feel that the keynote presentations are representative of current research efforts and orientations with respect to emotions. Together they provide an overview of what is currently being studied and thought about emotions in the variety of disciplines concerned. We could have structured the chapters in a number of ways, each of which would have had a certain logic and coherence. The way they are organized is in terms of five themes: (1) the nature of feelings and emotions; (2) basic psychological processes in feelings and emotions; (3) the impact of affect; (4) feelings and emotions in their sociocultural context; and (5) feelings, emotions, and morality. The papers that formed the basis of these chapters generated a great deal of interest and discussion during the symposium. We believe that readers will also find them informative and provocative.

References

Arnold, M. B. (Ed.) (1970). Feelings and emotions: The Loyola symposium. New York: Academic Press.

Reymert, M. L. (Ed.) (1928). Feelings and emotions: The Wittenberg symposium. Worcester, MA: Clark University Press.

Reymert, M. L. (Ed.) (1950). Feelings and emotions: The Mooseheart symposium. New York: McGraw-Hill.

PART I

THE NATURE OF FEELINGS AND EMOTIONS