Psychology Colloquium Series | Nicholas Coles, Nov. 6

The Psychology Colloquium Series presents Nicholas Coles discussing "What is emotion? Methodological and quantitative considerations in the study of emotion phenomenology and physiology" on Monday, Nov. 6, from 10:45-11:40 a.m. in Porter Hall 105.

Abstract:  A remarkable feature of emotions is that they are felt — we can experience the sting of rejection just as we can experience the sting of an ant bite. These emotional experiences are a fundamental part of the human condition. As such, researchers across multiple disciplines seek to understand, predict (e.g., via emotion recognition AI), and improve the emotions that are so central to our day-to-day experiences.

In this talk, Dr. Nicholas Coles will review methodological and quantitative approaches designed to illuminate the nature of emotional experience. Many theorists posit that emotional experience is built off sensations emanating from the peripheral nervous system (e.g., tensed muscles and accelerated hearts). Dr. Coles will review how these ideas have recently been probed via meta-analysis, a global adversarial collaboration, cross-cultural tests of outstanding methodological issues, and a crowdsourced machine learning challenge. Afterwards, Dr. Coles will describe future research plans, including (1) a proposed effort to document how the peripheral nervous system behaves in a variety of emotional contexts and cultures, and (2) ongoing cross-cultural investigations of the nature and potential benefits of gratitude.