Emotion
The study of emotion is currently enjoying a great deal of attention from a variety of scholars. One school of thought says emotions are comprised of two elements: a state of physiological arousal and cognition appropriate to this state. Physiological arousal may be experienced as that "rush" or "high" you experience when faced with something exciting or dangerous or pleasurable. The cognitive aspect of emotion refers to how you perceive or describe the physiological arousal. Think about how you respond to the emotion you feel when seeing a loved one after an absence. you might experience that rush we have described and then feel you have to act in a certain way. For some people, hugging the loved one or kissing him or her would be appropriate. We learn how to respond to the rush we experience. Because the cognitive aspect of emotion is most applicable to our understanding of how persuaders use emotion.
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Defining Emotion
Porter and Samovar explain that when we are born, we do not have an awareness of emotions such as shame, pride or remorse. emotions are something we learn. Emotions are belief systems, or schemas, that guide how we understand our feelings and how we organize our responses to those feelings. Emotions are social constructions. Hyde (1984) puts it another way; Before we are aware of emotion, we must be conscious of the emotion, and this consciousness emerges through our interaction with the world (Persuasion in the Media Age by Timothy A. Borchers, pg. 305).
Our belief systems, or schemas, about emotions are based on beliefs we learn. These belief systems help us to identify when we are experiencing a certain emotion. They allow us to actively interpret emotional situations in. which we find ourselves. So despite the popularity of such cliches, we do not "fall in love" or become "paralyzed by fear." Love and fear are emotions that we learn about. Averill (1980) argues that we also learn to respond to emotions based upon our interactions with others in our culture. We learn from our parents, siblings or television characters what it means to fall in love with someone. We come to an understanding of what happiness means. We learn appropriate and inappropriate responses to our anger. Finally, we express emotions in ways that are acceptable to members of our culture (Persuasion, pg. 305).
Averill also explains that emotions are the enactment of transitory social roles. A role he explains is a socially prescribed set of responses followed by an individual in a given situation. We constantly interpret our situation and choose from among the emotions we have learned to enact. At a funeral we play the role of grieving person; at a wedding we enact those behaviors associated with happiness. We learn about emotions from others, and this forms the basis for how we express emotions (Persuasion, pg. 305).
As we learn about emotions from others, we learn about ourselves as well. We learn what kind of person we think we should be. Gerard A. Hauser (1986) explains that emotions involve our self-esteem or our sense of who we are or ought to be. This is because we learn what our culture thinks are the appropriate emotional responses and behaviors in given situations. When we learn about emotions, we learn what is acceptable or normal for our culture. We measure ourselves against this norm to see how we compare. If we experience the same emotions as others, we feel good about ourselves. If we do not, we feel bad about ourselves. Our image of what kind of person we should be is inherently tied to what others say we should be (Persuasion, pg. 305).
Being oriented toward the world by emotions has ideological implications. Much advertising today focuses on how we experience happiness. Whether it be owning a new house, driving a particular make of car or wearing clothes from a particular store, persuaders often seek to shape our belief system about what it takes to experience happiness. We learn that to express happiness, we need to engage in certain behaviors. We experience feelings of happiness because of where we live, what we drive or what we wear. Happiness is connected to our consumption of products and services. The chaining out of the happiness emotion clearly benefits some members of society. On the other hand, those who cannot afford to purchase products or services that are thought to bring happiness experience shame, guilt or anger (Persuasion, pg. 305). |
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