Emotion and Cognition: Reactions
Emotion and cognition are inextricably linked. In fact, they are two subsystems of the same neural network and can be considered two sides of the same coin. So it stands to reason that properties uncovered about one "heads" could be similar to properties of "tails." Yet, researchers appear to have not examined them in the same fashion. I propose that looking at emotion under the same microscope used for cognition will provide new insights into the phenomenon. Edwin Hutchins (1995) took cognition out of the laboratory to study it "in the wild." I think that this approach is necessary for true understanding of emotion. More specifically, I believe that Hutchins' (1995) view of distributed cognition can be used as a methodological model and theoretical lens for uncovering the distributed properties of emotion.
Hutchins' work approaches cognition as having two layers of organization: the computational and the social. These layers combine to form socially distributed cognition which serves to constrain behavior in particular ways. Similarly, we can look at emotion as having two layers: the emotional and the social. The resulting socially distributed emotion might also constrain individual behavior. In addition to social influences, cognition also occurs in a rich environment consisting of cultural influences. Hutchins (1995) found that such a complex environment must affect cognition. Researchers have found that emotion, too, occurs not in a vacuum but in an environment teeming with elements that will affect its character. For example, in North American work culture, many emotional responses are curtailed due to the social and cultural environment found therein.
Hutchins has taken cognition out of the heads of individuals and instead views representations of such situated cognition "are residua of a process enacted by a community of practice rather than idiosyncratic inventions of their individual users (Hutchins, 1995, p.130). In looking at emotion as distributed we must consider that, as with cognition, there are no truly idiosyncratic emotional responses occurring in an individual head. It seems as though the emotional responses exhibited by an individual falls within the appropriate boundaries of that individual's community of practice.
In his work with a navigational team, Hutchins determined that "a particular kind of social organization permits individuals to combine their efforts in ways that produce results . . . that could not be produced by an individual . . . working alone" (Hutchins, 1995, p. 175). Similarly, social organizations can allow individuals to use their emotions to their benefit. This occurs in cooperative work groups where frustration may rest with one individual as another takes on the emotional role of optimist in order to insure that quality work is produced. Also, within family units, different members typically take on different emotional roles which, when taken together, can create a strong unit.
Hutchins also saw that cognition was distributed through time. Cognitive processes among team members will build on each other as time progresses. This appears to be a property of emotion and will arise as different stages of mourning occurring throughout the course of a loved one's lengthy illness.
Along with looking at cognition as socially distributed and dependent upon
complex environmental factors, Hutchins establishes that cognition relies upon the division and coordination of those factors. This division and coordination creates affordances and constraints on cognition. Thus, cognition is "realized through the creation, transformation, and propagation of representational states" both and outside of the individual (Hutchins, 1995, p. 49). On type of representational state involves the use of tools. In Hutchins' work different navigational tools were used in concert to achieve the task of bringing a ship to port. I see these representational states as a property of emotion as well as cognition. In fact, people often use tools, such as journals, letters, and athletic equipment, to find and express their emotional states. One individual may choose to express her emotions through journaling. She may then choose to share her actual writing or perhaps transform her writing into speech as she speaks with a friend. Similarly, an individual may choose to participate in a sport while working through an emotional state. A soccer player may propagate her emotional state while kicking the ball or responding aggressively to an opponent.
Hutchins asserts, "I believe the real power of human cognition lies in our ability to flexibly construct functional systems that accomplish our goals by bringing bits of structure into coordination" (Hutchins, 1995, p. 316). I agree with him and believe that this power can be translated as the power of emotion as individuals are able to bring various emotional representational states into coordination.
As of this point, I could find no research in this particular direction. Instead, I could only contemplate emotion as a distributed concept by taking a look at some personal scenarios and, at times, running these ideas past other individuals who were a part of these scenarios. My first thoughts went to the offloading of emotion into objects in the environment. I could immediately picture the small, flowered box that I own that holds letters and rememberances from a former relationship. As part of my everyday life I do not feel nostalgia or regret or loss, but I can easily sit down with this box, examine the contents, and invoke these emotions, merely putting the emotions away with the box when I am finished. Another personal thought involved emotions distributed socially. Looking back at having injured my wrist while hiking, I have realized that many of my emotions were propagated to another member of my hiking party. Specifically my emotional response to falling and needing to hike one hour back to the car appeared as confidence and courage. My mother's response to the same situation was fear and anxiety. During the hike back, my mother adopted my emotional state while allowing her own to be sublimated. Once we reached the hospital and my mother and I were separated, she was unable to maintain an emotional response approximating mine and instead fell back on her initial fear and anxiety.
I acknowledge that the application of Hutchins' ideas to emotion here is based strictly on speculation. I hope that in the future, researchers will consider these connections and look at them as questions to be researched rather than just dismissing them as speculations and personal experiences of one student.
feather images © Tara Prindle 2000, NativeTech: Native American Technology and Art. Internet URL: http://www.nativetech.org
Emotion and Cognition © Courtney Glazer 2000