Robotics Reference
In-Depth Information
Walter Cannon and Philip Bard oppose this view, suggesting that we first
feel an emotion and then act according to how our brain appraises that
emotion.
In order to simulate human emotions and their associated behav-
iours in robots, it is first necessary to be able to analyse emotions in
terms of their classification and their strength. William Wundt classi-
fies emotions according to three interacting “dimensions”: pleasantness-
unpleasantness, relaxation-tension and calm-excitement. Robert Plutchik
divides the range of human emotions into eight basic emotions and com-
binations of them, with each basic emotion being directly related to a
particular behaviour pattern. Many other researchers have proposed divi-
sions into different numbers of emotions: Carroll Izard into ten, Richard
Lazarus into 15 and Andrew Ortony, Gerald Clore and Allan Collins
into 22, for each of which they specified how that emotion might be
appraised. For the purposes of creating emotions in robots the classifica-
tion of Ortony, Clore and Collins into 22 emotion types can usefully be
augmented by two more, love and hate. 2
The number of different theories of emotion testify to the fact that, to
be honest, psychologists are not really sure how emotions work! Despite
this, the problem of simulating emotions in robots is the subject of a
whole field within Artificial Intelligence and one that will eventually help
psychologists. We will learn more about human emotions as we try to
create models of them for robots.
Feeling Emotions for Others
When we talk of feeling emotions for others we are usually speaking of
other human beings, but not always. In common with millions of pet
lovers all over the world I feel great affection for my cats—I get worried
when they are ill and I am grief-stricken when one of them dies. We
cannot communicate with our pets exactly as we can with other humans,
nevertheless we do communicate with them, for example by stroking
them and by talking in tones (and sometimes with words) that they can
appreciate and understand. In return our pets can display affection for
us in their own ways—my cats by sleeping next to me, for example. The
2 These 24 emotion types are joy, distress, happy-for, gloating, resentment, sorry-for, hope, fear,
satisfaction, relief, fear-confirmed, disappointment, pride, shame, admiration, reproach, liking, dis-
liking, gratitude, anger, gratification, remorse, love and hate.
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