'Valence', as used in psychology, especially in discussing emotions, means the intrinsic attractiveness (positive valence) or aversiveness (negative valence) of an event, object, or situation. An emotion is a mental and physiological state associated with a wide variety of feelings thoughts and behaviours [1] However, the term is also used to characterize and categorize specific emotions. For example, the emotions popularly referred to as "negative", such as anger and fear, have "negative valence". Anger is an emotional state that may range from minor irritation to intense rage Fear is an Emotional response to Threats and Danger. It is a basic survival mechanism occurring in response to a specific Stimulus, such as Joy has "positive valence". Positively valenced emotions are evoked by positively valenced events, objects, or situations. The term is also used about the hedonic tone of feelings, affect, certain behaviors (for example, approach and avoidance), goal-attainment or -non-attainment, and conformity with or violation of norms. Behavior or behaviour (see spelling differences) refers to the actions or Reactions of an object or Organism, usually Social norms have been defined as "the rules that a group uses for appropriate and inappropriate values beliefs attitudes and behaviors Ambivalence can be viewed as conflict between positive and negative valence-carriers. Ambivalence - a state of having Emotions of both positive and negative valence or of having Thoughts or actions in contradiction with each
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History of Usage
The term entered English usage in psychology with the translation from German in 1935 of works of Kurt Lewin. Kurt Zadek Lewin (1890 - 1947 a German-born psychologist, is one of the modern pioneers of social, organizational, and Applied psychology Ambivalence has a longer history.
Criterion for Emotion
Valence is one criterion used in some definitions of emotion. The possible absence of valence is cited as a reason to exclude surprise, viewed as the startle reaction, from the list of emotions, though some would include it. The startle reaction, also called the startle response, startle reflex or alarm reaction, is the Response of mind and body to a sudden unexpected
Measurement
Valence could be assigned a number and treated as if it were measured, but the validity of a measurement based on a subjective report is questionable. Measurement is the process of estimating the magnitude of some attribute of an object such as its length or weight relative to some standard ( unit of measurement) such as Measurement based on observations of facial expressions, using FACS, and microexpressions (See Ekman. The term microexpression denotes a brief Facial expression that lasts less than a quarter of a second ) or on modern functional brain imaging may overcome this objection. Neuroimaging includes the use of various techniques to either directly or indirectly image the structure, function/ Pharmacology of the Brain
Footnotes
- ^ Nico H. Frijda, The Emotions. Cambridge(UK): Cambridge University Press, 1986. p. 207
References
See also
External links
Paul Ekman (born 1934 is a Psychologist who has been a pioneer in the study of Emotions and their relation to Facial expressions He is considered one of The Valence effect of Prediction is the tendency for people to simply overestimate the likelihood of good things happening rather than bad thingsDapyx Software network: MP3 Explorer | Ebook Manager | Zenithic