What is the function of emotional displays?
We sit down with Thomas Ganzetti and discuss the role emotions serve in social contexts and how we use the displays of others to gather information about our realities. We chat about the evolutionary trajectory of emotional displays, how they help us navigate our environments, and what we learn about ourselves and those around us as we observe each other (whether we intend to or not).
Guest: Thomas Ganzetti
Co-Host: Xueyi Yao (to hear more from Xueyi, check out episode 18!)
Show Notes:
Emotion and Cultural Learning
Emotional displays, both spontaneous and intentional, serve as critical tools for cultural learning. Observing others’ emotions allows individuals to extract valuable information about their environment without direct interaction.
Negative emotional cues (e.g., disgust, anger) are more salient for survival, while positive emotions often drive social cohesion.
Deontic Markers and Scripts
Deontic markers are emotional displays that highlight social rules and patterns. They signal what is acceptable or unacceptable within a cultural context.
Social scripts enable humans to navigate familiar interactions (e.g., buying groceries) with minimal cognitive effort. Emotional cues play a key role when these scripts are violated, triggering mentalization processes.
Affective Observation and Generalization
Affective observation refers to learning by observing others' emotional reactions. This low-effort process allows humans to generalize shared cultural values quickly, particularly in uncertain or unfamiliar contexts.
Experiments with adults show that unfamiliar or ambiguous actions are heavily evaluated based on others' emotional displays, even without direct communication.
Children and Emotional Cues
Ongoing developmental studies explore how young children (starting around age three) use emotional displays to assess competence and predict outcomes.
Negative emotional cues are hypothesized to be prioritized as children navigate unfamiliar environments, while positive cues may reinforce trust and preference.
The Role of Affect in Self-Narrative
Humans constantly construct and revise narratives to maintain internal emotional coherence. Values and affective states shape how individuals interpret events and reconcile their identities within cultural frameworks.
Emotional coherence becomes a driver of decision-making, as individuals seek to align their behaviors with their values and self-representation.
Emotions, Memory, and Social Learning
Negative emotional displays tend to be encoded more deeply due to their evolutionary relevance. They inform memory, shape behavioral scripts, and influence decision-making in future situations.
Applied Implications
Insights into emotional learning and cultural transmission have broad implications for AI development, cultural integration, and education.
Understanding affective learning can improve AI tools, ensuring they support curiosity, emotional salience, and effective learning environments, particularly for children.