Feelings

The Perception of Self

James D. Laird

Series in Affective Science

This book aims to pinpoint the connection feelings have with behavior -- a connection that, while clear, has never been fully explained. Following William James, Laird argues that feelings are not the cause of behavior but rather its consequences; the same goes for behavior and motives and behavior and attitudes. He presents research into feelings across the spectrum, from anger to joy to fear to romantic love, that support this against-the-grain view. Laird discusses the problem of common sense, self-perception theory, the association between feelings and higher cognitive processes, and also the literature on facial expression, posture, and gaze.

Feelings

The Perception of Self

James D. Laird

Series in Affective Science

Description

Feelings argues for the counter-intuitive idea that feelings do not cause behavior, but rather follow from behavior, and are, in fact, the way that we know about our own bodily states and behaviors. This point of view, often associated with William James, is called self-perception theory. Self-perception theory can be empirically tested by manipulating bodily states and behaviors in order to see if the corresponding feelings are produced.

In this volume, James D. Laird presents hundreds of studies, all demonstrating that feelings do indeed follow from behavior. Behaviors that have been manipulated include facial expressions of emotion, autonomic arousal, actions, gaze, and postures. The feelings that have been induced include happiness, anger, fear, romantic love, liking, disliking, hunger, and feelings of familiarity. These feelings do not feel like knowledge because they are knowledge-by-acquaintance, such as the knowledge we have of how an apple tastes, rather than verbal, knowledge-by-description, such as the knowledge that apples are red, round, and edible.

Many professional theories of human behavior, as well as common sense, explain actions by an appeal to feelings as causes. Laird argues to the contrary that if feelings are information about behaviors that are already ongoing, feelings cannot be causes and that the whole mechanistic model of human behavior as "caused" in this sense seems mistaken. He proposes an alternative, cybernetic model, involving hierarchically stacked control systems. In this model, feelings provide feedback to the control systems, and in a further elaboration, this model suggests that the stack of control systems matches a similar stack of levels of organization of the world.

An original contribution to the study of the relationship between feelings and behavior, the volume will be of interest to social, emotional, and cognitive psychologists.

Feelings

The Perception of Self

James D. Laird

Series in Affective Science

1. The Problem of Feelings
2. Emotional Expressions
3. Postures, Gaze, and Action
4. Autonomic Arousal and Emotional Feeling
5. Theoretical Summary on Emotion
6. Non-Emotional Feelings: Confidence, Pride and Self-Esteem
7. Motivation and Hunger
8. Cognitive Feelings, of Knowing, Familiarity and Tip of the Tongue
9. Attitudes and Cognitive Dissonance
10. Self-Perception Theory in Full
11. Self-Perception, Levels of Organization, and the Mind-Body Relation

Feelings

The Perception of Self

James D. Laird

Series in Affective Science

Author Information

James D. Laird is Professor of Psychology in the Frances Hiatt School of Psychology, at Clark University in Worcester, MA. He is a Social Psychologist, and his research has focused most consistently on emotions, especially emotional feelings.

Feelings

The Perception of Self

James D. Laird

Series in Affective Science

Reviews and Awards

CHOICE Outstanding Academic Title, 2007

"This book should be read and seriously considered by all those interested in the scientific study of emotion. Laird, a long-time leader in the investigation of the effects of skeletal-muscular movements on the genesis of emotional states, here presents a comprehensive and compelling research survey from the self-perception perspective...This far-ranging discussion should draw wide attention, and not only from those psychologists concerned with so-called bodily feedback effects. Besides going into such matters as the specificity of the various emotional states, [Laird] notes what this self-perception analysis has to say about pride and self-esteem, the feelings of knowing and familiarity, and cognitive dissonance." --Leonard Berkowitz, Vilas Research Professor Emeritus, University of Wisconsin

"This is a superbly crafted book that integrates social psychological research with philosophical insight. Laird persuasively argues that emotions, motivation, and other private feelings are inferred from our behaviors rather than being directly perceived. Feelings is a smart book for anyone interested in the mysteries of the mind and body."--James W. Pennebaker, Professor and Chair, Department of Psychology, University of Texas at Austin

"In this volume, the pioneer of the experimental study of feelings offers a guided tour of research that fits the Jamesian self-perception view of emotion. Many scholars know about William James' counterintuitive view that feelings result from the perception of action, but how many of them are aware of the abundant empirical evidence supporting it? James Laird provides this evidence in an exceptionally enjoyable scientific book. It is a pleasure to read, humorous in parts, intelligent and intelligible--a great volume for the training of students and all those interested in the world of feelings and emotion."--Bernard Rimé, University of Louvain at Louvain-la-Neuve, Belgium

"'Know thyself'" is a popular demand that goes back to the Greek philosophers. However, to understand how this can be achieved requires psychological knowledge. In this volume, one of the world's leading researchers in the domain of affect and emotion explains how self-perception can generate knowledge about our internal states. In this endeavor, Jim Laird draws heavily on his ground-breaking work about the influence of facial expressions on one's own experiences. The book is clearly written and enables close access to basic experiments and procedures. Fun to read, it informs us about state-of-the-art research on emotion."--Fritz Strack, Professor of Psychology, University of Würzburg, Germany

"Laird has done an excellent job of integrating physiological, perpetual, and social psychological research."--Choice

"Feelings sufficiently covers the objective, providing an up-to-date description of the psychological research on emotion. The book will be of interest to students as well as researchers in the area."--PsycCRITIQUES