Enacting affectivity

The enactive approach to mind and cognition implies that cognition is inherently affective and that cognitive appraisal is embodied rather than purely brain-based. It favors a dynamical systems framework over other conceptual models to explain the variability of emotional episodes across individuals and populations, while still recognizing evolution's role in shaping their physiological and behavioral aspects. The approach also holds that the material vehicles of affective episodes need not be limited to biological processes inside the organism; extraorganismic processes can be part of the physical realizers of affectivity and be phenomenologically incorporated into affective experiences.

Study at a glance

Abstract

Abstract The enactive approach to mind and cognition has several important implications for our understanding of affectivity. It entails that cognition is inherently affective and, relatedly, that the process of cognitive appraisal is not “purely brainy” but embodied. It also entails that a dynamical systems approach is more suitable than other conceptual frameworks to account for the variability of emotional episodes across individuals and populations, while acknowledging the important role of evolution in shaping the physiological and behavioral aspects of those episodes. Finally, the enactive approach does not entail that the material vehicles of affective episodes are necessarily only biological processes occurring inside the organism; rather, it allows extraorganismic processes to be part of the physical realizers of affectivity, and to be phenomenologically incorporated into affective experiences.