Reflection and emotion

See  Working with emotions. 

Emotions are an integral element of our reflective processing system. 

Emotions are components of our meaning schemas

The theory of constructed emotions argues that we construct our "emotional instances" in the moment by comparing signals from our bodies (interoception) and perceptions of what is going on around us (exteroception) with predictions derived from relevant past experiences that we have given emotional labels to. 

Our emotions perform a descriptive role, enabling us to evaluate and categorise our experiences, and a directive role, empowering us to act on the predictions of our meaning schemas.

Our meaning schemas may also be about our emotions. They enable us to label and name emotions (representation), evaluate and categorise them (comparison), and work out where they have come from and what to do about them (causation).

The emotional contents of our activated meaning schemas influence the emotional labels we attach to the feelings experienced in particular circumstances. The same perceived physiological changes, such as elevated heart rate and breathing, could be interpreted as nervousness or excitement depending on the meaning we ascribe to the context that produced them. 

Emotions drive (or hinder) the reflective process

When the reflection system detects a discrepancy or prediction error, this may be accompanied by an emotional response. This could be something as simple as mild surprise, frustration or confusion. However, if the discrepancy is particularly significant and the meaning schema which generated the wrong prediction is particularly valued and trusted, then much stronger emotions may be involved, such as shock, anger or fear.

When the reflective process kicks in to try to resolve the discrepancy, this may be accompanied by approach learning emotions, such as curiosity or fascination, but could equally trigger avoidance learning emotions, such as regret, guilt or shame. These emotions are likely to grow stronger if low-cost reflective loops fail to resolve the discrepancy and the individual is forced to make significant changes to their meaning schema via reframing or metanoia. This could be accompanied by emotions such as panic or anxiety.