Emotional Schemas

Both terms, emotion and schema, are frequently occurring words in the scientific literature. Although both terms are controversial, particularly emotion, and lacking unanimous definitions, emotions can be described as complex neuronal programs that involve a pattern of physiological and psychological changes as a consequence of a triggering situation that evolved to prepare the organism for different categories of recurring stimuli (Ekman, 1992). The term ‘schema’ is derived from the greek word σχ ημα (skh ̄ema), which means shape or plan and is typically used in cognitive psychology when referring to cognitive structures involved in information processing. Broadly defined, schemas can be regarded as cognitive representations by which the past, via stored knowledge in memory, affects the future (Neisser, 1976) In this regard, emotional schemas extend beyond mere information processing to affective responses to recurring internal and external stimuli configurations. Therefore, emotional schemas can be defined as a triggered response pattern, including physiological arousal, feelings, cognitive processes, expressions, behavioral tendencies, and overt behavior. They contribute to our personality by influencing how we experience certain situations, interact with other people, experience our emotions, and interpret our reactions. Similar to other memory schemas (e.g., object representations), emotion schemas have 92Emotion, Self Conscious Emotional Schemas both a nature and a nurture component. Hence, one can distinguish between innate emotional schemas (e.g., fear of certain predators), cultural-specific emotional schemas (e.g., pride when one’s nation wins a world title in a sports competition), and individual emotional schemas that are based on information taken from similar or repeated experiences from a person’s past (e.g., nervousness playing a specific opponent against whom a player has lost numerous times).