A Domain-Independent Approach of Cognitive Appraisal Augmented by Higher Cognitive Layer of Ethical Reasoning

Ojha, S; Vitale, J; Williams, M-A

A Domain-Independent Approach of Cognitive Appraisal Augmented by Higher Cognitive Layer of Ethical Reasoning

Ojha, S

Vitale, J

Williams, M-A

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Publisher:: Cognitive Science Society
Publication Type:: Conference Proceeding
Citation:: Proceedings of the 39th Annual Meeting of the Cognitive Science Society, 2017, pp. 2833 - 2838
Issue Date:: 2017-07-21

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Field	Value	Language
dc.contributor.author	Ojha, S https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4856-8335	en_US
dc.contributor.author	Vitale, J https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6099-675X	en_US
dc.contributor.author	Williams, M-A https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1047-0503	en_US
dc.date	2017-07-26	en_US
dc.date.issued	2017-07-21	en_US
dc.identifier.citation	Proceedings of the 39th Annual Meeting of the Cognitive Science Society, 2017, pp. 2833 - 2838	en_US
dc.identifier.isbn	978-0-9911967-6-0	en_US
dc.identifier.uri	http://hdl.handle.net/10453/112319
dc.description.abstract	According to cognitive appraisal theory, emotion in an individual is the result of how a situation/event is evaluated by the individual. This evaluation has different outcomes among people and it is often suggested to be operationalised by a set of rules or beliefs acquired by the subject throughout development. Unfortunately, this view is particularly detrimental for computational applications of emotion appraisal. In fact, it requires providing a knowledge base that is particularly difficult to establish and manage, especially in systems designed for highly complex scenarios, such as social robots. In addition, according to appraisal theory, an individual might elicit more than one emotion at a time in reaction to an event. Hence, determining which emotional state should be attributed in relationship to a specific event is another critical issue not yet fully addressed by the available literature. In this work, we show that: (i) the cognitive appraisal process can be realised without a complex set of rules; instead, we propose that this process can be operationalised by knowing only the positive or negative perceived effect the event has on the subject, thus facilitating extensibility and integrability of the emotional system; (ii) the final emotional state to attribute in relation to a specific situation is better explained by ethical reasoning mechanisms. These hypotheses are supported by our experimental results. Therefore, this contribution is particularly significant to provide a more simple and generalisable explanation of cognitive appraisal theory and to promote the integration between theories of emotion and ethics studies, currently often neglected by the available literature.	en_US
dc.publisher	Cognitive Science Society	en_US
dc.relation.ispartof	Proceedings of the 39th Annual Meeting of the Cognitive Science Society	en_US
dc.relation.ispartof	Annual Meeting of the Cognitive Science Society	en_US
dc.title	A Domain-Independent Approach of Cognitive Appraisal Augmented by Higher Cognitive Layer of Ethical Reasoning	en_US
dc.type	Conference Proceeding
utslib.location	UK	en_US
utslib.location.activity	London	en_US
utslib.for	0801 Artificial Intelligence and Image Processing	en_US
utslib.for	1702 Cognitive Sciences	en_US
pubs.embargo.period	Not known	en_US
pubs.organisational-group	/University of Technology Sydney
pubs.organisational-group	/University of Technology Sydney/Faculty of Engineering and Information Technology
pubs.organisational-group	/University of Technology Sydney/Faculty of Engineering and Information Technology/School of Computer Science
pubs.organisational-group	/University of Technology Sydney/Strength - CAI - Centre for Artificial Intelligence
utslib.copyright.status	open_access
pubs.consider-herdc	true	en_US
pubs.finish-date	2017-07-29	en_US
pubs.place-of-publication	UK	en_US
pubs.publication-status	Published online	en_US
pubs.start-date	2017-07-26	en_US

Abstract:

According to cognitive appraisal theory, emotion in an individual is the result of how a situation/event is evaluated by the individual. This evaluation has different outcomes among people and it is often suggested to be operationalised by a set of rules or beliefs acquired by the subject throughout development. Unfortunately, this view is particularly detrimental for computational applications of emotion appraisal. In fact, it requires providing a knowledge base that is particularly difficult to establish and manage, especially in systems designed for highly complex scenarios, such as social robots. In addition, according to appraisal theory, an individual might elicit more than one emotion at a time in reaction to an event. Hence, determining which emotional state should be attributed in relationship to a specific event is another critical issue not yet fully addressed by the available literature. In this work, we show that: (i) the cognitive appraisal process can be realised without a complex set of rules; instead, we propose that this process can be operationalised by knowing only the positive or negative perceived effect the event has on the subject, thus facilitating extensibility and integrability of the emotional system; (ii) the final emotional state to attribute in relation to a specific situation is better explained by ethical reasoning mechanisms. These hypotheses are supported by our experimental results. Therefore, this contribution is particularly significant to provide a more simple and generalisable explanation of cognitive appraisal theory and to promote the integration between theories of emotion and ethics studies, currently often neglected by the available literature.

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http://hdl.handle.net/10453/112319