Enacting affectivity

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.