The Urge Theory of Emotion and Social Interaction: Chapter 6 and 7

Abstract

The text presented here consists of the last two chapters of a book entitled 'The Urge Theory of Emotion and Social Interaction,' and to be published by the Cambridge University Press. The major subject discussed in the book is the urge theory developed by the author, in which the human 'urge system' is considered as the basic software run in the human mind, overseeing such mental operations as cognition, emotion and interpersonal interaction. This human urge system software is assumed to have evolved to its present form even before the humans ever started 'artificial evolution,' or the evolution of elaborate tools, mental as well as material. The first five chapters of this book is devoted to build up the basic framework of the urge theory, and also to demonstrate how human activities, both private and social, may be modelized within this single theoretical framework. The last two chapters presented here illustrate how the same line of thinking may be applied to some really complicated issues. In Chapter 6 is given a model of human cognitive operations including imagination, thinking, and the use of language. The key concept used there is that of 'dynamic schemas,' the schemas that operate semi-autonomously, often accompanied with some sensory 'images.' This chapter also deals with what makes the humans what they are, the beings who forever keep trying to cope with the given environment in an active fashion, by finding problems there and then by trying to solve them often in novel ways. In Chapter 7 are given models of social agents such as artificial coalitions and communities, developed on the basis of such concepts as the mean and the variance of social status distribution within a community. Arguments range over various types of societies, including those of some mammal species, those in the Times of War, and the contemporary ones. These last two chapters may give the reader some ideas about what the author purports to achieve by developing the urge theory, and may be readable even without the knowledge of first five chapters. A brief summary of some basic concepts introduced in earlier chapters is given as Appendix at the end of Chapter 7. The texts of the first five chapters, each of which still needs heavy editing, will be made accessible at the same site for the interested reader when the revised versions are completed.