Abstract

There is no uniform conception in the literature about what an emotion is and consists of [1,2]. Consensually, essential aspects have been considered to understand emotion: the presence in emotions of physiological changes, the mobilisation of bodily actions or “tendencies of action” and the subjective experience that involves; and emotion has been approached as a result of a system of analysis and processing of information. But taking each of the elements indicated separately has not favoured knowledge of emotion being presented in an integrated manner [3]. Moreover, the investigators have been supported in their work by different a theoretical orientation, which makes it even more difficult to integrate all the knowledge. One perspective that tackles this question is the theories of Embodiment, which have their origin in the French philosopher Merleau-Ponty (1908-1961), according to which psychological processes are based on bodily states. From the perspective of Embodiment, perceiving, recognizing and interpreting an emotion in ourselves or in others requires information from bodily systems. In this way “experiencing emotional states affects somatovisceral and motoric systems” and vice versa. In other words, “bodily states have effects on how emotional information is processed” [4].