Affective computing treats unconscious emotions as measurable behavioral signals.

Evidence

The program of emotional rendition began innocently enough with MIT Media Lab professor Rosalind Picard and the new field of computer science that she called “affective computing.” She was among the first to recognize the opportunity for a computational system to automate the analysis of Ekman’s facial configurations and correlate micro-expressions with their emotional causality. She aimed to combine facial expression with the computation of vocal intonation and other physiological signals of emotion that could be measured as behavior. In 1997 she published Affective Computing, which posited a practical solution to the idea that some emotions are available to the conscious mind and can be expressed “cognitively” (“I feel scared”), whereas others may elude consciousness but nevertheless be expressed physically in beads of sweat, a widening of the eyes, or a nearly imperceptible tightening of the jaw. — Shoshana Zuboff, The Age of Surveillance Capitalism, 888

Categorization

• DEFINE: Defines emotional rendition and affective computing — the core competence being analyzed in this chapter.
• XREF: Connects to surveillance capitalism’s broader project of converting behavior into computable data, extending the book’s own framework. — connects to: Emotion-recognition machines capture involuntary micro-behaviors faster than human perception — Shoshana Zuboff, The Age of Surveillance Capitalism, 880; Machines can capture emotional reactions the subject cannot consciously report — Shoshana Zuboff, The Age of Surveillance Capitalism, 882; Companies treat measurable emotion as a predictor of spending and profit — Shoshana Zuboff, The Age of Surveillance Capitalism, 883 (+6 more)

Broader Connections

• Emotion recognition reduces feelings to pattern-recognition problems for computers. #expands (0.88) — Shoshana Zuboff, The Age of Surveillance Capitalism, 889
• Behavioral prediction from unconscious signals requires continuous workplace sensing #expands (0.85) — Shoshana Zuboff, The Age of Surveillance Capitalism, 1350
• Affect perception is measured on arousal and valence dimensions rather than emotion labels #qualifies (0.78)