ABSTRACT
The psychologist William James claimed that it was the bodily changes themselves that constitute the emotions, so that there are no thought processes before the changes occur. This chapter presents a case for R-mind judgments lying behind these basic emotions. There are some basic emotions, such as fear and disgust, that humans have inherited from their animal ancestors. These emotions involve changes to the autonomic nervous system and changes to facial expressions. It was Charles Darwin, in The Expression of the Emotions in Man and Animals, who first pointed out similarities between the facial expressions of animals, children, and adults in emotional situations, and claimed that this was evidence of their evolutionary origin. The reason why James considered emotions to be the bodily changes was probably the lack of any awareness of a thought process before the changes occur.
