Artificial intelligence with a human face
How neural networks build emotional connections with customers
Ekaterina Fomicheva
© Ekaterina Fomicheva, 2025
ISBN 978-5-0067-0088-8
Создано в интеллектуальной издательской системе Ridero
Introduction
Modern science perceives emotions as not merely subjective experience or reaction to stimuli, but as a fundamental mechanism in perception, thought, and decision-making. They are formed under the influence of a multi-level interaction of biological, cognitive, and social processes, and play the role of human adaptation to the world, and behavior regulation. On the physiological level, they represent a system of neural and hormonal responses that ensure the body’s quick adaptation to the environment (fig. 1).
Figure 1. Physiological basis of emotions [1]
The limbic system, a group of structures, is directly implicated in the process. Primary emotional processing of information is performed by the amygdala, and it is highly involved in fear, pleasure, and aggression responses. It automatically evaluates incoming signals and transmits them to other areas of the brain, eliciting the corresponding physiological response. For example, if a person perceives a potential threat, the it activates defense mechanisms – fast heartbeat, rush of adrenaline, increased alertness.
Hippocampus serves as an interface between emotions and memory. It is because of this structure that emotionally significant events are remembered more than neutral events. This is why memories based on intense experiences last longer and can influence future decisions.
The hypothalamus regulates the physical expression of emotions by managing stress and pleasure hormone balance [2]. It is also responsible for keeping emotions in sync with the physical response of the body: changing breathing patterns, facial expressions, and motor movements.
Emotions, thus, are not random or irrational responses, but a complex biological process through which one is able to make a rapid assessment of the circumstances, learn from the past events, and adjust behavior according to the circumstances. But their function is not merely to direct the individual’s perception. People always estimate other individuals’ responses, which help in establishing relationships, determining motives, and exercising self-control. This is particularly necessary in social interactions, where learning to understand others’ feelings serves as the platform for social life and adjustment.
They also serve as an essential communication tool. Facial expressions, gestures, and the tone of voice convey emotions and allow people to communicate without having to speak. For example, a smile is universally recognized to be a welcoming sign, and a scowl suggests discontent or anxiety.
Neurophysiological experiments confirm that all this talent owes its existence to the activity of mirror neurons – special cells of the brain which react not only when a certain action is executed, but also when one witnesses someone else performing it [3]. With their help, we can sympathize, read other individuals’ emotional states, and modify conduct according to situation.
The ability to feel and get the sense of others’ reality is not merely social but is also involved in decision-making. Up to now, it was believed that this process is built on rationality and that feelings interfere with the objective mind. Modern research has a different evidence.
The studies by neuropsychologist Antonio Damasio revealed that individuals who lost the ability for feelings due to prefrontal cortex damage have serious difficulties with decision making [4]. Even when they possess the complete rational view, they are not able to make a decision on what choice is preferable because their brain is not able to take into consideration the consequence of the decision. This indicates that emotions play a vital function in effective decision-making because they allow the brain to predict future outcomes and impart meaning to multiple options.
Therefore, when a person is faced with a series of options, he does not just weigh their advantages and disadvantages, but also which of them are positively associated. This concept is very much relevant in advertising. Consumers do not just choose logically but are also swayed by their emotions. This is especially seen in impulse purchases. This definition of the behavioral component is based on some of the well-known theoretical models that explain the nature and functions of emotions from the point of view of different scientific approaches. Cognitive, evolutionary, and social theories are the most important ones.
The cognitive approach emphasizes that emotional reactions are not automatic or simply physiological but are built on the basis of what an individual perceives and comprehends is happening. According to him, they come about as a result of an inner cognitive analysis of the significance of an event in relation to an individual’s objectives, values, or past. The same external stimulus can evoke opposite emotions in different individuals exactly because each person appraises the situation to himself. The most significant theory is that of Richard Lazarus, which argues that emotions are not a reflex to stimuli but rather the result of a cognitive assessment of an event’s relevance to an individual.
Here, a person takes into consideration what is happening according to a set of parameters. To start with, how significant an event is to its goals and needs, i.e., significance. Second, how much it is in his control, i.e., controllability. Third, who is the agent, and what are the means to combat the consequences. This judgment is either aware or routine. It determines what emotion is to be triggered, to what extent, and for how long.
The application of this theory in the context of brand interaction and marketing communication makes it possible to explain why the same visual, textual, or auditory stimuli generate different emotional responses in various consumers. One and the same ad, addressing family values, can evoke a cozy sense of love in one individual and annoyance or indifference in another, based on individual life experience, actual state and goal structure. For marketers, the theory offers a general cognitive model enabling them to construct more precise and personalized emotional experiences.
Evolutionary theories describe emotions as adaptive reactions programmed biologically by natural selection. They are, in this view, not accidental or redundant expressions of the psyche but perform basic functions for survival and adaptation of the organism to the environment. They are considered universal signaling mechanisms that facilitate threat avoidance, resource approach, social bonding, and behavioral regulation.
Particularly important in this tradition is Robert Plutchik’s model, which has been referred to as the «dynamic wheel of emotions». Eight basic emotions are recognized by her: joy, trust, fear, surprise, sadness, disgust, anger, and expectation. These can combine and become intensified into more complicated emotional experiences.
Social and constructivist explanations focus on the interpersonal and cultural nature of emotions, considering them not as inherent biological reactions, but as the result of socialization and the learning of norms embraced by a specific society. According to these theories, they are not just felt, but also constructed, regulated, and displayed in consonance with social roles, contexts, and cultural scripts. One of the most well-known advocates of this trend is Arlie Russell Hochschild, who developed the terms «emotional work» and «emotional norms», proving that there are clear social rules about what it is acceptable to feel in a specific situation.
Within the framework of these theories, they are taken to be things socially constructed controlled by external criteria and internal dynamics of self-restraint. The individual learns to feel and exhibit his feelings so that they reconcile with accepted criteria – not that he feels thus «by nature», but simply because it is customary to do so in his world. In the practical sense, this means that universal emotion models can be unable to act if they do not take into account cultural specifics. This is a weighty task for marketing: to not only learn to «recognize» the emotions, but also to properly understand them based on the socio-cultural context.
Cumulatively,