James R. Averill

A CONSTRUCTIVIST VIEW OF EMOTION

ABSTRACT Traditionally, the emotions have been viewed from a biological perspective; that is, the emotions have been seen as genetically determined and relatively invariable responses. The present chapter, by contrast, views the emotions as social constructions. More precisely, the emotions are here defined as socially constituted syndromes or transitory social roles. A role-conception does not deny the contribution of biological systems to emotional syndromes; it does, however, imply that the functional significance of emotional responses is to be found largely within the sociocultural system. With regard to subjective experience, a person interprets his own behavior as emotional in much the same way that an actor interprets a role“with feeling.” This involves not only the monitoring of behavior (including feedback from physiological arousal, facial expressions, etc.), but also an understanding of how the emotional role fits into a larger“drama” written by society. Some of the biological, personal, and situational factors that influence emotional behavior are also discussed.

On the Paucity of Positive Emotions

The positive emotions have proved to be a source of embarrassment to psychologists. Discussions of fear, anxiety, depression, anger, grief, etc., are plentiful in the psychological literature. But when it comes to emotions such as joy, mirth, love, mystical experiences, and the like, psychologists are often at a loss for words. Thus, in a content analysis of psychological textbooks, Carlson (1967) found that approximately twice as much space was devoted to negative as to positive emotions. Although Carlson’s analysis is now somewhat out of date, I doubt that a survey of current textbooks would reveal a major change in emphasis (except perhaps for a recent upsurge of interest in issues related to sexual behavior, including romantic love).

The Social Construction of Emotion: With Special Reference to Love

The person who is unable to feel and display emotion is viewed with suspicion. In the popular science-fiction novel, The Body Snatchers (Finney, 1955), alien beings in the form of pods invade the Earth. In order to sustain life and reproduce, these beings must take over the bodies of humans. The process is painless, and the victims retain much of their former identities: There is not dramatic change in morphology (although life span is somewhat shortened); and intellectual capacities, memories, and so forth, remain intact. The most obvious change resulting from a takeover is a loss of the capacity for feeling and emotion. This loss is sufficiently threatening that the hero of the story risks almost certain death to destroy the pods. Considering the popularity of the story (it has twice been made into a movie), many persons would agree: The loss of one’s capacity for emotion is, in and of itself, dehumanizing.

Solitude: An exploration of benefits of being alone.

Christopher R. Long and James R. Averill, Solitude: An Exploration of Benefits of Being Alone, pp. 21–44. Historically, philosophers, artists, and spiritual leaders have extolled the benefits of solitude; currently, advice on how to achieve solitude is the subject of many popular books and articles. Seldom, however, has solitude been studied by psychologists, who have focused instead on the negative experiences associated with being alone, particularly loneliness. Solitude, in contrast to loneliness, is often a positive state—one that may be sought rather than avoided. In this article, we examine some of the benefits that have been attributed to solitude—namely, freedom, creativity, intimacy, and spirituality. In subsequent sections, we consider the environmental settings and personality characteristics conducive to solitude, how time spent alone is experienced differently across the life span, and the potential dangers related to the attractiveness of solitude. We conclude with a brief discussion of the theoretical and practical implications of solitude.

Aesthetics and the environment.

This article presents a framework for understanding aesthetic experience, with special reference to the natural environment. The framework entails 2 broad perspectives. First, from a functional perspective, aesthetic experiences are analyzed in terms of biological, sociocultural, and psychological systems of behavior; succinctly stated, objects are experienced aesthetically if they activate cognitive representations of response patterns that do or did contribute to the survival or enhancement of the species, society, or the self. Second, from the perspective of mediating mechanisms, the cognitive processes that enable aesthetic experiences are examined. The mechanisms discussed range from simple sensory processes to the activation and transformation of complex schemas. To the extent that cognitive representations of behavioral systems are flexible and subject to elaboration and refinement, aesthetic experience is a creative, skillful act.

Solitude Experiences: Varieties, Settings, and Individual Differences

Solitude may be positive or negative, depending on situational and personal factors. From prior research, nine types of solitude were identified. Based on data from a questionnaire study of undergraduate participants, factor analysis suggests that these nine types can be reduced to three dimensions, two positive and one negative. These are, respectively, Inner-Directed Solitude (characterized by self-discovery and inner peace), Outer-Directed Solitude (characterized by intimacy and spirituality), and Loneliness. Personality and value correlates, as well as situational correlates, of the various types of solitude also were explored.

Emotions and Creativity, East and West

This article is concerned with emotion, creativity, and the intersection of the two – creativity in the domain of emotion. We first present a framework for the analysis of emotion, a framework that recognizes the importance of biological influences but that also takes into account cultural and individual variations. We then describe the criteria – effectiveness, novelty, and authenticity – for judging a response as creative; the relative emphasis placed on these criteria, especially novelty and authenticity, helps account for East–West differences in aesthetic preferences (e.g., in the production and evaluation of works of art). Next, we explore the ability of individuals to be emotionally creative, that is, to acquire emotions that meet the criteria for creativity. Finally, we examine the “Four-Seven Debate,” a classic in Korean Neo-Confucian thought, in light of our discussion of emotions and creativity.

The Emotions: An Integrative Approach

Publisher Summary The emotions play a central role in most theories of personality. Yet, personality psychologists have shown a remarkable tolerance for ambiguity with regard to the nature of emotions. More often than not, emotional concepts are used in a global, undifferentiated fashion or else in a manner unique to each theory. There are six kinds of variables that have played important roles in psychological theories of emotion—(1) cognitive appraisals, (2) physiological change, (3) expressive reactions, (4) instrumental acts, (5) verbal behavior, and (6) feelings. The appraisal is itself a kind of response, an imposition of meaning on events. Psychological phenomena may become associated with physiological responses on the basis of shared symbolic meaning, rather than on any empirically demonstrated functional relationship. Expressive reactions, especially facial expressions, have played a crucial role in the study of emotion. The term facial expressions mean joy, surprise, sadness, anger etc. Verbal behavior can be described as what is said and the way it is said. The terms “feeling” and “emotion” are often used interchangeably. This has led some theorists to assume that emotions are really feelings or at least that feelings are essential features of emotions.

Individual differences in habituation: Some methodological and conceptual issues ☆

Abstract The personality correlates of habituation were investigated. A moderate intensity tone was presented 20 times on each of three sessions, and skin conductance and heart rate were recorded. There were no relationships between individual differences in rate of habituation and any of the personality dimensions assessed (which included, among others, manifest anxiety and introversion-extraversion). Some possible reasons are discussed for this lack of results, as well as for conflicting findings which fill the literature. Specifically, various methods of measuring habituation are examined and their interrelationships described. None of the measures derived showed adequate consistency either across sessions or over response modalities.

Differences Between Men and Women in the Everyday Experience of Anger

Stereotypically, women have been regarded as more emotional than men. Presumsably, men learn that “big boys don’t cry” and tend to inhibit the spontaneous expression of emotion (except in special restricted circumstances, e.g., at sports events). But there is an important exception to this stereotype. In the case of anger, women are thought to be less, not more, emotional than men.