The Sociology of Emotions: Basic Theoretical Arguments

2009 ◽  
Vol 1 (4) ◽  
pp. 340-354 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jonathan H. Turner
Keyword(s):  
Emotional States ◽  
Symbolic Interactionist ◽  
Sociology Of Emotions ◽  
Interaction Ritual ◽  
Socially Constructed ◽  
Human Emotions ◽  
Sociological Approaches ◽  
The Relationship

In this article, the basic sociological approaches to theorizing human emotions are reviewed. In broad strokes, theorizing can be grouped into several schools of thought: evolutionary, symbolic interactionist, symbolic interactionist with psychoanalytic elements, interaction ritual, power and status, stratification, and exchange. All of these approaches to theorizing emotions have generated useful insights into the dynamics of emotions. There remain, however, unresolved issues in sociological approaches to emotions, including: the nature of emotions, the degree to which emotions are hard-wired neurological or socially constructed, the relevance of analyzing the biology and evolution of emotions, the relationship between cognition and emotions, the number of distinctive emotional states produced by humans, and the relationship between emotions and rationality.

scholarly journals Generating, Intensifying, and Redirecting Emotionality: Conceptual and Ethnographic Implications of Aristotle’s Rhetoric

2013 ◽  
Vol 9 (4) ◽  
pp. 6-42
Author(s):  
Robert Prus
Keyword(s):  
Lived Experience ◽  
Social Process ◽  
Human Sciences ◽  
Emotional States ◽  
Symbolic Interactionist ◽  
Paper Briefly ◽  
Relationship Of ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Insight Into ◽  
Interactionist Approach

In contrast to those who more characteristically approach emotion as an individual realm of experience of more distinctive physiological and/or psychological sorts, this paper addresses emotionality as a socially experienced, linguistically enabled, activity-based process. While conceptually and methodologically situated within contemporary symbolic interactionist thought (Mead 1934; Blumer 1969; Strauss 1993; Prus 1996; 1997; 1999; Prus and Grills 2003), this statement is centrally informed by the pragmatist considerations of emotionality that Aristotle (circa 384-322 BCE) develops in Rhetoric. Although barely known to those in the human sciences, Aristotle’s Rhetoric provides a great deal of insight into people’s definitions of, and experiences with, a wide array of emotions. Addressing matters of persuasive interchange in political, judicial, and evaluative contexts, Aristotle gives particular attention to the intensification and neutralization of people’s emotional states. This includes (1) anger and calm, (2) friendship and enmity, (3) fear and confidence, (4) shame and shamelessness, (5) kindness and inconsideration, (6) pity and indignation, and (7) envy and emulation. Following an introduction to “rhetoric” (as the study of persuasive interchange) and “emotionality,” this paper briefly (1) outlines a pragmatist/interactionist approach to the study of emotionality, (2) considers Aristotle as a sociological pragmatist, (3) locates Aristotle’s work within the context of classical Greek thought, (4) acknowledges the relationship of emotionality and morality, and (5) addresses emotionality as a generic social process. Following (6) a more sustained consideration of emotionality within the context of Aristotle’s Rhetoric, the paper concludes with (7) a short discussion of the importance of Aristotle’s work for studying emotionality as a realm of human lived experience on a contemporary plane.

Do Changes in Emotional States Predict Therapy Alliance in Dutch Male Offenders in Mandated Clinical Care?

2021 ◽  
pp. 0306624X2110137
Author(s):  
Marije Keulen-de Vos ◽  
Vivienne de Vogel
Keyword(s):  
Personality Disorders ◽  
Clinical Care ◽  
Emotional States ◽  
Regression Analyses ◽  
Global Alliance ◽  
Sexual Offenses ◽  
Male Offenders ◽  
Therapy Goals ◽  
Therapy Alliance ◽  
The Relationship

Therapy alliance has been studied largely in voluntary psychotherapy but less is known about its predictive factors for positive alliance and treatment outcome in forensic populations. The aim of this study was to examine the relationship between offenders’ emotional states and therapy alliance. Moreover, we were interested in the predictive impact of emotional states early in treatment on alliance at 18 months into treatment. Self-ratings of emotional states and alliance by 103 male offenders, and therapist-ratings for therapy alliance were examined using hierarchical multiple regression analyses. Participants were primarily convicted for violent of sexual offenses, and were diagnosed with antisocial, borderline or narcissistic personality disorders. Healthy emotional states were predictive of mid-treatment agreement on therapy goals and therapist ratings on tasks within the therapy. Unhealthy emotional states were predictive of patient-rated agreement on tasks. Emotional states were not predictive for the reported therapist/patient bond or global alliance ratings. This study emphasizes the importance of healthy emotional states in treatment of offenders with personality disorders.

scholarly journals Hypothalamic orexins/hypocretins as regulators of breathing

2008 ◽  
Vol 10 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rhîannan H. Williams ◽  
Denis Burdakov
Keyword(s):  
Electrical Activity ◽  
Medical Treatment ◽  
Emotional States ◽  
Hypothalamic Area ◽  
Respiratory Disorders ◽  
Orexin Receptors ◽  
Regulation Of Breathing ◽  
Electrical Impulses ◽  
The Relationship

It was suggested half a century ago that electrical impulses from the lateral hypothalamic area stimulate breathing. It is now emerging that these effects may be mediated, at least in part, by neurons containing orexin neuropeptides (also known as hypocretins). These cells promote wakefulness and consciousness, and their loss results in narcolepsy. Recent data also show that orexin neurons directly project to respiratory centres in the brainstem, which express orexin receptors, and where injection of orexin stimulates breathing. Because orexin neurons receive inputs that signal metabolic, sleep/wake and emotional states, it is tempting to speculate that they may regulate breathing according to these parameters. Knockout of the orexin gene in mice reduces CO2-induced increases in breathing by ∼50% and increases the frequency of spontaneous sleep apneas. The relationship between orexins and breathing may be bidirectional: the rate of breathing controls acid and CO2 levels, and these signals alter the electrical activity of orexin neurons in vitro. Overall, these findings suggest that orexins are important for the regulation of breathing and may potentially play a role in the pathophysiology and medical treatment of respiratory disorders.

Emotional Mechanisms Linking Incivility at Work to Aggression and Withdrawal at Home: An Experience-Sampling Study

2016 ◽  
Vol 44 (7) ◽  
pp. 2888-2908 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sandy Lim ◽  
Remus Ilies ◽  
Joel Koopman ◽  
Paraskevi Christoforou ◽  
Richard D. Arvey
Keyword(s):  
Experience Sampling ◽  
Workplace Incivility ◽  
Full Time ◽  
Emotional States ◽  
Mediation Model ◽  
Moderated Mediation Model ◽  
High Trait ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
At Home ◽  
Trait Hostility

We report an experience-sampling study examining the spillover of workplace incivility on employees’ home lives. Specifically, we test a moderated mediation model whereby discrete emotions transmit the effects of workplace incivility to specific family behaviors at home. Fifty full-time employees from southeast Asia provided 363 observations over a 10-day period on workplace incivility and various emotional states. Daily reports of employees’ marital behaviors were provided by the spouses each evening. Results showed that state hostility mediated the link from workplace incivility to increased angry and withdrawn marital behaviors at home. Also, trait hostility served as a moderator such that the relationship between workplace incivility and hostile emotions was stronger for employees with high trait hostility.

scholarly journals Gewalt und Heldentum

2020 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Physical Violence ◽  
The Body ◽  
Introductory Essay ◽  
Sociological Approaches ◽  
The Individual ◽  
The Relationship

Heroic tales recount violence, which can be defined as a deliberate assault on the body of another against their will. The act of violence is a culmination of courage, determination, contempt for rules and the power to act; violence appears as a paradigmatic test of the individual. Violence forces those involved to position themselves in relation to it – perpetrators as well as victims, participants as well as bystanders, contemporaries as well as descendants. In this volume, three perspectives on the heroization, endurance and avoidance of violence structure different literary, historical, cultural and sociological approaches to identifying the relationship between the heroic and physical violence. An introductory essay identifies theoretical intersections between violence and heroism. With contributions by Ronald G. Asch, Cornelia Brink, Ulrich Bröckling, Olmo Gölz, Joachim Grage, Felix K. Maier, Vera Marstaller, Christoph Mauntel, Sotirios Mouzakis, Friederike Pannewick, Jan Philipp Reemtsma, Sven Reichardt and Cornel Zwierlein.

scholarly journals Anger Effects on Driver Situation Awareness and Driving Performance

2014 ◽  
Vol 23 (1) ◽  
pp. 71-89 ◽  
Author(s):  
Myounghoon Jeon ◽  
Bruce N. Walker ◽  
Thomas M. Gable
Keyword(s):  
Cognitive Processes ◽  
Situation Awareness ◽  
Driving Performance ◽  
Conscious Awareness ◽  
Emotional States ◽  
Neutral State ◽  
Perceived Workload ◽  
Neutral Affect ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Emotional Effects

Research has suggested that emotional states have critical effects on various cognitive processes, which are important components of situation awareness (Endsley, 1995b). Evidence from driving studies has also emphasized the importance of driver situation awareness for performance and safety. However, to date, little research has investigated the relationship between emotional effects and driver situation awareness. In our experiment, 30 undergraduates drove in a simulator after induction of either anger or neutral affect. Results showed that an induced angry state can degrade driver situation awareness as well as driving performance as compared to a neutral state. However, the angry state did not have an impact on participants' subjective judgment or perceived workload, which might imply that the effects of anger occurred below their level of conscious awareness. One of the reasons participants showed a lack of compensation for their deficits in performance might be that they were not aware of severe impacts of emotional effects on driving performance.

The Two Traditions in the Sociology of Emotions

2002 ◽  
Vol 50 (2_suppl) ◽  
pp. 10-32 ◽  
Author(s):  
Chris Shilling
Keyword(s):  
Social Action ◽  
Sociological Theory ◽  
The Body ◽  
Sociology Of Emotions ◽  
Important Place ◽  
Brief Assessment ◽  
The Social ◽  
Moral Dimensions ◽  
Emotional Issues ◽  
The Relationship

The sociology of emotions is an established specialism within the discipline and its products have become increasingly visible parts of the sociological landscape since the late 1970s. This specialism has also demonstrated, at least to its own satisfaction, the importance of emotions for social action and order, and for those related moral issues concerned with self-determined and other-oriented action. Paradoxically, however, the relationship between the sociology of emotions and mainstream sociology remains relatively cool. Emotional issues are still portrayed in many general accounts of the discipline as a luxurious curiosity that properly resides on the outer reaches of the sociological imagination. Just as unfortunately, certain sociologists of emotions have accused the foundations of the discipline of neglecting emotional issues, and have sometimes excluded classical theorists from their discussions. This chapter argues that emotional phenomena occupy an important place in sociology's heritage which has yet to be explicated fully by the sub-discipline. The subject of emotions, like the closely related subject of the body, may fade from various classical writings. Nevertheless, the major traditions of sociological theory developed particular orientations towards the social and moral dimensions of emotional phenomena. I begin by examining the relevance of emotions to the context out of which the discipline emerged, and then focus on how the major theorists of order (Comte and Durkheim) and (inter)action (Simmel and Weber) conceptualized emotional phenomena. The chapter concludes with a brief assessment of Parsons's contribution, and suggests that his analysis of the religious foundations of instrumental activism provides a provocative account of the relationship between values, emotions and personality that can usefully be built on.

Emotion Regulation and Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder

2017 ◽  
pp. 113-128
Author(s):  
Blossom Fernandes ◽  
Roseann Tan-Mansukhani ◽  
Cecilia A. Essau
Keyword(s):  
Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder ◽  
Emotion Regulation ◽  
Executive Functions ◽  
Attention Deficit ◽  
Emotion Dysregulation ◽  
Clinical Implications ◽  
Emotional States ◽  
Hyperactivity Disorder ◽  
Prefrontal Cortical ◽  
The Relationship

Chapter 6 describes emotion dysregulation features which are associated with children and adolescents with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD). In ADHD adaptive emotion regulation processes are impaired; this negatively impacts the individual’s ability to flexibly select, attend, and appraise emotionally evocative stimuli. This is identified as emotion dysregulation, which occurs when individuals fail to alter emotional states that affect behaviours necessary for achieving one’s goals. This review also examines the relationship between executive functions and emotion dysregulation in ADHD. Successful modulation of emotion occurs as a result of intact executive functions; however, ADHD is characterized by poor executive functions as a result of deficits in the prefrontal cortical networks. Along with describing neural mechanisms associated with ADHD, this review also focuses on the development of emotion dysregulation, clinical implications and current interventions.

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