Understanding Emotions, 3rd Edition

1

Approaches to Understanding Emotions

CONTENTS

Introduction

What Is an Emotion? First Ideas

Nineteenth-Century Founders

Charles Darwin: The Evolutionary Approach

William James: The Physiological Approach

Sigmund Freud: The Psychotherapeutic Approach

Philosophical and Literary Approaches

Aristotle and the Ethics of Emotions

René Descartes: Philosophically Speaking

George Eliot: The World of the Arts

Brain Science, Psychology, Sociology

John Harlow, Tania Singer: New Brain Science

Magda Arnold, Sylvan Tomkins: New Psychological Theories

Alice Isen: New Experimentation

Erving Goffman, Arlie Russell Hochschild: Selves and Others

What Is an Emotion? Some Conceptions

Researchers’ Conceptions of Emotions

The Emotional Realm: Emotions, Moods, Dispositions

Episodes of Emotion

Moods

Emotional Disorders

Personality Traits

Summary

To Think About and Discuss

Further Reading

FIGURE 1.0 Young girl in hat, from Darwin (1872).

Why is every critical moment in the fate of the adult or child so clearly colored by emotion?

(Vygotsky, 1987, p. 335)

Introduction

Imagine you could flip a switch that would shut off your emotions. No more tongue-tied embarrassment around a romantic interest. No more saying something in anger that you will regret. No more anxiety that interferes with your ability to do as well as you can. Would you flip this switch?

If so, you are in good company. For over two thousand ...