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The Emotions
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The Emotions
Social, Cultural and Biological Dimensions

Edited by:
  • Rom Harre - University of Oxford & Georgetown University, Washington
  • W Gerrod Parrott - Georgetown University, Washington D.C., USA

September 1996 | 336 pages | SAGE Publications Ltd
A theoretical synthesis by leading scholars in the field, The Emotions overviews the psychology of emotion in the broadest sense by tracing historical, social, cultural, and biological themes. The contributors explore the discursive nature of emotions, variations in and diversity of emotions across cultures, and the influence of emotions on culturally maintained patterns of emotion in their analyses. A selection of intriguing chapters reveals how emotions emerge in different societies, across gender lines, in different historical periods, and between children and adults, while others delve into the internal patterns of emotions within individuals that shape the expression of judgments about, attitudes toward, and regret for one's own actions or the actions of others. In addition, special vignettes peppered throughout the volume add engaging perspectives of the theories in action. Interdisciplinary and hitting on a topic of increasing interest to researchers, The Emotions presents a broad-ranging collection of inquiry vital to both students and scholars in social psychology, developmental psychology, cross-cultural psychology, and cognitive anthropology.

 
INTRODUCTION: SOME COMPLEXITIES IN THE STUDY OF EMOTIONS
W Gerrod Parrott and Rom Harr[ac]e
Overview
Daniel N Robinson
Vignette 1
Aristotle on the Emotions

 
James R Averill
Vignette 2
Intellectual Emotions

 
 
PART ONE: THE SOCIAL DIMENSION OF EMOTIONS
W Gerrod Parrott and Rom Harr[ac]e
Embarrassment and the Threat to Character
Gabrielle Taylor
Guilt and Remorse
John Demos
Shame and Guilt in Early New England
Janet Landman
Social Control of `Negative' Emotions
The Case of Regret

 
Christopher Ricks
Vignette 3
Keats and Embarrassment

 
Inmaculada Iglesias
Vignette 4
Verg[um]uenza Ajena

 
 
PART TWO: HISTORICAL AND CULTURAL VARIETY IN EMOTIONS
Peter N Stearns and Mark Knapp
Historical Perspectives on Grief
Catherine A Lutz
Engendered Emotion
Gender, Power and the Rhetoric of Emotional Control in American Discourse

 
Paul Heelas
Emotion Talk across Cultures
Kenneth T Strongman and Luke Strongman
Vignette 5
Maori Emotion

 
 
PART THREE: THE BIOLOGICAL DIMENSIONS OF EMOTION
James R Averill
An Analysis of Psychophysiological Symbolism and Its Influence on Theories of Emotion
Gerald P Ginsburg and Melanie E Harrington
Bodily States and Context in Situated Lines of Action
Alan J Fridlund and Bradley Duchaine
`Facial Expression of Emotion' and the Delusion of the Hermetic Self
James D Laird and Nicholas H Apostoleris
Emotional Self-Control and Self-Perception
Feelings Are the Solution, Not the Problem

 
Charles Darwin
Self-Attention - Shame - Shyness - Modesty
Blushing

 
Keith Oatley
Vignette 6
Emotions: Communications to the Self and Others

 
Kenneth T Strongman
Vignette 7
A Private Eye into Disgust

 

`There is much that is fascinating here. Long-established experiments and conclusions are rubbished and reinterpreted, long-established assumptions and beliefs about emotions are soundly trounced, and generally a good going-over is delivered to the whole field... it is such a blockbuster that one can only reel backwards and tell anyone studying the subject that they would be crazy not to get it' - Self & Society

`The book consists of a series of erudite chapters on a wide array of emotions, including regret, hope, embarrassment and grief. It includes new research on emotion, but also incorporates a number of older key works, such as a chapter by Darwin on blushing. The book provides insight into why the biological perspective has dominated psychological explanations of emotion... A strong feature of the book is its emphasis on a range of emotions beyond the "basic" emotions. In order to explain other emotional reactions, theorists find it necessary to draw on social and cultural features... the book... forces more biologically inclined readers to consider whether their theories can be applied to the rich array of emotions' - The Psychologist

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