Emotion: Encyclopedia II - Emotion - Theoretical traditions

Emotion - Theoretical traditions

According to Cornelius (1996), four main theoretical traditions have dominated research in emotions starting in the 1800's with Darwin's observations of emotion in man and animals. These traditions are not mutually exclusive and many researchers incorporate multiple perspectives in their work.

• The Darwinian perspective

First articulated in the late 19th century by Charles Darwin, emotions evolved via natural expression and therefore have cross-culturally universal counterparts. Most research in this area has focused on physical displays of emotion including body language of animals and facial expressions in humans. Paul Ekman's work on basic emotions is representative of the Darwinian tradition.

• The Jamesian perspective

William James in the 1800's believed that emotional experience is largely due to the experience of bodily changes. These changes might be visceral, postural, or facially expressive.

• The cognitive perspective

Many researchers believe that thought and in particular cognitive appraisal of the environment is an underlying causal explanation for emotional processes.

• The social constructivist perspective

Social constructivism emphasizes the importance of culture and context in understanding what occurs in society and constructing knowledge based on this understanding (Derry, 1999; McMahon, 1997). Much current research in emotion is based on the social constructivist view.

• The neurological tradition (Plutchik, 1980)

This tradition draws on recent work on neurophysiology and neuroanatomy to explain the nature of emotions. LeDoux (1986) reviews relatively current knowledge on the neurophysiology of emotion.

Adapted from the Wikipedia article "Theoretical traditions", under the G.N U Free Docmentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki