Affectivity and Social Expression

  • Raluca Bălăiţă Vasile Alecsandri University, Bacău, Romania
Keywords: Cognition; emotion; affectivity; social communication; expression

Abstract

An essential dimension not only of mental life, but also of relationships, the affectivity is built socially, its conventional manifestations varying depending on the social values acknowledged within a given group.
An individual relates to the world simultaneously by cognition and emotion, so that the reason/passion dichotomy which, for a long period of time, has represented a red thread in the history of Western philosophy has been revised. Emotions are not opposed to reasonable conduct, but respond to a personal logic and certain implicit social norms, being in a direct relationship with the meaning the individual gives to events.
Emotions are connected to social communication, represent “a way of affiliation to a social community” (David Le Breton) and the expression of relating to a situation, interlocutors, message. In this article we insist on the idea that affectivity, emotions correspond to certain reactions of the individual to a given situation which manifest by a series of physiological and psychological changes translated into mimicry, gestures, attitudes, words expression modalities which are acquired during a learning process and by constantly relating to the other members of the social group. 

References

[1] Bateson G. Naven: A Survey of the Problems suggested by a Composite Picture of the Culture of a New Guinea Tribe drawn from Three Points of View. Second Edition. Stanford: Stanford University Press; 1936/1958. 368 p.
[2] Beer J. S. Neural Systems for Self-Conscious Emotions and Their Underlying Appraisals. In: Jessica L. Tracy, Richard W. Robins, June Price Tangney, editors. The Self in Self-Conscious Emotions: Theory and Research. New York: The Guilford Press; 2007: 53-67.
[3] Cosnier J. Psychologie des émotions et des sentiments. Paris : Retz-Nathan ; 1994: 175.
[4] Damasio A. Feeling our Emotions. In: Manuela Lenzen. Scientific American Mind. 2005, April 1. [Cited 2018 April 4]. Available from: https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/feeling-our-emotions/
[5] Damasio A. Self Comes to Mind: Constructing the Conscious Brain. New York: Pantheon Books; 2010: 268.
[6] Darwin, Charles. The Expression of the Emotions in Man and Animals. Chicago: University of Chicago Press; 1872: 374.
[7] Descartes, René. Les passions de l’âme. 1649. Paris : H. Legras ; 268 p. Available from: http://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/btv1b8601505n.image
[8] Dolan, R., J. Emotion, cognition, and behaviour. Science. 2002 Nov. 8; 298: 1191–4.
[9] Durkheim E. The Division of Labour in Society. Forth Printing. Translated by George Simpson. Glencoe: The Free Press of Glencoe; 1893/1960: 439.
[10] Ekman P. Emotions Revealed : Understanding Faces ans Feelings. New York: Times Books; 2003: 268.
[11] Frijda N. H. The Emotions: Studies in Emotion & Social Interaction, Cambridge, UK and New York: Cambridge University Press; 1987: 544.
[12] Goffman, E. The Presentation of Self in Everyday Life. Edinburgh: University of Edinburgh Social Sciences Research Centre; 1956: 162.
[13] Goleman D. The Brain and Emotional Intelligence: New Insights. More Than Sound; 2014: 79.
[14] Gruenewald, T. L., Dickerson, S. S., Kemeny M. E. A Social Function for Self-Conscious Emotions: The Social Self Preservation Theory. In: Jessica L., Tracy, Richard W. Robins, June Price Tangney, editors. The Self in Self-Conscious Emotions: Theory and Research. New York: The Guilford Press; 2007: 68-90.
[15] Izard C. E. Human Emotions. New York: Plenum; 1977: 494.
[16] James W. What Is an Emotion?. Mind. Apr. 1884 [Cited 2018 April 6]; 9(34): 188-205. Available from: http://www.jstor.org/stable/2246769
[17] Kirsch M. Emotion : Philosophie et psychologie des émotions. In : Michela Marzano, editor. Dictionnaire du corps. Paris : Presses Universitaires de France ; 2007 : 337-341.
[18] Leary M. R. How the Self Became Involved in Affective Experience: Three Sources of Self-Reflective Emotions. In: Jessica L. Tracy, Richard W. Robins, June Price Tangney, editors. The Self in Self-Conscious Emotions: Theory and Research. New York: The Guilford Press; 2007: 38-52.
[19] Le Breton D. Les passions ordinaires: Anthropologie des émotions. Third Edition. Paris : Editions Payot & Rivages; 2004: 347.
[20] Le Breton D. Eclats de voix : Une anthropologie des voix. Prais: Editions Métailié; 2011: 282.
[21] Marty P. & M’Uzan M. La pensée opératoire. Revue française de psychanalyse. Paris: Presses Universitaires de France. 1963. [Cited 2018 April 6]; 27: 345-356. Available from: http://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k5445905s/f11.image
[22] Sherer K. R. What are emotions? And how can they be measured?. Social Science Information, 2005; 44(4): 695-729.
[23] Siegel D. The Mindful Brain: Reflections and Attunement in the Cultivation of Wellbeing. New York: Norton; 2007: 411.
[24] Sifneos P. The Prevalence of Alexithymic Characteristics in Psychosomatic Patients. Psychotherapy and Psychosomatics. 1973/ Published online 2010 February 12. [Cited 2018 April 6], 22 (2-6): 255-262. Available from: https://www.karger.com/Journal/Issue/251745
[25] TenHouten W. D. A General Theory of Emotions and Social Life. Abingdon, Oxon: Routledge; 2007: 308
[26] Tomkins S. S. Affect theory. In: K.R. Scheier and P. Ekman, editors. Approaches to Emotions, Hillsdale: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates; 1984: 163-195.
[27] Tracy, J. L., & Robins R. W. Authors' Response: “Keeping the Self in Self-Conscious Emotions: Further Arguments for a Theoretical Model”. Psychological Inquiry. 2004 April [cited 2018 April 20]; Vol. 15(2): p. 171-177. Available from: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/238317181_AUTHORS%27_RESPONSE_Keeping_the_Self_in_Self-Conscious_Emotions_Further_Arguments_for_a_Theoretical_Model
[28] Tracy, J. L., & Robins R. W. The Self in Self-Conscious Emotions: A Cognitive Appraisal Approach. In: Jessica L. Tracy, Richard W. Robins, June Price Tangney, editors. The Self in Self-Conscious Emotions: Theory and Research. New York: The Guilford Press; 2007: 3-20.
Published
2018-12-05
How to Cite
Bălăiţă, R. (2018). Affectivity and Social Expression. LUMEN Proceedings, 5(1), 1-17. https://doi.org/10.18662/lumproc.30
Section
Articles