Disorders of Emotion

Abstract

A general framework for the analysis of emotion is developed and applied to an understanding of emotional disorders. A normal emotional state is presumed to exist when a person is disposed to respond in a manner consistent with an appropriately constituted emotional role (syndrome) under conditions that legitimize involvement in the role. Enactment of an emotional role requires certain biosocial capacities, but the content of a role is determined primarily by social rules. Three kinds of rules may be distinguished, depending on whether they help create the emotional role in the first place (constitutive rules), specify the manner and circumstances under which the role may be enacted (regulative rules), and/or contribute to the strategic and skilled enactment of the role (procedural rules). Most common emotional disorders result when the rules of emotion are habitually misconstrued or misapplied, for example, due to physiological dysfunction, inadequate socialization, motivational distortion, and/or cognit...