Communications to Self and Others: Emotional Experience and its Skills

Abstract

According to the Communicative Theory of Emotions, we experience emotions when events occur that are important for our goals and plans. A method of choice for studying these matters is the emotion diary. Emotions configure our cognitive systems and our relationships. Many of our emotions concern our relationships, and empathy is central to our experience of them. We do not always recognize our emotions or the emotions of others, but literary fiction can help improve our skills of recognition and understanding.We experience emotions in our selves, in our relationships with others, and when we read fiction or attend the theater. How should we understand these experiences? To answer this question, and some of those proposed by the editors of this special issue, I draw on the Communicative Theory of Emotions of Johnson-Laird (1987, 1996), which holds that emotions are communications to ourselves and others.I first describe the Communicative Theory, then discuss how emotions are important in empathetic coordination with other people. I go on to propose that emotion recognition, in ourselves and others, is a skill, and that by reading literary fiction, we can practice and improve it.The Communicative Theory is close in spirit to the theories of

Leaders' emotional expressiveness and their behavioural and relational authenticity: Effects on followers

“…As we stated previously, authentic behaviour entails acting in accord with one's values, preferences, and needs as opposed to attempting to please others (Ilies et al, 2005;Kernis, 2003), and relational authenticity ''involves striving for achieving openness and truthfulness in their relationship with their followers and associates'' (Ilies et al, 2005, p. 382) and is considered especially important for fostering trust among leaders and followers. Moreover, insincere emotional expressions of leaders are likely to be perceived as exploitative attempts by the followers and as a consequence increase their resistance to leadership influence (Ashkanasy, 2003;Oatley, 2009). Finally, as Dasborough, Ashkanasy, Tee, and Tse (2009) explain, followers' perceptions of leader authenticity (sincerity) are important for followers' emotions and further for contagion of emotion to other individuals, which can affect higher level outcomes (e.g., trust climate).…”

Retelling everyday emotional events: Condensation, distancing, and closure

“…They are most frequently elicited in social situations and signal an action tendency to others (Frijda, 1986), and emotion-arousing situations are frequently narrated to third persons (Rimé, Mesquita, Philippot, & Boca, 1991). This social sharing serves both interpersonal and intrapersonal purposes: It helps to strengthen emotional bonds with others by sharing experiences (Roberts, 2009), it may release emotions (Pennebaker, Kiecolt-Glaser, & Glaser, 1988;Scheff, 1979) and it helps to understand an event by organising it in a temporal-causal narrative order (Oatley, 2009;Rimé, 2009). In everyday life, narratives may reflect how well their narrators have come to grips with their experience not only by what they say, but also to how they say it.…”

I Rebel—Therefore We Exist

“…A striking and related depiction is featured in the recent movie The Island (2005). Although this is a fictitious example, Oatley (2009) reminds us that literary fiction reflects meaningful simulations of the mind. As such, they represent ideas that individuals "play with" to guide their behavior in everyday life.…”