Emotions and discourse

Abstract

Emotions have increasingly become the object of systematic sociological inquiry. Due to their special nature, a number of methodological problems accrue to the task of making emotions accessible to analysis. This article presents the results of an inquiry into the ways in which emotions are expressed in narratives and conversation. Conversations involving positive and negative self-feelings are analyzed in regard to paralinguistic markers. These markers are presented and discussed, and the ways in which markers ofthis kind can be interpreted in regard to the analysis of interview material are also considered.Emotions have become the object of systematic sociological inquiry within recent decades (Kemper, 1990;Collins, 1975;Hochschild, 1983; and Scheff, 1990, among others). Systematic inquiry, however, gives rise to a number of methodological difficulties related to the special nature of the object of analysis. Emotions have somatic characteristics, their expression can take nonverbal forms and their structure of meaning be far from clear-cut. In social research the language of conversation, including that of the interview, remains one of the most important tools of social analysis, ä means whereby insight is gained into everyday life, äs well äs the social and cultural dimensions of our own and other societies. A broad spectrum of data is provided by the .verbal reconstruction of experiences, episodes and situations undertaken by respondents during interview. Whether reconstruction of this kind, undertaken in interaction with an Interviewer, can also yield insight into the emotional dimensions of social life is less clear.

Enjoy! Hedonic Consumption and Compliance with Assertive Messages

“…People in a happy mood may underestimate the likelihood of offending others and use more direct and less polite request strategies (e.g., Bless, Mackie, and Schwarz 1992;Forgas 1995;Worth 1989, 1991;Sinclair and Mark 1992). Also, receivers in a positive mood expect higher assertiveness and lower politeness, because of loosened perceptions of social rules and frames (Bloch 1996;Forgas 1999aForgas , 1999b. Overall therefore, when in a positive mood, both sources and receivers of a communication are predisposed to use and accept assertive language.…”

“…pect to be addressed with more direct and assertive language (Bloch 1996;Forgas 1999aForgas , 1999b. This matching pattern appears consistent with language behavior literature, which demonstrates that higher compliance occurs when the language of requests fits the receiver's expectations (e.g., Brown and Levinson 1987;Forgas 1998).…”

Enjoy! Assertive Language and Consumer Compliance in (Non)Hedonic Contexts

“…He has found people in a negative mood to be more careful, and to formulate more polite and elaborate requests, whereas people in a positive mood were more direct and less elaborate in formulating requests. Bloch (1996) also shows that positive emotions are expressed in a more direct language. Research has further found that happier people are more prepared for bold actions and decisions (e.g., Qiu and Yeung 2008).…”

Communicating with One Another

“…And so, for Chafe, laughter ''expresses a feeling that insulates us from serious thought and action'' (p. 145). But the research of Bloch (1996;cited in Tracy, 2002, p. 88 f.), in addition to the research mentioned above, seems to negate such insulation. Bloch has dealt with very real everyday narrative situations of her Danish subjects, and her findings have indicated that laughter overlaid on speech may carry either the positive meaning of joy or the negative meaning of shame.…”