How emotions, relationships, and culture constitute each other: advances in social functionalist theory. Issue 3 (3rd April 2022)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Keltner, Dacher; Sauter, Disa; Tracy, Jessica L.; Wetchler, Everett; Cowen, Alan S.
• Is Part Of: Cognition and emotion. Volume 36:Issue 3(2022)
• Page Start: 388
• Page End: 401
• Publication Date: 2022-04-03
• Subjects: Social function -- relational needs -- cultural evolution -- emotion taxonomy; Cognition -- Periodicals; Emotions and cognition -- Periodicals; 155.413
• DOI: 10.1080/02699931.2022.2047009
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0269-9931

Abstract

ABSTRACT: Social Functionalist Theory (SFT) emerged 20 years ago to orient emotion science to the social nature of emotion. Here we expand upon SFT and make the case for how emotions, relationships, and culture constitute one another. First, we posit that emotions enable the individual to meet six "relational needs" within social interactions: security, commitment, status, trust, fairness, and belongingness. Building upon this new theorising, we detail four principles concerning emotional experience, cognition, expression, and the cultural archiving of emotion. We conclude by considering the bidirectional influences between culture, relationships, and emotion, outlining areas of future inquiry.