Wundt's three-dimensional theory of emotion

In W. Balzer, J. D. Sneed & C. U. Moulines (eds.), Structuralist Knowledge Representation: Paradigmatic Examples (Poznan Studies in the Philosophy of the Sciences and the Humanities, 75, 219-250). Rodopi. pp. 75--219 (2000)
  Copy   BIBTEX

Abstract

ABSTRACT. This chapter presents a reconstruction of Wilhelm Wundt's (1896) three-dimensional theory of emotion from the perspective of the structuralist approach to scientific theories. Wundt's theory, a quantitative theory of the structure of emotional experience, is reconstructed as a small theory-net consisting of the basic theory-element TE(WUNDT) and specializations of this element. The main substantive axiom of TE(WUNDT) postulates that human emotions result from the fusion of a characteristic 'mixture' of six basic forms of feeling: Pleasure, displeasure, excitement, inhibition (tranquillization), tension, and relaxation. A second axiom holds that the basic feeling types are organized into three bipolar dimensions, and the third axiom claims that the basic feelings experienced toward complex objects are a fusion of the corresponding basic feelings directed at the components of the complex objects. Specializations of the theory result from different possible specifications of the central fusion axiom. It appears that only one concept of the theory is T-theoretical, namely the function q which assigns characteristic proportions of basic feelings to the nonbasic emotions. The intended applications of the theory are discussed, and the reconstruction is appraised.

Links

PhilArchive



    Upload a copy of this work     Papers currently archived: 90,593

External links

Setup an account with your affiliations in order to access resources via your University's proxy server

Through your library

Similar books and articles

The Philosophical Roots Of Scientific Psychology.Henryk Misiak - 1961 - New York,: Fordham University Press.
A wundt Primer: The operating characteristics of consciousness.Arthur L. Blumenthal - 2001 - In Robert W. Rieber & David K. Robinson (eds.), Wilhelm Wundt in History: The Making of a Scientific Psychology. Kluwer Academic/Plenum Publishers. pp. 121-144.
Emotion Experience and its Varieties.Nico H. Frijda - 2009 - Emotion Review 1 (3):264-271.
William James and the psychology of emotions: From 1884 to the present.Joseph T. Palencik - 2007 - Transactions of the Charles S. Peirce Society 43 (4):769 - 786.
The heat of emotion: Valence and the demarcation problem.Louis Charland - 2005 - Journal of Consciousness Studies 12 (8-10):82-102.
Wundt and the conceptual foundations of psychology.Theodore Mischel - 1970 - Philosophy and Phenomenological Research 31 (September):1-26.

Analytics

Added to PP
2009-01-28

Downloads
307 (#60,154)

6 months
26 (#95,928)

Historical graph of downloads
How can I increase my downloads?

Author's Profile

Citations of this work

Add more citations

References found in this work

No references found.

Add more references