Studies // Cited work

Core affect and the psychological construction of emotion

Russell, J. A. (2003). Core affect and the psychological construction of emotion.

Level D Theory doi:10.1037/0033-295X.110.1.145

What this study supports

Supports the claim that core affect was proposed as a basic pleasant-unpleasant and activated-deactivated state that becomes an emotional episode when attributed to a cause. A theoretical framework.

Who was studied
Not applicable: a theoretical article.
Design
Theory
Level of evidence
Cross-sectional, observational, qualitative work and narrative reviews.

Claims that rest on it

Each claim states what the site asserts, at what strength, and with what caveat.

TheoreticalLevel DConfidence MODERATE

Critics, including constructionist theorists, contest whether appraisals cause emotions or are part of how emotional episodes are described and categorised, and this question remains open.

Scope
Theoretical debate about the causal status of appraisal.
Caveat
Positions differ in degree; many constructionist accounts retain a role for meaning-making that resembles appraisal.

Last reviewed · Review due · appraisal-causality-contested

TheoreticalLevel DConfidence HIGH

The theory of constructed emotion proposes that emotion categories are not triggered programmes but are constructed, in the moment, from predictions based on interoception, past experience and concepts; it builds on the idea of core affect.

Scope
The position as stated by its proponents.
Caveat
Its predictive-processing account is broad and some critics argue it is hard to falsify.

Last reviewed · Review due · constructed-emotion-theory-position