Prismatic × Sig Nihl // Theory
These essays explain the theories that the research notes rely on: where each theory came from, what it claims, the reasoning behind it, and which evidence supports or challenges it. Each one separates three kinds of statement: what a theory proposes, what studies designed to test it found, and what is interpretation by the author, in particular about the difference between relief and resolution. Contested positions are marked as contested, and every essay lists its references with DOIs where they exist.
The essays are written for an educated general reader. A theory is a way of organising evidence, not a description of any one person’s experience, and nothing here replaces clinical assessment or treatment.
Artistic Poster series
Better questions. A better world. Same people. Different patterns. More data. Fewer illusions.
Theory 01
How catharsis moved from Aristotle's disputed katharsis through Breuer and Freud's discharge model to a testable hypothesis, what controlled studies found, and why expression without processing tends to bring relief rather than resolution.
Theory 02
Gross's process model sorts regulation strategies by when they act on an emotion, and the extended model adds how strategies are chosen. This essay explains both, the evidence on strategy effects, and where venting and reappraisal sit.
Theory 03
Appraisal theories hold that emotions follow from evaluations of what events mean for a person. This essay covers Lazarus, Scherer's component process model, the evidence and its limits, and why appraisal is the mechanism reappraisal targets.
Theory 04
Basic emotion theory treats emotions as evolved families with characteristic signals; the theory of constructed emotion treats them as built in the moment. This essay sets out both, the evidence each cites, and what the debate means for measuring emotion.
Theory 05
Rimé's research shows that people share most emotional experiences and find it helpful, yet sharing often does not reduce an event's emotional impact. This essay explains the theory, the two modes of sharing, and why recovery seems to need cognitive work.
Theory 06
Why relief can keep a problem going: negative reinforcement, avoidance learning from two-factor theory to inhibitory learning, and experiential avoidance, with the evidence, its limits and why avoidance is not always maladaptive.
Theory 07
What it means physiologically when 'the body changes state': allostasis as predictive regulation, allostatic load as its cumulative cost, stress recovery and perseverative cognition, with the evidence, the critiques and the limits for catharsis.
Theory 08
From Durkheim's collective ritual to Collins's interaction ritual chains, collective effervescence and synchrony: what theories of shared emotion propose, what gatherings and rituals have been found to do, and why ritual is not resolution.
