Toward a Theory of Emotion Knowledge

抄録

This essay advances a perspective that proposes to consider emotions as a form of knowledge that guides action. This perspective, drawing on a line of thought in cognitive science known as situationalism, suggests that plan prompts action only vaguely and that the signal function of emotion constitutes plan along with thought. It clarifies the reason people engage in the act of controlling their emotions-emotion management-while emotion is often experienced as something uncontrollable. It allows us to deal with emotion in terms of reflexivity, that is, the ability to monitor and interpret the meaning of action and its environment. Emotion knowledge is by no means transparent information on the part of an actor but is consequential to the course of action. Thus people try to control their often-unmalleable emotions.