Professor of Social and Organizational Psychology, Department of Psychology
I am deeply honored to have been elected President of ISRE. ISRE has been my intellectual home as an emotion researcher since I joined in 1992. In those years much has changed with regard to the appreciation of the role of emotions in our lives.
In fact, when I started my undergraduate studies in psychology at the University of Giessen, Klaus Scherer, who was my mentor and supervisor in Giessen, had just recently published a paper deploring the neglect of emotions in psychological research. And I myself in 2003 wrote a paper pointing to the neglect of emotion is organizational psychology. How times have changed. Now emotions are firmly entrenched in many research traditions. And this points to another hugely important point – emotion research is inherently multidisciplinary. As emotions infuse our lives, so the study of emotions covers all the different aspects of life and not only human life. In this sense, ISRE is proud to claim scholars from many different disciplines among its members.
The current edition of Emotion Researcher features three articles that highlight evolutionary thinking about emotions. Randolph Nesse addresses one of the most longstanding issues in emotion research: what are emotions and what are their functions. He points out that these questions by their very nature suggest “tacit creationism”- the very notion that emotions are things with functions suggests an underlying machine metaphor. Rather, “emotions are special states shaped by natural selection that give selective advantages when expressed in situations where they have given fitness advantages over evolutionary time.” They are both similar and different across individuals and cultures because they were shaped by the
situations encountered over evolutionary times and are a results of differences in these experiences as well as genes and culture (which in turn influence each other). Hence it does not make sense to seek uniformity or differences in emotion expression and experience but rather one should focus on the situations that elicit them and the meaning that these situations have for those who encounter them. This call –- to which appraisal theories of emotion can respond – as well as the notion that negative emotions have a positive role to play resonates with my own thinking in these matters.
This article has an interesting link to the spotlight article by Jozefien De Leersnyder which presents a socio-cultural fit perspective on Emotions, which sees emotions as an act of making meaning – a process that cannot be thought of without the cultural and individual differences that shape it.
The second featured article, by Courtney L. Crosby and David M. Buss, focuses on sexual disgust. Yet, central to disgust is pathogen avoidance and while this is not central to the notions discussed here, it is an aspect that resonates now maybe more than ever. The link between fear of infection and the rejection of others is well established and it is one of the dangers of our present difficult times.
This notion provides a link to the next article, which focuses on the notion that norms provide motivation. Normative motivations may not be basic or psychologically primitive, but they structure and regulate our behavior. What resonated with me was the notion that, as humans, we can sit down and decide what norms to adopt. We can decide to keep distances and wear masks and stay committed to this new norm.
Before I end, I want to give a short outlook on ISRE.
ISRE 2021. Given the difficulties and uncertainties, planning the 2021 conference has been fraught. The board is currently discussing moving the conference to 2022 – also to avoid too much overlap with other conferences that have been pushed back already.
ISRE website. You all know that our website does not live up well to its task. Build on a platform that was outdated when the website was created too many years ago, it has become unusable. In the next weeks we will launch a new website, hosted by a professional provider, which will allow us to have again a common place to meet at. Members will soon receive an email with all the relevant information.
The Journal. Emotion Review is doing very well. We had some problems earlier in the year when one of the EIC encountered health problems that proved more persistent than hoped for. But we are now in line for things to get back to normal. Next year, the journal will go online only. A choice that is both practical and sustainable.
Your President,
Ursula
References
Hess, U. (2003). Emotion at work. Burgundy Reports, CIRANO.
Scherer, Klaus R. “Wider die Vernachlässigung der Emotion in der Psychologie.” In Bericht über den 32. Kongress der Deutschen Gesellschaft für Psychologie in Zürich, vol. 1, pp. 304-317. 1980.
