Symbolic Interactionism as Affect Control

By Neil J. MacKinnon

Subjects: Psychology
Series: SUNY series in The Sociology of Emotions
Paperback : 9780791420423, 264 pages, July 1994
Hardcover : 9780791420416, 264 pages, August 1994
Out of print (Hardcover)

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Table of contents

Tables and Figures

Foreword by David R. Heise

Preface

Acknowledgments

1. Introduction

 

Affect Control Theory
Plan of this Book
The Rediscovery of Affect
The Social Psychology of Emotion
Summary

 

2. Affect Control Theory

 

Symbols, Language, and Affective Meaning
Cognitive Constraints
Affective Response and Control
Event Assessment
Event Production
Emotions
Cognitive Revisions
Summary

 

3. Cognition, Affect, and Motivation

 

Cognition and Affect
Motivation
Summary

 

4. Affect Control Theory and the Social Psychology of George Herbert Mead

 

Emotions in Mead's Social Psychology
The Social Psychology of Mead and Affect Control
Summary

 

5. Identities and Roles

 

The Conceptual Framework
Two Schools of Role Theory
Identity Theory
Affect Control Theory and Identity Theory
Summary

 

6. Role Analysis

 

The Affect Control Model for Role Analysis
Role Analysis
Learning and Accessing Norms
Summary

 

7. Emotions

 

The Constructionist Versus Positivist Debate
The Affect Control Theory of Emotions
Emotion Analysis
The Constructionist Versus Positivist Debate and Affect Control Theory
Summary

 

8. Reidentification

 

Part I: The Established Model--Attributions and Identity Labels
Part II: The Expanded Model--The Effect of Expressed Emotions on Reidentification Outcomes
Summary

 

9. Conclusion

 

Relation to Other Theories
Affect Control Theory as Sociological Explanation
Affect Control Theory as Integrative Social Psychology
Directions for Future Research and Refinement
Summary

 

Endnotes

References

Index

Neil J. MacKinnon is Professor at the University of Guelph.

Reviews

"Symbolic Interactionism as Affect Control is the only readable english-language text that deals with the theoretical implications of Affect Control Theory for people who are qualitatively oriented and not methodologists. It will become required reading in all courses in sociological theory and in the sociology of emotions.

"The book contains an excellent argument for how Affect Control Theory both relates to historical theory and resolves specific paradoxes in contemporary theoretical approaches. I particularly like the way Dr. MacKinnon has spelled out the seven groups of propositions for Affect Control Theory and the way that he demonstrates that Affect Control Theory integrates the Chicago and Iowa Schools of Symbolic Interaction. I am also impressed with his discussion of culture and emotion theory. " — John D. O'Brien, Program in the Measurement of Affect and Affective Processes, Indiana University