ABSTRACT
Having considered emotion as an individual phenomenon in the first part of this book, I move on in this second part to an attempt at contextualizing the relevant processes within social life. In the present chapter, I focus specifically on emotion as an interpersonal phenomenon. First, I consider the prevalent psychological approach to emotion communication and conclude that it depends on a misguided notion of affect as a primarily intrapsychic event waiting to find expression in the social world. I try to articulate an alternative and more radical account of emotion as embedded in episodes that are played out on-line in the interpersonal arena. Given the intricate interlocking of ongoing interactive behaviours, and the dynamic time dependencies of real-time encounters, one of the main problems faced by such a position is to find a workable methodology which allows a principled strategy for data reduction. In the second section of this chapter, I review some of the studies that have attempted to deal with the complexities of real-life and real-time interpersonal emotion in order to suggest potential guidelines for future research. Third, I review research findings relating to interpersonal causes, effects, and functions of emotion. Finally, I recommend adoption of a communicative approach that sees emotion first and foremost as a process of making claims about personal or social identity to particular intended audiences in the context of unfolding social encounters.
