ABSTRACT

This chapter focuses on the microdynamics of expectations and the emotions and emphasizes that basic to humans are certain fundamental and universal need states. Most of the time, people have an implicit sense of which need states can be met at what level of realization; and in light of these implicit calculations, they adjust their expectations upward or downward. The distribution of negative emotions as a result of failure to verify identities will bifurcate depending upon whether expectations for verification have remained high or low, and upon the degree to which people experience negative or positive sanctions. The highest level of identity is what has been called core identity or, alternatively, person identity. This is the most powerful identity because it is organized around people's most fundamental conceptions of who they are and how they should be treated.