Lange Jens
University of Hamburg, Von-Melle-Park 5, 20146 Hamburg, Germany.
Affect Sci. 2023 Aug 12;4(3):541-549. doi: 10.1007/s42761-023-00203-3. eCollection 2023 Sep.
Contrary to early theorizing, emotions often last for longer periods of time. Variability in people's emotion duration contributes to psychopathologies. Therefore, emotion theories need to account for this variability. So far, reviews only list predictors of emotion duration without integrating them in a theoretical framework. Mechanisms explaining why these predictors relate to emotion duration remain unknown. I propose to embed research on emotion duration in a network model of emotions and illustrate the central ideas with simulations using a formal network model. In the network model, the components of an emotion have direct causal effects on each other. According to the model, emotions last longer (a) when the components are more strongly connected or (b) when the components have higher thresholds (i.e., they are more easily activated). High connectivity prolongs emotions because components are constantly reactivated. Higher thresholds prolong emotions because components are more easily reactivated even when connectivity is lower. Indirect evidence from research on emotion coherence and research on the relationship of predictors of emotion duration with components outside of emotional episodes supports the usefulness of the network model. I further argue and show in simulations that a common cause model, in which a latent emotion causes changes in emotion components, cannot account for research on emotion duration. Finally, I describe future directions for research on emotion duration and emotion dynamics from a network perspective.
The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s42761-023-00203-3.
与早期理论不同，情绪往往会持续更长时间。人们情绪持续时间的变异性会导致精神病理学问题。因此，情绪理论需要考虑这种变异性。到目前为止，综述仅列出了情绪持续时间的预测因素，却未将它们整合到一个理论框架中。解释这些预测因素为何与情绪持续时间相关的机制仍然未知。我提议将对情绪持续时间的研究嵌入情绪网络模型中，并使用形式网络模型通过模拟来说明核心观点。在网络模型中，情绪的各个组成部分相互之间具有直接因果效应。根据该模型，情绪持续时间更长的情况有：(a) 各组成部分之间的联系更为紧密时；(b) 各组成部分具有更高阈值时（即它们更容易被激活）。高连通性会延长情绪，因为各组成部分会不断被重新激活。更高的阈值会延长情绪，因为即使连通性较低，各组成部分也更容易被重新激活。来自情绪连贯性研究以及情绪持续时间预测因素与情绪发作之外的组成部分之间关系研究的间接证据支持了网络模型的实用性。我进一步论证并在模拟中表明，一种潜在情绪导致情绪组成部分发生变化的共同原因模型无法解释关于情绪持续时间的研究。最后，我从网络角度描述了情绪持续时间和情绪动态研究的未来方向。
在线版本包含可在10.1007/s42761-023-00203-3获取的补充材料。
