Towards a Theory of Collective Emotions

Abstract

Collective emotions are at the heart of any society and become evident in gatherings, crowds, or responses to widely salient events. However, they remain poorly understood and conceptualized in scientific terms. Here, we provide first steps towards a theory of collective emotions. We first review accounts of the social and cultural embeddedness of emotion that contribute to understanding collective emotions from three broad perspectives: face-to-face encounters, culture and shared knowledge, and identification with a social collective. In discussing their strengths and shortcomings and highlighting areas of conceptual overlap, we translate these views into a number of bottom–up mechanisms that explain collective emotion elicitation on the levels of social cognition, expressive behavior, and social practices.

Extended emotion

“…Note that the extended emotion thesis differs in important respects from other views on which emotions may be taken to extend beyond the agent's head to its body-e.g., embodied emotion theories (for a philosophical take see Prinz 2004aPrinz , 2004b; for more experimental approaches see Niedenthal 2007, Schnall et al 2008, Sander et al 2005, Scherer 2009)-or even beyond individual organisms to social groups-e.g., collective emotions theories (see for example (Scheve & Salmela, 2014) and (Scheve & Ismer, 2013).…”

The sense of belonging: Emotional aspects in participatory design in relation to products and services for cities

“…This can be seen in the way people who do not know each other tend to cross a street together and in the same place. They all want to cross the street safely, respecting the traffic lights, and if the traffic lights take time to change, they simultaneously experience anger or frustration (von Scheve and Ismer, 2013). In the cognitive assessment structure (von Scheve and Ismer, 2013), the status of group and emotional convergence are key.…”

“…They all want to cross the street safely, respecting the traffic lights, and if the traffic lights take time to change, they simultaneously experience anger or frustration (von Scheve and Ismer, 2013). In the cognitive assessment structure (von Scheve and Ismer, 2013), the status of group and emotional convergence are key. For this reason, actions that are directed to an improvement of a place could be initially derived from pointed necessities by its inhabitants, having a better success chance.…”

“…Emotional and symbolic bonds to a place are constructed by four key mechanisms that characterize the symbolic structure: (a) the formation of collective memories built over time through discourse; (b) lasting feelings based on the group; (c) social norms which elicit collective emotions as shared assessment components, and as a mechanism of social control of emotions; (d) social practices that contribute to the spread of feelings on a large scale and to the validation of appropriate and expected feelings (von Scheve and Ismer, 2013).…”

Pride and the city

“…These people will act as advocates for their region and promote the positive aspects their region has to offer and contribute to improving their neighbourhood (Wellington Regional Council 2011, p. 35) Notwithstanding the frequent appearance of the term pride in the urban and regional planning discourse very little attention has been paid to the role of urban pride; how it forms in individuals, how it is distributed among residents within and between cities, and above all how it is used in decision making. This lacunae exists in spite of the increasing attention being paid to the way emotion motivates behaviour in general (Davidson et al 2007), collectively (Sullivan 2014b, von Scheve, Ismer 2013, and within individuals (Lea, Webley 1997) 1 . At the same time it is important to differentiate pride from a number of other emotions that are receiving attention, such as life satisfaction and happiness.…”