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The Cognitive Structure of Emotion

Book  in  Contemporary Sociology · January 1988

DOI: 10.2307/2074241

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Reviewed Work(s): The Cognitive Structure of Emotions. by Andrew Ortony, Gerald L.
Clore and Allan Collins
Review by: B. N. Colby
Source: Contemporary Sociology, Vol. 18, No. 6 (Nov., 1989), pp. 957-958
Published by: American Sociological Association
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/2074241
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 958 REVIEWS

three eliciting conditions, and usually form cooperative problem solving, and planning
part of a sequence that arises from different programs.
perspectives and changes in the situation as The primary value of the book is in the
the action or situation unfolds. linking of emotions, in an intuitively sensible
The authors describe their theory as one of classification, to conditions and value struc-
successive differentiation, starting with a tures in a way never before mapped out so
topmost division of positive and negative explicitly and so well. Though developed by
valence. Then, as- more information is cognitive psychologists, the theory involves
processed, "increasingly differentiated emo-
key areas of sociological and anthropological
interest. In this theory we have a new
tional states may result." However, the
landmark with implications for all the social
authors do not mean to produce a temporal or
and behavioral sciences.
sequential model that traces the flow of
information. They describe a logical structure
of the emotion space, which encompasses a
partially virtual value or appraisal structure Theory and Methods
represented as a directed structure with
several types of linkages: sufficiency, neces- Ethnomethodology International
sary, facilitative, and inhibitory. The struc-
Klatsch: Zur Sozialform der Diskreten Indis-
ture is always in a dynamic state, as old goals
kretion, by JORG R. BERGMANN. Berlin &
are replaced by new ones or as goal priorities
New York: Walter de Gruyter, 1987. 293 pp.
change. Added to this state are standards and NPL paper.
attitudes. The latter include tastes, which the
authors see as lacking the kind of underlying L'Ethnomethodologie, by ALAIN COULON.
logical or propositional structure of goals and Paris: Presses Universitaires de France, 1987.
126 pp. NPL paper.
standards-although they are certainly com-
plex when one considers the importance of Establishing Agreement: An Analysis of
taste as class markers and indicators of social Proposal-Acceptance Sequences, by HAN-
aspirations. Linked to these three components NEKE HOUTKOOP-STEENSTRA. Dordrecht &
of the appraisal structure are three central Providence, RI: Foris, 1987. 205 pp. $27.90
intensity variables that are local to the cloth.
particular groups of emotions and values in
Sequenties en Formuleringen: Aspecten van
the theory: desirability for goals, praisewor-
de Interactionele Organisatie van Huisarts-
thiness for standards, and appealingness for
Spreekuurgesprekken, by PAUL TEN HAVE.
attitudes.
Dordrecht & Providence, RI: Foris, 1987.
Global variables influencing the intensity
367 pp. $25.00 paper.
of emotions across the board include sense of
reality, psychological proximity, unexpected- Langage et action sociale: Aspects philoso-
ness, and existing level of arousal. The first phiques et semiotiques du langage dans la
relates to the experience of "numbing" when perspective de l'ethnomethodologie, by JEAN
faced with enormously tragic circumstances WIDMER. Fribourg: Editions Universitaires
or losses through death. The others. are Fribourg Suisse, 1986. 422 pp. NPL paper.
self-explanatory.
The authors discuss the specific emotion DEIRDRE BODEN
types, along with specifications, lexical Washington University
tokens, variables affecting intensity, and
examples, in four middle chapters of the Ethnomethodology has not only come in
book. In all, the authors give specifications from the cold, as Mullins (1973) argued, it is
for twenty-two emotion types. This section is here to stay. This essay reviews several recent
followed by a discussion of the theory European publications that attest to both the
boundaries in the last chapter. Here the range and reach of the field and, with it,
authors suggest some preliminary rules for conversation
an analysis. The books are at times
artificial intelligence system that would rea- linguistically and even physically'less acces-
son about emotions, rules that would be sible than one might wish, yet their scholarly
needed for natural language comprehension, exposition and empirical rigor merit that

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