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Individual differences in the experience of emotions
1Department of Psychology, University of Western Ontario, London, Canada.
Clinical Psychology Review
|December 16, 1997
Summary
Individual differences in personality and self-schemas significantly influence emotional experiences. Understanding these factors enhances emotion theories and clinical applications in psychology.
Area of Science:
- Psychology
- Emotion Science
- Cognitive Science
Background:
- Emotion research traditionally examines neuropsychological and cognitive factors.
- Individual differences and cognitive appraisals are increasingly recognized as crucial in emotion.
- Personality traits (e.g., extraversion, neuroticism) and psychopathology impact emotional responses.
Purpose of the Study:
- To highlight the role of individual difference factors in emotion.
- To integrate personality and cognitive factors within emotion theory.
- To present a self-schema model of emotion.
Main Methods:
- Reviewing neuropsychological and cognitive approaches to emotion.
- Analyzing personality and psychopathology findings.
- Developing and illustrating a self-schema model of emotion.
Main Results:
- Individual differences in personality and self-schemas shape cognitive appraisals and emotional outcomes.
- The self-schema model explains how core themes and self-beliefs influence emotional processing.
- This model enhances the predictability of emotional and behavioral responses.
Conclusions:
- Individual differences are fundamental to understanding emotion.
- The self-schema model offers a framework for integrating these differences.
- Further research is needed on cognitive and emotional components of individual differences in emotion.