Ambivalent Affects in Experimental Psychology
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Marco Viola
Abstract
Can pleasure and displeasure co-exist simultaneously in subjective experience? This question has been a subject of lively debate in experimental psychology for decades. Some researchers, whom I refer to as ambivalence deflationists, argue that pleasure and displeasure are mutually exclusive. Others, the ambivalence realists, maintain that their co-occurrence is a genuine possibility. In this essay, I distinguish between various notions of ambivalence, review some key evidence and arguments on both sides of the debate, and hint at some implications of allowing or disallowing ambivalence.
Abstract
Can pleasure and displeasure co-exist simultaneously in subjective experience? This question has been a subject of lively debate in experimental psychology for decades. Some researchers, whom I refer to as ambivalence deflationists, argue that pleasure and displeasure are mutually exclusive. Others, the ambivalence realists, maintain that their co-occurrence is a genuine possibility. In this essay, I distinguish between various notions of ambivalence, review some key evidence and arguments on both sides of the debate, and hint at some implications of allowing or disallowing ambivalence.
Chapters in this book
- Frontmatter I
- Acknowledgements VII
- Contents IX
- List of Figures XI
- Introduction 1
- Ambivalent Affects in Experimental Psychology 29
- Mixed Emotions in Emotion Communication: A Chimera in my Brain 45
- Mixed Emotions and the Climate Crisis in Contemporary Anglophone Fiction 63
- Ubi sunt? On the Varieties and Mixed Pleasures of Poignancy 79
- Being of Two Minds in Eleventh-Century China: Affective Bimodality in Guo Xi and Su Shi 97
- Explaining (Away?) Conflicting Emotions: A View from Sanskrit Aesthetic Phenomenology 115
- Odi et Amo: On Some Ancient Readings of Mixed Affect in Catullus 135
- Bittersweet History: Cicero on Mixed Affect in Experiencing Literature 155
- Ambivalent Feelings towards the Lupercalia: Discussing Civilisation in Republican and Early Imperial Rome 171
- Bibliography 187
- List of Contributors 205
- Index 207
Chapters in this book
- Frontmatter I
- Acknowledgements VII
- Contents IX
- List of Figures XI
- Introduction 1
- Ambivalent Affects in Experimental Psychology 29
- Mixed Emotions in Emotion Communication: A Chimera in my Brain 45
- Mixed Emotions and the Climate Crisis in Contemporary Anglophone Fiction 63
- Ubi sunt? On the Varieties and Mixed Pleasures of Poignancy 79
- Being of Two Minds in Eleventh-Century China: Affective Bimodality in Guo Xi and Su Shi 97
- Explaining (Away?) Conflicting Emotions: A View from Sanskrit Aesthetic Phenomenology 115
- Odi et Amo: On Some Ancient Readings of Mixed Affect in Catullus 135
- Bittersweet History: Cicero on Mixed Affect in Experiencing Literature 155
- Ambivalent Feelings towards the Lupercalia: Discussing Civilisation in Republican and Early Imperial Rome 171
- Bibliography 187
- List of Contributors 205
- Index 207
