Are Emotions Natural Kinds?
From PsyCrit
- Target article: Barrett, L.F. (2006) Are Emotions Natural Kinds?. Perspectives on Psychological Science, 1, 28-58.
- Commentaries: Alvarado 2006 [ PDF ]
Abstract
Laypeople and scientists alike believe that they know anger, or sadness, or fear, when they see it. These emotions and a few others are presumed to have specific causal mechanisms in the brain and properties that are observable (on the face, in the voice, in the body, or in experience) – that is, they are assumed to be natural kinds. If a given emotion is a natural kind and can be identified objectively, then it is possible to make discoveries about emotion. Indeed, the scientific study of emotion is founded on this assumption. In this article, I review the accumulating empirical evidence that is inconsistent with the view that there are kinds of emotion with boundaries that are carved in nature. I then consider what moving beyond a natural-kind view might mean for the scientific understanding of emotion.
