Object of Research and Focus of the Cluster

The cluster focuses on the interdependencies between language and affect. The most widely discussed models of emotion in more recent psychology and neuroscience tend to disregard the role of language as well as of other cultural sign systems. Conversely, the current language models in modern linguistics say little or nothing about emotional processes. The theoretical modeling efforts following Chomsky’s "generative grammar" are one of many examples of the prevailing tendency to dissociate theories of language from theories of affect. The cluster aims to reverse this trend. According to a view widely held in evolutionary theory, the evolution of the human capacity for symbolization ranks among the prime factors supporting the rapid development of human intelligence and culture. Because emotions at the same time play a crucial role in human interaction, it is to be expected that language skills and emotion scripts are interconnected in multiple ways. Psychological studies have found preliminary evidence for correlations between the development of emotional and linguistic... mehr

Four research areas are developing different perspectives on common themes.

Area A: Signs

Research Area A investigates the representation, production and expression of feelings in language and non-linguistic semiotic practices. The guiding hypothesis is that the specifics of human semiotic systems, their use and acquisition exert a major influence on the experience, expression and... mehr

Area B: Arts

Research Area B is based on the assumption that all the arts by their very nature use techniques of emotionalization. It examines representations of emotions in works of art, the affective impacts of the artwork itself and the historical models of affect influenced by art and poetics. The... mehr

Area C: Individuals

Research Area C focuses on the requirements for emotional competencies, their disorders, and possibilities for supporting the development of emotional competencies. Emotional competencies are understood as a set of characteristics that are either acquired or learned (or improved through therapeutic... mehr

Area D: Cultures

Research Area D examines the "languages of emotion" in contemporary and historical cultures and societies. The notion of "cultural codification" comprises various systems of norms and rules as well as social structural configurations through which emotions and their forms of... mehr