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 expression are denominated, generated, articulated, and evaluated. This includes linguistic-discursive patterns, standardized modes of interaction, gestural repertoires, and aesthetic as well as mediated depictions.

The overall aim is to analyze the interdependent relationships between different codifications of emotion and the overarching socio-cultural value and meaning systems. Particular emphasis is given to comparative social and cross-cultural aspects. Researchers from the fields of anthropology, sociology, political science, psychology, evolutionary biology, literature, and cultural studies complement one another with each disciplines' distinct theoretical, conceptual, and methodological approaches. These approaches comprise, for example, the analysis of literary texts, empirical research on social practices and movements, and the decoding of emotional expression in social interaction.

The key domains of research in this area are:

1. Emotions in conflict

2. Cultural poetics of emotion

3. Interaffectivity  

1. Emotions in Conflict

Goal:
This domain investigates the affective dynamics of social and political conflict on various scales (micro- as well as macro-level) and in European as well as non-European societies.
It combines empirical studies focusing social conflict and the coming to terms with past political conflict on the one hand with theoretical analyses of specific emotions (e.g., anger, fear, grief, forgiveness, trust, respect, compassion) on the other hand. The overall aim is to gain theoretically informed and empirically grounded insights into the role of emotion in processes of social cohesion and disintegration.

Research Questions:
What are the social practices of emotion elicitation and regulation used to achieve collective goals and to produce and reinforce collective identities? How are emotions such as grief, hatred, fear, shame, guilt, and remorse articulated in different linguistic or performative discourses of commemoration? Which emotions facilitate or disrupt conflict resolution and the re-establishing of cooperation? What are the individual, social, and cultural prerequisites for forgiveness and reconciliation?

Distinctive Profile:
This domain links sociological and anthropological research on emotion, power, and social structure to psychological concepts of affective dynamics in conflicts as well as to analyses of emotional discourses from the perspectives of political science and literary studies. This way, existing theories of conflict and cooperation of various disciplinary backgrounds – having hitherto largely excluded emotions – can be expanded significantly. The domain is characterized by its multi-method profile, employing qualitative and ethnographic research, media analyses, and standardized as well as experimental methods. Comparative cultural and social structural analyses are the primary means of generating original and innovative scientific insight.

2. Cultural Poetics of Emotion

Goal:
This domain integrates projects researching the literary and artistic codification of emotion in different genres as well as in different historical, cultural, and social contexts. The key objective is to analyze the codification of emotion in genres of text, image, and music as part of an overarching cultural system, and to understand how they contribute to the constitution, perpetuation, and modification of socio-cultural value and meaning systems.

Research Questions:
What are the interdependencies of the aesthetic and social communication of emotion? What is the role of literature and art in the articulation and shared validity of "feeling rules"? How do different cultural and historical ideologies and theories of affect depict the intertwining of physiology and cognition in emotion? How are the relationships between authenticity and simulation, naturalness and artificiality, sociality and individuality, intentionality and automaticity, interiority and exteriority of the emotions conceptualized?

Distinctive Profile:
The distinctiveness of this domain is the application of a holistic perspective in analyzing the interdependencies between aesthetic genres and other cultural systems generating knowledge and meaning. While Area B primarily investigates the models of affect embedded in the European history of arts Area D pays special attention to the intertwining of different codes or meaning systems within specific cultures and historical periods.

3. Interaffectivity

Goal:
This domain investigates processes of emotional communication and coordination in social interaction. It brings together projects analyzing the expression of emotion in social interaction and exchange in human and non-human primates and those investigating the ontogenetic differentiation of emotion elicitation and expression in cross-cultural comparison. The main objective is to gain insights into the phylogeny and ontogenesis of social emotions as well as to develop an understanding of the function they perform in the construction and communication of meaning in social interaction and social coordination.

Research Questions:  
What are the similarities and cultural differences between "empathizing" and "mentalizing"? Which ultimate mechanisms form the basis of collective emotions? How do specific cultural concepts of emotions and social practices influence the capacity to empathize? What insights on the evolutionary basis of "social emotions" can be obtained through primate research? Which methods can be applied to investigate and describe emotional empathy in social interactions?

Distinctive Profile:
This domain links evolutionary and developmental psychology with approaches from social and cultural anthropology as well as with the sociology of groups and collective behavior. This opens up new and "high-risk" scientific grounds, in particular with respect to cross-species comparisons (human and non-human animals). The distinctiveness of this domain – also in comparison to studies of social interaction in other areas – is on empirical research in non-laboratory, in situ contexts as well as on cross-cultural and group-related perspectives.