SEMINAR: �Why Are Some Emotions �Negative�?: Implications for the History of Emotions�

Specific emotions, such as pride, anger and anxiety, are often characterised as being ‘positive’ or ‘negative’, but the basis of this division is often inconsistent and unclear. My talk will describe the variety of meanings these terms can convey in the social sciences and the humanities. It will conclude with informal discussion of how research on the history of emotions can contribute to understanding these issues.

W. Gerrod Parrott is Professor of Psychology at Georgetown University and is a member of the Advisory Board of the ARC Centre of Excellence for the History of Emotions. His central interest is the nature of human emotion. His published work has focused on three areas: philosophical and historical approaches to the concept of emotion; emotion's social foundations and functions, including such social emotions as embarrassment, shame, guilt, envy and jealousy; and the influence of emotion and emotional self-regulation on thought. He is the author of over 75 scholarly chapters and articles, and has published four books, The Positive Side of Negative Emotions (Guilford Press, 2014), Emotions and Culpability (with Norman Finkel, American Psychological Association, 2006), Emotions in Social Psychology (Psychology Press, 2001) and The Emotions: Social, Cultural, and Biological Dimensions (with Rom Harré, Sage, 1996). He served from 1995–1999 as Editor of the Journal Cognition and Emotion, and was President of the International Society for Research on Emotion from 2008-2013. He is a Fellow of the Association for Psychological Science.