BPS Core Textbooks Series

Developed in collaboration with the British Psychological Society

Chapter 28 – Unnatural Emotions: The Social Construction of Feelings

Chapter Summary

What if emotions were not just things we feel inside but ways we learn to live together? This chapter challenges the idea that emotions such as anger, sadness, or love are hardwired, universal responses. Instead, it shows how feelings are shaped by culture, language, history, and power. We begin on a small Pacific Island, where anthropologist Catherine Lutz was puzzled by a mother’s tears, not of sadness, but something the Ifaluk people called fago, a feeling with no easy English translation. From there, we trace how the modern idea of ‘emotion’ replaced older ways of understanding human feeling, such as passions or affections. Scientists such as Darwin and Ekman tried to classify emotions as biological and universal but their theories have been questioned by anthropologists, feminist thinkers, and discourse psychologists who argue that emotions are learned, performed, and deeply political. Using social constructionism as our critical thinking tool, we ask: what counts as an emotion and who gets to feel it? Far from being private, emotions are public acts, expressed in speech, shaped by culture, and bound up with systems of power. By the end of this chapter you will see emotion not just as something we feel but as something we do.

Chapter 28 – Quiz

  • Chapter 28 – Flashcards

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  • Chapter 28 – Key Readings

    Ahmed, S. (2014). The cultural politics of emotion (Second edition). Edinburgh University Press. 

    Dixon, T. (2003). From passions to emotions: The creation of a secular psychological category. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 

    Dupouy, S. (2011), The naturalist and the nuances: Sentimentalism, moral values, and emotional expression in Darwin and the anatomists†. Journal of the History of the Behavioural Sciences, 47(4), 335-358. https://doi.org/10.1002/jhbs.20515 

    Hutchinson, P. (2020). The “placebo” paradox and the emotion paradox: Challenges to psychological explanation. Theory & Psychology, 30(5), 617-637. https://doi.org/10.1177/0959354320928139 

    Larrain, A., & Haye, A. (2020). The dialogical and political nature of emotions: A reading of Vygotsky’s The Psychology of Art. Theory & Psychology, 30(6), 800-812. https://doi.org/10.1177/0959354320955235 

    Loaiza, J. R. (2025). Cultural variation of emotions and radical relativism. Theory & Psychology, 35(4), 444-465. https://doi.org/10.1177/09593543251332575 

    Malekzad, F., Jais, M., Hernandez, G., Kehr, H., & Quirin, M. (2022). Not self-aware? Psychological antecedents and consequences of alienating from one’s actual motives, emotions, and goals. Theory & Psychology, 33(4), 463-484. https://doi.org/10.1177/09593543221086598 

    Mesquita, B., Boiger, M., & De Leersnyder, J. (2017). Doing emotions: The role of culture in everyday emotions. European Review of Social Psychology, 28(1), 95–133. https://doi.org/10.1080/10463283.2017.1329107 

    Perrotta, D. (2025). Affective experience in neuroscience and phenomenology: An epistemological analysis of emotions and feelings. Theory & Psychology, 35(4), 466-487. https://doi.org/10.1177/09593543251336171 

    Plamper, J. (2015). History of emotions: An introduction (K. Tribe, Trans.; First edition). Oxford University Press. 

    Rose, A.C. (2012), Animal tales: Observations of the emotions in American experimental psychology, 1890–1940. Journal of the History of the Behavioural Sciences, 48(4), 301-317. https://doi.org/10.1002/jhbs.21562 

    Sánchez, F., & Sebastián, C. (2024). Integrating affection, emotion, and aesthetics into a General Theory of Learning. Theory & Psychology, 34(2), 233-256. https://doi.org/10.1177/09593543241229740 

    Wassmann, C. (2014), “Picturesque Incisiveness”: Explaining the Celebrity of James’s Theory of Emotion. Journal of the History of the Behavioural Sciences, 50(2), 166-188. https://doi.org/10.1002/jhbs.21651

    Wetherell, M. (2012). Affect and Emotion: A new social science understanding. Sage.

  • Chapter 28 – Reflective Questions

    1. What does the example of fago on Ifaluk tell us about the relationship between emotion and culture? 
    2. How did the transformation from ‘passions’ to ‘emotions’ change the way psychology approached human feeling? 
    3. In what ways did feminist theorists such as Arlie Hochschild challenge dominant understandings of emotion? 
    4. How do discursive psychologists argue that language shapes emotion? 
    5. What does the Critical Thinking Tool of social constructionism help us uncover about emotion?

  • Chapter 28 – Weblinks

    Feelings, and feelings, and feelings – BBC Radio 4

    https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m0003rsw

    This 59-minute lecture by Professor Thomas Dixon discusses the history of emotions, going over the ways emotions are categorized and studies, alongside mention of the influence of emotions on a variety of culturally significant works.

    Introduction to Psychology – Yale Open Courses (Educational resource)

    https://oyc.yale.edu/introduction-psychology/psyc-110

    This open course includes lectures on the biological and cognitive foundations of emotions, giving students a useful contrast to the more constructivist approaches explored in the chapter.

    The Science of Emotions with Tony Hale | National Geographic | Inside Out 2 – YouTube Video

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hLlO0zareiw

    This 5-minute video features a discussion between Tony Hale and Dr. Lisa Damour about the scientific approach to emotions in the context of the making of film like Inside Out, giving students the opportunity to conceptualise the topic of this chapter in a real-world context in the form of said film.

    Discursive Psychology – APA PsychNet (Educational Resource)

    https://psycnet.apa.org/record/1992-98054-000

    The entry and abstract for Potter and Wetherell’s foundational work on discursive psychology. An excellent starting point for students interested in the language-focused side of work on emotion.

    Dr. Paul Ekman on Expression and Gesture and Their Role in Emotion and Deception – YouTube Lecture

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J9i-9_QuetA

    A 20-minute YouTube video lecture presented by Dr. Paul Ekman discussing expressions and gestures, and how they impact the presentation of emotions.