What language does to feelings
Colombetti, Giovanna
Date: 1 September 2009
Journal
Journal of Consciousness Studies
Publisher
Imprint Academic
Related links
Abstract
This paper distinguishes various ways in which language can act on our affect or emotion
experience. From the commonsensical consideration that sometimes we use language merely to
report or describe our feelings, I move on to discuss how language can constitute, clarify, and
enhance them, as well as induce novel and oft surprising ...
This paper distinguishes various ways in which language can act on our affect or emotion
experience. From the commonsensical consideration that sometimes we use language merely to
report or describe our feelings, I move on to discuss how language can constitute, clarify, and
enhance them, as well as induce novel and oft surprising experiences. I also consider the social
impact of putting feelings into words, including the reciprocal influences between emotion
experience and the public dissemination of emotion labels and descriptions, and how these
influences depend on the power of labelling to make complex feelings visible and thus easily
accessible. Finally, I address and reinterpret some psychological findings on the so-called “verbal
overshadowing” effect.
Social and Political Sciences, Philosophy, and Anthropology
Faculty of Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences
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