Representation and emotion causation: A cultural psychology approach

Abstract

This paper proposes a way of conceptualizing the role of representation in emotion causation from the perspective of Vygotskian cultural psychology. It is argued that emotion is caused by the agency of the object within activity, but this agency is mediated by representations. It is argued that the kind of representation which mainly mediates emotion causation is what Vygotsky called perezhivanie, which, we suggest, is the same as what in the literature on emotion has been called appraisal. This position diverges from the two most widespread hypotheses on emotion causation: (1) representation causes feeling and emotion; and (2) representation enters the emotional process once feeling has already been caused by the environment.