Emotional Intractability: The Effects of Perceptions of Emotional Roles on Immediate and Delayed Conflict Outcomes

Abstract:     
In this extended abstract, we describe two empirical studies designed to explore the role that emotions play in perpetuating conflict, using humiliation as a case example. We contend that the ways in which emotions are socially constructed affects how emotions are experienced, acted upon, and recalled, and that these experiences, actions and recollections directly influence the degree to which conflicts escalate and become stuck in cycles. In this paper, we seek to shed light more specifically on why and how this is so.

Number of Pages in PDF File: 18

working papers series