- Valence (psychology)
'Valence', as used in psychology, especially in discussing
emotion s, means the intrinsic attractiveness (positive valence) or aversiveness (negative valence) of an event, object, or situation. [Nico H. Frijda, The Emotions. Cambridge(UK): Cambridge University Press, 1986. p. 207] However, the term is also used to characterize and categorize specific emotions. For example, the emotions popularly referred to as "negative", such asanger andfear , have "negative valence".Joy has "positive valence". Positively valenced emotions are evoked by positively valenced events, objects, or situations. The term is also used about thehedonic tone offeelings ,affect , certainbehavior s (for example, approach and avoidance), goal-attainment or -non-attainment, and conformity with or violation of norms.Ambivalence can be viewed as conflict between positive and negative valence-carriers.Fact|date=September 2007History of Usage
The term entered English usage in psychology with the translation from German in 1935 of works of
Kurt Lewin . Ambivalence has a longer history.Fact|date=September 2007Criterion for Emotion
Valence is one criterion used in some definitions of emotion. The possible absence of valence is cited as a reason to exclude
surprise , viewed as thestartle reaction , from the list of emotions, though some would include it.Measurement
Valence could be assigned a number and treated as if it were measured, but the validity of a
measurement based on asubjective report is questionable. Measurement based on observations of facial expressions, usingFACS , andmicroexpressions (See Ekman.) or on modern functionalbrain imaging may overcome this objection.Footnotes
References
ee also
*
Paul Ekman
*Valence effect External links
* [http://polorovereto.unitn.it/~colombetti/docs/GC_AppraisingValence05.pdf Appraising Valence]
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