Evoluzione Teorica nello studio delle Emozioni: dal Core Affect ai modelli semiotici contemporanei

Titolo Rivista RIVISTA DI PSICOLOGIA CLINICA
Autori/Curatori maria rita serio
Anno di pubblicazione 2026 Fascicolo 2026/1
Lingua Italiano Numero pagine 28 P. 69-96 Dimensione file 0 KB
DOI 10.3280/rpc1-2026oa22590
Il DOI è il codice a barre della proprietà intellettuale: per saperne di più clicca qui

Vedi l'articolo Scarica l'articolo open access

FrancoAngeli è membro della Publishers International Linking Association, Inc (PILA), associazione indipendente e non profit per facilitare (attraverso i servizi tecnologici implementati da CrossRef.org) l’accesso degli studiosi ai contenuti digitali nelle pubblicazioni professionali e scientifiche.

L’esperienza emotiva rappresenta un fenomeno multidimensionale che interseca processi cognitivi, somatici e socioculturali. Il presente contributo propone un’analisi sistematica dell’evoluzione delle teorie psicologiche delle emozioni, tracciando una traiettoria dalle formulazioni classiche fino ai modelli contemporanei. Vengono esaminate criticamente tre prospettive teoriche principali: il modello dimensionale del core affect (Russell, 1980, 2003), la teoria costruttivista psicologica (Barrett, 2017) e l’approccio gerarchico delle neuroscienze affettive (Panksepp, 1998; 2014).

L’articolo esamina convergenze teoriche, divergenze epistemologiche ed evidenze empiriche a supporto di ciascun framework, evidenziando come queste prospettive abbiano progressivamente ridefinito la comprensione dell’affettività. Nella sezione conclusiva viene, inoltre, introdotto il modello della Pertinentizzazione Affettiva (APER; Salvatore et al., 2024), che, prendendo le mosse dalla teoria semiotica di Valsiner (2007; 2014) concettualizza l’affettività come processo semiotico primario di costruzione di senso. L’analisi comparativa evidenzia come diverse prospettive, pur partendo da assunti epistemologici differenti, convergono nel riconoscere la natura processuale, multilivello e contestualmente situata dell’esperienza emotiva, con rilevanti implicazioni per la ricerca di base e l’intervento clinico.

Parole chiave:Emozioni, affetto, neuroscienze affettive, costruttivismo psicologico, core affect, semiotica affettiva, modello Pertinentizzazione Affettiva (APER).

  1. Arnold, M. B. (1960). Emotion and personality. Columbia University Press.
  2. Barrett, L. F., & Simmons, W. K. (2015). Interoceptive predictions in the brain. Nature Reviews Neuroscience, 16(7), 419–429. <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/nrn3950">https://doi.org/10.1038/nrn3950</a>
  3. Barrett, L. F. (2017). The theory of constructed emotion: An active inference account of interoception and categorization. Social Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience, 12(1), 1–23.
  4. Barsalou, L. W., Simmons, W. K., Barbey, A. K., & Wilson, C. D. (2003). Grounding conceptual knowledge in modality-specific systems. Trends in Cognitive Sciences, 7(2), 84–91. <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/S1364-6613(02)00029-3">https://doi.org/10.1016/S1364-6613(02)00029-3</a>
  5. Burgdorf, J., Bock, P. J., Roth, L. S., & Panksepp, J. (2007). Measuring rat’s positive emotions. Physiology & Behavior, 89(2), 319–326.
  6. Cannon, W. B. (1927). The James-Lange theory of emotions: A critical examination and an alternative theory. The American Journal of Psychology, 39, 106–124. <a href="https://doi.org/10.2307/1415404">https://doi.org/10.2307/1415404</a>
  7. Cannon, W. B. (1931). Again the James-Lange and the thalamic theories of emotion. Psychological Review, 38(4), 281–295. <a href="https://doi.org/10.1037/h0072957">https://doi.org/10.1037/h0072957</a>
  8. Carli, R., & Paniccia, R. M. (2003). Analisi della domanda: Teoria e tecnica dell’intervento in psicologia clinica. Il Mulino.
  9. Chanes, L., & Barrett, L. F. (2016). Redefining the role of limbic areas in cortical processing. Trends in Cognitive Sciences, 20(2), 96–106. <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tics.2015.11.005">https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tics.2015.11.005</a>
  10. Colibazzi, T., Posner, J., Wang, Z., Gorman, D., Gerber, A., Yu, S., Zhu, H., Kangarlu, A., Duan, Y., Russell, J. A., & Peterson, B. S. (2010). Neural systems subserving valence and arousal during the experience of induced emotions. Emotion, 10(3), 377–389. <a href="https://doi.org/10.1037/a0018484">https://doi.org/10.1037/a0018484</a>
  11. Colombetti, G. (2005). Appraising valence. Journal of Consciousness Studies, 12(8–10), 103–126.
  12. Colombetti, G. (2014). The feeling body: Affective science meets the enactive mind. MIT Press.
  13. Di Paolo, E. A., Buhrmann, T., & Barandiaran, X. (2017). Sensorimotor life. Oxford University Press.
  14. Fornari, F. (1979). I fondamenti di una teoria psicoanalitica del linguaggio. Boringhieri.
  15. Frijda, N. H. (1986). The emotions. Cambridge University Press.
  16. Friston, K. (2010). The free-energy principle: A unified brain theory? Nature Reviews Neuroscience, 11(2), 127–138. <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/nrn2787">https://doi.org/10.1038/nrn2787</a>
  17. Gross, J. J., & Barrett, L. F. (2011). Emotion generation and emotion regulation: One or two depends on your point of view. Emotion Review, 3(1), 8–16. <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/1754073910380974">https://doi.org/10.1177/1754073910380974</a>
  18. Hohwy, J. (2013). The predictive mind. Oxford University Press. <a href="https://doi.org/10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199682737.001.0001">https://doi.org/10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199682737.001.0001</a>
  19. James, W. (1884). What is an emotion? Mind, 9, 188–205.
  20. James, W. (1980). The principles of psychology. Holt. (Original work published 1890)
  21. Lazarus, R. S. (1991). Emotion and adaptation. Oxford University Press.
  22. LeDoux, J. (2012). A neuroscientist’s perspective on debates about the nature of emotion. Emotion Review, 4(4), 375–379. <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/1754073912445822">https://doi.org/10.1177/1754073912445822</a>
  23. Lindquist, K. A., Wager, T. D., Kober, H., Bliss-Moreau, E., & Barrett, L. F. (2012). The brain basis of emotion: A meta-analytic review. Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 35(3), 121–143.
  24. Mandler, G., & Shebo, B. J. (1982). Subitizing: An analysis of its component processes. Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, 111(1), 1–22. <a href="https://doi.org/10.1037/0096-3445.111.1.1">https://doi.org/10.1037/0096-3445.111.1.1</a>
  25. Mesquita, B., & Walker, R. (2003). Cultural differences in emotions: A context for interpreting emotional experiences. Behaviour Research and Therapy, 41(7), 777–793. <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/S0005-7967(02)00189-4">https://doi.org/10.1016/S0005-7967(02)00189-4</a>
  26. Mesquita, B., Boiger, M., & De Leersnyder, J. (2016). The cultural construction of emotions. Current Opinion in Psychology, 8, 31–36. <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.copsyc.2015.09.015">https://doi.org/10.1016/j.copsyc.2015.09.015</a>
  27. Osgood, C. E. (1969). On the whys and wherefores of E, P, and A. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 12(3), 194–199. <a href="https://doi.org/10.1037/h0027715">https://doi.org/10.1037/h0027715</a>
  28. Panksepp, J. (1998). Affective neuroscience: The foundations of human and animal emotions. Oxford University Press.
  29. Panksepp, J. (2005). Affective consciousness: Core emotional feelings in animals and humans. Consciousness and Cognition, 14(1), 30–80. <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.concog.2004.10.004">https://doi.org/10.1016/j.concog.2004.10.004</a>
  30. Panksepp, J., & Biven, L. (2012). The archaeology of mind: Neuroevolutionary origins of human emotion. W. W. Norton.
  31. Panksepp, J., & Watt, D. (2011). What is basic about basic emotions? Emotion Review, 3(4), 387–396.
  32. Panksepp, J., Solms, M., Schläpfer, T. E., & Coenen, V. A. (2014). Primary-process separation-distress and reward processes. In M. Mikulincer & P. R. Shaver (Eds.), Mechanisms of social connection (pp. 33–53). American Psychological Association. <a href="https://doi.org/10.1037/14250-003">https://doi.org/10.1037/14250-003</a>
  33. Papez, J. W. (1937). A proposed mechanism of emotion. Archives of Neurology & Psychiatry, 38, 725–743. <a href="https://doi.org/10.1001/archneurpsyc.1937.02260220069003">https://doi.org/10.1001/archneurpsyc.1937.02260220069003</a>
  34. Pe, M. L., & Kuppens, P. (2012). The dynamic interplay between emotions in daily life. Emotion, 12(6), 1320–1328. <a href="https://doi.org/10.1037/a0028262">https://doi.org/10.1037/a0028262</a>
  35. Posner, J., Russell, J. A., & Peterson, B. S. (2005). The circumplex model of affect. Development and Psychopathology, 17(3), 715–734.
  36. Roseman, I. J. (1984). Cognitive determinants of emotion. Review of Personality & Social Psychology, 5, 11–36.
  37. Roseman, I. J. (1991). Appraisal determinants of discrete emotions. Cognition and Emotion, 5(3), 161–200. <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/02699939108411034">https://doi.org/10.1080/02699939108411034</a>
  38. Russell, J. A. (1980). A circumplex model of affect. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 39(6), 1161–1178. <a href="https://doi.org/10.1037/h0077714">https://doi.org/10.1037/h0077714</a>
  39. Salvatore, S., & Freda, M. F. (2011). Affect, unconscious and sensemaking. New Ideas in Psychology, 29(2), 119–135. <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.newideapsych.2010.06.001">https://doi.org/10.1016/j.newideapsych.2010.06.001</a>
  40. Salvatore, S. (2016). Psychology in black and white: The project of a theory-driven science. IAP.
  41. Salvatore, S. (2018). Cultural psychology as the science of sensemaking. In A. Rosa & J. Valsiner (Eds.), The Cambridge handbook of sociocultural psychology (2nd ed., pp. 35–48). Cambridge University Press.
  42. Salvatore S, Valsiner J, Veltri GA. The theoretical and methodological framework: Semiotic cultural psychology, symbolic universes and lines of semiotic forces. In: Salvatore S, Fini V, Mannarini T, Valsiner J, Veltri GA, editors. Symbolic universes in time of (post)crisis: the future of European societies. Springer; 2019. p. 25–49
  43. Salvatore S, Palmieri A, De Luca Picione R, Bochicchio V, Reho M, Serio MR, Salvatore G. (2024) The affective grounds of the mind. The Affective Pertinentization (APER) model. Phys Life Rev. Sep;50:143-165. doi: 10.1016/j.plrev.2024.07.008.
  44. Salvatore, S., Palmieri, A., De Luca Picione, R., Bochicchio, V., Reho, M., Serio, M. R., & Salvatore, G. (2026). Affective semiosis and micro-genesis of meaning: Scope and pertinence of the APER model. Reply to comments on “The affective grounds of the mind. The affective pertinentization (APER) model.” Physics of Life Reviews, 57, 79–84. <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.plrev.2026.03.003">https://doi.org/10.1016/j.plrev.2026.03.003</a>
  45. Scarantino, A. (2012). How to define emotions scientifically. Emotion Review, 4(4), 358–368. <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/1754073912445810">https://doi.org/10.1177/1754073912445810</a>
  46. Schachter, S. (1964). The interaction of cognitive and physiological determinants. Advances in Experimental Social Psychology, 1, 49–80.
  47. Schachter, S., & Singer, J. (1962). Cognitive, social, and physiological determinants of emotional state. Psychological Review, 69(5), 379–399. <a href="https://doi.org/10.1037/h0046234">https://doi.org/10.1037/h0046234</a>
  48. Scherer, K. R. (1984). Emotion as a multicomponent process. Review of Personality & Social Psychology, 5, 37–63.
  49. Scherer, K. R., Schorr, A., & Johnstone, T. (Eds.). (2001). Appraisal processes in emotion. Oxford University Press.
  50. Schlosberg, H. (1954). Three dimensions of emotion. Psychological Review, 61(2), 81–88. <a href="https://doi.org/10.1037/h0054570">https://doi.org/10.1037/h0054570</a>
  51. Serio, M.R. (2008). Sentire il mondo ed affrontare le paure. Milella
  52. Smith, C. A., & Ellsworth, P. C. (1985). Patterns of cognitive appraisal in emotion. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 48(4), 813–838.
  53. Sommers, S., & Scioli, A. (1986). Emotional range and value orientation. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 51(2), 417–422.
  54. Valsiner, J. (2007). Culture in minds and societies: Foundations of cultural psychology. SAGE Publications. <a href="https://doi.org/10.4135/9788132108504">https://doi.org/10.4135/9788132108504</a>
  55. Valsiner, J. (2014). An invitation to cultural psychology. Sage Publications, Inc.
  56. Valsiner, J. (2020). Sensuality in human living: The cultural psychology of affect. Cham: Springer.
  57. Valsiner J, Demuth C, Wagoner B, Christensen BA. The Future of Cultural Psychology: An Interview With Jaan Valsiner. Eur J Psychol. 2021 Nov 30;17(4):322-329. doi: 10.5964/ejop.7575
  58. Valsiner, J., Tsuchimoto, T., Ozawa, I. et al. The Inter-modal Pre-Construction Method (IMPreC): Exploring Hyper-Generalization. Hu Arenas 6, 580–598 (2023). <a href="https://doi.org/10.1007/s42087-021-00237-8">https://doi.org/10.1007/s42087-021-00237-8</a>
  59. Varela, F. J., Thompson, E., & Rosch, E. (1991). The embodied mind: Cognitive science and human experience. MIT Press.
  60. Wager, T. D., Atlas, L. Y., Lindquist, M. A., Roy, M., Woo, C. W., & Kross, E. (2013). An fMRI-based neurologic signature of physical pain. The New England Journal of Medicine, 368(15), 1388–1397. <a href="https://doi.org/10.1056/NEJMoa1204471">https://doi.org/10.1056/NEJMoa1204471</a>
  61. Wager, T. D., Kang, J., Johnson, T. D., Nichols, T. E., Satpute, A. B., & Barrett, L. F. (2015). A Bayesian model of category-specific emotional brain responses. PLoS Computational Biology, 11(4), e1004066.
  62. Yih, J., Kirby, L. D., Spitzer, E. G., & Smith, C. A. (2020). Emotion as a process. Motivation Science, 6(3), 221–234. <a href="https://doi.org/10.1037/mot0000144">https://doi.org/10.1037/mot0000144</a>

maria rita serio, Evoluzione Teorica nello studio delle Emozioni: dal Core Affect ai modelli semiotici contemporanei in "RIVISTA DI PSICOLOGIA CLINICA" 1/2026, pp 69-96, DOI: 10.3280/rpc1-2026oa22590