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11 - Virtue and Emotion: Recent Psychological Views

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 June 2012

Samuel S. Franklin
Samuel S. Franklin
Affiliation:
California State University, Fresno
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Summary

Why, then, ‘tis none to you; for there is nothing either good or bad, but thinking makes it so.

Act 2, Scene 2 of Shakespeare's Hamlet

There are a number of developments in contemporary psychology that have embraced Aristotle's view of virtue and its importance to a good life. In this chapter I will discuss some recent variations of Aristotle's virtue/emotion theory and how they have been used to treat unhappiness. Although unhappiness is not the main concern of this book, it is to some degree the flip side of our primary interest, and an understanding of one can add to our knowledge of the other.

Cognitive psychology started to blossom in the 1960s as Behaviorism's grip on the discipline weakened. Recognizing the value of John Watson's claim that he could make each of us a “doctor, lawyer, artist, merchant-chief and, yes, even beggar-man and thief” by controlling the environment, and also acknowledging Freud's idea that human problems stem from irrational motives and childhood trauma, cognitive psychology offered still another view – a return to Aristotle.

ALBERT ELLIS'S ABC MODEL

Albert Ellis, one of the early cognitive therapists, proposed that we usually feel the way we think. Therefore, changing thoughts can change feelings! Ellis and his colleagues summarize this idea in their ABC model.

Irrational beliefs often lay behind our suffering and unhappiness. By becoming more rational we improve our lives.

Type
Chapter
Information
The Psychology of Happiness
A Good Human Life
 , pp. 102 - 114
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2009

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References

Ellis, A., & Harper, R. A. (1961/1997). A guide to rational living. North Hollywood, CA: Wilshire Book CompanyGoogle Scholar
Walen, S. R., DiGiuseppe, R., & Wessler, R. L. (1980). A practitioner's guide to rational emotive therapy. New York: Oxford University PressGoogle Scholar
Lazarus, R. S. (1991). Emotion and adaptation. New York: Oxford University PressGoogle Scholar
Lazarus, R. S., & Lazarus, B. N. (1994). Passion and reason: Making sense of our emotions. New York: Oxford University PressGoogle Scholar
Power, M., & Dalgleish, T. (1997). Cognition and emotion: From order to disorder. Hove, East Susses, UK: Psychology PressGoogle Scholar
Epstein, S., & Meier, P. (1989). Constructive thinking: A broad coping variable with specific components. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 57, 332–350CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Epstein, S. (1998). Constructive thinking: The key to emotional intelligence. Westport, CT: Praeger, pp. 72, 102–3, 136Google Scholar
Epstein, S., & Brodsky, A. (1993). You're smarter than you think. New York: Simon & ShusterGoogle Scholar
Franklin, S., & Torzynski, R. (1993). Virtue and well-being: Evidence for Aristotle's eudaemonic theory of happiness. Paper presented at the Meeting of the Western Psychological Association. Phoenix, AZ
Franklin, S. (1994). An examination of Aristotle's concept of virtue and its relationship to well-being. Paper presented at the Meeting of the Western Psychological Association. Los Angeles

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