What we do
The Cognitive and Affective Sociology (COAS) Network at Freie Universitaet Berlin and the University’s Cluster "Languages of Emotion" pursues two main research goals.
First, we investigate the influence of culture and society on emotion and cognition. In particular, we are interested in the social calibration of feeling and thinking in relation to stable socio-cultural environments. This includes the impact of social structural parameters, such as stratification and inequality, as well as that of symbolic order, for instance in terms of values, norms, practices, and discourse. Generally, we aim at understanding the formation of large-scale patterns of emotional responding, both as habitual affective dispositions and short-lived collective emotions.
Second, we study the role of emotion and cognition in the emergence and reproduction of social structures and micro-social order, mainly by looking at their influence on action and decision-making, social interaction, and robust structuring practices. In addition, we are also interested in the ways emotions are represented and their meaning is negotiated in cultural artifacts, for example in music and mass media.
Our research draws on a wide range of methodological approaches, such as analyzing survey and panel data, conducting in-depth interviews and discourse analysis, as well employing experimental designs. We also closely collaborate with researchers in psychology and social neuroscience, primarily to uncover the embodied dimension of the social calibration of emotion.
First, we investigate the influence of culture and society on emotion and cognition. In particular, we are interested in the social calibration of feeling and thinking in relation to stable socio-cultural environments. This includes the impact of social structural parameters, such as stratification and inequality, as well as that of symbolic order, for instance in terms of values, norms, practices, and discourse. Generally, we aim at understanding the formation of large-scale patterns of emotional responding, both as habitual affective dispositions and short-lived collective emotions.
Second, we study the role of emotion and cognition in the emergence and reproduction of social structures and micro-social order, mainly by looking at their influence on action and decision-making, social interaction, and robust structuring practices. In addition, we are also interested in the ways emotions are represented and their meaning is negotiated in cultural artifacts, for example in music and mass media.
Our research draws on a wide range of methodological approaches, such as analyzing survey and panel data, conducting in-depth interviews and discourse analysis, as well employing experimental designs. We also closely collaborate with researchers in psychology and social neuroscience, primarily to uncover the embodied dimension of the social calibration of emotion.
Major research areas
Social structure and emotion, collective emotion, emotional foundations of culture, affective embodiment
Social norms, social inequality, collective identity, conflict resolution, social cognition
Social norms, social inequality, collective identity, conflict resolution, social cognition
Current projects
- The emotion paradox: Depression and emotional well-being across the lifespan
- Embodying the nation: Collective emotions and national identification. Lessons from the 2010 FIFA World Cup
- Are Germans really green-eyed monsters? Cross-cultural perspectives on envy among Germans, Indonesians, and Japanese
- The affective foundations of sociality: Language, physiology and social differences
