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Can the Lone Ranger, Molly Bloom, and Emile Durkheim Be Friends?

Department of Psychology, Rutgers University at Newark, USA, kharber{at}psychology.rutgers.edu

Bernard Rimé effectively reorients emotions and emotional disclosure in a more social and interpersonal direction, outlining the intricate interplay between emotion generation, emotional sharing, and social integration. However, he also takes a hard line on the intra-psychic emphasis of emotional disclosure, which he frames as the product of an individualistic "Lone Ranger" perspective. In many ways Rimé's critique is on target, but it does not fully credit research and theory demonstrating the benefits of private, self-to-self disclosure. This commentary proposes a reconciliation between Rimé's social structuralist perspective and an intra-psychic, self-based perspective. George Herbert Mead's symbolic interactionism, which suggests that the people can relate to their own selves as with another person, provides the basis for this accord.

Key Words: communication • disclosure • emotions • self

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Emotion Review, Vol. 1, No. 1, 90-91 (2009)
DOI: 10.1177/1754073908099128


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This Article Abstract Full Text (PDF) Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Services Email this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Alert me to new issues of the journal Add to Saved Citations Download to citation manager Request Permissions Request Reprints Add to My Marked Citations Citing Articles Citing Articles via Google Scholar Citing Articles via Scopus Google Scholar Articles by Harber, K. D. Search for Related Content Social Bookmarking                         What's this?