Social catharsis Catharsis

1 social catharsis

1.1 stages
1.2 motives
1.3 grapevine effect
1.4 collective catharsis
1.5 effect on emotional recovery

social catharsis

emotional situations can elicit physiological, behavioral, cognitive, expressive, , subjective changes in individuals. affected individuals use social sharing cathartic release of emotions. bernard rimé studies patterns of social sharing after emotional experiences. works suggests individuals seek social outlets in attempt modify situation , restore personal homeostatic balance.

rimé found 80–95% of emotional episodes shared. affected individuals talk emotional experience recurrently people around them throughout following hours, days, or weeks. these results indicate response irrespective of emotional valence, gender, education, , culture. studies found social sharing of emotion increases intensity of emotion increases.

stages

Émile durkheim proposed emotional stages of social sharing:

motives

affect scientists have found differences in motives social sharing of positive , negative emotions.

(1) positive emotion

a study langston found individuals share positive events capitalize on positive emotions elicit. reminiscing positive experience augments positive affects temporary mood , longer-term well-being. study gable et al. confirmed langston s capitalization theory demonstrating relationship quality enhanced when partners responsive positive recollections. responsiveness increased levels of intimacy , satisfaction within relationship. in general, motives behind social sharing of positive events recall positive emotions, inform others, , gain attention others. 3 motives representatives of capitalization.

(2) negative emotion

rimé studies suggest motives behind social sharing of negative emotions vent, understand, bond, , gain social support. negatively affected individuals seek life meaning , emotional support combat feelings of loneliness after tragic event.

the grapevine effect

if emotions shared socially , elicits emotion in listener listener share heard other people. rimé calls process secondary social sharing. if repeats, called tertiary social sharing.

collective catharsis

collective emotional events share similar responses. when communities affected emotional event, members repetitively share emotional experiences. after 2001 new york , 2004 madrid terrorist attacks, more 80% of respondents shared emotional experience others. according rimé, every sharing round elicits emotional reactivation in sender , receiver. reactivates need share in both. social sharing throughout community leads high amounts of emotional recollection , emotional overheating.

pennebaker , harber defined 3 stages of collective responses emotional events.

in first stage, state of emergency takes place in first month after emotional event. in stage, there abundance of thoughts, talks, media coverage, , social integration based on event.

in second stage, plateau occurs in second month. abundant thoughts remain, amount of talks, media coverage, , social integration decreases.

in third stage, extinction occurs after second month. there return normalcy.

effect on emotional recovery

this cathartic release of emotions believed therapeutic affected individuals. many therapeutic mechanisms have been seen aid in emotional recovery. 1 example interpersonal emotion regulation, in listeners modify affected individual s affective state using strategies. expressive writing common mechanism catharsis. joanne frattaroli published meta-analysis suggesting written disclosure of information, thoughts, , feelings enhances mental health.

however, other studies question benefits of social catharsis. finkenauer , colleagues found non-shared memories no more emotionally triggering shared ones. other studies have failed prove social catharsis leads degree of emotional recovery. zech , rimé asked participants recall , share negative experience experimenter. when compared control group discussed unemotional topics, there no correlation between emotional sharing , emotional recovery.

some studies found adverse effects of social catharsis. contrary frattaroli study, sbarra , colleagues found expressive writing impede emotional recovery following marital separation. similar findings have been published regarding trauma recovery. group intervention technique used on disaster victims prevent trauma-related disorders. however, meta-analysis showed negative effects of cathartic therapy .