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FrancoAngeli Journals

Regular Articles

N. 1 (2026)

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

DOI
https://doi.org/10.3280/rpc1-2026oa22590
Inviata
16 aprile 2026
Pubblicato
05-10-2026

Abstract

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.

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