title: Emotions and interpersonal relationships: toward a person-centered conceptualization of emotions and coping.
abstract: This essay describes my theory of emotions. I make a case for studying discrete emotions in the context of four processes that represent the central features of my theoretical system: appraising, coping, flow of actions and reactions, and relational meaning. I explain why coping is a key feature of the emotion process, and I discuss issues related to the measurement of coping and the importance of understanding coping processes in the context of personality and situational demands. I make the argument that emotions are best studied as narratives, and I offer one such narrative in the form of a case study to demonstrate how emotions can best be understood in the context of an interpersonal relationship and by considering individual differences, interpersonal transactions, and relational meaning. I conclude this essay with a caution that field specialization may interfere with our understanding of emotions and other psychological phenomena, and I underscore the virtues of ipsative-normative research designs as a way to move closer to a person-centered personality psychology.
authors.affiliation: University of California, Berkeley, Berkely, CA, USA.
authors.forename: Richard S
authors.initials: RS
authors.lastname: Lazarus
mesh_terms: D000223:Adaptation, Psychological; D000533:Altruism; D000739:Anecdotes as Topic; D000786:Anger; D003674:Defense Mechanisms; D004644:Emotions; D006379:Helping Behavior; D006801:Humans; D007206:Individuality; D007398:Interpersonal Relations; D010551:Personality; D011340:Problem Solving; D012931:Social Environment; D012938:Social Perception; D013315:Stress, Psychological / Q000523:psychology