A sentimental education: The place of sentiments in personality and social psychology

Abstract

"Sentiment" is a potentially appealing concept for social and personality psychologists. It can render some complex affective phenomena theoretically tractable, help refine accounts of social perception, and illuminate some personality dispositions. The success of a future sentimental psychology depends on whether "sentiment" can be delimited as a distinct domain, and whether a credible classification of sentiments can be developed.