The word was coined at the end of the seventeenth century by a physician to designate an ailment considered serious. Today it designates an ordinary state, which research describes as rather gentle.
Published on R. Doucet3 min
The review
Understanding emotions, your own included
An instrument can give the same result every time it is administered and measure something other than what it claims. Psychometrics has distinguished these two qualities since its beginnings.
Published on V. Lasserre3 min
We think we laugh at what is funny. Observation of ordinary conversations shows that we laugh above all with someone, and often at almost nothing.
Published on K. Berthier3 min
We predict fairly well whether an event will please or sadden us, far less well how strongly and for how long. The gap has been measured, and it has a name.
Published on I. Ferrand3 min
We are genuinely moved by characters we know perfectly well never existed. The problem has a name, and it is not solved.
Published on R. Doucet2 min
The formula is a judgement disguised as an observation. What it designates covers at least three different things, two of which are not quantities.
Published on I. Ferrand2 min
Trauma, toxic, coercive control, mental load: terms from the clinic now circulate in ordinary conversation. The gain is real, and so is the cost.
Published on R. Doucet2 min
Some people receive confidences without having asked for them. The role is useful, it is rarely reciprocal, and it is never counted.
Published on K. Berthier2 min
Not at all, rather not, neither, rather, entirely: this format has dominated measurement since 1932. It carries three well-identified biases.
Published on V. Lasserre2 min
Between someone who distinguishes four shades of annoyance and someone who distinguishes only one, the difference can be measured. It has a name: emotional granularity.
Published on I. Ferrand2 min
Some people know on entering that something has happened. That perception is real, it is useful, and it says nothing about the cause.
Published on K. Berthier2 min
The judgement passed on an episode depends on its most intense moment and on its ending, hardly at all on its duration. That holds for holidays as much as for questionnaires.
Published on V. Lasserre2 min
It is judged out of place almost everywhere, and yet it was long a recognised instrument of political and judicial life. What has changed is not the emotion.
Published on R. Doucet2 min
The formula is the default answer to a question that is not one. It is neither a lie nor information, and replacing it is not always desirable.
Published on I. Ferrand2 min
A remark goes unnoticed by one person and stays with another for three days. What differs is not sensitivity in general, but what the sentence touches.
Published on K. Berthier2 min