Emotions as Movements: The Core Emotion Framework and Its Place in the Philosophy of Emotion
Year: 2026
Type: article
Abstract: The Core Emotion Framework (CEF) holds that emotional life is produced by ten natural, universalmovements, called operators, grouped in three centres. Each movement yields a characteristic result,and that result is what a person feels. This paper states the framework’s conceptual commitmentsprecisely and places them within the philosophy of emotion and affective science. Each centre has thesame shape: two counter-poles and a balancing movement. In the Head, Sensing and Calculating arebalanced by Deciding; in the Heart, Expanding and Constricting are balanced by Achieving; in theGut, Arranging and Appreciating are balanced by Boosting (“on”) and Accepting (“off”). Themovements form a continuous, flexible loop rather than a fixed sequence. They can becomeentangled, and disentanglement restores their separate operation. Compared with basic-emotiontheory, constructionism, appraisal theory, embodied and enactive accounts and process views, CEF isbest read as a process theory whose basic units are actions rather than feelings, appraisals or coreaffect. It also implies a critique of personality typology: a type describes restricted use of a repertoirethat everyone possesses. A short section grades the evidence. Operator use depends strongly on thesituation (the scenario pattern correlates r = .98 across half-samples); six situation–operator links arerobust; and five of six pre-stated links held in independent open data. Person signatures are modest (r= .44), Accepting is the most distinct operator, and blind coding matched definitions at 61% against10% chance. Ten separable trait scales, the three centres and the counter-poles were not recovered inquestionnaire data, plausibly for reasons of measurement. The paper closes with testable predictionsand decisive studies.Keywords: philosophy of emotion; emotion as action; basic emotions; constructionism; appraisaltheory; enactivism; embodiment; process theory; personality typology; Core Emotion Framework
Author: Bulgaria, Jamel
Language: English
Topic: Emotions and Moral Behavior
Subfield: Social Psychology
Field: Psychology
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W7224948694