Dove e quando

Affective Artifacts: Broadening the Scope

Conference by Marco Viola (Roma 3)

ABSTRACT

Within the recent debate on situated affectivity, which originated with Piredda's (2021) seminal contribution, a branch of literature has emerged that focuses on the contribution of artifacts to our affective life. However, until now, affective artifacts (including affective scaffolds in general) have primarily been regarded as 'tools for feeling' (Slaby, 2014), specifically for positively regulating one's affective state for one's own benefit. In this talk, I argue that the debate should expand its scope in three dimensions: (1) by considering not only the phenomenological dimensions of emotion but also their appraisal and functions (including communicative functions); (2) by considering not only artifacts used for self-regulation but also those employed to influence third parties; (3) by accounting for the negative causal role (e.g., inhibiting, concealing) that certain artifacts may have on specific components of emotion. To support this agenda, I will discuss two case studies involving atypical affective artifacts: sunglasses and emoticons/emojis.