English Language and Literature Commons^™

More Than A Feeling: The Transmission Of Affect And Group Identity, Lauren Fine

Student Works

This thesis explores the implications that the transmission of affect (when one person’s emotions are transferred through pheromones and visual cues to trigger a similar affective response in someone else) could have on the study of rhetoric, specifically how we understand rhetorical situations involving large groups. According to Kenneth Burke, our identities are made up of the groups we identify ourselves with, which makes our identities largely based on emotionally connecting with other people. When groups are gathered together, particularly in emotionally charged situations, this emotional connection is often triggered by the subconscious transmission of affect. Transmission can lead a …