Script theory
Encyclopedia
Script theory is a psychological theory which posits that human behaviour largely falls into patterns called "scripts" because they function analogously to the way a written script does, by providing a program for action. Silvan Tomkins
created script theory as a further development of his Affect theory
, which regards human beings' emotional responses to stimuli as falling into categories called "affects": he noticed that the purely biological response of affect may be followed by awareness and by what we cognitively do in terms of acting on that affect so that more was needed to produce a complete explanation of what he called "human being theory".
In Script theory, the basic unit of analysis is called a "scene", defined as a sequence of events linked by the affects triggered during the experience of those events. Tomkins recognised that our affective experiences fall into patterns that we may group together according to criteria such as the types of persons and places involved and the degree of intensity of the effect experienced, which patterns in turn constitute scripts that inform our behaviour in an effort to maximize positive affect and to minimize negative affect.
Silvan Tomkins
Silvan Solomon Tomkins is best known as a psychologist and personality theorist and as the developer of Affect theory and Script theory...
created script theory as a further development of his Affect theory
Affect theory
In psychology, affect is an emotion or subjectively experienced feeling. Affect theory is a branch of psychoanalysis that attempts to organize affects into discrete categories and connect each one with its typical response. So, for example, the affect of joy is observed through the reaction of...
, which regards human beings' emotional responses to stimuli as falling into categories called "affects": he noticed that the purely biological response of affect may be followed by awareness and by what we cognitively do in terms of acting on that affect so that more was needed to produce a complete explanation of what he called "human being theory".
In Script theory, the basic unit of analysis is called a "scene", defined as a sequence of events linked by the affects triggered during the experience of those events. Tomkins recognised that our affective experiences fall into patterns that we may group together according to criteria such as the types of persons and places involved and the degree of intensity of the effect experienced, which patterns in turn constitute scripts that inform our behaviour in an effort to maximize positive affect and to minimize negative affect.
External links
- http://tomkins.org/home/
- http://www.affectivetherapy.co.uk/Tomkins_affect.html
- http://www.brianlynchmd.com/AT/resources.htm