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Actors and Emotions: A Psychological Perspective

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  23 January 2009

Elly Konijn
Elly Konijn
Affiliation:
Elly Konijn is teaching and pursuing post-doctoral research in the Department of Theatre, Film and Television Studies, Utrecht University.
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Extract

The acting of emotions on the stage can be looked at from three different points of view. Traditionally, the relationship of the emotions of the actor to the presupposed emotions of his character is discussed from a theatrical point of view. I shall provide a short overview of the different approaches to acting emotions based on current acting theories. Only recently have the emotions of the actor on stage portraying character-emotions been looked at scientifically from a psychological perspective. Finally, I shall present the empirical results of a questionnaire drawing on answers from a wide sample of professional actors. Due to limited space, this presentation can only be a global one. Emphasis is placed on the presentation of the empirical material about actors and emotions on stage.

Type
Articles
Information
Theatre Research International , Volume 20 , Issue 2 , Summer 1995 , pp. 132 - 140
Copyright
Copyright © International Federation for Theatre Research 1995

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References

Notes

1 This paper is based on my Ph.D. dissertation, Actors Acting Emotions: Shaping Emotions on Stage, a Psychological Analysis [1994]Google Scholar to which I shall not make detailed reference, for the reader's convenience. The book is published in Dutch, but it is hoped that an English version will appear. An English summary of the book is available on request from the author: Dr E. A. Konijn, Theatre, Film and Television Studies, Utrecht University, Kromme Nieuwe Gracht 29, 3512 HD Utrecht, The Netherlands. The author will also supply on request an extended bibliography.

2 Teleac, April 1994Google Scholar, after a USA-television production called Health and Mind, partly based upon a study at the Theatre department of Florida South University: Actors Study UCLA, with Dr Margaret Kemeny, Dr Nicholas Hall, Dr Lewis Baxter and Dr Ann Futterman.

3 Variations occur in the number of acting levels; most often three are discerned. Differences in the number of levels discerned are mainly a consequence of whether the spectator is included in the analysis, or excluded from it. On the level of ‘the character performed on stage’ two different interpretations can be made: the way the actor perceives his performance versus the reception and interpretation of the performed character by the spectator. This paper is written from the viewpoint of the actor.

4 Frijda, N. H., The Emotions: Studies in Emotion and Social Interaction [Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1986]Google Scholar; Lazarus, R. S., Kanner, A. D., & Folkman, S., ‘Emotions: a cognitive-phenomenological analysis’, in R., Plutchik & H., Kellerman, eds., Emotion: Theory, Research and Experience [New York: Academic Press, 1980], p. 189–217.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

5 White, R. W., ‘Motivation Reconsidered: The Concept of Competence’, Psychological Review, 66, 1959, p. 297–333.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed

6 Zuckerman, M., Buchsbaum, M. S., & Murphy, D. L., ‘Sensation Seeking and its Biological Correlates’, Psychological Bulletin, vol. 88 (1), 1980, p. 187–214.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

7 Wang, K., ‘Research on the feeling mind of actors during creative performances’, Information on Psychological Sciences, No. 6, 1984, p. 30–3.Google Scholar

8 Frijda, N. H., ‘Emotion and Recognition of Emotion’, in Arnold, M. B., ed., Feelings and Emotions: The Loyola Symposium [New York: Academic Press, 1970], p. 241–50CrossRefGoogle Scholar; and Shields, S. A., ‘Distinguishing Between Emotion and Nonemotion: Judgements About Experience’, Motivation and Emotion, vol. 8, 1984, p. 355–69CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Hess, U. & Kleck, R. E., ‘Differentiating Emotion Elicited and Deliberate Emotional Facial Expressions’, European Journal of Social Psychology, vol. 20, 1990, p. 369–85.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

9 Wallbott, H. G., ‘Aus dem Zusammenhang gerissen: Schauspielermimik ohne Kontextinformation’, Zeitschrift für Experimentelle und Angewandte Psychologie, vol. 35 (3), 1988, p. 596–610.Google Scholar

10 Although in fig. 1 ‘pleasure’ as actor-emotion and ‘pleasure’ as character-emotion seem comparable in their mean intensities, there is no significant correlation between them. This implies that we cannot say that the pleasure of the actor during performance is related to the portrayed character pleasure.

11 Weisweiler, H., Die Belastung des Schauspielers an seinem Arbeitsplatz [München: Münchener Universität, Theaterwissenschaft, Diss., 1983]Google Scholar; Konijn, E. A., ‘What's on Between the Actor and his Audience? Empirical Analysis of Emotion Processes in the Theatre’, in G., Wilson, ed., Psychology and Performing Arts [Lisse: Swets & Zeitlinger, 1991]Google Scholar; Konijn, E. A., Acteurs spelen emoties; het vorm geven aan emoties op het toneel, een psychologische studie (Actors Acting Emotions: Shaping Emotions on Stage, a Psychological Analysis), [Amsterdam: Boom, 1994].Google Scholar