A Six-Layer Yogācāra Model of Emotion Generation: Implications for Constructionist Emotion Theory
Study at a glance
AI-extracted from the abstract| Characteristics | Theoretical or philosophical paper |
|---|---|
| Measures | Granularity-Awareness Scale (GRAS) |
| Key points | Proposes a six-layer Yogācāra model of emotion generation that preserves constructionism's insight that emotions are constructed while supplying analytic depth below the categorical layer, and offers a falsifiable granularity prediction via the Granularity-Awareness Scale (GRAS). |
Abstract
Contemporary emotion science lacks a Yogācāra‐grounded model capable of engaging constructionism’s central tension: operational reliance on category-like units despite rejecting natural-kind categories. Drawing on Asaṅga’s Yogācārabhūmi and the five omnipresent mental factors (sarvatraga-caittas), this article develops a six-layer model of emotion generation—from phenomenal awareness through categorical apperception to architectural recognition—that preserves the constructionist insight that emotions are constructed rather than kinds while supplying analytic depth below the categorical layer constructionism has not theorized. The article offers (i) a systematic Yogācāra emotion model for English-language affective science, (ii) a falsifiable granularity prediction via the Granularity-Awareness Scale (GRAS), and (iii) a non-polemical bridge between contemplative and affective science. Related preprints: "When Attentional Training May Leave Self-Grasping Intact" (https://doi.org/10.31234/osf.io/mq6xy_v1); "When Awareness Becomes the Obstacle" (https://doi.org/10.31234/osf.io/9jwcq_v1).