Affect control theory

Neil J. MacKinnon

Chapter 9 in The Social Psychology of Morality, 2025, pp 106-128 from Edward Elgar Publishing

Abstract: This chapter reviews affect control theory (ACT), a theory of identity processes in social interaction. One model of ACT predicts the behavior of participants in dyadic events, while another predicts the re-identification of participants via labeling or attribution processes when events fail to confirm situational identities. These models are derived from empirically based impression-formation equations of the theory. The chapter provides empirical examples to illustrate various features of the theory and its application to morality research. It also discusses the extension of the original theory of ACT to the level of the global self (ACT-Self) and to social institutions (ACT-Institutions). The chapter devotes considerable attention to comparing ACT to social intuitionist theory (SIT), the theory of dyadic morality (TDM), and Hitlin's social psychology of conscience (SPC) theory and concludes with concrete suggestions for applying ACT to the study of morality.

Keywords: Affect control; Identity; Self; Institutions; Impression formation; Labeling; Attribution (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025
ISBN: 9781035364732
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