Abstract
The arousal-cognition-expression (ACE) model of emotion suggests that all emotions have the capacity to be pleasing to God, displeasing to God, and/or morally neutral. Therefore, all emotions are potentially appropriate for the Christian. According to the ACE model, what determines the moral direction of an emotion, and thus the appropriateness of an emotion for a Christian, is factors in the cognitive and expressive domains. The ACE model originally evolved out of research with anger and this paper reports an experimental study with anger that confirms some of the earlier descriptive findings that provided a foundation for the model. In a second study, testing the generality of the model, the ACE model is applied to the emotion of love. In conclusion, it is also suggested that the ACE model may provide a general framework for understanding several other Christian perspectives on emotion.
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