This article presents a model that integrates Christian and psychological perspectives on emotion: the ACE model of emotion. This model proposes that all emotions are morally ambidextrous. Any emotion, from anger to love, has the capacity to be experienced in a manner that is pleasing or displeasing to God. The ACE model further assumes that emotions contain three elements: (a) A = arousal or physiological activity, (b) C = cognition, and (c) E = expression. In addition, the model can be considered along two dimensions that determine if an emotion is righteous, sinful, natural, or distorted. The model looks at the emotional “big picture” and may well subsume several previous attempts to integrate psychology and Christianity in terms of specific emotions.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.
References
1.
American Psychological Association. (1994). Publication manual of the American Psychological Association (4th ed). Washington, DC: Author.
2.
AchtemeierP. J. (1962a). Righteousness in the Old Testament. In The Interpreter's Dictionary of the Bible (Vol. 4, pp. 80–85). New York: Abingdon Press.
3.
AchtemeierP. J. (1962b). Righteousness in the New Testament. In The Interpreter's Dictionary of the Bible (Vol. 4, pp. 91–99). New York: Abingdon Press.
4.
AquinasT. (1947). Summa theologica (Fathers of the English Dominican Province, Trans.). New York: Benziger Brothers.
5.
AnglinB., & GoetzS. (1982). Evil is privation. International Journal for Philosophy of Religion, 13, 3–12.
6.
AugustineA. (1909). Confessions (EliotCharles W., Ed.). New York: P. F. Collier & Son.
7.
AugustineA. (1964). On free choice of the will (A. S. Benjamin & L. H. Hackstaff, Trans.). Indianapolis, IN: Bobbs-Merrill.
8.
BarbourC. E. (1930). Sin and the new psychology.New York: The Abingdon Press.
9.
BassettR. L., HillP. C., HartC., MathewsonK., & PerryK. (1993). Helping Christians reclaim some abandoned emotions: The ACE model of emotion. Journal of Psychology and Theology, 21, 165–173.
10.
BassettR. L., HillP. C., PogelM. C., LeeM., HughesR., & MasciJ. (1990). Comparing psychological guilt and Godly sorrow: Do Christians recognize the difference?Journal of Psychology and Theology, 18, 244–254.
11.
BassettR. L., HoomansJ., KentD., AlgerT., BatesM., BrillS., DavisP., DeatonE., DresserC., FieldsD., GreenoN., JohnstonJ., KucheravyB., LambM., MastrogiovanniP., MortonS., ParkhurstL., ProutyM., RamoutarS., WheelerB., WingardC., & ZieglerR. (1986, October). An empirical look at some possible distinctions between positive and negative anger. Paper presented at the meeting of the Christian Association for Psychological Studies (Eastern Region), Speculator, NY.
12.
BassettR. L., RidleyP., SwanP., LehmannL., CrothersV., NielsenH., PetersB., RobsonR., RoskoJ., RyanM., & StieflerC. (1989). Righteous and sinful anger from the perspectives of Christian therapists and college students. Journal of Psychology and Christianity, 3, 47–56.
13.
De VriesS. J. (1962). Sin. In The Interpreter's Dictionary of the Bible.New York: Abingdon Press.
14.
EllensJ. H. (1989a). A psychospiritual view of sin. In AdenL., & BennerD. G. (Eds.), Counseling and the human predicament: A study of sin, guilt, and forgiveness (pp. 36–48). Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Book House.
15.
EllensJ. H. (1989b). Sin and sickness. In AdenL., & BennerD. G. (Eds.), Counseling and the human predicament: A study of sin, guilt, and forgiveness (pp. 56–75). Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Book House.
16.
FeinM. L. (1993). I. A. M.: A common sense guide to coping with anger.Westport, CT: Praeger.
17.
FiskeS. T., & LinvilleP. W. (1980). What does the schema concept buy us?Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 6, 543–557.
18.
GorsuchR. L. (1986, August). BAV: A possible non-reductionistic model for the Psychology of Religion. Paper presented at the annual meeting of the American Psychological Association, Washington, DC.
19.
HickJ. (1978). Evil and the God of love.San Francisco: Harper & Row.
20.
HiltnerS. (1989). Sin: Theological and psychological perspectives. In AdenL., & BennerD. G. (Eds.), Counseling and the human predicament: A study of sin, guilt, and forgiveness (pp. 23–35). Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Book House.
21.
IzardC. E. (1991). The psychology of emotions.New York: Plenum Press.
22.
JamesW. (1890). The principles of psychology (Vol. 2). New York: Dover.
23.
KalatJ. W. (1995). Biological psychology (5th ed.). Belmont, CA: Wadsworth.
24.
LazarusR. S. (1991). Emotion & adaptation.New York: Oxford University Press.
25.
LewisC. S. (1944). The problem of pain.New York: MacMillan.
26.
MorrisL. (1970). 1 John. In GuthrieD., MotyerJ. A., StibbsA. M., & WisemanD. J. (Eds.), The New Bible Commentary (Rev. ed., pp. 1259–1269). Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans.
27.
NarramoreS. B. (1984). No condemnation.Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan.
28.
OlsonJ. M., & RossM. (1988). False feedback about placebo effectiveness: Consequences for the misattribution of speech anxiety. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 24, 275–291.
29.
RammB. (1985). Offense to reason: A theology of sin.San Francisco: Harper & Row.
30.
SchachterS. (1966). The interaction of cognitive and physiological determinants of emotional state. In SpielbergerC. D. (Ed.), Anxiety and behavior (pp. 193–224). New York: Academic Press.
31.
SchachterS., & SingerJ. E. (1962). Cognitive, social and physiological determinants of emotional state. Psychological Review, 69, 379–399.
32.
StrackF., MartinL., & StepperS. (1988). Inhibiting and facilitating conditions of the human smile: A nonobtrusive test of the facial feedback hypothesis. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 54, 768–777.
