DOI: 10.1177/1754073912439772

This commentary posits that the social-constructionist view of emotion should be clearly distinguished from related theoretical views on how emotions are shaped by and shape social interactions and relationships. Differentiating between distinct theoretical perspectives is essential in order to specify the unique knowledge about emotions gained by the social-constructionist approach and to create empirical paradigms that can be applied to test assumptions derived from the social-constructionist view. Keywords emotion, emotional relations, social-constructionism Boiger and Mesquita offer a broad spectrum of the many ways in which emotions are shaped by and shape social interactions and relationships, ranging from in-the-moment interactions to cultural models of self and relationships. In portraying the dif