Skip to main content

Savoring (Pin wei 品味), from Aesthetics to the Everyday

  • Chapter

Part of the book series: International and Cultural Psychology ((ICUP))

Abstract

This chapter examines the temporal, narrative, and cognitive structures of savoring, focusing in particular on Si-Kong Tu’s (837–908) formulation of aesthetic savoring. I point out the wide-ranging implications of savoring for the narrative-based theory of emotion, dual process theory, emotion regulation, and self-reflection. I also examine savoring’s contribution to self-regulation and the authentic self, focusing especially on its implications for problems in self-regulation such as self-deception and self-alienation.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution.

Buying options

Chapter
USD   29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD   54.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Hardcover Book
USD   99.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Learn about institutional subscriptions

References

  • Arnheim, R. (1966). Toward a psychology of art. Berkeley, CA: University of California.

    Google Scholar 

  • Arnold, M. B. (1960). Emotion and personality. New York: Columbia University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Balleine, B. W., & Dickinson, A. (1998). Consciousness—The interface between affect and cognition. In J. Cornwell (Ed.), Consciousness and human identity (pp. 57–85). Oxford, England: Oxford University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Barefoot, J. C., & Straub, R. B. (1974). Opportunity for information search and the effect of false heart rate feedback. In H. London & R. E. Nisbett (Eds.), Thought and feeling: Cognitive alteration of feeling states (pp. 107–115). Chicago: Aldine.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bollas, C. (2013). China on the mind. New York: Routledge.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bryant, F. B., & Veroff, J. (2007). Savoring: A new model of positive experience. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.

    Google Scholar 

  • Campos, J. J., Frankel, C. B., & Camras, L. (2004). On the nature of emotion regulation. Child Development, 75, 377–394.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Choi, S.-C., & Kim, K. (2006). Nave psychology of Koreans’ interpersonal mind and behavior in close relationships. In U. Kim, K. S. Yang, & K. K. Hwang (Eds.), Indigenous and cultural psychology: Understanding people in context (pp. 357–369). New York: Springer SBM.

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Christianson, S. A. (1992). Emotional stress and eyewitness memory: A critical review. Psychological Bulletin, 112, 284–309.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Cole, P., Martin, S., & Dennis, T. (2004). Emotion regulation as a scientific construct: Methodological challenges and directions for child development research. Child Development, 75, 317–333.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Csikszentmihalyi, M. (1992). Flow: The psychology of happiness. London: Rider.

    Google Scholar 

  • Cua, A. S. (1996). A Confucian perspective on self-deception. In R. T. Ames & W. Dissanayake (Eds.), Self and desception: A cross-cultural philosophical enquiry (pp. 177–199). Albany, NY: State University of New York.

    Google Scholar 

  • Dehejia, H. V. (1996). The advaita of art. Delhi, India: Motilal Banarsidass.

    Google Scholar 

  • Eoyang, E. C. (1993). The transparent eye. Honolulu, HI: University of Hawaii.

    Google Scholar 

  • Feng, M. L. (1991). Ancient and contemporary stories (in Chinese). Taipei, Taiwan: Shi Jie.

    Google Scholar 

  • Frijda, N. H. (2007). The laws of emotion. Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum.

    Google Scholar 

  • Frijda, N. H., & Sundararajan, L. (2007). Emotion refinement: A theory inspired by Chinese poetics. Perspectives on Psychological Science, 2, 227–241.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Garcia, J. (1989). Food for Tolman: Cognition and cathexis in concert. In T. Archer & L.-G. Nilsson (Eds.), Aversion, avoidance, and anxiety (pp. 45–85). Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.

    Google Scholar 

  • Garcia, J., Ervin, F. R., & Koelling, R. A. (1966). Learning with prolonged delay of reinforcement. Psychonomic Science, 5, 121–122.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gelernter, D. (1994). The muse in the machine. New York: Macmillan.

    Google Scholar 

  • Gnoli, R. (1956). The aesthetic experience according to Abhinavagupta. Rome: Instituto Italiano per II Medio ed Estremo Oriente.

    Google Scholar 

  • Gross, J. J. (1998). The emerging field of emotion regulation: An integrative review. Review of General Psychology, 2, 231–299.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hart, R., Ivtzan, I., & Hart, D. (2013). Mind the gap in mindfulness research: A comparative account of the leading schools of thought. Review of General Psychology, 17, 453–466.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Humphrey, N. (2006). Seeing red: A study in consciousness. Cambridge, MA: Belknap Press, Harvard University.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Izard, C. E. (1984). Emotion-cognition relationships and human development. In C. E. Izard, J. Kagan, & R. B. Zajonc (Eds.), Emotions, cognition, and behavior. Cambridge, England: Cambridge University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Izard, C. E. (2007). Basic emotions, natural kinds, emotion schemas, and a new paradigm. Perspectives on Psychological Science, 2, 260–280.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kahneman, D. (2003). A perspective on judgment and choice: Mapping bounded rationality. American Psychologist, 58, 697–720.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Kahneman, D. (2011). Thinking fast and slow. New York: Farrar, Straus & Giroux.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kuan, T. (2014). Banking in affects: The Child, a landscape, and the performance of a canonical view. In J. Yang (Ed.), The Political economy of affect and emotion in contemporary East Asia (pp. 65–81). New York: Routledge.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kuhl, J., & Beckmann, J. (Eds.). (1994). Volition and personality: Action versus state orientation. Seattle, WA: Hogrefe & Huber.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lambie, J., & Marcel, A. (2002). Consciousness and emotion experience: A theoretical framework. Psychological Review, 109, 219–259.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Li, J. Z. (1993). Xin zhai mei yi (Beautiful indeed is the mind). Taipei, Taiwan: Wen Shi Zhe.

    Google Scholar 

  • McKeown, G. J. (2013). The analogical peacock hypothesis: The sexual selection of mind-reading and relational cognition in human communication. Review of General Psychology, 17, 267–287.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Metzinger, T. (2003). Being no one. Cambridge, MA: MIT.

    Google Scholar 

  • Mukhopadhyay, D. (2014). Understanding the neuropsychology of aesthetic paradox: The dual phase oscillation hypothesis. Review of General Psychology, 18, 237–248.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Noë, A. (2009). Out of our heads. New York: Hill and Wang.

    Google Scholar 

  • Oatley, K. (2002). Emotions and the story worlds of fiction. In M. C. Green, J. J. Strange, & T. C. Brock (Eds.), Narrative impact: Social and cognitive foundations (pp. 39–69). Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.

    Google Scholar 

  • Oatley, K. (2004). Emotions: A brief history. Oxford, England: Blackwell.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Olofsson, J. K., Hurley, R. S., Bowman, N. E., Bao, X., Mesulam, M.-M., & Gottfried, J. A. (2014). A designated odor–language integration system in the human brain. The Journal of Neuroscience, 34, 14864–14873.

    Article  PubMed Central  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Owen, S. (1992). Readings in Chinese literary thought. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Pribram, K. H., & McGuinness, D. (1975). Arousal, activation, and effort in the control of attention. Psychological Review, 82, 116–149.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Reddy, V. (2008). How infants know minds. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Rozin, P., Haidt, J., & McCauley, C. (2000). Disgust. In M. Lewis & J. M. Haviland-Jones (Eds.), Handbook of emotions (2nd ed., pp. 637–653). New York: Guilford Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Russell, B. (1930). The conquest of happiness. New York: Liveright.

    Google Scholar 

  • Russell, J. A. (2003). Core affect and the psychological construction of emotion. Psychological Review, 110, 145–172.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Segal, Z. V., Williams, J. M. G., & Teasdale, J. D. (2002). Mindfulness-based cognitive therapy for depression. New York: Guilford.

    Google Scholar 

  • Shweder, R. A., & Haidt, J. (2000). The cultural psychology of the emotions: Ancient and new. In M. Lewis & J. M. Haviland (Eds.), Handbook of emotions (2nd ed., pp. 397–416). New York: Guilford.

    Google Scholar 

  • Siegel, D. J. (2007). The mindful brain. New York: W. W. Norton.

    Google Scholar 

  • Siegel, D. J. (2009). Mindful awareness, mindsight, and neural integration. The Humanistic Psychologist, 37, 137–158.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Siewert, C. (2001). Self-knowledge and phenomenal unity. NOÛS, 35, 542–568.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Strawson, G. (2004). A fallacy of our age. Times Literary Supplement, 5298, 13–15.

    Google Scholar 

  • Sundararajan, L. (1998). Reveries of well-being in the Shih-p’in: From psychology to ontology. In A.-T. Tymieniecka (Ed.), Analecta Husserliana (Vol. LVI, pp. 57–70). Dordrecht, The Netherlands: Kluwer.

    Google Scholar 

  • Sundararajan, L. (2004). Twenty-four poetic moods: Poetry and personality in Chinese aesthetics. Creativity Research Journal, 16, 201–214.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sundararajan, L. (2008). The plot thickens–or not: Protonarratives of emotions and the Chinese principle of savoring. Journal of Humanistic Psychology, 48, 243–263.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sundararajan, L. (2010). Two flavors of aesthetic tasting: Rasa and savoring a cross cultural study with implications for psychology of emotion. Review of General Psychology, 14, 22–30.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sundararajan, L. (2014). The function of negative emotions in the Confucian tradition. In W. G. Parrott (Ed.), The positive side of negative emotions (pp. 179–197). New York: Guilford.

    Google Scholar 

  • Sundararajan, L., & Averill, J. R. (2007). Creativity in the everyday: Culture, self, and emotions. In R. Richards (Ed.), Everyday creativity and new views of human nature (pp. 195–220). Washington, DC: American Psychological Association.

    Google Scholar 

  • Teasdale, J. D. (1999). Emotional processing, three modes of mind and the prevention of relapse in depression. Behaviour Research and Therapy, 37, 553–557.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • The Doctrine of the Mean (J. Legge, Trans.). (1971). In J. Legge, The Chinese Classics: Vol. I (pp. 382–434). Taipei: Wen Shih Chi. (Translation first published 1893)

    Google Scholar 

  • Thompson, R. A. (1994). Emotion regulation: A theme in search of definition. In N. A. Fox (Ed.), The development of emotion regulation: Biological and behavioral considerations. Monographs of the Society for Research in Child Development, Serial No. 240, 59, 25–52.

    Google Scholar 

  • Tu, W. M. (1989). Centrality and commonality. Albany, NY: SUNY Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Turner, M. (1996). The literary mind: The origins of thought and language. New York: Oxford University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Watkins, E., & Moulds, M. (2005). Distinct modes of ruminative self-focus: Impact of abstract versus concrete rumination on problem solving in depression. Emotion, 5, 319–328.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Watkins, E., & Teasdale, J. D. (2001). Rumination and overgeneral memory in depression: Effects of self-focus and analytic thinking. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 110, 353–357.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Williams, J. M. G., Teasdale, J. D., Segal, Z. V., & Soulsby, J. (2000). Mindfulness-based cognitive therapy reduces overgeneral autobiographical memory in formerly depressed patients. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 109, 150–155.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Ye, Z. (2007). Taste as a gateway to Chinese cognition. In A. C. Schalley & D. Khlentzos (Eds.), Language and cognitive structure (Mental States, Vol. 2, pp. 109–132). Amsterdam: John Benjamins.

    Google Scholar 

  • Yu, P. R. (1978). Ssu-kung T’u’s Shih-p’in: Poetic theory in poetic form. In R. C. Miao (Ed.), Chinese poetry and poetics (Vol. 1, pp. 81–103). San Francisco: Chinese Materials Center.

    Google Scholar 

  • Zelazo, P. D. (1996). Towards a characterization of minimal consciousness. New Ideas in Psychology, 14, 63–80.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Zhu, B. Q. (1984). Si-Kong Tu’s theory of poetry (in Chinese). Shanghai, China: Gu Ji.

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2015 Springer International Publishing Switzerland

About this chapter

Cite this chapter

Sundararajan, L. (2015). Savoring (Pin wei 品味), from Aesthetics to the Everyday. In: Understanding Emotion in Chinese Culture. International and Cultural Psychology. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-18221-6_10

Download citation

Publish with us

Policies and ethics