Abstract
Ambivalent emotions, conflicting passions, bittersweet feelings: such experiences are commonplace, but more complex than suggested by ordinary language usage and currently available scientific models. Bittersweet, Ancient and Modern (BAM) is a multidisciplinary hub that brings together philosophers, psychologists, and cognitive scientists to work on the phenomenon of mixed affect, that is emotional states that involve simultaneous or blended positive and negative valence. At the heart of BAM is the concept of affective valence, typically understood as the way an affective state feels, i.e. the quality of the (dis)pleasure we subjectively experience: fear usually feels unpleasant, while joy feels good. Yet sometimes affective experience feels ‘bittersweet’, i.e. good and bad at the same time, as when we enjoy being scared on the roller coaster or being sad when reading a heart-rending novel. BAM examines such experiences through five interconnected work packages (WPs): • WP1: Ancient Theories, Modern Problems investigates how ancient philosophical accounts of pleasure, pain, and emotional complexity can inform contemporary philosophical and neuroscientific models of affective experience. • WP2: Contemporary Theories critically evaluates current psychological and scientific models of affective valence and ambivalence, highlighting underlying assumptions and theoretical gaps. • WP3: Folk Psychology of Mixed Affect uses natural language processing to analyze spontaneous spoken descriptions from Italian native speakers, aiming to uncover the semantic structure of bittersweet and ambivalent emotions. • WP4: Neuroscientific Appraisal of Mixed Affect combines self-reports and fMRI data to identify neural correlates of mixed emotions, using emotionally complex film excerpts to elicit and track ambivalent affective states in real time. • WP5: Clinical Implications explores how an improved understanding of mixed affect can refine clinical theories and interventions, with a focus on conditions such as neurotic ambivalence and alexithymia.
Results achieved
(2026) Campeggiani P. & Petrolini V., ‘Filosofia delle emozioni’, in Tripodi V. & Migliorini D. (eds), Filosofia analitica femminista. Temi e prospettive, Carocci, pp. 145–159. (2025), Cairns D. & Campeggiani P. (eds), Mixed Feelings: An Interdisciplinary Phenomenology, De Gruyter. (2025), Cairns D. & Campeggiani P., ‘Introduction’, in Cairns D. & Campeggiani P. (eds), Mixed Feelings: An Interdisciplinary Phenomenology, De Gruyter, pp. 1–27. (2025) Sampaolo E., Handjaras G., Lettieri G. & Cecchetti L., ‘Lights, Camera, Emotion: REELMO’s 1060 Hours of Affective Reports to Explore Emotions in Naturalistic Contexts’, Sci Data 12, 797. (2025), Viola M., ‘Ambivalent Affects in Experimental Psychology’, in Cairns D. & Campeggiani P. (eds), Mixed Feelings: An Interdisciplinary Phenomenology, De Gruyter, pp. 29–44. (2024) Lettieri G., Handjaras G., Cappello E. M., Setti F., Bottari D., Bruno V., Diano M., Leo A., Tinti C., Garbarini F., Pietrini P., Ricciardi E., & Cecchetti, L. (2024), ‘Dissecting abstract, modality-specific and experience-dependent coding of affect in the human brain’, Science Advances, 10(10). ACCEPTED FOR PUBLICATION (forthcoming, 2026) Campeggiani P., ‘Mixed affect in poetic experience (and beyond): ancient theories, modern problems’, in Noël A.-S. & Duncan A. (eds), Unsettled Dynamics: Audience Engagement, Affect, and Immersion in Ancient Greek Theatre, De Gruyter. (forthcoming, 2026) Sáenz Benavides L., ‘Emotional Ambivalence and Resistance to Oppression’. Topoi: SI on Mixed Emotional Affect. UNDER REVIEW Giuliana G. T. & Viola M., ‘Il volto del gamer felicemente sconfitto: orizzonti empirici sul paradosso della tragedia’. Under review at Rivista Italiana di Filosofia del Linguaggio. Ombrato M., ‘Clarifying the Structure of Current Debates on Mixed Affect: Ontologies of Emotion, Models of Valence, and the Scope of Kahneman’s “Vacillation Hypothesis”’. Under review at Topoi: SI on Mixed Emotional Affect. Petrolini V.,‘Emotional Articulation: Too Much of a Good Thing?’. Under review at Emotion and Cognition. Vannucci C., Burnett Heyes S., Lettieri G., Handjara G., Holmes E.A., & Cecchetti L., ‘Development of over 1000 picture-word cue stimuli to examine language-as-context in affective experience of pictures’. Under Review at Behavior Research Methods. IN PREPARATION Campeggiani P. & Ombrato M., Topoi, Special Issue: ‘Mixed Emotional Affect: Philosophical and Psychological Perspectives’. Cesari, V., Lettieri, G., Viola, M., Petrolini, V., Ombrato, M., Campeggiani, P., & Cecchetti, L., ‘Neural Correlates of Mixed Affect: A Systematic Review of Conceptualizations, Measures, and Experimental Paradigms’. To be submitted to Neuroscience & Biobehavioral Reviews. Lettieri G., Giannakopoulou A., Handjaras G., Bucci E., Pietrini P., & Cecchetti, L., ‘A network-based hierarchical taxonomy of affect from language’.Dettagli del progetto
Responsabile scientifico: Pia Campeggiani
Strutture Unibo coinvolte:
Dipartimento di Filosofia
Coordinatore:
ALMA MATER STUDIORUM - Università di Bologna(Italy)
Contributo totale di progetto: Euro (EUR) 212.345,00
Contributo totale Unibo: Euro (EUR) 112.045,00
Durata del progetto in mesi: 28
Data di inizio
05/10/2023
Data di fine:
28/02/2026
