Stability and Change in Emotion-Organization

This investigation is based on the assumption that a person's emotion-organization is a stable, idiosyncratic property of great importance in determining that person's distinctive characteristics. The two main issues are whether a stable emotion-organization can be found in the turmoil of everyday life and whether life events affect this organization. A sequence of 323 daily assessments of an emotion list by a 26-year-old woman justifies the conclusion that stable, meaningful clusters of emotions can be distinguished. Highly emotional events have an enduring effect upon the organization of these clusters.