- Convenors:
-
Anni Kajanus
(University of Helsinki)
Charles Stafford (London School of Economics)
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- Formats:
- Panel
- Networks:
- Network Panel
Short Abstract
Irritation is a pervasive feature of human sociality, and shapes relationships, cooperation and morality in many ways. This panels explores the social, cultural and psychological dimensions of mild emotional friction across diverse social and cultural contexts.
Long Abstract
Irritation is a pervasive feature of the human experience, something that plays a major role in relationships of many kinds. We may find ourselves irritated by strangers, of course, but also – and perhaps ever more so – by those with whom we are close, e.g. our spouses, colleagues, siblings and friends. And yet, this important phenomenon has been little studied by social and natural scientists. By one definition, irritation is ‘mild anger’, and it might thus be seen as a minor or secondary emotion by comparison with love, fear, hate, disgust, etc. But the everydayness of irritation – combined with the constraint, in many contexts, against voicing it publicly – can make it a powerful thing. On the one hand, it might be felt that irritation is a threat to our close relationships; that if taken too far it will compromise the very patterns of cooperation and care on which these relationships depend. And yet the pervasiveness of irritation in our everyday experience suggests something else: that in some sense we may need irritation – even that it is a constitutive feature of human sociality.
Why is irritation such a common and constitutive feature of our lives? What role does it play in relation to kinship, cooperation, morality and sociality? To what extent does it vary across space and time? How is it shaped by the highly variable spatial, material, and technical environments in which humans live?
This panel invites contributions that bring new perspectives on human sociality and intimate life by putting mild emotional friction at its centre. We encourage critical and productive engagements across disciplinary boundaries, to explore the cultural, psychological, social and embodied dimensions of irritation.
Accepted papers
Session 1Paper short abstract
This papers presents the overall framework of the IRRITATION project, and some of its psychological findings. We outline three experimental studies, carried out with children and adults in Finland, China, Zimbabwe, Brazil and Sri Lanka, with the focus on how irritation shapes human cooperation.
Paper long abstract
As a social pathway, irritation is both mildly destructive and productive. Based on ethnography that showed the benefits of irritation, e.g. as a source of motivation and punishment, we ran a number of experiments to investigate its role in cooperation (in Finland, China, Zimbabwe, Brazil and Sri Lanka). Children and adults observed three rounds of hypothetical interactions between two anonymous players in an Economic Game: a decider made selfish, equal, or altruistic decisions, while a receiver always replied “I am irritated because of your decision.” Children in all countries perceived equal and altruistic decisions as comparably justified and selfish decisions as unjustified. Yet they viewed irritation toward all decisions as unjustified—especially toward equal and altruistic decisions—and responded with low cooperation motivation and likability. There were considerable cross-cultural differences: Brazilian and Zimbabwean children showed higher cooperative tendencies, compared to Chinese and Finnish children. Adults showed a different pattern: they valued equal decisions the most and judged irritation toward selfishness as justified. But their cooperation motivations in response to justified irritation varied across countries—more positive in Finland and Brazil, neutral in Zimbabwe and China, and negative in Sri Lanka. A third study further revealed that in Finland, Zimbabwe and Sri Lanka, irritation toward selfish decisions was more justified and less damaging to cooperation motivation than anger. Together, this work shows that irritation serves as a potential sanction for unjustified decisions, and reveals a developmental trajectory from general disapproval in children to culture‑specific understanding in adults.
Paper short abstract
Indirect expression of irritation within the context of in-law relationships, as managing emotions while managing relationships.
Paper long abstract
This paper examines the expression of emotional experiences of irritation in everyday interactions. Focusing on kin-in-law relationships in Harare, Zimbabwe, I examine how irritation expression is framed through prayer, song and jokes -adaptations of the bembera custom among Shona people. Grounded in ethnographic observations and interviews, the study demonstrates how expression of irritation is shaped by hunhu —a relational ethic of personhood— and is simultaneously constitutive of the performance of hunhu in specific in‑law settings. Rather than viewing irritation as a personal experience to be suppressed or as fuel for confrontation, performers route complaints through allusive communication to God and, indirectly, to a live audience, turning personal discomfort into a moral message that is delivered without direct accusation. In doing so, fragile relationships are protected while boundaries and obligations are reinforced. The indirect expression of irritation forms a legitimate channel for protest against perceived injustice, while advancing hunhu values of commitment to respect, restraint, and communal accountability alongside Christian ideals of forgiveness and self‑control. Symbolically, these performances appeal to a metaphysical realm for intervention, thereby portraying human conflict and cooperation as subjects to higher-order evaluation. I conclude that the expression of irritation, when carried out indirectly, is not merely a coping mechanism, but also regulates relationships, constitutes ethical personhood, and provides culturally sanctioned pathways for critique within the constraints of kinship.
Paper short abstract
Drawing on experimental and ethnographic data, this paper explores the social dynamics and cultural phenomenology of irritation-like emotions in a predominantly Sinhala-speaking context in Sri Lanka, highlighting the influence of Buddhist ethical frameworks in shaping emotional experience.
Paper long abstract
Negative emotions like “irritation” or “mild anger” may appear as a less powerful motivating force in social life and therefore less significant in the study of human sociality. Yet, these seemingly minor affects can sharply illuminate how “togetherness” and moral personhood are shaped in culturally-specific ways. In the present paper, I bring together experimental and ethnographic data, to explore the social dynamics of irritation-like emotions among predominantly Sinhala-speaking professionals and students in the urban setting of Kandy, Sri Lanka. In this context, social connection and mutuality are salient cultural ideals. Ethnographically, intimate sociality may be imaged as a calm body of water—ripples and bubbles on the seemingly smooth surface of everyday interactions only hinting at the depths of feeling below. Here, moments of anger, irritation, and frustration are often navigated with reference to valued dispositions: understanding, letting go, ambiguity, and temperance. I argue that more than cultural norms, these sensibilities reflect a particular phenomenology of emotion, inflected by Buddhist concepts ingrained in the Sinhala language and continually evoked in everyday practice. This, I argue, is significant for the cross-cultural study of emotions in psychology and anthropology whereby we must grapple not only with variation in how particular emotions are elaborated, expressed or appraised but also with how emotion as a category is itself constructed and lived. Such grounded understanding reorients analysis away from dominant psychological narratives in interpreting emotional experience to capture the diverse ways that the human capacity for feeling and self-reflection is organized across cultural contexts.
Paper short abstract
The paper examines irritation as an entry point into everyday moral reasoning in Brazil. Focusing on figures of the unreasonable and the ungrateful, it shows how irritation operates as emotion, cognition, and recognition to probe judgments about fairness, rightness, and justice in interaction(s).
Paper long abstract
This paper approaches irritation as an entry point to explore how people in Brazil navigate the uneasy boundaries between what is fair, what is right, and what is just. Drawing on ethnographic and experimental material, it looks at two recurring tropes that emerge in people’s moral reasoning, namely, the ungrateful and the unreasonable. The analysis identifies three registers through which irritation operates: as emotion, as cognition, and as recognition. As sign of moral discomfort or instrumentalized to show (or conceal) distinct forms of interpersonal hierarchies and misalignments, irritation becomes not only a social emotion but also a way of knowing — a method through which people identify, test and redefine the boundaries between fairness, rightness ,and justice in everyday interactions. Engaging critically with the figure of the homem cordial, the paper challenges interpretations that position Brazilians as operating outside normative frameworks. Instead, it argues that fairness in Brazil is relational and situational, shaped by notions of proportion, context, and the ongoing effort to render justice and interpersonal relations simultaneously intelligible and livable.
Paper short abstract
This paper examines irritation as an embodied appraisal in Shanghai social life. Drawing on ethnography, it shows how irritation—felt at boundary intrusions or in judging “jiao qing”—acts as an early warning sign that redirects attention, enabling intentional reflection before action.
Paper long abstract
Irritation, a subtle yet pervasive social emotion, offers a window into how people navigate ambiguous interpersonal situations. Based on twelve months of ethnographic research in Shanghai, this paper examines irritation as an embodied and cognitive process that becomes salient in moments of social friction. Rather than treating irritation as a minor annoyance or a precursor to anger, I approach it as a patterned mode of appraisal that redirects attention and reshapes intentionality.
I argue that irritation signals the need for heightened awareness without immediately committing a person to reaction. In these transitional moments, individuals shift from intuitive, automatic modes of engagement to more deliberate forms of interpretation. Through close analysis of sensations, expectations, and micro-judgments, irritation reveals how people make sense of others’ intentions and calibrate their own responses.
Drawing on culturally specific case studies, I focus on two recurrent themes. The first involves irritation arising when one’s personal boundary—physical, emotional, or temporal—is breached, highlighting culturally mediated understandings of self-space. The second examines the Chinese notion of jiao qing, in which irritation emerges from perceiving another as emotionally performative or insincere. This phenomenon exposes moral emotions tied to authenticity, intention, and relational propriety. Across these examples, irritation appears not as a failure of emotional regulation but as a productive buffer zone. It allows individuals to draw on cultural discourses, reassess social cues, and crystallize intentions before action. By foregrounding this intermediate emotional state, the paper contributes to broader discussions of embodiment, intersubjectivity, and moral attunement in everyday social life.