Embodiment as a unifying perspective for psychology

TLDR

All psychological processes are shaped by body morphology, sensory, motor, and emotional systems, and the embodiment framework offers a unifying perspective for psychological research. The article outlines evolutionary and philosophical arguments that support embodiment as a promising framework. It reviews embodiment approaches from cognitive linguistics, perceptual symbol theory, and action‑based theories, then illustrates how this perspective can be applied across cognition, development, social psychology, neuroscience, clinical psychology, and education. Examples demonstrate the potential of embodiment to unify diverse psychological domains. © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.; further resources are available on the WIREs website.

Abstract

A basic claim of the embodiment framework is that all psychological processes are influenced by body morphology, sensory systems, motor systems, and emotions. As such, the framework holds the promise of providing a unifying perspective for psychological research. This article begins with a sketch of several arguments, from evolution to philosophy, as to why the embodiment framework is a good bet. These arguments are followed by a review of approaches to embodiment, including those from cognitive linguistics, perceptual symbol theory, and action-based theories. Finally, examples are provided for how a unifying perspective might work for cognition (including language and memory), cognitive and social development, social psychology, neuroscience, clinical psychology, and psychology applied to education. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. For further resources related to this article, please visit the WIREs website.