Ecology of Relational-Embodied-Emotional Systems
A New Eco-Systems Theory of Emotion Beyond Biocultural Determinism and the Technocratic Gaze
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 17830600 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Ezra N S Lockhart (0000-0002-4435-9053, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2026 |
| Volume | 9 |
| Issue | S1 |
| Pages | 889-903 |
| Publication date | 2026-04-30 |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Human Arenas (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 2522-5790 • E-ISSN: 2522-5804 |
| Publisher | Springer Science+Business Media (PUBLISHER • DE) |
| DOI | 10.1007/s42087-026-00583-5 |
| OpenAlex | W7160141129 |
| Language | EN |
| References cited | 21 |
This work introduces the Ecology of Relational-Embodied-Emotional Systems (EREES), a systemic meta-model reconceptualizing emotions as emergent, self-organizing phenomena arising from dynamic feedback loops within ecological, relational, historical, and intersectional systems. Unlike traditional or reductionist models that treat emotion as biologically or cognitively determined, EREES draws on generalized complexity to explain how self-eco-reorganizing processes embed intergenerational oppression, including legacies of slavery and structural violence, in embodied responses. By critiquing biomedical reductionism and the technocratic gaze, the model frames emotional experience as a systemically organized process constituted through recursive interactions among embodied regulation, relational dynamics, and structured power relations. Analyses of parent-child, romantic, and hierarchical relationships show how emotional processes reproduce or reorganize inequities across interlocking systems. Emotional development and regulation are non-linear, historically mediated processes unfolding within relational ecologies shaped by attachment, hierarchy, and social stratification. By situating emotion within self-eco-reorganizing ecologies influenced by historical continuity and systemic inequality, EREES advances a theoretically integrated, systems-oriented framework for emotional health, well-being, and equity.
Determinism · Field (mathematics) · Gaze · Technocracy · Cognitive Science and Education Research · Embodied and Extended Cognition · Emotions and Moral Behavior
Complexity Theory and the Social Sciences
Radicalizing Enactivism
Both of Us Disgusted in My Insula
Lending a Hand
Parent–infant synchrony and the construction of shared timing; physiological precursors, developmental outcomes, and risk conditions
Social Baseline Theory
What It Means to Be Human
Emotional regulation in the workplace
The Politics of Life Itself
The Thinking ApeEvolutionary Origins of Intelligence
Social relationships and their developmental significance
The Embodied Mind
Intergenerational transmission of trauma
Reflexive Examination of IWSC(HAT)P Through Cybernetics
The return to the sacred path
| Highly cited | No |
|---|