The Architecture of Human and Synthetic Affect: A Comprehensive Analysis of the Core Emotion Framework

This paper introduces the Core Emotion Framework (CEF), a structural‑constructivist architecture designed to bridge the gap between clinical psychology and affective computing. While traditional models of emotion are often categorized as either discrete/biological or dimensional/circumplex, the CEF proposes a functional‑operator model consisting of ten irreducible “Core Emotions.” This article provides a theoretical introduction to the CEF and examines its implications for human‑AI interaction, with a specific focus on the risks of emotional solipsism in synthetic affect. By integrating clinical methodologies such as Detangling with technical benchmarks like the INTIMA architecture, the CEF offers a unified blueprint for maintaining emotional agency in both humans and machines.