The Core Emotion Framework: A Comprehensive Synthesis of Structural-Constructivist Affective Architecture, Clinical Protocols, and Empirical Validation

The Core Emotion Framework (CEF) proposes a unified structural constructivist architecture of human affect that resolves the long standing divide between basic emotion theory and social constructivism. Drawing on evidence that emotional meaning cannot be reduced to low dimensional valence–arousal models, the CEF identifies ten irreducible functional operators—Sensing, Calculating, Deciding, Expanding, Constricting, Achieving, Arranging, Appreciating, Boosting, and Accepting—each defined by distinct somatic signatures, computational roles, and directional cycling patterns. These operators form a ten dimensional process space governed by structural laws such as Identity Preservation, enabling a high resolution account of emotional construction across cognitive, relational, and somatic systems. The framework models emotional dysfunction as chronic operator fusions, including Conscientious Anxiety (Calculating × Constricting), Hyper aroused Panic (Constricting × Boosting), and Melancholic Stagnation (Appreciating × Accepting), each characterized by persistent cross activation resistant to down regulation. Clinical interventions such as the 7 Step Detangling Protocol and the Mirror Technique operationalize somatic decoherence to restore operator independence. A preregistered, open science validation program—including scenario based psychometric scaling, pilot studies, and CFA/SEM modeling—supports the distinctiveness and interdependence of the operators, revealing a “psychometric paradox” in which excellent absolute fit coexists with low incremental fit due to predicted cross activation. To capture these non separable dynamics, the CEF employs quantum probabilistic modeling, representing emotional states as superpositions in a ten dimensional Hilbert space. This multiscale architecture integrates somatic physiology, computational modeling, and quantum cognition, offering a comprehensive blueprint for affective science, clinical practice, and synthetic emotional systems.