Pressure of passion - conceptualization of the phenomenon

<ns3:p>The pressure of passion is a relatively new social phenomenon referring to the need perceived by some people to pursue a passionate activity, the satisfaction of which promotes, e.g. self-realization and recognition of the social environment. The paper presents a conceptualisation of the pressure of passion that may be explored by pedagogical sciences. Components of the term, that is pressure and passion, as well as possible relationships between the two were subject to etymological, semantic and contextual analyses. Different manners of viewing the concept of pressure were recalled, pointing to its negative and positive connotations. While analysing the concept of passion, the authors referred to the historical approaches of religious significance, and to negative emotions. Contemporary understanding of passion having a clearly positive meaning was accentuated. Special attention was paid to passion viewed as an inclination/being passionate about an activity described in Vallerand’s Dualistic Model of Passion, Deci and Ryan’s Self-Determination Theory, grounded theory of a passionate way of being by Halonen and Lomas and the existential approach to passion. Viewed in this manner, passion appears to be vulnerable to pressure understood as a compulsion to pursue a passionate activity. Therefore, the presented conceptualisation of the pressure of passion involves two components, two modalities that reflect the complex structure of this phenomenon and its multiple functions.</ns3:p>