Module 39 Introduction

Experiencing Emotion

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39-1 What are some basic emotions, and what two dimensions help differentiate them?

HOW MANY DISTINCT EMOTIONS ARE there? Carroll Izard (1977) isolated 10 basic emotions (joy, interest-excitement, surprise, sadness, anger, disgust, contempt, fear, shame, and guilt), most present in infancy (FIGURE 39.1). Others (Tracy & Robins, 2004) believe that pride is also a distinct emotion, signaled by a small smile, head slightly tilted back, and an open posture. Love, too, may be a basic emotion (Shaver et al., 1996). But Izard has argued that other emotions are combinations of these 10, with love, for example, being a mixture of joy and interest-excitement.

Figure 39.1
Infants’ naturally occurring emotions To identify the emotions present from birth, Carroll Izard analyzed the facial expressions of infants.

The ingredients of emotion include not only physiology and expressive behavior but also our conscious experience. Across the world, people place emotional experience along the two dimensions illustrated in FIGURE 39.2—positive-versus-negative valence, and low-versus-high arousal (Russell et al., 1989, 1999a,b, 2009; Watson et al., 1999). Any emotion is some combination of feeling good versus bad, and of being aroused and energized or not. On the valence and arousal dimensions, terrified is more frightened (more unpleasant and aroused) than afraid, enraged is angrier than angry, delighted is happier than happy.

Figure 39.2
Two dimensions of emotion James Russell, David Watson, Auke Tellegen, and others have described emotions as variations on two dimensions—arousal (low versus high) and valence (pleasant versus unpleasant feeling).

Let’s take a closer look at anger and happiness. What functions do they serve? What influences our experience of each?

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