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Are All "Basic Emotions" Emotions? A Problem for the (Basic) Emotions Construct.

Andrew Ortony¹

¹Department of Psychology, Northwestern University.

Perspectives on Psychological Science : a Journal of the Association for Psychological Science

|July 15, 2021

Summary

The concept of "basic emotions" lacks a stable definition and criteria, challenging its validity in psychology. This study proposes a minimal definition for emotions and finds that even widely accepted basic emotions may not qualify.

Keywords:

basic emotions core affect emotion words mental states surprise

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Area of Science:

Psychology
Affective Science
Philosophy of Mind

Background:

The concept of 'basic emotions' remains influential despite ongoing theoretical challenges and a lack of consensus.
Disagreements on lists of basic emotions suggest no stable criteria for 'basicness' exist.
Overreliance on English affective terms and definitional ambiguity hinder progress in emotion research.

Purpose of the Study:

To critically evaluate the concept of basic emotions by proposing minimal criteria for defining emotions.
To analyze widely accepted basic emotions, such as surprise, against these proposed criteria.
To suggest alternative theoretical frameworks for understanding emotions that are less reliant on language and basic emotion concepts.

Main Methods:

Proposed three necessary conditions as a minimal requirement for any mental state to be classified as an emotion.
Conducted a detailed analysis of 'surprise,' a commonly cited basic emotion, against the proposed criteria.
Briefly outlined an alternative approach integrating undifferentiated affect and cognitive appraisal theories.

Main Results:

The analysis revealed that surprise fails to meet the minimal criteria proposed for an emotion.
This finding raises questions about the status of surprise and potentially other 'basic' emotions.
The study highlights the limitations of current emotion theories rooted in linguistic categories and basic emotion assumptions.

Conclusions:

The notion of basic emotions is fundamentally flawed due to a lack of stable criteria and definitional clarity.
Surprise, and possibly other proposed basic emotions, may not qualify as genuine emotions based on minimal requirements.
A re-evaluation of the core question 'what is an emotion?' is necessary, potentially through integrated affect and appraisal models.