Unlocking the language: Key features of emotions

Area of Science:

• Psychology
• Linguistics
• Cognitive Science

Background:

• Scientific literature presents diverse features of emotions as criterial attributes.
• A comprehensive understanding of emotion's fundamental characteristics is lacking.
• Existing theoretical approaches offer varied perspectives on emotion definition.

Purpose of the Study:

• To identify key features of emotions by synthesizing various theoretical approaches.
• To utilize language analysis for identifying states meeting established emotional criteria.
• To practically assess the applicability of identified emotional criteria.

Main Methods:

• Snowball procedure for selecting 72 highly cited articles on emotions.
• Content analysis of definitions to extract criterial attributes of emotions.
• Expert evaluation by seven judges assessing emotional states against proposed criteria.
• Statistical analysis using correlation-based coefficients to measure inter-rater agreement.

Main Results:

• Eight fundamental criteria defining emotions were proposed based on literature analysis.
• A systematic method for identifying and classifying emotional states was developed.
• The study confirmed the potential of language-based analysis in emotion research.
• High agreement among judges suggests the robustness of the identified criteria.

Conclusions:

• The identified eight criteria provide a robust framework for defining emotions.
• Language analysis is a viable method for generating comprehensive lists of emotional states.
• This research contributes to a more unified understanding of emotional attributes across different theories.