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Related Concept Videos

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Emotional labeling is a cognitive process that involves identifying and naming one's emotions, such as anger, fear, happiness, or sadness. It allows individuals to recognize and express their internal emotional states, a critical aspect of emotional regulation and communication. Labeling emotions requires more than mere recognition; it also involves drawing upon memory and contextual cues to understand the current situation and apply a corresponding emotional label. For instance, feeling...
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The Challenge of "Defining" Emotions.

Andrew Ortony1

  • 1Department of Psychology, Northwestern University, Evanston, IL 60208, USA.

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Defining emotions requires identifying five necessary conditions: intentionality, personal significance, valence, conscious experience, and insuppressibility. These criteria distinguish emotions from other mental states, excluding typical but not essential features like bodily changes.

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affectappraisalsbodily feelingscognitionsemotion intensityfacial expressionsnecessary characteristicsvalence

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Area of Science:

  • Cognitive Psychology
  • Philosophy of Mind
  • Affective Science

Background:

  • Current definitions of emotions often lack precision.
  • Appraisal theories provide a cognitive lens for understanding emotions.
  • Distinguishing emotions from other mental states remains a theoretical challenge.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To propose necessary and jointly sufficient conditions for defining genuine emotions.
  • To differentiate emotions from other mental states based on core characteristics.
  • To critically evaluate commonly included, yet non-essential, emotional features.

Main Methods:

  • Theoretical argumentation based on a cognitive perspective of emotions.
  • Analysis of necessary versus typical characteristics of emotional states.
  • Examination of appraisal theories to inform the definition of emotions.

Main Results:

  • Five necessary characteristics for genuine emotions are proposed: intentionality, personal significance, valence, conscious experience, and insuppressibility.
  • These five properties collectively serve to distinguish emotions from other mental states.
  • Bodily changes and facial expressions, while typical, are not necessary conditions for an emotion.

Conclusions:

  • A precise definition of emotion hinges on identifying its essential, universally present characteristics.
  • Excluding non-essential but typical features like physiological responses refines the conceptualization of emotions.
  • The proposed five characteristics offer a robust framework for understanding and defining genuine emotions.