
The Pixar film *Inside Out* portrays five basic emotions – joy, fear, anger, disgust, and sadness – as its main characters. The film's scientific rigour is admirable, as the production team consulted renowned emotion psychologists Paul Ekman and Dacher Keltner. Ekman initially proposed six basic emotions, later developing the basic emotions theory (BET), which holds that these emotions have distinct facial expressions that serve as signals of the sender's state, intentions, and situation assessment. Meanwhile, Keltner's multimodal approach to BET suggests that emotions manifest in multiple modalities, including facial muscle movement, voice, bodily movements, and gestures.
The film's portrayal of emotions aligns with the categorical approach, which views emotions as distinct entities. However, the plot also illustrates the complexity of emotions, as they often encompass more than one type and can shift as a situation evolves. The film also accurately depicts the formation of human memory and personality, with memory balls representing core memories that shape our personality.
*Inside Out* offers a thoughtful and scientifically accurate exploration of the social psychology of emotion, providing valuable insights into the functionality and complexity of human emotions.
Characteristics | Values |
---|---|
Number of basic emotions | 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 15, 27, 48 |
Basic emotions | Happiness, Sadness, Fear, Anger, Disgust, Surprise, Contempt, Anticipation, Trust, Joy, Shame, Guilt, Pride, Relief, Satisfaction, Embarrassment, Excitement, Envy, Compassion, Anxiety, Hope, Jealousy, Love, Gratitude, Aesthetic Appreciation, Adoration, Fondness, Amazement, Astonishment, Aggravation, Aggression, Annoyance, Anger, Fear, Horror, Disgust, Surprise, Sadness, Disappointment, Remorse, Alienation, Pity, Shock, Panic, Anxiety, Suspense, Uneasiness, Apprehension, Frustration, Restlessness, Discontentment, Aversion, Attraction, Interest, Joy, Triumph, Jubilation, Enthusiasm, Zeal, Excitement, Enthrallment, Rapture, Agony, Anguish, Hurt, Depression, Despair, Gloom, Unhappiness, Grief, Sorrow, Woe, Misery, Melancholy, Dismay, Displeasure, Guilt, Regret, Alienation, Defeat, Embarrassment, Homesickness, Humiliation, Insecurity, Insult, Isolation, Loneliness, Rejection, Alarm, Fear, Fright, Terror, Panic, Hysteria, Mortification, Anxiety, Suspense, Uneasiness, Apprehension, Distress, Dread |
Theories | Basic Emotion Theory, Dimensional Theory, Circumplex Model, Vector Model, Positive Activation – Negative Activation (P.A.N.A.) Model, PAD Emotional State Model |
Dimensional models | Valence, Arousal, Intensity, Pleasantness, Unpleasantness, Attention, Rejection, Activation, Strain, Relaxation, Arousing, Subduing |
What You'll Learn
The four criteria for a basic emotion
- Basic emotions are innate and universal: They are hardwired in our brains and shared across all humans, regardless of cultural differences. These emotions are easily recognizable through facial expressions and biological processes, such as fear, anger, happiness, and sadness.
- Automatic and fast responses: Basic emotions trigger quick behavioural responses that are crucial for survival. For example, fear can lead to a fight-or-flight response, while anger can motivate protective actions.
- Distinct neurological circuits: Each basic emotion is associated with a dedicated neurological circuit in the brain. These circuits are biologically distinct and can be identified through brain activity and physiology.
- Building blocks of complex emotions: Basic emotions can combine to form more complex emotions. For instance, contempt might arise from a blend of anger and disgust. However, not all complex emotions can be deconstructed in this way.
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The evolutionary theory of emotions
Evolutionary theorists believe that several primary emotions are shared across all human cultures, including happiness, contempt, surprise, disgust, anger, fear, and sadness. These primary emotions are thought to combine in different ways and intensities to form all other emotions. For example, terror is a more intense form of fear.
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The circumplex model of emotion
Russell and Lisa Feldman Barrett describe their modified circumplex model as representative of core affect, or the most elementary feelings that are not necessarily directed toward anything. Different prototypical emotional episodes, or clear emotions that are evoked or directed by specific objects, can be plotted on the circumplex, according to their levels of arousal and pleasure.
The circumplex model suggests that valence and activation are independent, bipolar dimensions. Independent means valence and activation are uncorrelated. Bipolar means that opposite emotions terms represent each of the opposite poles for valence and activation. For example, in the circumplex model, happy and sad are displayed at opposite poles of the pleasantness dimension. Tense and sleepy are displayed at opposing ends of the activation dimension. Thus, a person cannot be tense and sleepy at the same time. Finally, according to this model, mixed emotions are similar in subjective feelings. Thus, a mixed emotion cannot be comprised of feelings that differ drastically in valence or arousal – such as happiness and sadness.
Russell and colleagues differentiate between core affect and prototypical emotion episodes (PEE). Core affect represents our most basic feeling at any point in time. Core affect includes prolonged objectless moods and specific emotion episodes. There is always a cause to core affect. Sometimes people are aware of the cause, as in emotion episodes, but often people are unaware of the causes, such as when changes in the environment or our physical bodies cause a change in our mood. Core affect is always present and can include feelings of neutrality, although most of core affect describes people’s general level of unpleasantness/pleasantness and arousal.
Prototypical emotion episodes (PEE) are emotions caused by a specific eliciting event – what we defined earlier as an emotion. Russell and Barrett state that PEE include the following components: physiological changes, including all bodily, chemical, and brain changes; and a clear, short time period during which the PEE occurs. Russell and Barrett further explain that all emotion episodes start when an event causes a change in core affect, but appraisals, behaviours, and physiological changes have not occurred. Once the individual appraises and identifies the eliciting event and exhibits behaviour and physiological changes, the prototypical emotion episode has begun. So, if we are feeling down but do not know why – that would represent core affect. If we eventually determine that we feel down because we miss our family, this would represent a PEE because we can now know the cause of our core affect and can consciously identify the emotion as sadness. In Russell’s circumplex model, the small emotion terms in the inner circle represent core affect, whereas the emotion terms on the circle represent PEEs.
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The vector model of emotion
The model was first introduced in 1992 and is one of the most prominent two-dimensional models, alongside the circumplex model and the Positive Activation – Negative Activation (PANA) model.
The vector model assumes that emotions with high arousal and neutral valence do not exist. Instead, it suggests that at high arousal, positive and negative valences are distinct from one another, and that true neutrality cannot be intensely felt.
The vector model is often used in the testing of word and picture stimuli. It has been found to provide a better fit for semantic knowledge of emotions, prototypical emotional events, and autobiographical memories, compared to the circumplex model.
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The positive activation – negative activation (PANA) model
The PANA model is a two-dimensional model, similar to the vector model, in which states of higher arousal are defined by their valence, and states of lower arousal are more neutral in terms of valence. The vertical axis of the PANA model represents low to high positive affect, while the horizontal axis represents low to high negative affect. The dimensions of valence and arousal are placed at a 45-degree rotation over these axes.
The PANA model is one of the two-dimensional models that are most prominent, along with the circumplex model and the vector model. These two-dimensional models contrast theories of basic emotion, which propose that different emotions arise from separate neural systems.
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Frequently asked questions
Basic emotions are innate and universal emotions that are experienced by all humans and animals. Basic emotions are distinct from one another and are comprised of unique changes in four components: behaviour, thoughts, feelings, and physiology. Basic emotions include fear, anger, disgust, surprise, happiness, and sadness.
The dimensional theory of emotion suggests that emotions can be defined by two or three dimensions, including valence, arousal or intensity. Dimensional models of emotion suggest that a common and interconnected neurophysiological system is responsible for all affective states.
Basic emotion theory uses a categorical approach to understand emotions, whereas the dimensional theory of emotion uses a dimensional approach. Basic emotions are thought to be innate and universal, whereas the dimensional theory of emotion suggests that emotions are fundamentally the same, differing only in intensity or pleasantness.
Inside Out takes a basic view of emotion, as it portrays five distinct and separate emotions: Joy, Fear, Anger, Disgust, and Sadness.