By David W. Martin, PhD, North Carolina State University
When it comes to measuring emotions, the first question we should address is whether or not there’s a basic, universal set of emotions across cultures. If so, which ones are they?
Universal Emotions
Paul Eckman, now an emeritus professor at UCSF, addressed exactly this question of whether or not there are universal emotions, and if so, which ones. He decided to focus on facial expressions, given that across all cultures all individuals have the same facial musculature.
Eckman took pictures of his graduate students making different facial expressions, then traveled to different countries and different cultures around the world. He would show the picture of an angry face, for instance, and ask them “What just happened to this man?” In their own language, in their own terms, from their own cultural perspective, they would then tell a story that was representative of anger, for example.
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After doing many iterations of this particular study, he was able to deduce that there are six primary emotions, which he sometimes calls the six primary colors:
- happiness
- surprise
- sadness
- anger
- disgust
- fear
Obviously, there are many more than six emotions, so he came up with the idea of blended emotions, such as envy, hope, despair, and love, that take those basic emotions and mix them in different proportions. For example, the emotion of contempt is most likely composed of a blend of anger and a blend of disgust.
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Atlas of Emotions
An interesting way to visualize the groupings or relationships between emotions is with something called the Atlas of Emotions, also created by Paul Eckman along with his daughter, Eve Eckman. What you’ll see are family groups of emotions, which will help you build your emotional vocabulary. You’ll see linkages to emotional states, actions, triggers, and moods.
For example, if you click on sadness, you’ll see a range of sad-related states based on least to most intense. We have disappointment, resignation, and anguish as the most common. It’s a great tool to begin exploring emotions and to start building a foundation for more emotional awareness and emotional intelligence.
We have a sense of what the basic emotions are and the families that they belong to. We have a range of different emotions because each has a different function. For instance, sadness is often a consequence of loss. It triggers reflection and support-seeking. Anger emerges in reaction to perceived injustice or violation. It gives you the strength to correct that injustice or violation.
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As you explore different emotion families, consider their functions and how or when that might be helpful or hurtful.
Russell’s Circumplex Model of Affect
A simpler more commonly used alternative model is called Russell’s model of affect. In this model, you have two orthogonal lines that create four quadrants. There is a level of arousal from high to low, and a valence from positive to negative.
You would just rate an emotion high or low arousal, positive or negative by placing a dot in one of those quadrants.
The most commonly used measure of positive and negative affect is called the PANAS or the positive and negative affect scale, cited over 23,000 times. There are two scales as the name implies, one for positive affect and one for negative affect, composed of 20 items. The items present a single emotion or a feeling word and ask you how strongly you felt that word in a specified time range. Examples include how much have you felt distressed, guilty, ashamed, hostile, interested, excited, or enthusiastic. The PANAS is owned by the American Psychological Association, but several online sites have posted the full scale for free if you’re interested in taking it on your own.
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Photographic Affect Meter
Another quick but still interesting assessment tool is the photographic affect meter developed by J.P. Pollak. You typically receive a text message telling you to check your mood. When you click on the app or the link, an array of pictures opens. You simply choose one picture that represents your mood. The pictures were selected to represent all four quadrants of the circumplex model, positive and negative affect, high and low arousal. The PAM, the Photographic Affect Meter, has shown good correlations with the PANAS, suggesting it might be a quick, cheap, and valid way to assess your mood.
Common Questions About Universal Emotions
Yes. There are considered to be seven universal emotions: sadness, happiness, fear, anger, disgust, contempt, and surprise.
Emotions are thought to be triggered when a person or a situation threatens to remove one of our many core needs such as control, acceptance, safety, or freedom.
Emotions are hardwired and generally produced to our advantage. Feelings can be triggered by an emotion and are largely unique to the person based on biases.
Love is a complex blend of many emotions as well as feelings unique to the person’s biases and the situation.