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| 6.1 Basic Emotions

List of emotions
What are the basic emotions? As ever, theorists disagree. Ortony and Turner (1990) collated a wide range of research as to what basic emotions are.

Theorist | Basic Emotions
Plutchik | Acceptance, anger, anticipation, disgust, joy, fear, sadness, surprise
Arnold | Anger, aversion, courage, dejection, desire, despair, fear, hate, hope, love, sadness
Ekman, Friesen, and Ellsworth | Anger, disgust, fear, joy, sadness, surprise
Frijda | Desire, happiness, interest, surprise, wonder, sorrow
Gray | Rage and terror, anxiety, joy
Izard | Anger, contempt, disgust, distress, fear, guilt, interest, joy, shame, surprise
James | Fear, grief, love, rage
McDougall | Anger, disgust, elation, fear, subjection, tender-emotion, wonder
Mowrer | Pain, pleasure
Oatley and Johnson-Laird | Anger, disgust, anxiety, happiness, sadness
Panksepp | Expectancy, fear, rage, panic
Tomkins | Anger, interest, contempt, disgust, distress, fear, joy, shame, surprise
Watson | Fear, love, rage
Weiner and Graham | Happiness, sadness

Here is a deeper list of emotions as described in Parrot (2001), where emotions were categorised into a short tree structure.

Primary emotion | Secondary emotion | Tertiary emotions
Love | Affection | Adoration, affection, love, fondness, liking, attraction, caring, tenderness, compassion, sentimentality
Lust | Arousal, desire, lust, passion, infatuation
Longing | Longing
Joy | Cheerfulness | Amusement, bliss, cheerfulness, gaiety, glee, jolliness, joviality, joy, delight, enjoyment, gladness, happiness, jubilation, elation, satisfaction, ecstasy, euphoria
Zest | Enthusiasm, zeal, zest, excitement, thrill, exhilaration
Contentment | Contentment, pleasure
Pride | Pride, triumph
Optimism | Eagerness, hope, optimism
Enthrallment | Enthrallment, rapture
Relief | Relief
Surprise | Surprise | Amazement, surprise, astonishment
Anger | Irritation | Aggravation, irritation, agitation, annoyance, grouchiness, grumpiness
Exasperation | Exasperation, frustration
Rage | Anger, rage, outrage, fury, wrath, hostility, ferocity, bitterness, hate, loathing, scorn, spite, vengefulness, dislike, resentment
Disgust | Disgust, revulsion, contempt
Envy | Envy, jealousy
Torment | Torment
Sadness | Suffering | Agony, suffering, hurt, anguish
Sadness | Depression, despair, hopelessness, gloom, glumness, sadness, unhappiness, grief, sorrow, woe, misery, melancholy
Disappointment | Dismay, disappointment, displeasure
Shame | Guilt, shame, regret, remorse
Neglect | Alienation, isolation, neglect, loneliness, rejection, homesickness, defeat, dejection, insecurity, embarrassment, humiliation, insult
Sympathy | Pity, sympathy
Fear | Horror | Alarm, shock, fear, fright, horror, terror, panic, hysteria, mortification
Nervousness | Anxiety, nervousness, tenseness, uneasiness, apprehension, worry, distress, dread

So What
Learn to recognise emotions at increasing levels of detail. If you can see the emotion, then you can respond appropriately to it.
Reference
Parrott, W. (2001), Emotions in Social Psychology, Psychology Press, Philadelphia
Ortony, A., & Turner, T. J. (1990). What's basic about basic emotions? Psychological Review, 97, 315-331.
Plutchik, R. (1980). A general psychoevolutionary theory of emotion. In R. Plutchik & H. Kellerman (Eds.), Emotion: Theory, research, and experience: Vol. 1. Theories of emotion (pp. 3-33). New York: Academic.

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