Human feelings represent a complex landscape, making them difficult to categorize and quantify effectively. For centuries, researchers struggled to develop a standardized definition for emotion and determine how many distinct feelings exist. These internal states involve a coordinated set of physiological, behavioral, and cognitive changes that occur in response to a significant event. Developing a structured framework helps researchers understand how emotional responses are generated and what purpose they serve.
The Psychoevolutionary Model of Emotion
American psychologist Robert Plutchik developed the Psychoevolutionary Theory of Emotion in 1980. This model proposes that emotions are genetically coded, adaptive mechanisms that evolved to increase an organism’s chances of survival. These fundamental emotional responses are not unique to humans, but can be observed across many species. Emotions motivate specific behaviors that helped organisms deal with recurring environmental problems.
The structure of his model is often visualized as a color wheel, which organizes feelings based on their relationships to one another. This visual layout suggests that emotions have degrees of similarity, with related feelings positioned next to each other. The model posits that all other emotional experiences are simply mixtures or compounds of a small number of primary states, much like how all colors can be created from primary colors.
Defining the Twelve Core Emotional States
Plutchik’s model begins with eight distinct primary emotions that form the foundation of all other feelings, arranged in four bipolar pairs. These eight states are Trust, Fear, Surprise, Sadness, Disgust, Anger, Anticipation, and Joy. Trust (Acceptance) motivates affiliation, while its opposite, Disgust, drives rejection and avoidance of something potentially harmful. Fear promotes protection and escape, standing in opposition to Anger, which motivates destruction or attack.
Surprise is the reaction to an unexpected event, triggering an orientation response to examine the stimulus. This contrasts with Anticipation, which involves planning and exploration. Sadness encourages reintegration after a loss, and is the opposite of Joy, which is connected to reproduction and affiliation. These eight primary states are organized radially on the wheel, representing basic survival functions.
The concept of “twelve emotions” emerges from “dyads,” which are new emotional states formed by combining two adjacent primary emotions. Four specific primary dyads are often highlighted to expand the core eight into a set of twelve. For instance, the combination of Joy and Trust produces the feeling of Love, a complex state that encourages bonding and attachment.
The combination of Fear and Surprise results in Awe, a feeling of overwhelmed fascination. The blend of Sadness and Disgust results in Remorse, characterized by self-reproach or deep regret. The fourth primary dyad is Aggressiveness, which emerges from blending Anger and Anticipation. These four blends, combined with the eight basic emotions, provide a structured set of twelve distinct emotional concepts.
The Adaptive Role of Basic Emotions
The purpose of the eight primary emotions is to trigger specific, patterned behaviors that increase the chances of survival for the organism. These emotions evolved as automatic responses to universal threats and opportunities. For example, Fear corresponds to the survival function of protection, manifesting as the immediate urge to escape or avoid a perceived threat. This physiological response prepares the body for swift action, such as the fight-or-flight mechanism.
Disgust serves the function of rejection, motivating an organism to distance itself from toxic or poisonous substances. Anger is linked to the function of destruction, mobilizing the body to overcome obstacles or drive away a threat through aggressive action. Joy promotes affiliation and reproduction, reinforcing behaviors that lead to positive outcomes and social bonding. These responses were refined over evolutionary time to be efficient in managing environmental challenges.
Anticipation drives the exploratory function, encouraging an organism to investigate new situations and prepare for future events. Trust is tied to the incorporation function, promoting acceptance of helpful resources and forming cooperative relationships. Surprise triggers the orientation function, causing an immediate pause and heightened awareness to assess an unexpected stimulus. Each core emotion is directly tied to a specific behavioral pattern beneficial for survival.
Emotional Relationships: Polarity and Intensity
A central organizing principle of the Plutchik model is polarity, the arrangement of emotions into bipolar opposites. This concept dictates that certain emotions cannot be experienced simultaneously because they represent contradictory survival functions. For instance, Joy is positioned opposite Sadness, reflecting the duality between affiliation and loss. This opposition highlights how life events push an individual toward one extreme or the other of an emotional spectrum.
Other paired opposites include Fear versus Anger and Trust versus Disgust, illustrating the conflict between protection and destruction or acceptance and rejection. The other dimension of the model is Intensity, which describes how the strength of a given emotion changes its label.
As an emotion moves toward the center of the wheel, its intensity increases, reflected in a change of terminology. For example, a low-intensity version of Anger is Annoyance, while its highest intensity is labeled Rage. Similarly, a mild form of Joy is Serenity, which increases to Joy at a moderate level, and becomes Ecstasy at its most powerful.