Contrasting and categorization of emotions

The contrasting and categorization of emotions describes how emotions are thought to relate to each other. Various recent proposals of such groupings are described in the following sections.

The following table, based on a wide review of current theories, identifies and contrasts the fundamental emotions according to a set of definite criteria. The three key criteria used include mental experiences that:

The combination of these attributes distinguish the emotions from sensations, feelings and moods.

The emotion annotation and representation language (EARL) proposed by the Human-Machine Interaction Network on Emotion (HUMAINE) classifies 48 emotions.

A tree-structured list of emotions was described in Shaver et al. (1987), and also featured in Parrott (2001).

In 1980, Robert Plutchik constructed a wheel-like diagram of emotions visualising eight basic emotions: Joy, Trust, Fear, Surprise, Sadness, Disgust, Anger and Anticipation. The wheel combines the ideas of circles representing emotions and a color wheel. Similar emotions in the wheel are adjacent. The wheel was inspired by "Plutchik's Ten Postulates", a list of theorems which include some of the emotions listed below. The wheel is one of the most influential emotional theories today, although it has been frequently criticised for its lack of a longer list of emotions. Plutchik also theorized twenty-four "Primary", "Secondary", and "Tertiary" dyads (a feeling composed of two emotions). Due to the nature of the wheel, the emotions are arranged in pairs according to behavioural and evolutionary mechanisms. The ways the emotions can be paired up are listed here:

Emotions also come in a variety of intensities; for example, Distraction is a mild form of Surprise, and Rage is an intense form of Anger. Weaker emotions lay among the outer circles and stronger emotions bloom in the middle. The kinds of relation between each pair of emotions follow below:

In 2012, a scientific research book called The Hourglass of Emotions was largely based on Robert Plutchik's model, but categorised his emotions into four sentic dimensions. It contrasted Anger, Anticipation, Joy, and Trust as positive emotions, and Fear, Surprise, Sadness and Disgust as negative.

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