The structure of emotion: An empirical comparison of six models

Abstract

There are a number of conflicting approaches to the problem of the relationship between different emotions. One category of models focuses on the valence of emotional experience and typically reports evidence for dimensional approaches to emotion. A second category of models argues for the possibility of discrete basic emotions, but typically focuses on evidence from emotion systems other than conscious experience. In the present study, a list of emotion terms was drawn up that were derived conceptually from a set of basic emotions. A group of participants filled out a questionnaire that asked how much in general they experienced each of the emotions. A structural equation modelling approach was then used with the resultant dataset, an approach that permitted the comparison of six different models that ranged from the positive-negative affect models to models of discrete basic emotions. The analyses gave support for a set of five basic emotions but only when these were allowed to correlate with each other. Implications for theories of emotion are considered.