Dissociations in the Similarity and Categorisation of Emotions

Abstract

Most studies of the categorisation of emotions test the prototype model against the classical model, concluding that the prototype model offers the better explanation. Prototype models, as with all similarity-based models, posit that categorisation depends on the similarity between the instance to be categorised and the category representation. However, we find that emotion similarity judgements and categorisation judgements sometimes diverge. Specifically, information about changes in a person's status and/or power is weighted more heavily in categorisation decisions than it is in similarity decisions. We argue that a knowledge-based model, rather than a similaritybased model, offers the best account of emotion categorisation when information about status and power changes is available.