Basic Emotions

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Emotions are the essence of our experience, shaping the way we perceive the world and influencing our actions.

The exploration of the human emotional sphere by various scholars has made it possible to understand its psychophysiological mechanisms and complexity.

In particular, thanks to the work of Paul Ekman, the fundamental distinctive characteristics of the so-called 6 basic emotions have been highlighted, universally recognised in all cultures and with specific and innate response patterns, which have their roots in our evolution.

The basic emotions for which we know the relative psychophysiological activation characteristics and the adaptive role they play are:

1). Joy, an emotion associated with positive experiences and which manifests itself with a smile, a sense of satisfaction and a posture of openness towards the outside.

2). Sadness, generally contrasted with joy, is associated with experiences of loss, frustration and pain, and manifests itself with crying, a sense of malaise and passivity and an attitude of closure towards the inside, represented by the tendency to be hunched over.

3). Anger is the emotion that is ignited when an injustice, an obstacle or the failure to satisfy a desire is perceived and which triggers a primitive response that prepares the body for action, increasing the heart rate and vigilance, to release energy quickly.

4). Fear is the emotion triggered by stimuli that threaten survival and is characterised by a psychophysiological response called “fight or flight” which is based on the activation of the sympathetic nervous system and the alarm response of the amygdala.

5). Disgust is the emotion triggered by adverse, unpleasant, or harmful stimuli and which generates a psychophysiological response characterised by slowing of the heartbeat and involvement of the gastrointestinal system, as well as a peculiar facial expression.

6). Surprise, the emotion triggered by new and/or sudden stimuli, activates the sympathetic nervous system, causing an increase in heart rate and rapid dilation of the pupils. This innate response serves to prepare us to react quickly when faced with unexpected stimuli.

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BIBLIOGRAPHY:

Ekman, P., & Friesen, W. V. (1971). Constants across cultures in the face and emotion. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 17(2), 124-129.

Ekman, P. (1992). An argument for basic emotions. Cognition & Emotion, 6(3-4), 169-200.

Ekman, P. (1999). Basic emotions. In: T. Dalgleish, M. J. Power (Eds.), Handbook of Cognition and Emotion (pp. 45-60). John Wiley & Sons.

Levenson, R. W. (1992). Autonomic nervous system differences among emotions. Psychological Science, 3(1), 23-27.