Basic Emotions

What is an emotion? My definition of emotion is a result of the feeling that we have toward something that we see. Based on one source, an emotion is a mental and physiological state associated with a wide variety of feelings, thoughts, and behavior. Emotion is often associated with mood, temperament, personality, and disposition. I am not going to take this deeper into physiological studies but I was just wondering about the basic emotions. What are the basic emotions? Do we have one? Have you ever think about that? What I know that we use a lot of emotion, happy, sad, angry, loving and so on. But how about the basic emotion? Here are the basic emotion based on one theorist, Parrot (2001). It is explained that there are 3 types/layers of emotions: Primary Emotion (Love, Joy, Surprise, Anger, Sadness, Fear), Secondary Emotions and Tertiary Emotions. From the explanation below you can see what the primary emotions are...

• Primary emotion - LOVE
• Secondary emotion - Longing, Lust, Affection
• Tertiary Emotions - Adoration, affection, love, fondness, liking, attraction, caring, tenderness, compassion, sentimentality, Arousal, desire, lust, passion, infatuation, Longing
  

• Primary emotion - JOY
• Secondary emotion - Relief, Enthrallment, Optimism, Pride, Contentment, Zest, Cheerfulness
• Tertiary Emotions - Amusement, bliss, cheerfulness, gaiety, glee, jolliness, joviality, joy, delight, enjoyment, gladness, happiness, jubilation, elation, satisfaction, ecstasy, euphoria , Enthusiasm, zeal, zest, excitement, thrill, exhilaration, Contentment, pleasure, Pride, triumph
  Eagerness, hope, optimism, Enthrallment, rapture, Relief

• Primary emotion - SURPRISE
• Secondary emotion - Surprise
• Tertiary Emotions- Amazement, surprise, astonishment

  

• Primary emotion - ANGER
• Secondary emotion - Irritation, Exasperation, Rage, Disgust Envy, Torment
• Tertiary Emotions - Aggravation, irritation, agitation, annoyance, grouchiness, grumpiness
  Exasperation, frustration , Anger, rage, outrage, fury, wrath, hostility, ferocity, bitterness, hate, loathing, scorn, spite, vengefulness, dislike, resentment, Disgust, revulsion, contempt
  Envy, jealousy, Torment

• Primary emotion - SADNESS
• Secondary emotion - Suffering, Sadness Disappointment, Shame, Neglect, Sympathy
• Tertiary Emotions - Agony, suffering, hurt, anguish, Depression, despair, hopelessness, gloom, glumness, sadness, unhappiness, grief, sorrow, woe, misery, melancholy, Dismay, disappointment, displeasure, Guilt, shame, regret, remorse, Alienation, isolation, neglect, loneliness, rejection, homesickness, defeat, dejection, insecurity, embarrassment, humiliation, insult, Pity, sympathy
  

• Primary emotion - FEAR
• Secondary emotion - Horror, Nervousness
• Tertiary Emotions - Alarm, shock, fear, fright, horror, terror, panic, hysteria, mortification
  Anxiety, nervousness, tenseness, uneasiness, apprehension, worry, distress, dread

(source from changingminds.org,wikipedia-images from jamesmerrell.co.uk)