Author: Ellsworth, P.C.; Smith, C.A.
Description: Pleasant experience appears to be less emotionally differentiated than unpleasant experience. For instance, theories of emotion typically posit the existence of six or seven unpleasant emotions but often posit only one or two pleasant emotions. The present study is an attempt to systematically examine the differentiation of pleasant emotional experience. Subjects were asked to recall pleasant experiences that were associated with particular situational appraisals—appraisals of effort, agency, and certainty were systematically manipulated—and to describe their appraisals and emotions during these experiences. The results indicated that positive emotions, and their associated appraisals, are somewhat less differentiated than negative emotions, but nonetheless provided evidence of considerable differentiation among six pleasantly toned emotions (interest, hope/confidence, challenge, tranquillity, playfulness, and love). Each of these latter emotions was experienced differentially across the appraisal conditions, and was characterised by a distinct pattern of appraisal.
Subject headings: Pleasant experience; Unpleasant experience
Publication year: 1988
Journal or book title: Cognition & Emotion
Volume: 2
Issue: 4
Pages: 301-331
Find the full text :Â https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/02699938808412702
Find more like this one (cited by): https://scholar.google.com/scholar?cites=5062238235474769630&as_sdt=1000005&sciodt=0,16&hl=en
Type: Journal Article
Serial number: 2112