Plutchik proposed a psychoevolutionary classification approach for general emotional responses.[2][3] He considered there to be eight primary emotions—anger, fear, sadness, disgust, surprise, anticipation, trust, and joy. Plutchik argues for the primacy of these emotions by showing each to be the trigger of behaviour with high survival value, such as the way fear inspires the fight-or-flight response.
Plutchik's psychoevolutionary theory of basic emotions has ten postulates.
The concept of emotion is applicable to all evolutionary levels and applies to all animals including humans.
Emotions have an evolutionary history and have evolved various forms of expression in different species.
Emotions served an adaptive role in helping organisms deal with key survival issues posed by the environment.
Despite different forms of expression of emotions in different species, there are certain common elements, or prototype patterns, that can be identified.
There is a small number of basic, primary, or prototype emotions.
All other emotions are mixed or derivative states; that is, they occur as combinations, mixtures, or compounds of the primary emotions.
Primary emotions are hypothetical constructs or idealized states whose properties and characteristics can only be inferred from various kinds of evidence.
Primary emotions can be conceptualized in terms of pairs of polar opposites.
All emotions vary in their degree of similarity to one another.
Each emotion can exist in varying degrees of intensity or levels of arousal.[4][5]
Plutchik's wheel of emotions
Plutchik also created a wheel of emotions to illustrate different emotions. Plutchik first proposed his cone-shaped model (3D) or the wheel model (2D) in 1980 to describe how emotions were related.
He suggested 8 primary bipolar emotions: joy versus sadness; anger versus fear; trust versus disgust; and surprise versus anticipation. Additionally, his circumplex model makes connections between the idea of an emotion circle and a color wheel. Like colors, primary emotions can be expressed at different intensities and can mix with one another to form different emotions.
The theory was extended[by whom?] to provide the basis for an explanation for psychological defence mechanisms; Plutchik proposed that eight defense mechanisms were manifestations of the eight core emotions.[citation needed]
^"Robert Plutchik". American scientist. Sigma Xi, The Scientific Research Society. Retrieved September 1, 2017.
^Plutchik, R. (1980). A general psychoevolutionary theory of emotion. In R. Plutchik & H. Kellerman (eds.), Emotion: Theory, research and experience, Theories of emotion (Vol. 1, pp. 3–33). New York: Academic Press.
^Plutchik, Robert (1982). "A psychoevolutionary theory of emotions". Social Science Information. 21 (4–5): 529–553. doi:10.1177/053901882021004003. S2CID 144109550.
^"Basic Emotions—Plutchik". Personality research. Retrieved September 1, 2017.
^ a bPlutchik, Robert; Kellerman, Henry (1980). Theories of emotion. New York: Academic Press. ISBN 0125587015. OCLC 6814085.
References
Plutchik, Robert (1980), Emotion: Theory, research, and experience: Vol. 1. Theories of emotion, vol. 1, New York: Academic
Plutchik, Robert (2002), Emotions and Life: Perspectives from Psychology, Biology, and Evolution, Washington, DC: American Psychological Association
Plutchik, Robert; R. Conte., Hope (1997), Circumplex Models of Personality and Emotions, Washington, DC: American Psychological Association
External links
The Nature of Emotions, a model that describes the relations among emotion concepts. Plutchik's Theory of Emotions
The Nature of Emotions (American Scientist Vol. 89, No. 4 (July–August 2001), pp. 344–350)