Circumplex model of emotion
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Emotion researchers are far from telling whether there “Are basic emotions or not?” due to the amount of evidence being inclusive (Kalat & Shiota, 2007). To some point we are right and to another we are not correct about emotions due to the complexity of different human cultures making it hard to believe that “expressions are evidently part of human nature and not something arbitrary or culture specific” (Kalat & Shiota, 2007). The subject area is very broad and complex, therefore we need to be very careful on how we interpret it and how we look into the circumplex model of emotions and attempt to understand mixtures of emotions as they begin to be mixed. The three-dimensional circumplex model describes the relations among emotion concepts and the circle represents degrees of similarity among the emotions (Turner & Stets, 2005).
If I were to explain what the model of emotions looks like, I would simply say that the circumplex model can be basically seen as a round color wheel labeled with eight emotions. It begins with acceptance at the bottom of the circle and working our way around in the clockwise direction (Turner & Stets, 2005). The eight sectors are designed to indicate that there are eight primary emotion dimensions defined by the theory arranged as four pairs of opposites. In the exploded model, the emotions in the blank spaces are the primary dyads—emotions that are mixtures of two of the primary emotions (Turner & Stets, 2005). The emotions that are close to each other in the circle are said to be very similar and are likely to be confused with each other or even said to be experienced at the same time (Kalat & Shiota, 2007). On the other hand, the emotions on opposite sides are said to be on the contrary and are likely to be perceived as opposites or at least very different (Kalat & Shiota, 2007). Using this model, we can describe combinations of emotions to help describe new emotions.
According to our text, the purpose behind the circumplex model of emotions is to distinguish between mood and emotions (Kalat & Shiota, 2007). As defined by the James Russell’s circumplex model of emotion, emotional experiences depend on two major dimensions, the degree of arousal and the degree of pleasure (Kalat & Shiota, 2007). Emotions all derive from previous primary ones (Turner & Stets, 2005).
A famous theorist, Robert Plutchik maintained one of the most influential efforts to conceptualize emotions through the creation and re-establishment of another circumplex model of emotions (Turner & Stets, 2005). Plutchik is interested in the evolution of emotion in humans (Turner & Stets, 2005). Therefore, Plutchik “identified eight primary emotions and indicates that these emotions function as reactions to the environment” (Turner & Stets, 2005). These emotions are acceptance, surprise, fear, sorrow, disgust, expectance, anger, and joy. “The function of fear, for example, is the associated act of running away to protect the organism. Anger is the desire to attack to destroy a barrier to the fulfillment of needs” is said to intensify an emotion (Turner & Stets, 2005). The idea behind this circle is that it is supposed to help us use the emotions we are already aware of to create new ones that best describe the true emotion that one is going through. For example, the equation I found appealing was that of “anger” plus “acceptance” equals “dominance” (Turner & Stets, 2005).
Robert Plutchik reasons that in the same way that some colors are primary and others are a mix of primary colors, some emotions are primary and other emotions are derived from them (when looking at the circumplex model of emotions) and are therefore secondary (Turner & Stets, 2005). He visualizes primary emotions as operating much like a color wheel or circle with “mixtures” of these primary emotions that generate new and varied types of emotions in humans (Turner & Stets, 2005). This creates the picture for the wheel of emotions, known as the circumplex model of emotions.
Habits and social psychological aspects are important in decision making and behavior (Aarts, Verplanken, & van Knippenberg, 1997, 1998; Peterson, Miranda, Smith, & Haskell, 2003; Read, Loewenstein, & Rabin., 2006), so therefore it also includes characteristics covering these. For example, what others would think and what the decision maker did before in a similar situation. For example, how we view a person will determine the amount of emotion expressed in that person, take as an example, love, we have for that person. “[we] define or identify emotions not by the quality or character of the physiological sensation that may be associated with them, but rather by their intentional aspect, the associated judgment” (Campbell & Sue, 1997). In the circumplex model of emotions, love is situated between serenity and acceptance, and may also be an outcome of joy and trust. It depends on what the situation is that one is facing that will determine which emotion is being experienced. We need to look into different feelings whenever an emotion is created. There are primary emotions that are said to be universal and from those emotions new ones are created, which are also known as secondary emotions (Turner & Stets, 2005).
This model explores the potential for understanding… through a circumplex model derived from the fields of social and personality psychology (Sweeney & Brandon, 2006). The model is based on relationships between interpersonal personality traits or emotions and can assist in understanding the personality concept (Sweeney & Brandon, 2006). This model of emotions has the potential to help us understand our emotions because it creates a layout for our better interpretation of emotions (Clark 1992). This model promises to organize much of what we know about emotion, but is nevertheless open to misinterpretation (Clark 1992). The circumplex model of emotions is applied to the emotion domain and by advocating the circumplex model; a claim is made that the majority of emotional experience can be captured by two affect dimensions [positive affect and negative affect]. Despite the promises a circumplex model holds at aiding our understanding of emotion, a number of problems need to be understood (Clark 1992). One set of problems relates to specific interpretational issues concerning the emotion circumplex: are there basic dimensions in the circumplex and how the dimensions should be named (Clark 1992). The circumplex model does not fail to describe and explain the relationships between emotions and what the shortcoming of the extant data means (Clark 1992). We will consider the interpretations but after that we shall look at broader meanings that the circumplex model might hold (Clark 1992).
Example – Research
A concrete example of the circumplex model of emotions, is “Memories of real-life decisions”, a study conducted that examined the emotional experience of clients and therapists in psychotherapy sessions. This study was done in a manner where there was room, for dyads used to help describe these emotions from different points of views. Three dyads participated in eight, eleven, and fourteen sessions where it was shared that the participant’s emotions were studied for the middle three to five sessions. It was said that for the first two dyads there was a one minute segment where they were using peaks in the clients’ and therapists’ heart rate as an indicator of possible emotional moments within the study. This helped with situating an example where people can see where certain emotions arise with different situations. The participants had to view a couple of videotapes of different segments and had to report their true emotional experiences as they went through those experiences using the Segmantic Affect Manikin (Bradley & Lang, 1994). It came down to case –level analysis that supported the validity of this method for measuring and selecting their emotional experiences. The participants helped report the analysis from their part by measuring their sessions and their work suggested that the rating procedures and apparatus for measuring the client and therapist heart rate did not interfere with psychotherapy. Proving that the participants could hold onto an emotional content pertaining to the segments without even taking into account that the clients and therapists heart rate were being used to select the segments aiding to suggest that the heart rate did identify uniquely emotional events.
Multidimensional scaling helped with supporting the criteria validity that the emotional measurements were consistent with the “circumplex model of emotions” (Russell and Mehrabian, 1977). It was said that the exploratory visual analysis also helped support the hypothesis that clients and therapists share emotional experiences within therapy sessions. There were cross-correlations of emotion ratings from this study that did not support the hypothesis of a time-lagged relationship between the client and the therapist true emotional experiences.
Example-Real-Life
This paper focuses on the relationship between emotion and behavior, so for the last part of the paper I decided to self-generate an example that will attempt to illustrate my topic. I will aim to talk about emotions related to relationships. More specific emotions that self generate at the beginning of a relationship are trust, joy, acceptance, love, interest, cheerfulness, and delight. As time goes by into the relationship, we start figuring out that there are other emotions that we never thought were there. Take as an example many people have different views about happiness when in a relationship. The ability to express true honest feelings becomes hard once one reaches a certain point in the relationship. Love gets questioned and often we over think love. To some being loved might be the combination of joy and trust as defined by the circumplex model of emotions, but not necessarily true to all. Different people have different vibes of which applies to them.
Different experiences pose different situations for everyone; therefore one can say that emotions directly cause the behavior correlated in the relationship. For example happiness, can be defined as a secondary emotion rather than a primary one because it shares mixtures of primary emotions. Being a secondary emotion entitles it to being a great feeling for humans because it can relate to sentimental emotions such as crying of happiness, screaming, cheering, and excitement. Excitement may come out of happiness. One may jump out of excitement or one might be excited to be with his/her significant other and be happy.
The idea of time being involved makes us deal with what Plutchik calls the evolution of emotions in humans. As stated in the text written by sociologist Jonathan H. Turner, the eight emotions that Plutchik touches on are those of, acceptance, surprise, fear, sorrow, disgust, expectancy, anger, and joy. Plutchik’s theory is the finest to me because it explains emotions in terms of formulas that can be universally applied to all human beings. Emotions can be hard to deal with if we do not prepare ourselves on how to handle them ahead of time at any level. Although there are many emotions such as happiness itself, once we know what makes up for it, we can control it by examining one of the crucial elements that makes up for the emotion allowing us to better control it.
As time takes a relationship further, the manner in which we interpret some emotions may lead to misunderstandings placing the relationship at a dead end. The ability to sustain a relationship involves time and effort and when we fall out of place, we go looking for solutions and answers. There has got to be an effort done by humans in order to visually see any changes in the actions connected with relationships and use the circumplex model of emotions to better view where our emotions formulate from and know how to interpret meanings.
References
Campbell, Sue. (1997). INTERPRETING THE PERSONAL: FORMING AN EMOTION. Ithica, New York: Cornell University Press.
Clark, Margaret S. (Ed). (1992). Emotion. Review of personality and social psychology, No. 13. (pp. 25-59). Thousand Oaks, CA, US: Sage Publications, Inc. ix, 326 pp.
James W. Kalat., & Michelle N. Shiota. (2007). Emotion: Classification of Emotions. Canada: Thomson Wadsworth, a part of Thomson Corporation.
Jillian C Sweeney., & Carol Brandon. (2006). Brand personality: Exploring the potential to move from factor analytical to circumplex models. Psychology & Marketing, 23(8), 4. Retrieved January 30, 2010, from ABI/INFORM Trade & Industry. (Document ID: 1135554091).
Jonathan H. Turner., & Jan E. Stets. (2005). The Sociology of Emotions; Conceptualizing Emotions Sociologically. New York, NY: Cambridge University Press.
Larsen, R., & Diener, E. (1992). Promises and problems with the circumplex model of emotion. Emotion (pp. 25-59). Thousand Oaks, CA US: Sage Publications, Inc. Retrieved from PsycINFO database.
Svenson, O., Salo, I., & van de Loo, K. (2007). Memories of real-life decisions. Memory, 15(2), 205-220. doi:10.1080/09658210701204787.
Thompson, R. (2003, March). Measuring client-therapist psychophysiology and emotion in psychotherapy. Dissertation Abstracts International, 63, Retrieved from PsycINFO database.
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