Discrete Emotions Theory

Discrete Emotions Theory

Discrete emotion theory assumes that there is some small number of core emotions that range from seven to ten, and the thousands of emotion related words are all synonyms of these core emotions (Beck 2004). Depending on the theory the core emotions are different the most well known are happiness, surprise, sadness, anger, disgust, contempt, and fear (Izard & Malatesta 1987). This theory states that these specific core emotions are biologically determined emotional responses whose expression and recognition is fundamentally the same for all individuals regardless of ethnic or cultural differences. Some scholars believe that these emotions have evolved in us as a way for people, regardless of communication differences, to predict what other people are thinking and feeling (Beck 2004). It was a way for our ancestors to to tell the difference between friend or foe, and has evolved to serve the same function today.

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Evidence for Discrete Emotion theory

A study conducted in New Guinea, where people have never seen Caucasians nor been exposed to photographs or television, to see if they could identify specific facial expressions. Researchers showed the people of New Guinea pictures of people portraying seven different emotions that are known as core emotions, happiness, anger, sadness, disgust, surprise, fear, and contempt (Ekman & Friesen 1971). Researchers found that the people of New Guinea could in fact point out the different emotions and distinguish between them. From this experiment researchers concluded that these specific emotions are innate. They also looked at pictures of people ranging in age from infants to elders and saw that the core emotions look the same, further supporting the discrete emotion hypothesis. Also, deaf and blind children show typical facial expressions for these same core emotions.

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