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An argument for basic emotions (1992)
| Venue: | Cognition and Emotion |
| Citations: | 950 - 6 self |
BibTeX
@ARTICLE{Ekman92anargument,
author = {Paul Ekman},
title = {An argument for basic emotions},
journal = {Cognition and Emotion},
year = {1992},
pages = {169--200}
}
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Abstract
Ortony and Turner's (1990) arguments against those who adopt the view that there are basic emotions are challenged. The evidence on universals in expression and in physiology strongly sug~ests that ~he~e is a biological basis to the emotions that have been studied. Ortony and Turner's reviews of thls hterature are faulted, and their alternative theoretical explanations do not fit the evidence. The utility of the basic emotions approach is also shown in terms of the research it has generated. In their argument against basic emotions. Ortony and Turner (990) distinguished two ways in which that phrase has been used: (a) to describe elements that combine to form larger more complex emotions and (b) to denote emotions that are pre-sumed to have a biological basis. I will not comment on the first use, because neither I nor most other current researchers who posit basic emotions use the concept in this way. My focus in-stead will be on the arguments and evidence that suggest that emotions are a product of our evolution, with some biological
