Motivation and emotion/Lectures/Individual emotions
Lecture 09: Individual emotions
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Resource type: this resource contains a lecture or lecture notes. |
This is the ninth lecture for the Motivation and emotion unit of study.
The 2022 lecture is complete. The 2023 lecture is in development. |

OverviewEdit
This lecture discusses 20 specific emotions. The emotions are organised into three categories:
- basic (7)
- self-conscious (5)
- cognitively complex (8)
Take-home message:
- By learning about specific emotions, our emotional repertoire becomes more sophisticated and complex. This makes us more likely to have adaptive emotional responses in different situations.
Emotion categoriesEdit
Motivations generated by specific emotionsEdit
- Emotions are purposeful.
- Typical motivational urges generated by specific emotions are shown in Table 1.
- These motivational can also be understood as:
- "action tendencies" or
- "functions served through adaptive response".
Table 1
Motivational Urge Generated by Specific Emotions (based on Reeve (2018, p. 340))
Emotion | Motivational urge |
Fear | Flee; protect oneself. |
Anger | Overcome obstacles; right an illegitimate wrong. |
Disgust | Reject; get rid of; get away from. |
Contempt | Maintain dominance and social hierarchy. |
Sadness | Repair a loss or failure. |
Joy | Continue goal striving; play; engage in social interaction. |
Interest | Explore; seek; acquire new information; learn. |
Shame | Restore the self; protect the self. |
Guilt | Make amends. |
Embarrassment | Appease others; communicate blunder was unintended. |
Pride (Authentic) | Acquire further skill; persist at challenging tasks. |
Triumph | Display dominance and power over the defeated. |
Envy (Benign) | Move up; improve one’s position. |
Gratitude | Act prosocially; grow the relationship. |
Disappointment | Give up; helplessness |
Regret | Undo a poor decision or behaviour. |
Hope | Keep engaged in pursuit of a desired goal. |
Schadenfreude | Reinforce feelings of superiority. |
Empathy | Act prosocially; help the other. |
Compassion | Reduce suffering. |
Note. Links go to motivation and emotion book chapters
ReadingsEdit
- Chapter 14: Individual emotions (Reeve, 2018)
SlidesEdit
- Lecture slides
- Individual emotions (Google Slides)
- Handouts
See alsoEdit
- Lectures
- Aspects of emotion (Previous lecture)
- Unconscious motivation (Next lecture)
- Tutorial
- 20 emotions (Tutorial)
RecordingEdit
- Lecture 09 recording(2022)]
ReferencesEdit
O'Connell, B. H., O'Shea, D., & Gallagher, S. (2017). Feeling thanks and saying thanks: A randomized controlled trial examining if and how socially oriented gratitude journals work. Journal of Clinical Psychology, 73(10), 1280–1300. https://doi.org/10.1002/jclp.22469
External linksEdit
- Brené Brown on empathy (YouTube; 2:53 mins)
- Compersion or mudita: Unlearning jealousy the buddhist way (Polyamory Today)
- Dirt, disgust, and disease: Is hygiene in our genes (pdf)
- Empathy vs. sympathy (Psychology Today)
- What is the difference between envy and jealousy? (Psychology Today)