Studies // Cited work
What is meant by calling emotions basic
Ekman, P., & Cordaro, D. (2011). What is meant by calling emotions basic.
Level D Theory doi:10.1177/1754073911410740
What this study supports
Supports the claim that basic emotion theory describes emotions as families of related states sharing characteristics that are preprogrammed but shaped by experience. A restatement of the theory, not a test.
- Who was studied
- Not applicable: a theoretical article.
- Design
- Theory
- Level of evidence
- Cross-sectional, observational, qualitative work and narrative reviews.
Claims that rest on it
Each claim states what the site asserts, at what strength, and with what caveat.
TheoreticalLevel DConfidence HIGH
Basic emotion theory holds that a set of emotions evolved as distinct families with characteristic signals, physiology and antecedent events; recent versions describe more than 20 emotions expressed in multimodal, dynamic patterns and acknowledge contextual influence.
- Scope
- The position as stated by its proponents.
- Caveat
- The theory has changed over time, so criticisms of early versions do not always apply to current ones.
Last reviewed · Review due · basic-emotion-theory-position