Appraisal determinants of discrete emotions.

Abstract A theory specifying how appraisals of a situation determine one's emotional responses (Roseman, 1979) was subjected to an experimental test. According to the theory, particular combinations of 5 appraisals determine which of 13 qualitatively different emotions will be experienced in any given situation. The appraisals are: motivational state (rewarding/punishing), situational state (presendabsent), probability (certaiduncertain), legitimacy (positivehegative outcome deserved), and causal agency (circumstanced other person/self). The emotions whose occurrence they determine are joy, relief, hope, liking (“warmth-friendliness”), pride, distress, sorrow, fear, frustration, disliking (“coolness-unfriendliness”), anger, regret, and guilt. In the experiment, 120 college students read brief stories in which these appraisals were manipulated, and rated the intensities of various emotions felt by story protagonists. Results showed that each appraisal had a significant effect upon emotions, and that the pa...

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