Secondary emotions: what they are, types and characteristics

Emotions have been a fundamental aspect of our survival. It is through mood changes that animals adapt to the phenomena of their environment. For example, in the face of a threat it is normal to be afraid and flee or, when something serious has happened such as the death of a family member, it is normal to feel sad and make others see it.

However, in the human species, the most basic emotions, shared with other mammalian species, have become more sophisticated, allowing us to have a more extensive emotional spectrum.

From this greater sophistication arise the secondary emotions, emotions that we are going to talk about next, in addition to mentioning some models that have tried to discover exactly how many the human being possesses.

• Related article: "The 6 Types of Mood Disorders"

What are secondary emotions?

The human emotional spectrum is broad compared to that of other speciesespecially the rest of the mammals. In addition to presenting the most basic emotions, such as anger, disgust, sadness, joy and fear, beings Humans have developed emotions that, for them to appear, it is very necessary that there be a social context concrete. These emotions are secondary and, behind them, there is an important learning and socialization factor.

It must be said that the study of secondary emotions is complicated because, to begin with, the study of primary emotions has also been complicated.

Despite the fact that great figures such as Robert Plutchik and Paul Ekman have proposed models of primary emotions and, later, of secondary ones, the scientific community has not clarified what exactly these are.

Brief introduction to primary emotions

Before delving into the idea of ​​secondary emotions, it is necessary to make a brief review of what are the primary emotions raised by both Plutchik and Paul Ekman.

For Robert Plutchik, an American psychologist, primary emotions are those that we possess by nature, innately., already manifesting at an early age, when we are still babies. He postulated that these emotions, also called basic, were the following:

• Joy: state of well-being and satisfaction with oneself and with one's circumstances.
• Confidence: security that no harm will happen to us in the situation we are in.
• Fear: uncertainty, associated with expectations where we can suffer some damage.
• Surprise. reaction to an unforeseen action around us
• Sadness: mood decay, which tends to need social support.
• Aversion: avoidance or rejection of someone or something.
• Anger: response to an offense or act that we did not like.
• Anticipation: expectation that we create from the information and previous experience of previous circumstances.

On the other hand, Paul Ekman considers that there are fewer primary emotions, considering them as universal aspects, that is, manifesting itself in all people regardless of what culture they belong to. His studies took into account both Western and Eastern populations, including those with a low degree of globalization and low literacy.

According to Ekman, the primary emotions would be: anger, disgust, fear, happiness, sadness and surprise. The emotion of contempt indicated that it might be universal, although research could not confirm it.

• You may be interested: "Paul Ekman: biography and contributions of this student of emotions"

models of secondary emotions

Plutchik considers that the secondary emotions are nothing more than the combination of the primary or basic, giving emotions in which thought and a higher level of socialization are required behind. Namely, If the primary emotions are the instinctive response to the demands of the environment, the secondary ones are the response, sophisticated and with a clear social purpose, in an environment with social stimulation, both positive and negative. It is for this reason that these emotions have also received the name of social, because for them to occur it is necessary that links have been established with the social environment.

secondary emotions manifest themselves based on what has been learned throughout life, nurtured by experiences and empowered by expectations in different situations. As they are learned and require a certain cognitive capacity, these emotions begin to develop around the age of 2 or 3, when the infant already has strong bonds with her caregivers and has had the opportunity to acquire certain proficiencies linguistics.

What are the types of secondary emotions?

Bearing in mind that models of emotions do not agree on what are the primary emotions, they can be expected to disagree even more about what the primary emotions are. high schools. What can be confirmed is that most of the models, including Ekman's and Plutchik's, consider that among the “universal” secondary emotions would be the following five.

1. Shame

the shame is the fear that others will not consider us valid or accept us socially, or that we find ourselves in a status perceived as lower than we would like to be. This emotion causes us discomfort, causing us to try to avoid many situations, hide or try to adapt to the expectations of others at the expense of our own personality.

2. Fault

guilt stems from the feeling of having done something that we think we should not have done. It is an exhausting feeling and supposes a very great burden, making the person unable to even advance and even think that they deserve to be punished for it.

3. Pride

pride means being very satisfied with what oneself has done or how it is. In its proper measure, it is an adaptive and beneficial emotion, since it promotes the growth of self-esteem and security. However, in excess it can have negative repercussions on our social relationships.

4. Pleasure

Pleasure is a positive and pleasant sensation that is experienced when our needs are satisfied..

It is a very important aspect as a motivator for learning fundamental behaviors for our survival, such as eating, sleeping or reproduce ourselves, but it can also be extrapolated to other areas that do not have a biological basis, such as hobbies, more complex social relationships or the worked.

The problem with pleasure is that, if it is given excessively, it could cover fears and suppress decision-making. responsible decisions, leading to dangerous consequences such as drug use or other behaviors of risk.

5. Jealousy

jealousy is felt when we perceive a threat towards something that we consider our own, that can either harm it or can take it away from us. In due measure, it can help us get what we want, however, in most cases jealousy arises from a lack of self-esteem and mistrust.

Ekman's model

During the 1990s, Ekman expanded his model, incorporating new emotions.. The classification of these emotions is somewhat controversial already within the model because, although he maintains that they are still basic emotions, many of them could be considered as secondary emotions, which is why Ekman himself would end up doing his own distinction between what he originally regarded as universal (anger, disgust, fear, joy, sadness, and surprise) and secondary ones. following:

• Fault
• Embarrassment
• Contempt
• Complacency
• Enthusiasm
• Pride
• Pleasure
• Satisfaction
• Shame

What is certain is that Ekman sees in secondary emotions more complex moods than primary emotions, being the result of our growth and interaction with others. They are not as easily identifiable as the basic ones and, on many occasions, these are expressed simply through gestures. such as a smile, arching of the eyebrows or simply a small grimace, as can be the case of happiness, anger or disappointment.

the wheel of emotions

Although he predates Ekman, Robert Plutchik, he has a much more complex model.. This model, known as the wheel of emotions, represents the basic emotions and how they are combined, generating the secondary ones in the form of a graph.

For him, and more or less along the same lines as Ekman, the secondary emotions would be more sophisticated versions of the primary ones, highly dependent on the social context and arising from the combination of basic emotions.

The secondary emotions proposed by Plutchik and the basic emotions from which he starts are the following.

• Aggression (Anger and Anticipation)
• Alarm (Fear and Surprise)
• Love (Joy and Confidence)
• Anxiety (Fear and Anticipation)
• Cynicism (Aversion and Anticipation)
• Guilt (Joy and Fear)
• Curiosity (Trust and Surprise)
• Disappointment (Surprise and Sadness)
• Delight (Joy and Surprise)
• Despair (Fear and Sadness)
• Contempt (Aversion and Anger)
• Domination (Trust and Anger)
• Envy (Sadness and Anger)
• Fatalism (Trust and Anticipation)
• Disbelief (Surprise and Aversion)
• Outrage (Surprise and Anger)
• Morbidity (Joy and Aversion)
• Optimism (Joy and Anticipation)
• Pride (Joy and Anger)
• Pessimism (Sadness and Anticipation)
• Remorse (Sadness and Aversion)
• Sentimentality (Confidence and Sadness)
• Submission (Trust and Fear)
• Shame (Fear and Loathing)

Final reflection

As we have seen throughout the article, research on emotions is somewhat controversial. If from the beginning it has not been established with certainty what the universal emotions are, although it is more or less accepted that they are those proposed by Ekman, the secondary emotions that derive from them are a subject with a lower degree of certainty. What is known is that secondary emotions appear in contexts that are highly dependent on social stimuli, since they are socially acquired.

For example, fear is a primary emotion that appears in the presence of a threat that can harm us, on the other hand, embarrassment can arise because we have spilled a coffee on ourselves, we have soiled our pants and it seems that we have urinated. In this second case, our life does not depend on it, but our social integrity does: we care what others think.

Much remains to be investigated and, although Paul Ekman's model is accepted as the most scientific and most up-to-date, the subject of secondary emotions in particular and emotions in general will never cease to sow questions in the community scientific.

Bibliographic references:

• Eckman, P. (2008). Emotional Awareness: Overcoming the Obstacles to Psychological Balance and Compassion
• Plutchik, Robert (1980), Emotion: Theory, research, and experience: Vol. 1. Theories of emotion, 1, New York: Academic.
• Plutchik, Robert (2002), Emotions and Life: Perspectives from Psychology, Biology, and Evolution, Washington, DC: American Psychological Association
• Plutchik, Robert; R. Conte., Hope (1997), Circumplex Models of Personality and Emotions, Washington, DC: American Psychological Association