Mixed Emotions in Emotion Communication: A Chimera in my Brain
Abstract
This chapter discusses how people perceive and respond to facial expressions that display mixed emotions. The review of the literature suggests that, overall, people seem to prefer “pure” emotion expressions over mixed ones and also perceive individuals who show mixed emotions less positively. This preference might stem from the cognitive difficulty of processing and categorizing complex emotional signals. Notably, emotion knowledge is typically organized around discrete emotion prototypes. This makes mixed emotions cognitively less accessible, requiring more effort for the construction of meaning. In sum, mixed emotion expressions are complex social signals that people tend to simplify, preferring clear, easily categorizable emotional displays.
Abstract
This chapter discusses how people perceive and respond to facial expressions that display mixed emotions. The review of the literature suggests that, overall, people seem to prefer “pure” emotion expressions over mixed ones and also perceive individuals who show mixed emotions less positively. This preference might stem from the cognitive difficulty of processing and categorizing complex emotional signals. Notably, emotion knowledge is typically organized around discrete emotion prototypes. This makes mixed emotions cognitively less accessible, requiring more effort for the construction of meaning. In sum, mixed emotion expressions are complex social signals that people tend to simplify, preferring clear, easily categorizable emotional displays.
Chapters in this book
- Frontmatter I
- Acknowledgements VII
- Contents IX
- List of Figures XI
- Introduction 1
- Ambivalent Affects in Experimental Psychology 29
- Mixed Emotions in Emotion Communication: A Chimera in my Brain 45
- Mixed Emotions and the Climate Crisis in Contemporary Anglophone Fiction 63
- Ubi sunt? On the Varieties and Mixed Pleasures of Poignancy 79
- Being of Two Minds in Eleventh-Century China: Affective Bimodality in Guo Xi and Su Shi 97
- Explaining (Away?) Conflicting Emotions: A View from Sanskrit Aesthetic Phenomenology 115
- Odi et Amo: On Some Ancient Readings of Mixed Affect in Catullus 135
- Bittersweet History: Cicero on Mixed Affect in Experiencing Literature 155
- Ambivalent Feelings towards the Lupercalia: Discussing Civilisation in Republican and Early Imperial Rome 171
- Bibliography 187
- List of Contributors 205
- Index 207
Chapters in this book
- Frontmatter I
- Acknowledgements VII
- Contents IX
- List of Figures XI
- Introduction 1
- Ambivalent Affects in Experimental Psychology 29
- Mixed Emotions in Emotion Communication: A Chimera in my Brain 45
- Mixed Emotions and the Climate Crisis in Contemporary Anglophone Fiction 63
- Ubi sunt? On the Varieties and Mixed Pleasures of Poignancy 79
- Being of Two Minds in Eleventh-Century China: Affective Bimodality in Guo Xi and Su Shi 97
- Explaining (Away?) Conflicting Emotions: A View from Sanskrit Aesthetic Phenomenology 115
- Odi et Amo: On Some Ancient Readings of Mixed Affect in Catullus 135
- Bittersweet History: Cicero on Mixed Affect in Experiencing Literature 155
- Ambivalent Feelings towards the Lupercalia: Discussing Civilisation in Republican and Early Imperial Rome 171
- Bibliography 187
- List of Contributors 205
- Index 207
