The feeling component of emotion encompasses a vast spectrum of possible responses. Psychologists have attempted to offer general classifications of these responses, and as with the color spectrum, systematically distinguishing between them largely depends on the level of precision desired. One of the most influential classification approaches is Robert Plutchik's eight primary emotions - anger, fear, sadness, disgust, surprise, curiosity, acceptance and joy. Plutchik argues for the primacy of these emotions by showing each to be the trigger of behaviour with high survival value (i.e. fear: fight-or-flight response). Senses are the physiological methods of perception. ... For the 1991 hit single from Mariah Carey, see Emotions (Mariah Carey song). ... Psychology (ancient Greek: psyche = soul and logos = word) is the study of behaviour, mind and thought. ... Color is an important part of the visual arts. ... Anger can be conveyed in many different ways. ... Fear is an unpleasant feeling of perceived risk or danger, real or not. ... Suffering is any unwanted condition and the corresponding negative emotion. ... This is really gross. ... This article needs cleanup. ... A curious kitten. ... Acceptance is a cognitive activity or state that is the opposite of resistance. ... Happiness, pleasure or joy is the emotional state of being happy. ... The flight or fight response, also called the acute stress response, was first described by Walter Cannon in the 1920s as a theory that animals react to threats with a general discharge of the sympathetic nervous system. ...
RobertPlutchik, professor emeritus at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine, has been publishing research on the emotions since the 1950s and is an excellent candidate.
Plutchik divides the book into twelve sections, including a historical chapter, chapters on emotion and cognition, language and emotion, measuring emotions, and various theories of emotion.
Plutchik's text -- rightly, in my opinion -- supports a strong biological basis for human emotions, but it would be valuable to see how he addresses these issues.