Robert Plutchik b. 1927
The professor, psychologist and author Robert Plutchik’s
research interests included the study of emotions, the study of suicide and
violence, and the study of the psychotherapy process. Plutchik’s prototype
model Wheel of Emotions (1980) takes into account various forms and definitions
of emotion and related theories, proposing an all-encompassing theory. His
eight basic coloured emotions were sorrow, dislike, anger, fear, anticipation,
pleasure, acceptance and surprise, and with his graph, new colours could be
created with emotions combined, to create new ones, e.g. fear and surprise =
alarm. His 2D wheel and conical 3D model of emotions have helped people
understand his psychoevolutionary theory of emotion and how emotions are
related. Plutchik’s eight primary emotions were coordinated in pairs of
opposites, such as anticipation with surprise. Plutchik proposed the view that
the study of emotion is a subject in its own right.
Read Emotions and Life (2002) American Psychological
Association.
