DISCRIMINATING EMOTIONS FROM APPRAISAL-RELEVANT SITUATIONAL INFORMATION - BASE-LINE DATA FOR STRUCTURAL MODELS OF COGNITIVE APPRAISALS

Cognitive emotion theorists assume that the quality of emotions is det ermined by the appraisal of the eliciting states of affairs. According ly, a central criterion for the evaluation of structural models of cog nitive appraisal is their capacity to discriminate between emotions on the basis of the proposed appraisal dimensions. It is suggested that a good model should approximate subjects' ''natural'' ability to disti nguish emotions on the basis of appraisal-relevant situational informa tion. Corresponding data for 23 common emotions, which can serve as a baseline for the evaluation of cognitive appraisal theories, are repor ted, and various factors that may have deflated the discrimination rat es obtained so far in empirical studies are discussed.