DISCRETE EMOTIONS OR DIMENSIONS - THE ROLE OF VALENCE FOCUS AND AROUSAL FOCUS

The present study provides evidence that valence focus and arousal foc us are important processes in determining whether a dimensional or a d iscrete emotion model best captures how people label their affective s tates. Individuals high in valence focus and low in arousal focus fit a dimensional model better in that they reported more co-occurrences a mong like-valenced affective states, whereas those lower in valence fo cus and higher in arousal focus fit a discrete model better in that th ey reported fewer co-occurrences between like-valenced affective state s. Taken together, these findings suggest that one static, nomothetic theory may not accurately describe the subjective affective experience of all individuals.