Primary Emotions

I was thinking about disappointment the other day and how it is pretty much a combination of sadness and anger. It got me thinking that perhaps that just like there are primary colours, there are primary emotions of which all other emotions are a complex combination. Like colours you can add emotions at a different point in the (mixing) process and end up with slightly different 'shades'. Extremes of emotions occur when an extra amount of a particular emotion is added to the mix.

So for example:

Disappointment = Sadness + Anger
Joy = Happiness + Happiness
Fear = Anger + Uncertainty
Hate = Want+ Uncertainty+ Anger + Sadness
Passion = Love + Want
Eagerness = Love + Happiness + Want

I've come up with 7 primary emotions:

• Happiness
• Sadness
• Love
• Anger
• Uncertainty
• Want
• Guilt

Maybe there are more than 7? Someone like Socrates or Pavlov probably came up with this theory years ago and its been debated and discredited by first year Psychology students ever since...but hey... I should have Googled this before posting.....