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Robert Plutchik

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Robert Plutchik
Born(1927-10-21)October 21, 1927
DiedApril 29, 2006(2006-04-29) (aged 78)
NationalityAmerican
Occupationpsychologist
SpouseAnita Plutchik
ChildrenLori Plutchik, Lisa Silva, Roy Plutchik

Robert Plutchik (21 October 1927 – 29 April 2006) was an American psychologist who was professor emeritus at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine and adjunct professor at the University of South Florida. He received his Ph.D. from Columbia University. He authored or coauthored more than 260 articles, 45 chapters and eight books and edited seven books. His research interests included the study of emotions, the study of suicide and violence, and the study of the psychotherapy process.[1]

Early life and education

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Plutchik was born in Brooklyn, New York on October 21, 1927, the son of Leon Plutchik (a tailor) and Libby (Solow) Plutchik. He earned a scholarship to City College of New York, graduating in 1949, and later completed his master’s (1950) and doctoral (1952) degrees at Columbia University.[2][3]

Career

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During his career, Plutchik taught at several institutions, including Hofstra University (1951-1967), Columbia University (1967-1968), and Bronx State Hospital (1968-1971), eventually becoming a professor at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine in 1971 and later an adjunct professor at the University of South Florida. He was a fellow of the American Psychological Association and an active member of professional societies.[2][3]

Plutchik published extensively, with an early book, The Emotions: Facts, Theories, and a New Model (1962), contributing significantly to the field when emotion research was still a niche interest. His later work, Emotions and Life: Perspectives From Psychology, Biology, and Evolution (2003), explored various aspects of emotions, from their expression and development to their neurological and social roles.[3]

Among his major theoretical contributions, Plutchik proposed that emotions are evolutionary adaptations, serving essential survival functions and existing across species. He also introduced the idea that emotions form the basis of personality traits and psychiatric diagnoses. His model illustrated how primary emotions interact, influencing behavior and mental health.[3]

Beyond academia, Plutchik was an artist, sculptor, and poet. His artistic works were compiled in World of Emotions: Poems, Etchings, and Sculptures by Robert Plutchik, published in 2006.[3]

Theory of emotion

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Plutchik proposed a psychoevolutionary classification approach for general emotional responses.[4][5] He identified eight primary emotions—anger, fear, sadness, disgust, surprise, anticipation, trust, and joy. Plutchik argues for the primacy of these emotions by showing each to be the trigger of behaviour with high survival value, such as the way fear inspires the fight-or-flight response.

Plutchik's psychoevolutionary theory of basic emotions has ten postulates.

  1. The concept of emotion is applicable to all evolutionary levels and applies to all animals including humans.
  2. Emotions have an evolutionary history and have evolved various forms of expression in different species.
  3. Emotions served an adaptive role in helping organisms deal with key survival issues posed by the environment.
  4. Despite different forms of expression of emotions in different species, there are certain common elements, or prototype patterns, that can be identified.
  5. There is a small number of basic, primary, or prototype emotions.
  6. All other emotions are mixed or derivative states; that is, they occur as combinations, mixtures, or compounds of the primary emotions.
  7. Primary emotions are hypothetical constructs or idealized states whose properties and characteristics can only be inferred from various kinds of evidence.
  8. Primary emotions can be conceptualized in terms of pairs of polar opposites.
  9. All emotions vary in their degree of similarity to one another.
  10. Each emotion can exist in varying degrees of intensity or levels of arousal.[6][7]

Plutchik's wheel of emotions

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Plutchik's wheel of emotions

Plutchik also created a wheel of emotions to illustrate different emotions. Plutchik first proposed his cone-shaped model (3D) or the wheel model (2D) in 1980 to describe how emotions were related.

He suggested eight primary bipolar emotions: joy versus sadness; anger versus fear; trust versus disgust; and surprise versus anticipation. Additionally, his circumplex model makes connections between the idea of an emotion circle and a color wheel. Like colors, primary emotions can be expressed at different intensities and can mix with one another to form different emotions.

The theory was extended[by whom?] to provide the basis for an explanation for psychological defence mechanisms; Plutchik proposed that eight defense mechanisms were manifestations of the eight core emotions.[citation needed]

The Complex, Probabilistic Sequence of Events Involved in the Development of an Emotion[7]
Stimulus event Inferred cognition Feeling Behavior Effect
Threat "Danger" Fear, terror Running, or flying away Protection
Obstacle "Enemy" Anger, rage Biting, hitting Destruction
Potential mate "Possess" Joy, ecstasy Courting, mating Reproduction
Loss of valued person "Isolation" Sadness, grief Crying for help Reintegration
Group member "Friend" Acceptance, trust Grooming, sharing Affiliation
Gruesome object "Poison" Disgust, Loathing Vomiting, pushing away Rejection
New territory "What's out there?" Anticipation Examining, mapping Exploration
Sudden novel object "What is it?" Surprise Stopping, alerting Orientation

Influence

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Plutchik's work on emotions, particularly his Wheel of Emotions, has had a signifcant impact on psychology and related disciplines. His model of emotions has been widely used in psychological research, therapy, marketing, artificial intelligence, and media studies.[3][8]

Psychology and Psychiatry

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Plutchik’s evolutionary approach to emotions helped shape modern theories of emotional processing and mental health. He argued that emotions serve adaptive functions essential for survival, influencing areas such as clinical psychology and psychiatry. His research has been used to understand emotional disorders, including anxiety, depression, and bipolar disorder, by mapping them onto his framework of primary and blended emotions.[3]

His model has also influenced emotion-focused therapy (EFT), which emphasizes identifying, processing, and regulating emotions. EFT practitioners use Plutchik’s framework to help clients navigate complex emotional experiences.[9][10]

Applications Beyond Psychology

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Plutchik’s work has extended beyond psychology into various fields:

  • Artificial Intelligence and Human-Computer Interaction: His emotion model has been used in AI development to improve sentiment analysis, chatbots, and affective computing, where machines recognize and respond to human emotions.[11]
  • Marketing and Consumer Behavior: Researchers have applied his emotional framework to analyze brand attachment, advertising strategies, and decision-making processes in consumers.[12][13]
  • Media and Literary Studies: Scholars have used his model to examine character development and emotional storytelling in film and literature.[14][15][16]

Plutchik’s Wheel of Emotions remains one of the most recognized visual representations of human emotions, and his evolutionary perspective continues to influence research in psychology and neuroscience as well as popular culture.[17][18]

Publications

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  • Small Group Discussion in Orientation and Teaching (Putnam, 1959).
  • The Emotions: Facts, Theories, and a New Model (Random House, 1962).
  • Theories of Emotion (Academic Press, 1980).
  • Emotion: A Psychoevolutionary Synthesis (Harper and Row, 1980).
  • Foundations of Experimental Research (Harper and Row, 1983).
  • Emotions in Early Development (Elsevier Science and Technology, 1983).
  • Biological Foundations of Emotion (Elsevier Science and Technology, 1985).
  • Emotion, Psychopathology, and Psychotherapy (Academic Press, 1989).
  • The Measurement of Emotions (Elsevier Science and Technology, 1989).
  • The Emotions (University Press of American, 1991).
  • The Psychology and Biology of Emotion (Harper Collins, 1994).
  • Emotions in the Practice of Psychotherapy: Clinical Implications of Affect Theories (American Psychological Association, 2000).
  • Emotions and Life: Perspectives from Psychology, Biology, and Evolution (American Psychological Association, 2003).

Personal life and death

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Plutchik married Anita Freyberg in 1962,[19] and had three children. He died on April 29, 2006, in Sarasota, Florida, at age 78.[2][3][20]

Notes

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  1. ^ "Robert Plutchik". American scientist. Sigma Xi, The Scientific Research Society. Retrieved September 1, 2017.
  2. ^ a b c "Robert Plutchik". Gale Literature: Contemporary Authors. Gale. 2001.
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h Buck, Ross; Oatley, Keith (February 2007). "Robert Plutchik (1927-2006)". American Psychologist. 62 (2): 142.
  4. ^ Plutchik, R. (1980). A general psychoevolutionary theory of emotion. In R. Plutchik & H. Kellerman (eds.), Emotion: Theory, research and experience, Theories of emotion (Vol. 1, pp. 3–33). New York: Academic Press.
  5. ^ Plutchik, Robert (1982). "A psychoevolutionary theory of emotions". Social Science Information. 21 (4–5): 529–553. doi:10.1177/053901882021004003. S2CID 144109550.
  6. ^ "Basic Emotions—Plutchik". Personality research. Retrieved September 1, 2017.
  7. ^ a b Plutchik, Robert; Kellerman, Henry (1980). Theories of emotion. New York: Academic Press. ISBN 0125587015. OCLC 6814085.
  8. ^ Fleming, Wesley H. (2023). "The Moral Injury Experience Wheel: An Instrument for Identifying Moral Emotions and Conceptualizing the Mechanisms of Moral Injury". Journal of Religion & Health. 62 (1): 194–227. doi:10.1007/s10943-022-01676-5. based on the widely recognized usefulness of Plutchik's Wheel of Emotions
  9. ^ Imbir, K.K. (2017). "Psychoevolutionary Theory of Emotion (Plutchik)". In Zeigler-Hill, V.; Shackelford, T. (eds.). Encyclopedia of Personality and Individual Differences. Springer. Retrieved March 24, 2025.
  10. ^ Watson, Jeanne C. (June 2017). "Emotion-Focused Psychotherapy for GAD: Individual Case Comparison of a Good and Poor Outcome Case". Person-Centered & Experiential Psychotherapies. 16 (2): 118–139. doi:10.1080/14779757.2017.1330707.
  11. ^ Kumar, Pravin; Vardhan, Manu (2022). "PWEBSA: Twitter Sentiment Analysis by Combining Plutchik Wheel of Emotion and Word Embedding". International Journal of Information Technology. 14 (1): 69–77. doi:10.1007/s41870-021-00767-y.
  12. ^ Havlena, William J.; Holbrook, Morris B. (December 1986). "The Varieties of Consumption Experience: Comparing Two Typologies of Emotion in Consumer Behavior". Journal of Consumer Research. 13 (3): 394–404. doi:10.1086/209078.
  13. ^ Wang, Xi; Tang, Liang (January 2019). "More than Words: Do Emotional Content and Linguistic Style Matching Matter on Restaurant Review Helpfulness?". International Journal of Hospitality Management. 77: 438–447. doi:10.1016/j.ijhm.2018.08.007.
  14. ^ Ryzik, Melena (August 11, 2024). "How Pixar Helped Change Therapy". New York Times. Retrieved March 24, 2025.
  15. ^ Cohen-Kalaf, Miki; Lanier, Joel (2022). "Movie Emotion Map: An Interactive Tool for Exploring Movies According to Their Emotional Signature". Multimedia Tools and Applications. 81 (11): 14663–14684. Retrieved March 24, 2025.
  16. ^ Vojković, Jelena (2020). "Film Costume as a Visual Narrative Element: Defining the Abstract Emotions of the Film Viewer via Plutchik's Wheel of Emotions". Textile & Leather Review. 3 (2): 92–100. Retrieved March 24, 2025.
  17. ^ Craik, Laura (November 17, 2023). "Does This Colour Wheel of Emotions Reveal What Kate's Feeling?". Daily Mail. p. 18. Retrieved March 24, 2025.
  18. ^ Connell, Claudia (February 9, 2022). "Want to Boost Your Emotional IQ? Just Spin the Wheel!". Daily Mail. p. 24. Retrieved March 24, 2025.
  19. ^ "Plutchik Freyberg". The New York Times. July 2, 1962. p. 25. Retrieved March 24, 2025.
  20. ^ "Robert Plutchik". May 2, 2006. Retrieved March 24, 2025.

References

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  • Plutchik, Robert (1980), Emotion: Theory, research, and experience: Vol. 1. Theories of emotion, vol. 1, New York: Academic
  • Plutchik, Robert (2002), Emotions and Life: Perspectives from Psychology, Biology, and Evolution, Washington, DC: American Psychological Association
  • Plutchik, Robert; R. Conte., Hope (1997), Circumplex Models of Personality and Emotions, Washington, DC: American Psychological Association
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