Exaltation

Exaltation arises from appraisals of blame, honor, and benefit, driving organisms to dominate and engage. When blame is the strongest, the focus is on overcoming someone or something that caused harm. When honor dominates, it’s about the rush of social validation. When benefit leads, it celebrates the personal advantage gained, reinforcing feelings of accomplishment. Evolutionarily, exaltation promotes leadership by reinforcing the positive outcomes of success in competitive scenarios. It is distinct from frustration, which focuses on challenges and barriers to achieving success, rather than celebrating its rewards.

Exhilaration

Exhilaration stems from appraisals of honor, benefit, and interest, encouraging organisms to engage and explore actively. When honor leads, exhilaration celebrates proven abilities or worth. If benefit takes precedence, the emotion thrives on the joy of favorable outcomes. When interest is strongest, it reflects the excitement of new revelations, insight, or its prospects. Exhilaration promotes self-enhancement through risk-taking by encouraging exploration, differing from exaltation, which experience relates to social validation and personal achievement over pleasurable and novel situations themselves.

Intrigue

Intrigue emerges from appraisals of benefit, interest, and allure, motivating organisms to explore and approach opportunities. When benefit is strongest, intrigue is due to the anticipation of gaining something valuable. If interest is strongest, it captures focus on novel phenomena and engagement with the unfamiliar. When allure leads, it evokes attention toward aesthetics or pleasing qualities of the stimulus. Intrigue supports learning by fostering exploration and generating new knowledge, contrasting with exhilaration, which emphasizes active engagement through proven abilities or thrilling risks.

Attraction

Attraction stems from appraisals of interest, allure, and favor, driving organisms to approach and accept others. When interest is strongest, attraction emerges as a compelling force to learn more about a thing. When allure dominates, it reflects being captivated by physical or mental qualities of the object. When favor takes precedence, attraction centers on relatability, kinship, mutual connection, and potential cooperation. Evolutionarily, attraction supports survival and reproductive behaviors, contrasting with intrigue, which is more focused on curiosity-driven exploration than bonds that provide a gain for the organism.

Affection

Affection arises from appraisals of allure, favor, and esteem, prompting organisms to accept and defer within relationships. When allure is strongest, affection focuses on the charm and beauty of the other. If favor leads, it highlights mutual goodwill and reciprocal relationship. When esteem takes precedence, it reflects the respect and value given to the subject. This emotion strengthens cooperative bonds essential for group survival, differing from attraction, which is more initial and momentary bonding rather than long-term relational bonds.

Appeasement

Appeasement evolves from appraisals of favor, esteem, and defeat, motivating organisms to defer and submit to maintain harmony. When favor dominates, appeasement is a calculated offering of goodwill. If esteem is strongest, it involves yielding to someone respected. When defeat takes precedence, appeasement is a reluctant acceptance of a stronger opponent’s dominance. Appeasement plays a vital role in resolving conflicts and maintaining group stability, differing from affection, which is about nurturing mutual and cooperative bonds rather than seeking reconciliation or yielding to maintain harmony.

Dejection

Dejection arises from appraisals of esteem, defeat, and harm, motivating organisms to submit and resign from futile efforts and conserve energy in the future. When esteem dominates, dejection reflects a loss of social standing or self-worth, prompting withdrawal from interactions to conserve dignity or repair confidence. If defeat takes precedence, dejection arises from the recognition of failure, encouraging the organism to yield and reassess its strategies in the face of overwhelming opposition. When harm is strongest, dejection emphasizes the impact of damage—physical or emotional—resulting in a retreat to focus on recovery and self-preservation (often as anticipation of loss in social standing). Evolutionarily, dejection allows organisms to disengage from futile pursuits, conserve energy, and recalibrate after failure, preventing further loss or injury. Unlike appeasement, which is socially oriented and seeks reconciliation, dejection is more inwardly focused, centering on self-restoration and acceptance of limitations.

Distress

Distress arises from appraisals of defeat, harm, and danger, driving organisms to resign and retreat. When defeat dominates, distress manifests as a response to losing critical resources or opportunities, signaling the need to accept limitations and find a way to calm down. If loss leads, distress reflects the emotional turmoil of realizing something important has been lost or may soon be taken, creating urgency that drives the organism to seek ways to cope, get the what was lost back, or find comfort from others, and prevent repeating the same mistake of not guarding what is important. When danger takes precedence, distress emphasizes the looming catastrophic potential, motivating a strategic retreat. Evolutionarily, distress helps organisms conserve energy and avoid prolonged engagement with insurmountable challenges, increasing their chances of survival in hostile environments. Compared to fright, distress emphasizes sustained adversity rather than immediate and acute threats. Distress, in contrast to dejection, focuses on external adversity and responses to ongoing challenges rather than inwardly resigning to perceived failure.

Fright

Fright stems from appraisals of harm, danger, and threat, pushing organisms to retreat and avoid. When loss takes precedence, fright emphasizes the immediate risk of losing something vital—whether safety, resources, or relationships—driving defensive withdrawal to protect what remains. If danger takes the lead, fright becomes a reaction to the potential for catastrophic outcomes, prompting immediate withdrawal to safety. When threat is strongest, fright arises as a reaction to imminent hostility, sharpening focus on escape routes or protective measures. Evolutionarily, fright serves as a rapid-response mechanism to acute dangers, ensuring organisms act quickly to evade life-threatening situations. Unlike distress, fright is a momentary, high-intensity reaction, rather than a sustained response to adversity.

Repulsion

Repulsion emerges from appraisals of danger, threat, and offense, motivating organisms to avoid and resist. When danger dominates, repulsion prompts an instinctual withdrawal from harmful stimuli, protecting the organism from physical or existential risks. If threat is strongest, repulsion emphasizes maintaining boundaries against hostile forces, balancing evasion with a readiness to counteract. When offense leads, repulsion reflects a rejection of violations—whether moral, social, or physical—pushing the organism to resist transgressions actively. Evolutionarily, repulsion helps organisms avoid harmful elements in their environment, whether immediate threats like predators or longer-term dangers like toxic food or unfavorable social dynamics. Unlike fright, which drives acute withdrawal from immediate danger, repulsion involves a rejection of ongoing or potential negatives.

Annoyance

Annoyance arises from appraisals of threat, offense, and blame, driving organisms to resist and aggress. When threat dominates, annoyance manifests as a reaction to persistent disruptions or obstacles, fueling a defensive stance against interference. If offense is strongest, annoyance reflects a sense of boundary violation, motivating the organism to counteract or reject the source of irritation. When blame takes precedence, annoyance targets perceived responsibility for negative outcomes, pushing the organism to confront or correct the offender. Evolutionarily, annoyance is an adaptive mechanism that helps organisms maintain control over their environment and assert boundaries, ensuring that distractions, minor threats, or violations do not escalate into larger problems. Unlike repulsion, which seeks to set distance from the disruption, annoyance is more active and often seeks to engage directly with the source of disruption.

Frustration

Frustration** arises from appraisals of offense, blame, and honor, driving organisms to aggress and dominate. When offense dominates, frustration reflects the perception that goals are being blocked or disrupted unfairly by external forces, prompting a determined effort to refute them. If blame takes precedence, frustration targets specific entities or situations deemed responsible for setbacks, spurring confrontational or corrective action. When honor is strongest, frustration stems from a sense of inadequacy or failure to achieve recognition, driving the organism to assert control and restore their sense of worth. Evolutionarily, frustration helps organisms persist through challenges, pushing them to adapt or escalate efforts when faced with difficulty, increasing their chances of achieving their objectives. Unlike annoyance, which focuses on minor disruptions and has a faster decrease in arousal when the disruption stops, frustration arises from deeper or more significant impediments to progress.