We investigated whether sadness elicited by two different situations—loss of someone (loss) and failure to achieve a goal (failure)—had different physiological responses. Seventy-four participants were randomly assigned to one of three conditions (loss, failure, and neutral). Physiological responses were recorded during an imagery task that was designed to evoke sadness. The results of characteristics in the subjective ratings indicated that loss-evoked sadness was only associated with expressive words relating to tears. For the results of physiological measures, skin conductance levels (SCLs) increased during the imagery task across all conditions and differed between conditions during the post-task. For the loss condition, restoration to baseline level took longer, while in the failure the SCL decreased sharply back to baseline. Furthermore, tear ratings correlated with blood pressures in the loss condition, while sadness intensity correlated with blood pressures in the failure condition. These results suggest that sadness includes at least two subtypes that produce different responses in subjective ratings and physiological measures.

This study examined physiological changes in response to the feelings of sadness induced by two different situations. A previous study (Shirai & Suzuki, 2016) indicated that sadness induced by the loss of someone is different from sadness induced by the failure to achieve a goal. In the present study, each participant was asked to imagine one of three situations: loss, failure to achieve a goal, or daily. Heart rate, systolic and diastolic blood pressure, skin conductance level, and high frequency component of heart rate variability were assessed during this imagery task. Concerning the physiological measures, DBP increased only in the loss situation during the task. These findings suggest that the sadness elicited by two different situations is the slight different in terms of physiological measures. However, a clear difference was not found in the physiological measures elicited in these sadness situations. Further explorations are needed to clarify sadness differences within these same emotional categories.

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People describe sadness as “heartache.” The link between sadness and physical pain such as heartache has been empirically proven; however, the mental foundations that support the connection between sadness and pain remain unclear. The present study hypothesized that the connection between sadness and specific physical pain is established by concepts referred to as “sadness-pain concept,” which are internalized based on features relating to interactions between the body and external situations. We examined the use of pain-related onomatopoeias as metaphorical words for expressing sadness, setting three primary goals for our study: (i) to identify sadness-pain words usable for both sadness and physical pains, (ii) to determine the specific sadness-pain words used for certain sadness situations, and (iii) to reveal the pain-related characteristics that are linked to such sadness situations. Sixty-nine participants were asked to rate 28 pain-onomatopoeic words in terms of the types of emotions, sadness situations, body parts, and characteristics of pain respectively. Consequently, seven words were identified as sadness-pain words. Furthermore, the specific sadness situations related to each sadness-pain word were determined. Situation-dependent sadness-pain words, for example, zukin zukin for loss, were found to be associated with specific body parts and pain properties. These findings indicate that the shared representation of sadness and physical pain as an emotional concept is based on interactions between the body and external situations.

According to one important set of theories, different domains of immorality are linked to different discrete emotions-panculturally. Violations against the community elicit contempt, whereas violations against an individual elicit anger. To test this theory, American, Indian and Japanese participants (N = 480) indicated contempt and anger reactions (with verbal rating and face selection) to both the types of immorality. To remedy method problems in previous research, community and autonomy violations were created for the same story-frame, by varying the target to be either the community or an individual. Community and autonomy violations did not differ significantly in the emotion elicited: overall, both types of violations elicited more anger than contempt (and more negative emotion of any kind than positive emotion). By verbal rating, Americans and Indians reported more anger than contempt for both types of violation, whereas Japanese reported more contempt than anger for both types. By face selection, the three cultural groups selected anger more than contempt for both types of violation. The results speak against defining distinct domains of morality by their association with distinct emotions.

Sadness, an emotional experience of daily life, is typically associated with negative experiences such as the loss of a loved one. However, sadness also has an adaptive function, as it can help us respond appropriately to environmental demands. While previous research has revealed positive functions of sadness, it is unclear whether laypeople recognize any positive aspects of sadness. In the present three-part study, we aimed to identify whether laypeople conceptualize any positive features of sadness. In Part 1, we asked Japanese participants ( n = 122) to describe the features of “sadness,” and their responses revealed 37 different sadness features, some of which were assumed to be positive aspects (e.g., meaning making). In Part 2, we asked a second group of Japanese participants ( n = 140) to rate the centrality of each previously named feature, and we then classified the features into either central or peripheral sadness features. At this point, participants reported positive aspects of sadness (e.g., co-occurrence of positive emotion). To confirm the differences between central and peripheral features, in Part 3 we examined automatic responses toward these features from a third group of Japanese participants ( n = 91) and demonstrated the relationship between the concept of sadness and its characteristic features. We presented these participants with a subset of the features of sadness and then asked them to complete a recall and recognition task. As expected, they recalled central features more often than peripheral features of sadness, and they generated false recognitions to central features. In conclusion, this three-part study indicated that there are positive features related to the function of sadness that laypeople can identify in their mental lexicon.