Identifying Positive Features of the Sadness Prototype

Abstract

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.

Are different countries equally green with envy? A comparison of the everyday concept of envy in the United States, Spain, and Germany

“…In order to divide the features of the everyday concepts of envy into central and peripheral features, we used the standard procedure by Fehr (Fehr, 1988; see also other prototype research such as Elshout, Nelissen & van Beest, 2015Lambert, Graham &Fincham, 2009 andShirai &Nagamine, 2020). Using this procedure, we found that 26 features of the English envy received ratings higher than 6.25 and thus were considered central to envy (see Table 2).…”

“…In the present research, we addressed how three different cultures think of envy as a concept and thus specifically analyzed the constituent features and internal structure of envy by systematically mapping the everyday concept of envy in three Western countries within two studies. Following previous prototype analysis of everyday emotion concepts such as sadness (Shirai & Nagamine, 2020) or hope (Luo, van Horen, Millet & Zeelenberg, 2022), we used a prototype approach to address the emotion concept of envy and its translation equivalents but supplemented it with network analyses in order to map the relation between the identified features.…”

“…Accordingly, the border between categories is fuzzy (i.e., there are no sharp boundaries that separate members from non-members). Previous research on gratitude (Lambert, Graham & Fincham, 2009), grima (Schweiger Gallo, Fern andez-Dols, Gollwitzer & Keil, 2017), humiliation (Elshout, Nelissen & van Beest, 2017), love (Fehr & Russell, 1991), modesty (Gregg, Hart, Sedikides & Kumashiro, 2008), sadness (Shirai & Nagamine, 2020), shame (Mendoza, Fernandez-Dols, Parrott & Carrera, 2010), vengeance (Elshout, Nelissen & van Beest, 2015), and even the concept of emotion itself (Fehr & Russell, 1984) has shown that a prototype approach allows for identifying the features of emotion concepts (i.e., unique or shared attributes), and thus to delineate their internal structures.…”