Smith and Ellsworth's Appraisal Model of Emotion

Abstract

The present study is intended to replicate, extend, and test Smith and Ellsworth's appraisal model of emotion. Twenty-six subjects were asked to recall eight different situations that varied in the closeness of another coacting person, the relative performance of self and other, and the relevance of the performance to the self For each of these situations, subjects filled out scales tapping each of Smith and Ellsworth's situational appraisal dimensions, the 15 emotions previously used by Smith and Ellsworth, and 3 new emotions: jealousy, envy, and pride in other's accomplishments. The Smith and Ellsworth dimensions replicated quite well. For the most part, they were reliable and orthogonal; the dimensions showed a patterning across emotions and the emotions showed a patterning across dimensions that was similar to what Smith and Ellsworth reported. In extending the model to the new emotions, the dimensions accounted for a moderate level of variance in jealousy and envy but not in pride-in-other. The Smith and Ellsworth model assumes that emotions are mediated by the appraisal of situations. One strong implication of this mediational assumption is that the situational manipulations should control little of the variance in emotions after the effects of the appraisal dimensions are controlled. This implication was met for some but not all of the emotions studied.