<p>Do there exist systems of formalizing emotion and their patterns? In other words, something that, for example, decomposed all emotions into combinations of a few fundamental ones or theories that predict how some follow from the other or specific metrics that can be used to classify emotion, etc. I was really fascinated by the movie “inside out”, mostly because, to me, it seemed a nice way to decompose human emotion but I assume there exist more nuanced takes on this in the literature. Are there specific terms or theories I should be looking at? Ideally, I would like a book on the subject to explore a little more ...</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2020-01-22T17:01:43.510Z
Welcome to Psychology & Neuroscience! The question is perfectly well-phrased. :) Therefore, feel free to edit out the preamble to your question. Many people have wondered the same, which is why there is [an entire Wikipedia page dedicated to 'emotion classification'](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emotion_classification). However, perhaps somebody on this site can provide a more high-level overview, or summary, of different formalizations and redirect you to relevant resources.
Steven Jeuris
CC BY-SA 4.0
2020-01-22T21:02:42.287Z
This may be a duplicate of [Standard Academic set of emotions, and cognitive functions](https://psychology.stackexchange.com/q/17265/7001).  Also see [What is the most comprehensive system of describing human emotions or states of mind?](https://psychology.stackexchange.com/q/8510/7001) and [Number of core feelings?](https://psychology.stackexchange.com/q/24549/7001).
Arnon Weinberg
CC BY-SA 4.0
2020-01-22T21:42:22.253Z
I feel [What is the most comprehensive system of describing human emotions or states of mind?](https://psychology.stackexchange.com/q/8510/21) is a likely candidate as a duplicate. Please let me know if you agree, or edit your question to clarify more specifically what you are after.
Steven Jeuris
CC BY-SA 4.0
2020-01-24T20:25:56.460Z
@StevenJeuris It does answer the question but I was hoping to be recommended a larger set of source material to look at like a book. Would you know anything like that?
Aakash Lakshmanan
CC BY-SA 4.0
2020-01-25T11:13:54.767Z
Now that you know what to look for, don't you think you can find suitable books yourself? Ultimately, deciding which one to read is fairly opinion-based and not a good format for this site. Unless, you have a very specific requirement which can help people understand why you would like one book over another.
Steven Jeuris
<emotion>
Formalizing emotion
Aakash Lakshmanan
# Formalizing emotion

(Asked by: username_0 on 2020-01-22)

Do there exist systems of formalizing emotion and their patterns? In other words, something that, for example, decomposed all emotions into combinations of a few fundamental ones or theories that predict how some follow from the other or specific metrics that can be used to classify emotion, etc. I was really fascinated by the movie “inside out”, mostly because, to me, it seemed a nice way to decompose human emotion but I assume there exist more nuanced takes on this in the literature. Are there specific terms or theories I should be looking at? Ideally, I would like a book on the subject to explore a little more ...

**Tags:** emotion

> **Comments:**
> **username_1**: Welcome to Psychology & Neuroscience! The question is perfectly well-phrased. :) Therefore, feel free to edit out the preamble to your question. Many people have wondered the same, which is why there is [an entire Wikipedia page dedicated to 'emotion classification'](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emotion_classification). However, perhaps somebody on this site can provide a more high-level overview, or summary, of different formalizations and redirect you to relevant resources.  
> **username_2**: This may be a duplicate of [Standard Academic set of emotions, and cognitive functions](https://psychology.stackexchange.com/q/17265/7001).  Also see [What is the most comprehensive system of describing human emotions or states of mind?](https://psychology.stackexchange.com/q/8510/7001) and [Number of core feelings?](https://psychology.stackexchange.com/q/24549/7001).  
> **username_1**: I feel [What is the most comprehensive system of describing human emotions or states of mind?](https://psychology.stackexchange.com/q/8510/21) is a likely candidate as a duplicate. Please let me know if you agree, or edit your question to clarify more specifically what you are after.  
> **username_0**: @StevenJeuris It does answer the question but I was hoping to be recommended a larger set of source material to look at like a book. Would you know anything like that?  
> **username_1**: Now that you know what to look for, don't you think you can find suitable books yourself? Ultimately, deciding which one to read is fairly opinion-based and not a good format for this site. Unless, you have a very specific requirement which can help people understand why you would like one book over another.  

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