Anger, Disgust, and Contempt and Their Relationship to Hostility and Aggression

Abstract

Anger, disgust, and contempt are distinct fundamental emotions. They can be differentiated at the expressive level, as evidenced by Table 1–1. As shown in the table, many different cultures show relatively high agreement in differentiating the facial expressions of these three emotions. There are also differences at the experiential level: One may feel irritable in anger, strong distaste in disgust, and cool and distant in contempt. In day-to-day experiences, however, anger, disgust, and contempt often seem to go together. Situations that elicit one of these emotions often elicit one or both of the others. In the first section of this chapter, anger, disgust, and contempt will be considered separately as discrete fundamental emotions. In later sections these emotions will be considered in relation to hostility and aggression.

An earlier version of some parts of this chapter appeared in Pliner, Krames, and Alloway (Eds.), Nonverbal Communication of Aggression. New York: Plenum, 1975.