ABSTRACT
So-called appraisal theories of emotions explain the elicitation of emotional reactions as a consequence of subjective evaluations based on personal needs, goals, desires, abilities, and beliefs. According to this approach, each emotion is caused by a characteristic pattern of appraisals and different emotions are associated with different appraisals. Summarizing and integrating this line of research, Ellsworth and Scherer (2003) conclude that most theorists agree upon five dimensions of emotion antecedent appraisal criteria: goal-conduciveness, intrinsic pleasantness, belief, novelty, and agency. In this poster, I will present a computational model of the appraisal process called DEBECO (for Desire-Belief-Coherence). The model is able to account for the elicitation of discrete emotions using these five criteria.
