THE APPRAISAL PROFILES OF AMAZEMENT: EXPLORING THE APPRAISAL COMPONENTS OF THE EMOTION OF AMAZEMENT

Abstract

Research on amazement is surprisingly thin. This research proposes amazement to be an emotional state that is associated with a set of appraisal dimensions distinct from those of related emotions, in particular, amusement, awe, confusion and surprise. Specifically, amazement was hypothesized to be positively associated with, unexpectedness, pleasantness, personal relevance, thought-provokingness, grandness and negatively associated with understandability. In the first study, participants recalled and described an individual experience of amazement, amusement, awe, confusion and surprise, and rated their appraisals based on their experiences. The second study employed an event sampling methodology in which participants reported their emotions and appraisals on different occasions in real-time. The predicted appraisals of amazement were largely supported and were also found to be significantly different from those of amusement, awe, confusion and surprise. Characteristics and evolutionary functions of amazement were also discussed.