Cornering the mixed emotions of nostalgia

Mixed emotions have attracted increasing interest recently, but existing datasets rarely focus on mixed emotion recognition from multimodal signals, hindering the affective computing of mixed emotions. On this basis, we present a multimodal dataset with four kinds of signals recorded while watching mixed and non-mixed emotion videos. To ensure effective emotion induction, we first implemented a rule-based video filtering step to select the videos that could elicit stronger positive, negative, and mixed emotions. Then, an experiment with 80 participants was conducted, in which the data of EEG, GSR, PPG, and frontal face videos were recorded while they watched the selected video clips. We also recorded the subjective emotional rating on PANAS, VAD, and amusement-disgust dimensions. In total, the dataset consists of multimodal signal data and self-assessment data from 73 participants. We also present technical validations for emotion induction and mixed emotion classification from physiological signals and face videos. The average accuracy of the 3-class classification (i.e., positive, negative, and mixed) can reach 80.96% when using SVM and features from all modalities, which indicates the possibility of identifying mixed emotional states.

PurposeThis paper aims to examine, building upon affect balance theory, whether the two modes of luxury consumption, conspicuous consumption (CC) and style consumption (SC), trigger consumers’ mixed emotions of pleasure and guilt and whether the mixed emotions interactively as well as independently influence consumer loyalty to repurchase luxury.Design/methodology/approachUsing an online survey and seemingly unrelated regressions (SUR) analysis, the authors test the hypotheses and assess the parallel (double) mediation effects of pleasure and guilt on the relationships between luxury consumption and repurchase intention.FindingsThe authors confirm the relationships between CC and pleasure (+), between SC and pleasure (+), between CC and guilt (+) and between SC and guilt (−); the independent effects of pleasure (+) and guilt (−) on repurchase intention (RI); and the interaction effect of pleasure and guilt on RI (+). The authors further demonstrate that both pleasure and guilt mediate the relationship between CC and RI, whereas only pleasure mediates the relationship between SC and RI.Research limitations/implicationsFuture researchers may consider possible mixed emotions other than pleasure and guilt and further explore the dynamics between mixed consumer emotions and consumer loyalty in diverse consumption contexts.Practical implicationsThe authors suggest luxury marketers to reduce consumer guilt by promoting SC and by maximizing consumer pleasure, which will lead to greater repurchase intention.Originality/valuePrior research focused on either the positive or negative side of consumer emotion. The authors fill in the research void by examining whether mixed emotions coexist in luxury consumption and how they interplay and influence consumer loyalty.

n three longitudinal experiments, conducted both in the field and lab, we investigate the recollection of mixed emotions. Results demonstrate that mixed emotions are generally underreported at the time of recall, an effect which appears to grow over time and does not occur to the same degree with unipolar emotions. Importantly, the decline in memory of mixed emotions is: (a) not explained by differential importance levels across the distinct types of emotion experiences, and (b) distinct from the pattern found for the memory of negative emotions. These results imply that recall difficulty is diagnostic of the complexity of mixed emotions rather than of any association with negative affect. Finally, we show that one reason for these effects is the felt conflict which arises when experiencing mixed (vs. unipolar) emotions. Implications for consumer memory and behavior are discussed.

The emotions that people experience in day-to-day social situations are often mixed emotions. Although autobiographical recall is useful as an emotion induction procedure, it often involves recalling memories associated with a specific discrete emotion (e.g., sadness). However, real-life emotions occur freely and spontaneously, without such constraints. To understand real-life emotions, the present study examined characteristics of emotions that were elicited by recalling “stressful interpersonal events in daily life” without the targeted evocation of a specific discrete emotion. Assuming generation of mixed and complex emotions, emotional groups with relatively strong correlation of multiple emotions according to surprise, fear, anger, disgust, sadness, and happiness were expected. Seventy-two university students (35 males, mean age: 19.69 ± 1.91 years; 37 females, 20.03 ± 2.42) participated in the study. In the emotion induction procedure, participants freely recalled memories as per the instructions on a monitor, and then responded silently to a series of questions concerning any one recalled incident. Assessments of emotional states using emotion scales and another item indicated that validated emotional changes had occurred during the task. Inter-correlations between six emotions demonstrated an emotional group consisting of disgust and anger, which frequently occur as negative interpersonal feelings, and that of fear and sadness. This indicated generation of mixed and complex emotions as experienced in social life. Future studies concerning relationships between these emotions and other factors, including neurophysiological responses, may facilitate further understanding about relationships between mental and physiological processes occurring in daily life.

ABSTRACTNonverbal facial expressions and verbal language are critical for communicating emotions during social interactions. While observers often agree on the primary emotion expressed, the recognition and interpretation of mixed (co‐occurring) emotions remain underexplored, particularly across cultural contexts. Recent research indicates that culture profoundly influences the production and perception of mixed emotions. While Eastern cultures tend to express and perceive richer blends of emotions, Western cultures typically prioritize the communication of a dominant emotion. These differences may stem from cultural dimensions such as interdependent versus independent self‐construals, holistic versus analytical cognitive styles, dialectical versus nondialectical thinking, and the historical homogeneity versus heterogeneity of societies. However, empirical evidence linking these cultural dimensions to patterns of mixed emotional communication remains limited due to methodological challenges and disparities in the level of analysis. We recommend that future researchers pursue large‐scale collaborative projects with diverse participant samples and leverage big data and computational methods to better understand mechanisms underlying cultural variations in mixed emotional communication.

ABSTRACTThe term mixed emotions refers to the presence of two opposite-valence emotions toward a single target. Identifying when children begin to report experiencing and understanding mixed emotions is critical in identifying how skills such as adaptive functioning, coping strategies, environmental understanding, and socioemotional competence emerge. Prior research has shown that children as young as 5 years old can understand and experience mixed emotion, but perhaps appropriately sensitive methodologies can reveal these abilities in younger children. The present study evaluated 57 children between 3 and 5 years old for mixed emotion experience and understanding using an animated video clip in which a character experiences a mixed emotional episode. Ordinal logistic regression was utilized to examine the relation of gender, attention, and understanding of content to experience and understanding of mixed emotion. While only 12% of children reported experiencing mixed emotion while watching the clip, 49% of children—some as young as 3 years old—were able to recognize the mixed emotional experience of the character. Thus, mixed emotion understanding emerges earlier than previously identified and the expression of understanding may develop independently of the ability to report mixed emotion experience. These findings are discussed in relation to cognitive and developmental considerations.

Although a relatively common concept in nonacademic spheres, mixed emotions are poorly understood in research. The literature suggests that, despite methodological difficulties, positive and negative states can be experienced together and have health-related implications. Yet, there is a need for additional work including investigations of in-the-moment manifestations and individual factors that lead to more or fewer mixed emotions. In this light, the present study seeks to clarify discord in the literature regarding age differences in mixed emotions using in-the-moment elicitation to evaluate the manifestation and dissipation of mixed emotions via assessments of intensity and emotion networks. We used a reactivity paradigm with a recovery period where participants watched a 4-minute clip from the film Life Is Beautiful (1997). Importantly, all participants experienced more mixed emotions after elicitation, which dissipated after a period of natural affect recovery, but older adults had a higher magnitude of changes in emotions overall. Moreover, emotion networks changed in a consistent manner for all age groups with more significant positive connections between positive and negative items after elicitation. Thus, mixed emotions can be effectively elicited across the life span, perhaps related to age. While additional work is needed to refine elicitation and mixed emotion network modeling, this evidence pushes mixed emotion research forward by extending theory and techniques for examining this underexplored phenomenon. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved).

Understanding mixed emotions: paradigms and measures

PurposeMixed emotions (i.e. consumer ambivalence) play a central role in approach‐avoidance conflicts in retailing. In order to assess how consumer ambivalence impacts shopping behaviour, this paper seeks to conceptualize and investigate the multi‐dimensional antecedents of approach‐avoidance conflicts, experienced by shoppers in changing retail environments, and the importance of approach‐avoidance conflicts for consumers' decision to stay and complete their purchase in that particular shopping channel.Design/methodology/approachUsing a cross‐country study, which compared online and offline consumers, the paper tested the influence of the situation, product, and reference group on shoppers' intentions; and identified how consumers' mixed emotions influenced approach‐avoidance conflicts in different retail settings.FindingsWhereas some distinctions could be drawn between online and offline contexts when examining the impact of market‐related, product‐related and social factors on consumers' decision to shop (H1, H2, H3 and H4), no clear distinction could be drawn between online and offline channels in terms of mediating effects of mixed emotions (H5,H6andH7). Mixed emotions (ambivalence) did mediate the impact of certain product‐related, market‐related and personal factors on consumers' intention to purchase.Practical implicationsRetailers need to reduce the impact of consumers' emotional responses to the retail setting where mixed emotions are likely to lead to consumers leaving the stores. For online shops, those retailers are successful who are able to induce behavioural reactions that make consumers return and explore the web site and not use it for search only.Originality/valueResponding to calls for further research on mixed emotions and their consequences, the paper captures the complex impact of consumers' mixed emotions on approach‐avoidance conflicts, and thereby extends earlier work on consumer ambivalence.

Using a large-scale public-sample ecological momentary assessment study (N = 710) collected across 7 days in 2020 and providing 29,820 observations, the present work examines associations between moment-to-moment and day-to-day experiences of mixed emotions with well-being among American adults and whether these relationships would be moderated by stressful situations or adverse life events. Multilevel lagged analyses adjusting for positive emotions, negative emotions, neuroticism, and demographic variability found that mixed emotions were not associated with next-moment physical well-being or next-day social well-being, but were associated with poorer next-day physical health. Reverse pathways in which physical well-being and social well-being on each day predicted reduced mixed emotions on subsequent days were also supported, though the comparable pathway at the moment level was not significant. Moderation analyses further found that whereas adverse life events reported in the previous month did not moderate the associations of mixed emotions with well-being, there were significant interaction terms between moment-level mixed emotions with stressful events reported at the moment predicting next-moment well-being, as well as between day-level mixed emotions with stressful events reported that day predicting next-day physical health. Simple slope analyses found that mixed emotions were associated with poorer next-moment physical well-being and next-day physical health only when stressful events were not reported. We discuss the implications of these findings for conceptualizations of mixed emotions and the potential role of stress as a contextual factor that may alter how mixed emotions are linked to downstream outcomes. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2025 APA, all rights reserved).

Research on mixed emotions is yet to consider emotion-specificity, the idea that same-valenced emotions have distinctive characteristics and functions. We review two decades of research on mixed emotions, focusing on evidence for the occurrence of mixed emotions and the effects of mixed emotions on downstream outcomes. We then propose a novel theoretical framework of mixed-emotion-specificity with three foundational tenets: (a) Mixed emotions are distinguishable from single-valenced emotions and other mixed emotions based on their emotion-appraisal relationships; (b) Mixed emotions can further be characterized by four patterns that describe relationships between simultaneous appraisals or appraisals that are unique to mixed emotions; and (c) Carryover effects occur only on outcomes that are associated with the appraisal characteristics of mixed emotion. We outline how mixed-emotion-specific effects can be predicted based on the appraisal tendency framework. Temporal dynamics, the application of mixed-emotion-specificity to individual difference research, methodological issues, and future directions are also discussed.

Individual differences in mixed emotions moderate the negative consequences of goal conflict on life purpose

Sometimes people experience pleasant and unpleasant emotions at the same time in a single emotional event. Previous cross-cultural studies indicated that such mixed emotions are more prevalent in China and related to the attitudes toward happiness and individual’s regulatory motivation. However, China is a multi-ethnic country and not much is known about subcultural differences in mixed emotions. The aim of this study was to examine the role that implicit attitudes toward happiness and regulatory motivation played in regard of the subcultural differences in mixed emotions between Han (N = 61) and Mongolian Chinese (N = 46). Results indicated that, compared with Mongolian Chinese, Han Chinese showed stronger associations between implicit contra-hedonic attitudes toward happiness and mixed emotions during pleasant emotional events. Also, Han Chinese who reported contra-hedonic motivation during pleasant emotional events had higher levels of mixed emotions than those who had hedonic motivation. No significant differences were found in terms of mixed emotions between Mongolian Chinese who had contra-hedonic and hedonic motivation. These results suggest that the psychological mechanisms underlying differences in mixed emotions also require a more comprehensive understanding from a subcultural perspective.

In Social Signal Processing (SSP) and affective computing area, the publicly available facial expression dataset for emotion recognition task is still limited for basic emotion categories. Whereas in everyday life, various types of emotions are being used by humans more than basic emotion, such as mixed emotion. To enrich the diversity of the existing dataset, we developed the Indonesian Mixed Emotion Dataset (IMED). The objective of creating this dataset is to provide the annotated data for mixed emotion recognition as a ground-truth for benchmarking. Mixed emotion is constructed by combining basic emotion categories to resulting new ones. This dataset can be used to facilitate mixed emotion recognition experiments. Our dataset displays 19 categories of emotions performed by 15 subjects, all are Indonesians with various ethnicities: Javanese, Sundanese, Malay, Bataknese, Minang, and Manadonian. Subjects are 60% female and 40% male with age ranging from 17 to 32 demonstrated basic and mixed emotion classes in videos. We then used a computational model to show that mixed emotion categories were discriminable to be recognized by machine classifiers. We believe that IMED dataset is useful for researchers on the same field to test their novel method by using our dataset.

Research on mixed emotions is flourishing but fractured. Several psychological subfields are working in parallel and separately from other disciplines also studying mixed emotions, which has led to a disorganized literature. In this article, we provide an overview of the literature on mixed emotions and discuss factors contributing to the lack of integration within and between fields. We present an organizing framework for the literature of mixed emotions on the basis of two distinct goals: solving the bipolar–bivariate debate and understanding the subjective experience of mixed emotions. We also present a personalized perspective that can be used when studying the subjective experience of mixed emotions. We emphasize the importance of assessing both state and trait emotions (e.g., momentary emotions, general levels of affect) alongside state and trait context (e.g., physical location, culture). We discuss three methodological approaches that we believe will be valuable in building a new mixed-emotions literature—inductive research methods, idiographic models of emotional experiences, and empirical assessment of emotion-eliciting contexts. We include recommendations throughout on applying these methods to research on mixed emotions, and we conclude with avenues for future interdisciplinary research. We hope that this perspective will foster research that results in the organized accumulation of knowledge about mixed emotions.