What is PAD emotional state model?
The PAD emotional state model, developed by Albert Mehrabian and James A. Russell, offers a framework to describe and quantify emotional states using three dimensions: Pleasure (P), Arousal (A), and Dominance (D).
Each dimension is a continuum that helps in mapping an extensive range of human emotions.
This model initially served to link physical environments to emotional impacts in environmental psychology and has since been adapted to various other fields.
Dimensional Structure
- Pleasure-Displeasure
- This scale assesses how pleasant or unpleasant one finds an experience.
- Positive emotions like joy score high on pleasure, while negative emotions such as anger score low.
- Arousal-Nonarousal
- This measures the energy level associated with emotions.
- High arousal is linked with emotions like rage or excitement, whereas low arousal relates to states like boredom or sadness.
- Dominance-Submissiveness
- This dimension reflects the extent to which an individual feels in control or submissive in an emotional state.
- Anger, for instance, is associated with a feeling of dominance, while fear corresponds to submissiveness.
Applications
The PAD model has been widely utilized across various domains, including:
- Marketing
- Understanding consumer emotions can help in crafting strategies that affect shopping behavior and decision-making processes.
- Virtual Realities
- In character design for animated agents and virtual worlds, the PAD model helps in creating realistic emotional expressions.
This model not only provides insights into human emotions but also contributes to their practical applications in enhancing human-computer interaction and emotional intelligence in machines.
Explanation with a Concrete Example!: From My Experience
Writing a Blog Post: An Emotional Journey through the PAD Model
As I sit down to write my latest blog post, I find myself navigating through a spectrum of emotions, which can be perfectly described using the PAD emotional state model.
The Beginning: Curiosity and Anticipation
Initially, there’s a surge of excitement—a high arousal state.
My mind races with ideas, eager to translate thoughts into words.
This phase is marked by a high level of arousal, reflecting the energy and enthusiasm about the potential impact of my post.
The Middle: Doubts and Adjustments
As the writing progresses, pleasure mixes with slight anxiety.
Am I expressing my ideas clearly?
Will my readers engage with the content?
Here, the pleasure is moderate, and arousal remains high, but there’s a dip in dominance as doubts creep in, making me feel less in control.
The Conclusion: Satisfaction and Control
Finally, as I conclude the post, there’s a strong sense of accomplishment.
The pleasure is high as I’m satisfied with the finished product.
The arousal decreases with the calming down of initial excitement.
Dominance rises as I regain control, confident in the quality of my work and ready to publish.
This emotional journey not only influences the writing process but also enhances the creative expression, making each blog post a unique reflection of my emotional state during its creation.
This article uses material from the Wikipedia article “PAD emotional state model” which is released under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share-Alike License 4.0. Additionally, the texts and images were generated using ChatGPT.