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Abstract
There is no consensus in the literature on a definition of emotion. The term is taken
for granted in itself and, most often, emotion is defined with reference to a list:
anger, disgust, fear, joy, sadness, and surprise. This article expands on a thesis
that motivational states can be compared to each other by means of a common currency
(Philos. Trans. Roy. Soc. Lond. 270 (1975) 265-293). I have previously argued that
this common currency is pleasure. Such a conclusion is based not on introspective
intuition, as with early pre-scientific psychology (), but on experimental methods.
As a follow-up to a definition of consciousness (Neurosci. Biobehav. Rev. 20 (1996)
33-40) as a four-dimensional experience (quality, intensity, hedonicity, and duration),
I propose here that emotion is any mental experience with high intensity and high
hedonic content (pleasure/displeasure).