Unlocking the language: Key features of emotions

Various scientific works indicate different features of emotions as criterial attributes. The aim of this article is to identify the key features of emotions by drawing from various theoretical approaches and utilizing language to identify as many states as possible that meet these criteria. The snowball procedure was used in the research. The initial stage involved selecting key articles (with the highest number of citations in the Web of Science database). Consequently, 72 definitions of emotions were chosen. The definitions' content has been analyzed for criterial attributes of emotions. Eight criteria were proposed as a result of this analysis, representing the fundamental characteristics of emotions according to the collected definitions. Next, an attempt was made to examine the practical understanding and applicability of the identified criterial attributes of emotions. Seven judges examined a comprehensive list of states recognized as emotional and independently assessed which of them met all the selected criteria. In the final stage, their agreement was checked using correlation-based coefficients and a coefficient that takes into account the likelihood of random judge decisions. The article has shown that utilizing language makes it potentially possible to generate a list of emotions that meet the criteria derived from various theoretical approaches.