Happiness is unique: A latent structure of emotion recognition traits revealed by statistical model comparison

Is an individual who is sensitive to the facial expressions of a given emotion also sensitive to those of other emotions? This study addressed this simple but fundamental question by examining the latent structure underlying the sensitivity scores for basic emotions expressed by faces (Suzuki, Hoshino, & Shigemasu, 2006a). Eight hundred and five participants took part in the study, and for each participant, the sensitivity scores for happiness, fear, anger, disgust, and sadness were calculated. Variants of a single-factor model were fit to the matrix of correlations among the five sensitivity scores. A solution for the best-fit model indicated an equal contribution from the single factor to the four negative emotions (path coefficient = 0.635) and a smaller contribution to happiness (0.183). Our results imply minimally overlapped mechanisms underlying the recognition of positive and negative emotions.