What are mixed emotions and what conditions foster them? Life-span experiences, culture and social awareness

'Mixed emotions' is often used synonymously with the notion of complex emotional experiences. Emotional complexity can also mean differentiation of emotions, both within and across situations. We review empirical evidence concerning the relationship between various forms of emotional complexity, integrating them in a general conceptual framework. Mixed emotions converge with other metrics of complexity when accounting for the same level of analysis (across time vs. state-specific) and less so when crossing these levels. Moreover, mixed emotions and other forms of complexity appear to vary as a function of various contextual factors, including age, culture, and situation. In particular, contexts promoting focus beyond one's immediate point of view appear to facilitate emotional complexity more than self-focused contexts.