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Anger is experienced when an individual has been blocked from attaining his
goal, and he can identify the object or person preventing his goal-attainment. When the
obstacle cannot be identified, anger is not likely to occur.
Sadness and Grief
Sternberg (1998:543) describes sadness as a "relatively mild, shallow, and
usually brief emotion of sorrow" while grief is usually a long-lasting emotion of great
sorrow. Both emotions are caused by involuntary, but usually permanent loss or
separation. Among the reasons for sadness Sternberg (1998) mentions "making a
mistake, doing something to hurt others or being forced to do something against your
wilL" Although a negative emotion he says sadness can help us to change our lives and
encourage people to help us.
Another class of emotions has as its determinants a person's perception of his
behaviour as good or bad as determined by his standards for behaviour. Here Bulmer
(1975: 43) mentions guilt, shame, pride, success and failure. Success and failure are,
according to Bulmer (1975), determined by a person's perception of the quality of his
performance compared with his expectations. Pride and shame are deeper emotions
than success and failure. The individual may be perceived as reflecting her! his basic
qualities.
The emotion ofguilt is evoked by a person's perception ofher! his behaviour as
being wrong or immoral. It is not associated with inability to attain a goal successfully
but with wrongdoing. The emotion of love may take different forms but in it the person
is drawn to the other person and desires to be drawn to the other person i.e. there is a
feeling ofdevotion to the loved one.
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