We all know the basic emotions people can feel, like happiness, confusion, sadness, anger etc. But how good are we at interpreting these emotions when we do feel them? Do we sometimes label one emotion as something else?
A study conducted by Dutton and Aron (1973) went out to see whether the emotion of fear could be wrongly interpreted as attraction. To do this, they asked men who were known known to be of a nervous disposition to walk over a swaying bridge with a large drop beneath it and low hand rails. Whilst on the bridge an attractive woman approached them and asked them to fill in a simple survey. The men were given a phone number and told to call if they wanted more information about the meaning of the survey. The same method was used on men crossing another bridge that had no reason to initiate the feeling of fear.
The survey in itself was irrelevant to the study. What was really being tested was how many of the men would later call back. It was thought that the men on the fear – inducing bridge would be more likely to call as they would interpret the emotion of fear into the emotion of attraction.
On the stable, safe bridge only 2 out of the 16 participants called. But, on the rickety bridge, 9 out of 18 called. So something about the rickety bridge made people more likely to call. Dutton and Aron concluded that this meant the men called because they were attracted to the woman and this attraction was amplified when the men already felt the emotion of fear.
However there are many reasons to doubt these results. Some of the problems lie within the study itself. Ethically, it does not sit well with me that men who were known to be of a nervous disposition were asked to cross a bridge that was made to make them nervous. This is intentionally causing a participant discomfort. Also, who says that the men rang up because they found the woman attractive? It could be that the nervous men were more anxious about the meaning behind the study due to their personality and that is why they called.
There have also been studies that have found it is rare that a negative attraction (fear) can be interpreted as a positive emotion (attraction) . Indeed some studies have specifically shown it can’t be done at all (Zanna et al, 1976). It is true that we can easily interpret positive emotion into a different positive emotion and vice versa. Neutral emotions can be interpreted either way depending on how our day is going. For example arousal from caffeine intake may be interrupted as elation or irritation.
This got me thinking about the nerves people feel when we are asked to do our POPPS speeches. The people who tries to reinterpret their nerves as excitement and anticipation is likely to do better and feel better about performing than one who thinks of them as signals to run away and hide.
So it is very easy to interpret positive emotions as other positive emotions and the same with negative emotions, but very unlikely to interpret a positive emotion with a negative one and a negative emotion with a positive one.
libbyayres 
An issue which arises to me is that the men may have genuinely been attracted to the woman, regardless of whether they were afraid or not. The study should have ensured that all the men were single and heterosexual too – this ensures that the men would actually be attracted to the interviewer and more likely to call back. Men, who are in a relationship, even if they found her attractive, would be unlikely to call back without risking infidelity.
However, De Cramer and Van Hiel (2006) predicted that how people are treated by others affects their emotions. When treated fairly and offered support, they expected participants to increase in positive emotions and behaviours such as willingness to complete the task. They conducted a scenario and laboratory experiment as well as a cross-sectional questionnaire and the results supported their theory. When this study is applied to Dutton and Aron (1973), it could be presumed that participants with a nervous disposition found comfort in the attractive interviewer and this turned their fear into attraction rather than interpreting emotions wrongly. Presumably the men in the study crossed the whole bridge which could be interpreted as the positive behaviour of willingness to complete the task.
De Cramer, D., & Van Hiel, A. (2006). Effects of another person’s fair treatment on one’s own emotions and behaviors: The moderating role of how much the other cares for you. Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, 100(2), 231-249. doi: 10.1016/j.obhdp.2005.10.002
Personally i find it easier to read positive emotions than negative ones, for example it is very easy to read when a person is being fake with you, giving you a fake laugh and a fake smile. But unless someone hides themselves away and doesnt speak or eat for days then i think it is harder to read negative emotions because, as i have already said it is very easy to judge positive emotions but it is even easier to give these fake expressions and emotions, therefore a person could be laughing and joking but inside they are crying and a person would never know!