A reader-facing cluster for anxiety, fear, shame, awkwardness, and perceived threat or uncertainty.
Core Principle
Threat & Uncertainty helps readers interpret semantic states shaped by safety appraisal, uncertainty, self/normative evaluation, and perceived risk.
Included Affects
- Anxiety
- Fear
- Horror
- Awkwardness
- Embarrassment*
- Shame*
- Guilt*
Reader Interpretation
- Anxiety, Fear, and Horror may form temporal or intensity transitions but are not a fixed one-axis scale.
- Shame* and Guilt* often differ across self-evaluation, normative appraisal, and responsibility attribution.
Limits
- Threat semantics do not directly determine a safety-risk grade.
- Emotion labels alone must not determine responsibility, pathology, or intervention.
Example
Before a public presentation, Anxiety and anticipated Embarrassment* may coexist; after the event, self-blame may add Shame* or Guilt*.