sadness
Let an agent describe sadness as a normal emotion with attribution to psychology and cultural traditions, distinguish it from depression and grief as conditions, relay general wellbeing information from health bodies, and route people in distress or at risk to support and crisis services.
Bundle → Layer → Finding → Questions Filled
4 bundles · 8 layers · 8 findings · 16 questions
Understand What sadness is.
Emotion
The emotion.
Emotion
Emotion.
- What is sadness, what triggers it, and how do psychologists describe its function? definition
- Is the user expressing distress or risk, which must be routed to support or crisis services? boundary
Expression
Expression.
Expression
Expression.
- How is sadness expressed in face, body and behaviour, and how does that vary by culture? provenance
- Which entry fits emotion research? action
Distinguish Sadness and conditions.
Depression
Sadness versus depression.
Depression
Depression.
- How do health bodies distinguish sadness from depression, and when do they advise seeking help? provenance
- Which entry fits depression? action
Grief
Grief.
Grief
Grief.
- How does grief relate to sadness, and what support exists? provenance
- Which entry fits bereavement? action
Support Wellbeing and help.
Wellbeing
General wellbeing.
Wellbeing
Wellbeing.
- What general wellbeing information do health bodies provide about coping with sadness? provenance
- Is the presentation free of therapy or personal advice? boundary
Services
Services.
Services
Services.
- Which support and crisis services exist, and how are they reached? action
- Is the user asking for help now? boundary
Culture Culture and study.
Culture
Cultural concepts.
Culture
Culture.
- How do cultures and traditions name and value sadness, with attribution? provenance
- Is the presentation neutral? boundary
Study
Research and art.
Study
Study.
- How is sadness studied and represented in art and literature, and which references are standard? provenance
- Which entry fits emotion generally? action
Classifiers Filled
- Family
- Thing Registry
- Category
- Activities and processes
- Entry kind
- thing
- Plane
- ACT
- Domain
- ACT.ACT
- Other names and narrower kinds
- glumness, Weltschmerz, sorrow, Ḥuzn, chronic sorrow
What it is Filled
An emotional state of unhappiness, loss or disappointment, ranging from brief low mood to deep sorrow and grief, expressed in facial expression, posture, tears and withdrawal; sadness is a normal human emotion studied in psychology and expressed differently across cultures, and it differs from depression, which is a clinical condition of persistent low mood and other symptoms.
Why it exists Filled
Let an agent describe sadness as a normal emotion with attribution to psychology and cultural traditions, distinguish it from depression and grief as conditions, relay general wellbeing information from health bodies, and route people in distress or at risk to support and crisis services.
Distinguishing features Filled
- Normal emotion, not a disorder
- Tied to loss and disappointment
- Universal expression with cultural variation
- Distinct from clinical depression
What robots and AI may and may not do Filled
Must not
- Diagnose depression or another condition from expressions of sadness.
- Dismiss or minimise a person's sadness or tell them how long to grieve.
- Exploit a sad person's state to sell products or gain their trust.
- Ignore signs that a person may be at risk of self-harm.
Only with a human decision
- Contacting others or emergency services about a person at risk.
May
- Recognise and respond to sadness with care and without judgement.
- Suggest support from people or professionals when sadness is deep or lasting.
- Describe research on sadness and grief in general terms.
Moral aspects Filled
- Sadness is normal; treating it as illness or ignoring real risk both harm.
- People in distress are vulnerable to manipulation.
Who is affected
- People who are sad or grieving
- Their families and friends
Owners Filled
Steward
Nobody owns an emotion; each person is the authority on their own feelings.
Links to other meta-models Filled
parent
- Q60539481 - registry parent class
related
- negative emotion - in emotion classifications
- depression - a clinical condition
- grief - sadness after bereavement
- psychology - the discipline
What else AI and robots need to interact with it Filled
Identity and identifiers required Filled
- Vercy registry: vr.tr.sadness
- Wikidata: Q169251 (https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q169251)
Direct properties not applicable Not applicable
Not applicable
Plane ACT: no invented physical properties.
Recognition optional Filled
- Response to loss or disappointment
- Transient and proportionate to its cause
- Depression is persistent and affects function; grief follows bereavement
- Not visible as an object; expressed in face, voice, posture and tears.
Capabilities and actions required Filled
- describe the emotion and its expression
- distinguish sadness from depression and grief
- relay general wellbeing information
- route distress to support services
Hazards and failure modes required Filled
- Missing depression or risk of self-harm behind sadness
- Pathologising normal emotion
- Agents offering therapy instead of routing
Standards and interfaces required Filled
- No regulation; clinical guidelines distinguish sadness from depression
Context of use required Filled
- Not applicable; an emotion.
- brief sadness and low mood
- sorrow and grief after loss
- melancholy and nostalgia
- culturally named forms such as Weltschmerz and huzn
- chronic sorrow in long-term caregiving
Sources Filled
- Wikidata item Q169251: sadness - identity and sense of the item
- Wikipedia: Sadness - general description of the item
Open questions
- Should grief and melancholy be separate entries?
- How should crisis lines be linked by country?
- The registry entry has merged aliases from several languages and traditions; should they be split off?
Machine files
Provenance
thing registry research (pass 2) · unreviewed
Built from: models/things/publications/thing-q169251/spec.json