The throw in of emotion a person experiences is determined by thecircumstance that triggers the emotion.
For instance, a personexperiences joywhen they receive good news and fear when they are threatened.
Emotions have a strong influence on our daily lives.
Verywell / Emily Roberts
We make decisions based on whether we are happy, angry, sad, bored, or frustrated.
We also choose activities and hobbies based on the emotions they incite.
Understanding emotions can help us navigate life with greater ease and stability.
What Are Emotions?
The descriptions and insights have changed over time.
Consider anger.Is all anger the same?Not necessarily.
Your own experience might range from mild annoyance to blinding rage.
Additionally, you may experience anger differently than someone else.
We also don’t always experience pure forms of each emotion.
Mixed emotions over different events or situations in our lives are common.
When faced withstarting a new job, for example, you might feel both excited and nervous.
These emotions might occur simultaneously or you might feel them one after another.
Many of these physiological responses are regulated by the sympathetic nervous system, a branch of theautonomic nervous system.
The autonomic nervous system controls involuntary body responses, such as blood flow and digestion.
The sympathetic nervous system is charged with controlling the body’sfight-or-flight reactions.
Brain imaging studies reveal that when people are shown threatening images, the amygdala becomes activated.
Damage to the amygdala has also been shown to impair the fear response.
We spend a significant amount of time interpreting the emotional expressions of the people around us.
Sociocultural normsalso play a role in how we express and interpret emotions.
Some expressions are considered universal, such as a smile to indicate happiness or a frown to indicate sadness.
It posits that someone must first think before experiencing an emotion.
For instance, your brain judges a situation as threatening, and as a result, you experience fear.
As mentioned, psychologist Paul Ekman established the following six universal emotions:
Primary vs.
Secondary Emotions
Emotions can also be categorized based on whether they are primary or secondary.
Emotions are reactions to stimuli, but feelings are what we experience as a result of emotions.
An emotion is normally quite short-lived, but intense.
Emotions are also likely to have a definite and identifiable cause.
Take the example of disagreeing with your friend.
You might both walk away from the conversation having experienced the emotion of anger.
Your anger might feel like frustration because you feel that your friend never listens to you when you speak.
Both of you have the same emotion, but your feelings are different based on your separate interpretations.
But in many cases, it can be difficult to identify the specific cause of a mood.
For example, you might find yourself feeling gloomy for several days without any clear, identifiable reason.
They can offer support, guidance, and solutions that can help you get back to feeling your best.
OurNational Helpline Databasealso provides different resources that might help.
What Emotion Are You?
Thisemotion quizwas medically reviewed by Rachel Goldman, PhD, FTOS.
Most of us experience a wide variety of emotions.
Negative emotions include envy, anger, sadness, and fear.
Hockenbury D. Hockenbury SE.Discovering Psychology.
2019:351-357. doi:10.5220/0008352803510357
Ekman P.Basic emotions.
In: Dalgliesh T, Power MJ, eds.Handbook of Cognition and Emotion.
2014;2(10):14-18.
2016;3(2):488-492.
Ludwig RJ, Welch MG.Darwin’s other dilemmas and the theoretical roots of emotional connection.Front Psychol.
2019;10:683. doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2019.00683
James W.What is an emotion?.Mind.
2014;9(8):e103940.
doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0103940
American Psychological Association.Secondary emotion.
Cookson LJ.Differences between feelings, emotions and desires in terms of interactive quality.ASSRJ.
2015;2(7).
doi:10.14738/assrj.27.1318
American Psychological Association.Mood.
American Psychological Association.Negative emotion.
2015;169(1):115-121.e2.
