Types Of Emotions - Everything You Need To Know

Types of emotions- Humans react to events or situations with emotions. According to the American Psychological Association (APA), there are various types of emotion, and a person's experience is shaped by the circumstances that cause the feeling. When someone receives excellent news, for instance, they are happy. When one is endangered, one feels terror.

Our daily lives appear to be ruled by many forms of emotions. Whether we're happy, angry, sad, bored, or dissatisfied influences our decisions. We select activities and hobbies based on how they make us feel. Understanding our emotions can make lifeeasier and more stable for us.

There are many different types of emotions. These physical reactions, expressive gestures, and behaviors, which are commonly included in scientists' definitions of "emotion," color both our inner and outside worlds, leading us where to look, remember, think about, and do next.

What Is An Emotion?

Despite the fact that the concept of emotion appears to be simple, scientists regularly differ about what it involves. Most scientists believe that emotions are more than just feelings. Someone's mood. A feeling is a mental state that others can deduce from your behavior. To help people understand how you feel, use emotive terms such as "anger" or "sadness"—the study's focus—or parallels such as "I feel as a kid might feel if her father took away her Halloween candy." They entail physical reactions, such as when your heart races as a result of excitement. They also contain expressive movements and sounds, such as when you say "woah" in amazement of something. You might yell at someone when you're upset.

Despite the fact that an emotion has many other components, feelings are generally regarded as the most important feature of it. Most emotion researchers inquire about their subjects' emotions. Of course, we have no means of knowing whether or not someone is being honest about their feelings. It's also worth noting that different people have varied interpretations of words like "angry" and "amused." Despite these disadvantages, self-reported experience, or what a person says about how he or she is feeling, is the most straightforward way to quantify emotional sensations.

A woman with a black hair wearing a grey t-shirt surrounded by pictures of her showing different emotions while holding one

What Are The Key Elements Of Emotions?

Let's look at the subjective experience, physiological response, and behavioral response to get a better understanding of what emotions are.

Subjective Experience

While experts believe there are a few basic universal feelings that everyone experience regardless of their background or country, studies also believe that emotion is highly subjective. Take, for instance, fury. Isn't all rage equal? Your own feelings could range from moderate irritation to fury.

We don't always have pure experiences with each feeling. Mixed emotions are widespread in our lives due to various events or situations. You could be both excited and worried about starting a new career. Getting married or having a kid can bring up a range of feelings, from happiness to dread. You may experience these emotions all at once or sequentially.

Physiological Response

If you've ever felt your stomach lurch from anxiety or your heart palpate from dread, you know that emotions may trigger intense physiological responses.

The autonomic nervous system is in charge of involuntary physiological functions like digestion and blood flow. The sympathetic nervous system regulates the body's fight-or-flight responses. When confronted with a threat, your body is automatically prepared to flee or confront the danger.

Early studies of emotion physiology tended to focus on these autonomic reactions, while more recent study has focused on the brain's function in emotions. The amygdala, which is part of the limbic system, has been demonstrated in brain scans to have a key role in emotion, particularly fear.

The amygdala is a small almond-shaped structure associated with motivational states like hunger and thirst, as well as memory and emotion. The amygdala is activated when people are presented with menacing images, according to researchers who used brain imaging to demonstrate this. The fear response has been found to be impaired when the amygdala is damaged.

Behavioral Response

The final element is the actual manifestation of emotion, which you are probably most familiar with. We spend a lot of time interpreting other people's emotional expressions. Emotional intelligence is linked to our capacity to appropriately perceive these emotions, and these expressions play a significant role in our entire body language.

When an authority figure appears in Japan, for example, people prefer to hide their dread or dislike. Similarly, Western cultures, such as the United States, are more prone to exhibit "negative" emotions both alone and with others, but eastern cultures, such as Japan, are more inclined to do so alone.

The Difference Between Emotions, Feelings, And Moods

Emotions, feelings, and moods are commonly used similarly in ordinary speech, although they truly mean various things. A strong emotion is usually fleeting. Emotions are also likely to have a reason. For instance, you can be angry after a disagreement with a friend about politics.

Consider the instance of a political disagreement with a friend. You might both feel angry after the chat.

Because you believe your friend never listens to you when you speak, your rage could turn into annoyance. Your friend's rage, on the other hand, could be misinterpreted as envy because they believe you know more about the subject than they do. Although you are both experiencing the same experience, your feelings are distinct due to your differing interpretations.

A mood is an emotional condition that lasts for a short time. You might be in a good mood this week because everything appears to be going your way. However, determining the exact source of a mood might be challenging in many circumstances. For instance, you could be depressed for several days with no obvious cause.

Talk to a doctor or a mental health expert about your worries if you've been experiencing low mood or challenging emotions. They can provide you with advice, support, and solutions to help you feel better again. You can look up resources in our National Helpline Database.

Different people showing different emotions in different boxes having different colors

What Are The Different Emotions?

In a study published recently in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Alan S. Cowen and Dacher Keltner, PhD, of the University of California, Berkeley, identified 27 different types of emotions. They are listed alphabetically rather than by importance or preference:

Admiration

Adoration

Aesthetic Appreciation

Amusement

Anxiety

Awe

Awkwardness

Boredom

Calmness

Confusion

Craving

Disgust

Empathetic pain

Entrancement

Envy

Excitement

Fear

Horror

Interest

Joy

Nostalgia

Romance

Sadness

Satisfaction

Sexual desire

Sympathy

Triumph

The researchers produced an interactive map depicting many films as well as how each of the categories may influence the reaction.

Conclusion

The majority of us go through a range of different types of emotions. These feelings might be overwhelming at times, but labeling the emotion can be a good first step. Recognize that it's fine to feel everything, even tough emotions like grief or rage.

If you're having problems managing your emotions or feelings, you should get help from a mental health expert.

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