At some point in life you have surely experienced joy, anxiety , sadness, fear or disgust . All these emotions are part of your mood and your personality to a greater or lesser extent. Emotions guide you in everyday life to make decisions, to carry out activities or to choose based on whether you are happier, more anxious or more afraid, making a person’s universe richer in experiences and learning , but to this is necessary to understand the world of emotions. The implication that the Disney factory itself made with the film ” Inside Out ” in 2015 stands out., where they tried to explain everything a person needs in life to have a balance through their emotions.

How are emotions defined?

Emotions are very complex psychological processes and very difficult to explain, but at Bekia Psicología we are going to help you understand them in a simple way . The function of emotions is to make the human being adapt and respond to the environment , presenting a service for the survival of the individual. They work for people to take care of what is valuable in their lives and also teach how dangerous to avoid and how pleasant to approach.

In order to better understand emotions, its four essential elements must be taken into account . The first is the ” physiological changes ” that occur when experiencing an emotion, for example, increased heart rate in fear, flushing when feeling embarrassed, and so on. The second element is the ” tendency to action or coping “, such as fleeing if you feel fear. The ” subjective experience ” of the emotion or feeling is a very important element as it refers to what is experienced when an emotion is felt, such as anxiety , pride or irritation. Finally, the element of the ““In other words, emotions depend on the interpretation that each person makes of the different situations they experience. For this reason, the same situation can produce different emotions in different people .

How many emotions are there?

The study of the emotional process has followed different directions. On the one hand, there are professionals focused on the dimensional study of emotions , which are based on the individual differences of adults and the more general emotional dimensions, and then on the study of discrete or specific emotions , which have particularities that distinguish them from each other in some of their elements. These emotions are the best known to all. Each of them may have distinctive characteristics in some of its elements , this means that some emotions, such as fear, are distinguished from others in the way they face them . TheProfessionals differentiate two classes of discrete emotions : primary and secondary.

Main primary emotions

– Surprise is a neutral emotional reaction , it is neither positive nor negative, yes, it transforms into another emotion depending on the situation that triggered the surprise . Surely you have experienced the surprise when receiving a gift that you did not expect, which will trigger joy, another type of emotion, in this case positive.

– Disgust is a complex emotion , caused by disgust for something, rejection of moral values ​​or psychological events. This emotion is very peculiar since it can even be felt towards people .

– Fear is produced by the feeling of present or imminent danger . This emotion is activated by the perception of life risk or its imbalance, which may or may not be real. It depends on the impression it makes on the person , which explains why someone may be afraid of spiders and someone else may not.

– Anger is the feeling that occurs when someone is in situations that produce some frustration or are unpleasant, being a negative emotion.

– Joy and sadness are some of the emotions that are most experienced throughout life and the most recognizable in their facial, physical and psychological expression. The joy is the positive feeling you experience when discomfort is attenuated or stated objective or a pleasant experience is achieved . Their facial expression is a smile and generally when a person smiles it shows that they are happy, children almost always draw a smile on their face or express their happiness in a more obvious way than an adult, so when they are close to a child they are he is usually happier and more animated, since it is even transmitted. Joy is usually combined with happiness, since generally when you are happy you are happy, being aPositive emotion that is increasingly studied with more intensity , highlighting the notes of the psychologist Martin Seligman, although it is not analyzed as in depth as occurs with negative emotions, see sadness.

– Sadness is the negative feeling that produces a decline in the usual mood and a decrease in the level of activity both in behavior and in our thoughts . It is triggered in situations that involve a loss of a desired goal, a loved one, or due to an unpleasant circumstance. Its best known expression is withdrawal, crying, low functioning in the person , etc. It is interesting to note that not all people react sadly to the same situation of loss or displeasure . This variability in the way of coping with sadness is mainly due to the personality profile of each one or the sociocultural environment in which we develop. It is generally thought ofsadness as a negative , but sometimes exceptional taste can be found in watching tear gas movies .

Main secondary emotions

– Guilt, shame and pride are emotions that are grouped together, this group being called ” self-conscious emotions “. In these, the self is usually evaluated.

– Jealousy, embarrassment or arrogance are also secondary emotions that trigger negative situations for many people. In the case of jealousy, it is a feeling that produces problems in the individual’s personal or sentimental relationships , which lead him to feel misunderstood and to be unable to control his thoughts.

– Anxiety is one of the best known emotions since everyone has felt it at some point . Its main function is the anticipation of danger, the bad thing about this is that it usually appears in an aggravated way, when we can no longer control it.

– Hostility is a negative emotion and is linked to aggressiveness and anger . The most dangerous and damaging consequence of this emotion is its relationship to coronary heart disease.

– Humor produces the opposite of hostility, since it leads to a state of relaxation and reduces negative states and therefore benefits mental and physical health.

– Love and happiness, in all their forms, are the emotions that generate the most pleasant and intense feelings and the rewards that are experienced benefit the person who feels it.

Difference between emotion, feeling and mood

It is often thought that emotion and mood are the same but experts say otherwise. Define emotion as short and intense time and its cause is accurate and recognizable , while the mood is milder than emotion and longer in time . It also differs from emotion in the cause that produces it, which is usually more difficult to identify. For example, you may be sad for several days but for no identifiable reason , or have more anxiety than usual without anything extraordinary happening to you.

The most important difference between emotion and feeling is that emotion is totally basic, primitive and unidirectional , which appears automatically when a stimulus is presented, while feeling also includes the ability to consciously think and reflect on what feel . Feelings are bi-directional and include our conscious evaluation of an experience; that is to say, that in a feeling there is a reflective evaluation of the emotion and of the subjective experience in general .

Emotions are a guide in your life and being aware of them and knowing how to manage them is a great help to achieve a more pleasant and healthy existence . It is important to recognize emotions the moment you feel them and how you feel them, especially negative emotions since being able to control them and interfere in their evolution is important so that you do not have progress that causes more damage and ends up causing a more serious disease . Unlike negative emotions, positive emotions can raise your self-esteem and increase vitality, motivation , etc., since they enrich you and even help to increase both physical and mental health .

All emotions are linked to motivation, socialization and adaptation to circumstances, since it is important to note that we all share the same emotional map . Knowing your emotions helps you better understand yourself and those around you and, therefore, to be happier and make others happier .

Elle Mcdonald

I am Elle Mcdonald Specializations in Psychology . Graduated in psychology from the University of Tennessee in 2000. Diploma of Advanced Studies in the Department of Personality, Evaluation and psychological treatments with excellent results.

First Level of Master in Clinical Psychology at the Center for Behavioral Therapists (recognized with a scientific-professional nature by the College of Psychologists)

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