Emotion: Definition, Theories, & ExamplesWhat is emotion and why is it important? Here we look at emotion theories, emotional concepts, lists of emotions, emotional intelligence, and emotion regulation.
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Emotions are central to what it means to be human. We feel deeply, and those emotions often lead us to do things. Emotions are also a key ingredient in well-being. It's hard to imagine well-being without happiness. And emotions like sadness and anxiety can make well-being more difficult to achieve. Some might even use the words happiness and well-being interchangeably. So let's learn more about emotions and their role in our lives.
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Emotion faces are often used to help kids (and individuals with autism) learn how to recognize different emotional expressions. For example, my puppy card set can help kids improve emotional perception.
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For the most part, we practice seeing other people—people who experience a range of emotions. As a result, we learn to detect these emotions. It's possible that our increased use of technology for social interaction may be reducing this ability somewhat. We just don't get to see as much body language, facial expressions, or other emotional expressions. So improving emotional perception may be something we need to work on more than we used to.
Emotion Facilitation of Thought
This may involve listening to our emotions and using them as informative tools to help us navigate life. For example, if we're feeling angry about something but we don't use this emotion to take action to right the wrong that making us angry, we're not likely to solve the problem, and so we're likely to keep getting angry.
Another example may be that we've just said something that leads someone else to appear hurt or sad. First, we need to perceive this emotion in the other person, and then we need to use the emotion to help us learn something about how our behavior affects other people. We can use the emotion to teach us how not to hurt others.
Another example may be that we've just said something that leads someone else to appear hurt or sad. First, we need to perceive this emotion in the other person, and then we need to use the emotion to help us learn something about how our behavior affects other people. We can use the emotion to teach us how not to hurt others.
Emotion Understanding
Emotion understanding may involve a variety of skills. It might involve emotional awareness, or recognizing that we are having an emotion. It likely involves having emotional clarity—knowing that we are feeling sad rather than fear, for example. And it can be served by emotional granularity—or being able to distinguish between similar emotions. Overall, understanding the nature of emotion can do a lot to help us cope with our emotions and make the most of them.
Emotion Regulation (And Emotion Dysregulation)
Emotion regulation may include all of the stages of changing an emotional experience. We can start with attention—do we focus on the things that make us happy? Or do we focus on the things that upset us?
Then we might then choose situations and actions that make us feel good and avoid those that make us feel bad. So, for example, we might go to the gym because we know we'll feel better afterward. And we might stop seeing a particular friend who always puts us down and makes us feel sad. Or, if we're emotionally dysregulated, we might drink alcohol or do drugs to regulate our emotions, but we're likely to end up feeling worse later on.
Next, we might regulate our emotions with cognitive strategies (sometimes referred to as emotion regulation skills). We might use reappraisal to find the silver linings. Or we might savor a positive moment to increase how long our positive emotions last. Or, if we're dysregulated, we might worry about the future and accidentally increase our anxiety.
Then we might then choose situations and actions that make us feel good and avoid those that make us feel bad. So, for example, we might go to the gym because we know we'll feel better afterward. And we might stop seeing a particular friend who always puts us down and makes us feel sad. Or, if we're emotionally dysregulated, we might drink alcohol or do drugs to regulate our emotions, but we're likely to end up feeling worse later on.
Next, we might regulate our emotions with cognitive strategies (sometimes referred to as emotion regulation skills). We might use reappraisal to find the silver linings. Or we might savor a positive moment to increase how long our positive emotions last. Or, if we're dysregulated, we might worry about the future and accidentally increase our anxiety.
Video: Emotion Regulation: Definition & Strategies
Negative Emotion
When we think about emotion, we often focus mostly on negative emotions. Negative emotions are unpleasant or undesirable states. Even though we may not like negative emotions, they help us do important things in our lives. For example, fear can help us escape from a predator, anger can help us right injustices, and sadness can help us rest or seek social support. This just shows that we need negative emotions just as much as we need positive emotions.
Positive Emotion
Positive emotions are pleasant or desirable states. These are just as important as negative emotions. If we understand what increases our positive emotions, we have a better chance of increasing our well-being.
Happiness may be the best-known positive emotion, but there are lots of others. Here are some other positive emotions.
Happiness may be the best-known positive emotion, but there are lots of others. Here are some other positive emotions.
- excitement
- calmness
- contentment
- love
A List of Emotions
Need some help identifying your emotions? Here is a list of all the emotions we could find:
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Video: How to Process Your Emotions
Emotion Contagion
Okay, so we know a bit about our own emotions. But can we catch other people's emotions? The research suggests that yes, we can. Emotional contagion—or the transfer of emotion between people—appears to occur easily, and even in online situations (Fan, Xu, & Zhao, 2018). We feel bad when others feel bad and good when others feel good. We just tend to absorb other people's emotions (there are neurological reasons for this but I won't elaborate here).
Some researchers suggest we might reduce emotional contagion by alternating between moments of self-awareness and moments of other awareness (Hatfield, Cacioppo, & Rapson, 1993). For example, if we're starting to feel anxious but can't identify any clear cause, we might try to turn on our emotion perception to see if we're 'catching' anxiety from someone we're interacting with. Then we might aim to become more present in our body and help the other person regulate their emotions to reduce our negative emotions.
Some researchers suggest we might reduce emotional contagion by alternating between moments of self-awareness and moments of other awareness (Hatfield, Cacioppo, & Rapson, 1993). For example, if we're starting to feel anxious but can't identify any clear cause, we might try to turn on our emotion perception to see if we're 'catching' anxiety from someone we're interacting with. Then we might aim to become more present in our body and help the other person regulate their emotions to reduce our negative emotions.
Emotional Health
The definition of emotional health generally focuses on the lack of emotional disorders, but it also includes positive outcomes like resilience, mastery, self-efficacy, and vitality (Hendrie et al., 2006). We are emotionally healthy when our emotions don't regularly overwhelm us and we can manage them effectively enough to enjoy living life.
Ultimately, emotional health arises from positive health behaviors—things like being skilled at health emotion regulation and engaging in other healthy behaviors that make emotions easier to manage or regulate. For example, good sleep, a good diet, and regular exercise all make it easier for us to regulate our emotions. Emotional health and physical health really do go hand-in-hand and work together.
Ultimately, emotional health arises from positive health behaviors—things like being skilled at health emotion regulation and engaging in other healthy behaviors that make emotions easier to manage or regulate. For example, good sleep, a good diet, and regular exercise all make it easier for us to regulate our emotions. Emotional health and physical health really do go hand-in-hand and work together.
Emotion Activities
Emotions are such flexible, changeable things. That means we actually have a lot of control over what we do with them and how we manage them. So we've put together a whole list of activities to help you understand and work with your emotions more effectively. Here are a few emotion activities to try:
Articles on Specific Emotions
Given emotion is such a huge topic, we can't effectively cover it here in this article. Here are a few other articles where we dive into specific emotions to help you learn more about them:
Books on Emotions
And here are some good books on emotion to help you keep learning about emotion and improving your emotional skills:
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References
- Brackett, M. A., Rivers, S. E., & Salovey, P. (2011). Emotional intelligence: Implications for personal, social, academic, and workplace success. Social and personality psychology compass, 5(1), 88-103.
- Ekman, P. (1999). Basic emotions. Handbook of cognition and emotion, 98(45-60), 16.
- Elfenbein, H. A., & MacCann, C. (2017). A closer look at ability emotional intelligence (EI): What are its component parts, and how do they relate to each other?. Social and Personality Psychology Compass, 11(7), e12324.
- Fan, R., Xu, K., & Zhao, J. (2018). An agent-based model for emotion contagion and competition in online social media. Physica a: statistical mechanics and its applications, 495, 245-259.
- Gendron, M. (2010). Defining emotion: A brief history. Emotion Review, 2(4), 371-372.
- Hatfield, E., Cacioppo, J. T., & Rapson, R. L. (1993). Emotional contagion. Current directions in psychological science, 2(3), 96-100.
- Hendrie, H. C., Albert, M. S., Butters, M. A., Gao, S., Knopman, D. S., Launer, L. J., ... & Wagster, M. V. (2006). The NIH cognitive and emotional health project: report of the critical evaluation study committee. Alzheimer's & Dementia, 2(1), 12-32.
- Russell, J. A. (1980). A circumplex model of affect. Journal of personality and social psychology, 39(6), 1161.
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