An overview
We feel happy when we eat our favourite snack. We tend to feel sad when we miss our favourite person. We tend to get angry when someone disturbs us while watching our favourite movie or series.
Do you know what these are or why we get angry, sad and happy? These are called emotions, and they tend to change according to our mood.
Emotions are a complex set of bodily sensations, consciousness and behaviour that can reflect a personal significance of an event, thing or state of affairs.
Emotions can coordinate with our physiological and behavioural state during survival-salient and pleasurable events.
However, we are aware of our emotions like anger, sad and happiness. The mechanism that gives rise to these emotions is still a mystery.
We also experience other emotions like excitement and anxiety. When we are going to meet our favourite person or the love of our life, we tend to walk with excitement and anxiety. We imagine the scenario of talking to them and might get a mixed feelings of happiness, joy, anxiety, fear and excitement.
These sets of emotions get etched in our hearts, and we even remember small details of our special day.
Now imagine the opposite scenario, when we walk for our first job and while waiting for us to be interviewed. Our hearts pound fast, and we become very nervous. We try to recollect certain answers for the interview, and at that moment, our only intention will be to get that job.
In some cases, we might feel fear or a shiver down our spine. These emotions can be felt when you drive through a long empty road or when you hear a noise at night while no one is home.
Emotions play a major role in our lives, and most people trust their emotional guts and have succeeded in life. This blog will give a few facts about emotions and how and where they are felt.
What are the types of emotions?
Anxiety
Anxiety is a feeling that increases alertness, and we tend to become more conscious about the environment. Our heartbeat tends to increase rapidly.
Anxiety can be caused due to various factors like stress, a sudden traumatic incident like the death of a close one, work stress and failing to study for an important exam.
Love
Everyone would have experienced the feeling of love. We would have experienced love from our mother. The love we get from our opposite sex. Love can also state the feeling of being cared for and included.
People in love usually express a powerful sense of empathy. Love can also be defined as the feeling of being attached. However, some emotions cannot be defined by words and can only be felt.
Depression
Depression is the feeling or state of being sad. A person who is depressed will lose interest in all their activities, and in most cases, they prefer loneliness.
Depression will not be caused overnight, and it can result from a series of incidents. Depression can be caused due to peer pressure, heartbreaks, unexpected failure, low faces in life and insecurity.
Contempt
The feeling of contempt can be explained as a superior feeling over another person or a thing. Contempt can be considered as a negative feeling, and it depends on the context of the situation.
Contempt can be caused due to anger and disgust. It is a mixture of feelings, and the emotion can vary from one person to another.
Pride
The feeling of pride can confuse most of us. The emotion concentrates on others as well as on self-development. It focuses on a person’s development to boost their well-being and wealth to others.
Pride is exhibited by people as pleasure and a feeling of accomplishment. We cannot classify pride as either positive or negative emotion. As said earlier, emotions can only be felt and cannot be explained.
Shame
The emotion or feeling of shame can be the most uncomfortable one. When people experience shame, they will have a feeling that other people’s normal gaze is a very bad judging gaze and affects them personally.
Shame can be experienced when a person has the feeling of being excluded, being rejected and not living up to social expectations.
This feeling is a kind of negative emotion, and it can trigger all kinds of other negative emotions.
Envy
Envy is a strong feeling or desire to own something the other person possesses. This emotion can weaken a person’s self-esteem and underestimates the other person’s ability.
People who have a feeling of envy will not be contended with what they have, and their desire to own things never ends.
Anger
The feeling of anger is caused when a person is disturbed while doing something they like a lot. For example, a person might be watching their team’s sport, and a sudden power shutdown happens. They tend to react, and this feeling is called anger.
Anger is also used as a weapon by most people to safeguard themself from others judgement or to hide their feeling of insecurity.
Fear
Imagine you are home alone at night, and you are sleeping. You are awakened by a disturbance—probably a loud noise. You would have drenched in your own sweat, and this feeling is called fear.
Fear can be considered the most basic human emotion. Fear can be accompanied by anxiety.
Disgust
Disgust can occur as a result of aversion. Generally, people get the feeling due to physical senses like smell, taste and touch.
Disgust can also be caused due to other person’s actions and ideas. It can also result when a person has trusted someone so much, and they have been betrayed. Disgust can also lead to anxiety and depression.
Happiness
The most positive feeling among all emotions. This feeling is an outcome when you have achieved something in life. It is not necessary that a person becomes happy only after experiencing certain things.
Even a small achievement can make a person happy. Getting good marks in an examination, completing a task on time and even getting to wear your favourite dress can make a person happy.
Sadness
Sadness can be a mental pain. People experience the feeling during a traumatic death, grief, helplessness, feeling lonely, disappointment and sorrow.
When a person experiences sadness, they might try to disconnect from the exterior world and isolate themself, and this is called social withdrawal.
The feeling of sadness can persist for a period of time. Depending on the experience of a person, the emotion can last for a period of two years. Sometimes, sadness can cause depression and lead to strong negative emotions.
Surprise
It is better to be surprised than to be disappointed — a famous saying. The feeling of surprise occurs when an unexpected incident occurs. For example, throwing a surprise party and presenting people with surprising gifts.
Surprise events can capture a person’s attention. Surprise can be a brief emotion, and it can be positive, negative or neutral depending on the person and the incident. Among all the other emotions, surprise can be the brief one.
How are emotions measured?
In our lower grade, we have learnt that emotions are abstract nouns and cannot be seen. It can only be felt. When emotions cannot be seen, how can they be measured? But the answer is yes. Emotions can be measured.
Emotions get activated through hormones and neurotransmitters that will be released by the brain when you experience certain situations or feelings.
There are numerous researchers conducted throughout the world to understand human emotions. However, there is no scientist successful in reading or fully studying human emotions.
Emotions are a complex mechanism, and certain emotions can never be seen and only can be experienced.
Infography
The infography is a set of imaginary tools that are used to represent certain measurements. Infography can be a pie chart, a model or a heat map.
When a person experiences certain emotions, the heat map, with the help of human body representation, will glow with certain colours.
For example, the heat map will use warmer colours like red, orange and yellow to highlight increased response or emotion. The heat map will use cooler colours like green, blue and indigo to represent a decreased response.
Emotion wheel
The wheel of emotions will contain emotions grouped together with opposites.
- Joy and sadness,
- Disgust and Acceptance,
- Fear and anger,
- Surprise and anticipation
There is no correct or wrong way to use an emotional wheel. However, certain steps may help.
Find your core emotions
Try to put your emotions into words and narrow down the search.
For example, start from the outer circle of the emotion wheel and then reach the inner circle.
The outer edge will contain low-intensity emotions, and as you move to the centre of the wheel, there will be basic emotions like trust and surprise.
The centre circle will contain amazement and other feelings, and between the colours, there will be mixed emotions like anger and disgust. Now after finding your emotional status, try to identify the cause.
Does it really work?
At first, using the emotion wheel will be difficult. As you get used to it, they will really help. This tool is useful tool for identifying your feelings and getting to know them fully.
Where do emotions rest in the body?
The emotions in the body rest in the “vagus nerve”. This nerve is responsible for triggering all kinds of emotions throughout your body. When you are angry and tend to take deep breaths, this will calm your vagus nerve, and you can feel the difference within a few minutes.
This technique works not only with anger but also with other emotions like fear, anxiety and disgust.
How to test emotions?
The emotions can be tested with certain bodily reactions like pupil dilation, facial expression, brain activity and heart rate.
What if I can’t find the emotions?
Emotions of humans are built on a complex system, and it can be difficult for some people to identify them.
Give yourself enough time to identify the emotions you are going through. At the same time, do not be hard on yourself.
Is professional consultation necessary?
Not everyone will require professional consultation. Some people may require professional consultation and help, do not hesitate to get help if required.
Conclusion
Emotions are a complex set of feelings that are regulated by the brain. These are the core of many relationships in the world.
When we get a new job, we accept it with a gut feeling. We accept a relationship after our emotions get aligned with the other person.
When you cannot handle your emotions or identify them, you can consult a professional therapist and seek help.
