What makes emotion

Then, we will talk about what happens during an emotion, and how we figure out what emotions we are feeling. Last, we will talk about how we can change our emotions if we are feeling bad and want to feel better. Try to remember the last time you felt scared.

Do you remember what you were thinking? Scientists have discovered that our emotions are often caused by our thoughts [ 1 ].

This means two people could be in the same situation, but they might feel different emotions because they have different thoughts see Figure 1. Maybe you have noticed this with your own friends and family. This might happen if that person never had a pet dog before. This might happen if that person grew up having dogs as pets. This shows how, if two people have had different experiences, they might have different thoughts and emotions in the same situation.

Scientists have found that certain kinds of thoughts often lead to certain emotions. Scientists have discovered that the thoughts that cause emotions usually answer questions like these:. When something happens, you will feel different emotions depending on how your mind answers these different questions. This can be hard to understand. However, scientists have found that sometimes your brain can trigger an emotion unconsciously. This means that your brain might notice something in your situation and trigger an emotional reaction, all without you even noticing it.

This might help you figure out why you are feeling the way you do. When an emotion is triggered, what actually happens? For example, when you are afraid or angry, you might feel your heart start to pound and your lungs might start breathing faster.

Or, when you are sad, you might get tears in your eyes. Emotions can also cause some muscles in your body to move automatically. Another part of an emotional reaction is that you start to think differently. For example, scientists have found that when people are sad they usually think of sad memories, but when people are happy they usually think of happy memories.

As another example, when people are scared they usually start looking for other dangers in their surroundings, and they are more likely to have thoughts about other scary things.

On the other hand, when people are happy, they usually notice more things that they like as they go through the day. The last part of an emotional reaction is that you start to want to behave differently than you usually behave.

For example, if you are angry, you might want to yell or fight with someone. Or, if you are scared, you might feel a strong desire to run away. Or, if you are sad, you may just want to stay home alone in your room and not talk to anyone. After we have emotional reactions, we usually also want to understand them. Have you ever been unsure about what emotion you were feeling? Measure ad performance. Select basic ads. Create a personalised ads profile. Select personalised ads. Apply market research to generate audience insights.

Measure content performance. Develop and improve products. List of Partners vendors. There are many different types of emotions that have an influence on how we live and interact with others.

At times, it may seem like we are ruled by these emotions. The choices we make, the actions we take, and the perceptions we have are all influenced by the emotions we are experiencing at any given moment. Psychologists have also tried to identify the different types of emotions that people experience.

A few different theories have emerged to categorize and explain the emotions that people feel. During the s, psychologist Paul Eckman identified six basic emotions that he suggested were universally experienced in all human cultures. The emotions he identified were happiness, sadness, disgust, fear, surprise, and anger. He later expanded his list of basic emotions to include such things as pride, shame, embarrassment, and excitement.

Psychologist Robert Plutchik put forth a "wheel of emotions" that worked something like the color wheel. Emotions can be combined to form different feelings, much like colors can be mixed to create other shades. According to this theory, the more basic emotions act something like building blocks. More complex, sometimes mixed emotions, are blendings of these more basic ones.

For example, basic emotions such as joy and trust can be combined to create love. A study suggests that there are far more basic emotions than previously believed. Rather than being entirely distinct, however, the researchers found that people experience these emotions along a gradient. Of all the different types of emotions, happiness tends to be the one that people strive for the most.

Happiness is often defined as a pleasant emotional state that is characterized by feelings of contentment, joy, gratification, satisfaction, and well-being. Research on happiness has increased significantly since the s within a number of disciplines, including the branch of psychology known as positive psychology. This type of emotion is sometimes expressed through:. While happiness is considered one of the basic human emotions, the things we think will create happiness tend to be heavily influenced by culture.

For example, pop culture influences tend to emphasize that attaining certain things such as buying a home or having a high-paying job will result in happiness. The realities of what actually contributes to happiness are often much more complex and more highly individualized. Happiness has been linked to a variety of outcomes including increased longevity and increased marital satisfaction. Stress, anxiety, depression, and loneliness , for example, have been linked to things such as lowered immunity, increased inflammation, and decreased life expectancy.

Sadness is another type of emotion often defined as a transient emotional state characterized by feelings of disappointment, grief , hopelessness, disinterest, and dampened mood. Like other emotions, sadness is something that all people experience from time to time. In some cases, people can experience prolonged and severe periods of sadness that can turn into depression. Sadness can be expressed in a number of ways including:. The type and severity of sadness can vary depending upon the root cause, and how people cope with such feelings can also differ.

Sadness can often lead people to engage in coping mechanisms such as avoiding other people, self-medicating, and ruminating on negative thoughts. Such behaviors can actually exacerbate feelings of sadness and prolong the duration of the emotion.

Fear is a powerful emotion that can also play an important role in survival. When you face some sort of danger and experience fear, you go through what is known as the fight or flight response. Your muscles become tense, your heart rate and respiration increase, and your mind becomes more alert, priming your body to either run from the danger or stand and fight. This response helps ensure that you are prepared to effectively deal with threats in your environment.

Expressions of this type of emotion can include:. Of course, not everyone experiences fear in the same way. Some people may be more sensitive to fear and certain situations or objects may be more likely to trigger this emotion. Fear is the emotional response to an immediate threat.

We can also develop a similar reaction to anticipated threats or even our thoughts about potential dangers, and this is what we generally think of as anxiety. Social anxiety , for example, involves an anticipated fear of social situations. Some people, on the other hand, actually seek out fear-provoking situations.

Extreme sports and other thrills can be fear-inducing, but some people seem to thrive and even enjoy such feelings. Repeated exposure to a fear object or situation can lead to familiarity and acclimation, which can reduce feelings of fear and anxiety.

This is the idea behind exposure therapy, in which people are gradually exposed to the things that frighten them in a controlled and safe manner. Eventually, feelings of fear begin to decrease. Disgust is another of the original six basic emotions described by Eckman. Disgust can be displayed in a number of ways including:. This sense of revulsion can originate from a number of things, including an unpleasant taste, sight, or smell.

Researchers believe that this emotion evolved as a reaction to foods that might be harmful or fatal. When people smell or taste foods that have gone bad, for example, disgust is a typical reaction. Poor hygiene, infection, blood, rot, and death can also trigger a disgust response.

For example, research has shown that individuals from the United States express negative emotions like fear, anger, and disgust both alone and in the presence of others, while Japanese individuals only do so while alone Matsumoto, Other distinct cultural characteristics might be involved in emotionality. For instance, there may be gender differences involved in emotional processing.

Despite different emotional display rules, our ability to recognize and produce facial expressions of emotion appears to be universal. In fact, even congenitally blind individuals produce the same facial expression of emotions, despite their never having the opportunity to observe these facial displays of emotion in other people.

In fact, there is substantial evidence for seven universal emotions that are each associated with distinct facial expressions. The seven universal facial expressions of emotion are shown. Does smiling make you happy? Or does being happy make you smile? Recent research explored how Botox, which paralyzes facial muscles and limits facial expression, might affect emotion. Havas, Glenberg, Gutowski, Lucarelli, and Davidson discovered that depressed individuals reported less depression after paralysis of their frowning muscles with Botox injections.

Of course, emotion is not only displayed through facial expression. We also use the tone of our voices, various behaviors, and body language to communicate information about our emotional states. Body language is the expression of emotion in terms of body position or movement.

Autism spectrum disorder ASD is a set of neurodevelopmental disorders characterized by repetitive behaviors and communication and social problems. Children who have autism spectrum disorders have difficulty recognizing the emotional states of others, and research has shown that this may stem from an inability to distinguish various nonverbal expressions of emotion i. In addition, there is evidence to suggest that autistic individuals also have difficulty expressing emotion through tone of voice and by producing facial expressions Macdonald et al.

Difficulties with emotional recognition and expression may contribute to the impaired social interaction and communication that characterize autism; therefore, various therapeutic approaches have been explored to address these difficulties.

Emotions are subjective experiences that consist of physiological arousal and cognitive appraisal. Various theories have been put forward to explain our emotional experiences. The James-Lange theory asserts that emotions arise as a function of physiological arousal. The Cannon-Bard theory maintains that emotional experience occurs simultaneous to and independent of physiological arousal.

The Schachter-Singer two-factor theory suggests that physiological arousal receives cognitive labels as a function of the relevant context and that these two factors together result in an emotional experience.

Both of these structures are implicated in playing a role in normal emotional processing as well as in psychological mood and anxiety disorders. Increased amygdala activity is associated with learning to fear, and it is seen in individuals who are at risk for or suffering from mood disorders. The volume of the hippocampus has been shown to be reduced in individuals suffering from posttraumatic stress disorder.

The ability to produce and recognize facial expressions of emotions seems to be universal regardless of cultural background. However, there are cultural display rules which influence how often and under what circumstances various emotions can be expressed.

Tone of voice and body language also serve as a means by which we communicate information about our emotional states. Imagine you find a venomous snake crawling up your leg just after taking a drug that prevented sympathetic nervous system activation. What would the James-Lange theory predict about your experience? Why can we not make causal claims regarding the relationship between the volume of the hippocampus and PTSD?

Think about times in your life when you have been absolutely elated e. How would you describe how your arousal manifested itself physically?

Were there marked differences in physiological arousal associated with each emotional state? The research that exists is correlational in nature. Causal claims can only be made when performing an experiment. Skip to main content. Emotion and Motivation. Search for:. Emotion Learning Objectives By the end of this section, you will be able to: Explain the major theories of emotion Describe the role that limbic structures play in emotional processing Understand the ubiquitous nature of producing and recognizing emotional expression.

Link to Learning Watch this video about research that demonstrates how the volume of the hippocampus can vary as a function of traumatic experiences. Personal Application Question. Answers 1. Glossary basolateral complex part of the brain with dense connections with a variety of sensory areas of the brain; it is critical for classical conditioning and attaching emotional value to memory. Cannon-Bard theory of emotion physiological arousal and emotional experience occur at the same time.