How we change what others think, feel, believe and do

Emotions

Explanations > Emotions

 So what? | See also

Emotions are our feelings. Literally. We feel them in our bodies as tingles, hot spots and muscular tension. There are cognitive aspects, but the physical sensation is what makes them really different.

Articles on emotion include:

• Anger and Fear: Two closely related emotions.
• Association and Emotion: when we associate with people and events, we feel emotions.
• Basic Emotions: there are lots of emotions, but what are the basic ones?
• Dianetic Energy Levels: A view on the energy that emotions create.
• Purpose of Emotion: what is the real value of emotions?
• Emotional Arousal: The process of getting emotional.
• Emotion and Decision: our decisions are largely emotional.
• Emotion and Investment: Getting them involved.
• Emotions Analytics Types: Three felt evolutionary forces.
• Emotions and Light: Light changes how we feel.
• Emotion and Rationality: which often seem to be mutually exclusive.
• Emotional Intelligence is to emotions what IQ is to cognitive intelligence.
• Empathy: the ability to feel what others feel.
• The Experience of Emotion in the Body: Where we feel.
• Facial Emotional Indicators: Detecting emotions through their expressions.
• Fear and Greed: Common bedfellows in tricky situations.
• Five Dimensions of Emotion: How emotions may be classified.
• Hot and Cold Emotions: High and low arousal.
• Modalities of Emotion: Different dimensions that indicate emotion.
• Positive Emotions: There are several that are not negative.
• Primary and Secondary Emotions: Those that are key drivers and others.
• Regret: The bitterness of being unable to change the past.
• The Arousal Rollercoaster: Going hot and cold.
• Temperament, Mood and Emotion: Emotional states of different duration and cause.
• Theories about Emotion: deeper stuff about emotion.
• The Seven Deadly Sins are all emotions, as are The Seven Virtues.
• Warmth and Competence: Emotions triggered by evaluating others.

A basic of much emotional arousal is that there is a goal at stake somewhere. Our emotions thus cause us to want and not want. And when we have what we wanted, we then have emotions about owning it.

• Emotions of wanting:
  • Anticipation
  • Greed
  • Hope
  • Envy
  • Desire
  • Love
• Emotions of not wanting:
  • Fear
  • Shame
  • Repulsion
  • Contentment
  • Anxiety
• Emotions of having:
  • Happiness
  • Pride
  • Guilt
  • Jealousy
• Emotions of not having:
  • Anger
  • Sadness
  • Distress
• Other mind-changing emotions:
  • Contempt
  • Surprise
  • Arousal

Some emotions are discussed in more detail here:

• Happiness: Many pages on pleasure, joy and hedonism.

  • Three levels of happiness, What makes people happy?, Happiness as a motivator, More...

• Type of Fear: How fear happens.
• Common Fears: A further view of fear drivers.
• Four Reasons Why We Get Angry: Types of anger.
• Listening to Anger: How to hear it helpfully.

Emotions often lead to coping activities. When we feel something, we consequently respond to that feeling. This can be both in the immediate (and often subconscious) response to the feeling and also in the more thoughtful handling of the aftermath. Where this has been a negative feeling, the response may range from vigorous justification of our actions to conciliatory apologies and other 'making up'. A common response to the repression of unwanted emotions is displacement, where we act out our frustration in other ways. Thus a reprimanded child, knowing they cannot answer back, may go and 'punish' their toys.

Emotions affect and are a part of our mood, which is usually a more sustained emotional state. Mood affects our judgment and changes how we process decisions.

So what?

So manage emotions, both yours and theirs. In negotiations, the person gets their way is often the person who has greatest emotional control.

See also

Theories about emotion, Using Body Language, Plutchik's Ten Postulates, Pressing Buttons, Attention and Emotion

Blogs by subject: Emotions