Types of emotions

Emotional intelligence is an essential phase for the human being, especially because it characterizes the behavior of people when speaking, behaving and, of course, in the way they feel. It is not an easy subject to tackle, but below we will tell you everything you need to know about the types of emotions.

Remember that emotions go hand in hand with behavior, thoughts, the way we feel, well-being and even emotional health. So to grow from a personal point of view, it is important to know a little more about emotions , how we can work and identify them.

Emotions: What are they?

They are nothing more than those alterations of the moods, which can be very intense, ephemeral and even pleasant; causing in most cases some physical reactions. More specifically, they are experiences that the person consciously or unconsciously exposes, where the mind maintains an intense activity, experiencing pleasure or displeasure.

There are many theories that are raised about emotions; However, the one that takes the greatest force is the one that affirms the appearance of the types of emotions as part of the limbic system; that space where neurons that regulate physiological responses to stimuli accumulate. That is why 3 key elements stand out from there:

• Physiological

It is a physical reaction that occurs when the body receives stimuli involuntarily . For example: when breathing is accelerated, hormonal changes or sweating.

• Cognitive

Here the emotions that are generated consciously or unconsciously are processed , as if it were an evaluation of the stimuli themselves; which causes the influence of the subjective experiences of the person.

• Behavioral

A change in behavior is processed, which is expressed from that behavior modification ; such as facial gestures, body postures, hands, among other aspects.

Of course, do not forget that emotions are something completely different from feelings, so it should not be confused, even if they are a bit related. By itself, feelings always appear after emotions appear and last over time.

What are the types of emotions?

In total there are 6 types of emotions, which are classified according to stimuli or reactions. But then we will give you all the details in a clear and simple way so that you can identify them.

Basic or primary emotions

They are those innate emotions that are presented through the response of a stimulus, which can be completely common for human beings, such as: sadness, fear, happiness, surprise, anger and disgust.

• Sadness

It is an emotion that usually displeases, where an assessment is made about something that happened, either through failure or the loss of something that is of great importance to the person. In some cases it may be something real that is temporary or permanent.

The interesting thing about sadness is that, although it is not suffered directly, you can feel emotion when another person is going through a loss or failure. Also, it can be kept in mind in the face of memories of the past or with a vision to the future. One of its basic functions is that we investigate ourselves to know ourselves better in certain situations. It has the ability to provoke introspection and self-knowledge .

• Joy or happiness

It is a highly pleasant emotion that develops from birth, which grows stronger over the years to become a source of inspiration and motivation . It is an essential emotion to promote emotional ties between parents and children during the first years of life, as well as for social survival.

Example: when we do something that pleases us and makes us feel good. This emotion appears before what satisfies us and generates pleasure.

• Afraid

It occurs in the human body when episodes of danger are experienced , whether in the face of a physical or mental threat; thus causing reactions in the human body that motivates it to face or flee from the danger that lies ahead. Of course, not all people experience fear from the same perspective, each action will depend on the person and what is considered a danger. Its main function is to get away from everything that threatens our survival .

Example: fear of wild and dangerous animals is quite common, since these species can pose a direct threat to our survival, and this fear invites us to move away and avoid them.

• Surprise

It is a neutral emotion that does not weigh a negative or positive connotation; it is an experience based on something completely unexpected . Which means that the stimuli are presented unexpectedly, so the body seeks to explain the reason for this unexpected reaction to make it clear if it is a threat or the opposite.

Example: if something unexpected happens, which we had not anticipated. Before a gift from someone we had not imagined, or seeing someone on the street that we know and have not seen for a long time.

• Disgust

An emotion that occurs when something generates disgust, which invites the body to reject or avoid outright the stimulus that has caused such emotion. It is nothing more than a kind of defense mechanism to protect the body, so it is normal that nausea or vomiting often occurs as a response.

Example: a viscous substance that can represent a danger to our body, makes us disgust so that we do not try it and do not expose ourselves to what we do not know. This emotion appears protecting us from what can be dangerous to ingest or touch.

• Go to

It is presented as a method of protection when the person has felt offended or mistreated by another, generating a mood of frustration, anger and even indignation.

Example: if someone humiliates us or does something that we dislike, anger can appear as a sign that we have a problem with this type of behavior. Managing our anger is important to control our most violent impulses. It allows us to know what we dislike and that poses a threat to us.

Secondary emotions

Secondary emotions are those that appear after the basic emotions , since they are generated from the moral and social norms that have been learned. Which means that, after experiencing fear of some stimulus, then a secondary emotion may appear such as threat, some of these secondary emotions are shame, shyness, envy, etc.

Pleasant emotions

They are all those emotions that impact solely and exclusively in a positive way on the person’s body, but also on their behavior. For this reason, they are also known as healthy emotions, since both thinking and acting are greatly improved when joy is experienced and then emotion. They are the ones that we like the most, but they are not the only ones that we should wait, since they all have an important function.

Unpleasant emotions

Unlike the previous point, negative emotions greatly affect the entire body, affecting the physical health and conventional behavior of the human being. They are also known as toxic emotions, so many times when experiencing them you just want to avoid them completely. But, even if they are unpleasant, emotions such as sadness or fear are essential to achieve a correct growth and learning before the analysis of the consequences.

Ambiguous emotions

This applies in the case of surprise, because it is a neutral emotion that makes the person feel neither bad nor good. It depends on the context that we like or not.

Social emotions

They are emotions that are experienced only in the presence of another person; and that generally they are about learned cultural aspects. An example for this is admiration, shame, gratitude or revenge, which are emotions that appear for someone else . Social emotions are necessarily triggered by these types of situations in which we are not alone. They also arise from the expectations and beliefs that we believe others have about us.

Types of emotions according to science

However, based on some scientific results, other emotions have been taken into account after the analysis of various emotional responses in men and women. From there, 26 human emotions were found, adding some existing and others completely new, which you will know below:

• Admiration : it is about enthusiasm or fascination, which can be felt by another person or after some life experience.
• Interest : it is that attention or focus that is placed on something that is beneficial, helpful or of great value; it can also generate an impression of curiosity.
• Aesthetic appreciation : it is an emotion that is directly related to the artistic industry, since it is generated from the pleasure of contemplating art or its ramifications.
• Fun : an emotion linked to leisure or entertainment through an activity, which also stimulates the joy of enjoying something at a certain time.
• Anxiety : it is a state of agitation or restlessness that is first processed in the mental sphere, so it can lead to fear or anguish.
• Fear : it is an emotion that brings out a sense of alert to some danger that acts as a threat, be it imaginary or real.
• Boredom : it is a kind of decay in the face of some situation or stimulus, where an annoyance is experienced that causes discomfort or fatigue.
• Calm : it is nothing more than a state of peace and tranquility through emotion.
• Confusion : it is a mental disorder where the panorama cannot be observed with complete clarity, which is why it is related to bewilderment, restlessness and perplexity.
• Disgust : it is the emotion that expresses the experience of something completely unpleasant, generating annoyance and resulting in another emotion such as boredom or anger.
• Empathic pain : it is an experience that occurs in the body when you see another person going through a bad time, so empathy allows you to evaluate the situation as if you were living in your own flesh.
• Ecstasy : it is a mental state that goes hand in hand with an immense emotion of admiration, joy or fun, so that the person can show pleasure.
• Envy : it is the emotion that is presented as disgust at the possessions of others, often causing sadness or anger.
• Craving : it is the intense desire or unlimited need to achieve something, which often represents the need to satisfy an essential will, as in the case of eating or going to the bathroom.
• Horror : it is an emotion much stronger than fear, since it is a sensation that causes great hatred and repulsion towards something intangible or tangible, it can even appear towards another person.
• Adoration : it is the reference of a deep love, which is also attributed to a spiritual attitude with something or someone.
• Joy: it is an emotion that brings great pleasure, which is widely and visibly manifested, regardless of the reason that generates it.
• Nostalgia : it is about that sadness or sorrow that is generated in the absence of someone or something very precious, as well as what comes after the memory.
• Love : it is an emotion that is linked to a variety of feelings towards another person or also to something, although it can also be expressed to philosophical ideas.
• Sadness : when this emotion occurs, the person is afflicted and melancholic, but it will depend on the degree of sadness so that the person can feel great pain, which in most cases is not physical.
• Satisfaction : it is nothing more than that emotion that gives pleasure and pleasure, mostly related to the fulfillment of achieving a desire, need or doing something that is passionate, so it is defined as a positive emotion.
• Sympathy : it is the emotion that leans towards the affective part towards a person and is usually visualized in friendly ties, so it always occurs spontaneously and reciprocally between two people.
• Triumph: it is about that emotional experience where the person feels victorious or victorious over something, since they have achieved aspirations that allow them to enjoy success.
• Shame : it is presented as an emotion when a person has been humiliated or has carried out an action of the same nature, manifesting itself in the face of a mistake made in public.
• Astonishment : expresses itself in the surprise of something completely unexpected, causing the emotion to be divided between admiration or strangeness.
• Anger : it is the emotion that attributes a feeling of disgust or annoyance towards another person, but it can also be experienced by the same person, with the possibility of turning into anger.

As you can see, emotions are not just anything and require attention so as not to cause damage to the well-being of the human body, since by not being well managed and understood they can generate imbalances in behavior , and scattered attitudes in people’s thinking. .

Physiology of emotions

Depending on the type of emotion we experience, it will have physiological consequences in our body . A series of changes are triggered in relation to the emotion we are experiencing. For example, fear will cause our sympathetic autonomic system to activate and we start sweating and our heart rate accelerates. It prepares us either to be paralyzed or to flee. An emotion such as joy generates a series of hormones such as endorphins and serotonin , which make us feel better, relax us and prepare us to enjoy the moment we are living.

They are a basic mechanism for our survival , in the face of an emotion where there is a threat, the sympathetic autonomic nervous system will be activated to alert us, while in the face of an emotion that is not more pleasant that does not serve as a threat alert, the sympathetic autonomic nervous system is activated. to keep us in a more relaxed and calm state.

Emotion is not a feeling

Also, do not forget that emotions are completely different from feelings , since emotions appear more quickly, are more intense and last for less time, and can vary according to the alterations that the organism receives. While feelings take longer to appear, they are less intense reactions and last longer.

So if you have already taken note of the stimuli that can affect your good development, always remember to maintain control, but without the need to be self-conscious about feeling honest and real about them, since emotions are a natural process for the human being since we are born.

Although there are emotions that may be more unpleasant than others, it is necessary to pay attention to the meaning they have and what each of them is trying to tell you . Since they have their biological function, repressing some of them is like ignoring an alert message, about something that we necessarily have to modify or attend to. Each type of emotion has a different capacity for us to know ourselves better in the different situations we experience.