Overview

Emotions are affective states that arise in response to internal thoughts or external events. They involve subjective experience, physiological changes, expressive behavior, and cognitive appraisal. Emotions help organisms evaluate situations and guide decisions, social interactions, and learning.

Common categories and examples

Scholars use different schemes to list emotions. A widely cited set of primary emotions includes a small number of distinct affective states; broader lists enumerate many nuanced feelings. Typical examples are:

  • Basic emotions: anger, disgust, fear, happiness, sadness, surprise.
  • Expanded sets: contempt, shame, guilt, pride, interest, amusement, jealousy, envy.

Components and classification

Emotions are often described by several components: subjective feeling (what it feels like), physiological arousal (changes in heart rate or hormones), expressive behavior (facial expressions, posture, vocal tone), and cognitive appraisal (interpreting the cause and meaning). Some models treat emotions as discrete categories, while dimensional models place them on continua such as valence (pleasant–unpleasant) and arousal (calm–activated).

Origins and development

Emotional capacities develop across infancy and childhood and are shaped by biology, learning, and culture. Evolutionary accounts propose that certain emotional responses are adaptive and conserved across species, while cultural research emphasizes how display rules and emotion concepts vary between societies.

Uses, measurement, and examples

Researchers and practitioners study emotions to understand mental health, decision-making, education, and human–computer interaction. Measurement methods include self-report, behavioral observation, physiological recording, and coding of facial expressions. Everyday examples range from simple reactions, like startle and joy, to complex social emotions such as embarrassment or moral outrage.

Notable distinctions and resources

Debates continue about which emotions are fundamental versus constructed, and about universality of expression versus cultural specificity. For a structured enumeration and further reading, see a dedicated List of emotions that compiles common and nuanced terms used across psychology and popular discourse.