Understanding Emotions, Fear, Guilt and Anger

Emotions are what keep us from being human and keeps a barrier between humanity and inhumane events. At times, it seems that people are controlled by their emotions, with the choices they make, their thoughts and the actions as well as the behaviors. This clearly shows how strong of an influence the emotions have on people.

Emotions can be defined as - "reactions that human beings experience in response to events or situations" (Cherry, 2022). According to Don Hockenbury and Sandra E. Hockenbury define emotion as - "an emotion is a complex psychological state that involves three distinct components: a subjective experience, a physiological response, and a behavioral or expressive response" (Cherry, 2022).

Types of Emotions

According to a psychologist named Paul Ekman suggested that there are 6 basic human emotions - fear, disgust, anger, surprise, happiness, and sadness. Each of these emotions have their own way of placing an experience on a person. The emotions have been established in the following universal emotions:

1. Happiness - a common definition of happiness is a pleasant emotional state marked by emotions of fulfillment, joy, and contentment. The truth is frequently considerably more nuanced and very personalized in terms of what genuinely makes people happy. Increased lifespan and marital satisfaction are only two of the many outcomes that have been related to happiness. On the other hand, a number of negative health effects have been associated with dissatisfaction.
2. Sadness - sadness is a different form of emotion that is frequently described as a passing emotional state marked by emotions of disappointment, sadness, hopelessness, apathy, and gloom. Examples of sadness may include - crying, quietness, withdrawal from others and etc.
3. Fear - fear is known as a powerful emotion that plays a role in flight-or-flight survival mode. The reason for the flight-or-fight mode is because of how - the heart rate quickens, the muscles become tense, the mind becoming more alert - urging the body to either run or fight. However, it depends on how people experience fear. Certain events or items may be more likely to cause dread in some persons because they are more fear sensitive. What we can conclude is that fear may be an emotional response to an immediate posed threat.
4. Disgust - this feeling, according to researchers, developed in response to meals that may be lethal or dangerous. For instance, disgust is a normal response when individuals smell or taste spoiled food. This type of behavior may be a immediate response to something that may disgust a person, including moral disgust. Moral disgust is a response to people responding to others' behaviors or others engaging in immoral behavior. Disgust may come in the form of: averting your eyes from the thing you're repulsed by , reactions on a physical level - such as vomiting or retching. Facial expressions - such wrinkles on the nose and a curled upper lip.
5. Anger - anger is also known as a powerful emotion that is characterized in feelings of hostility, agitation, or frustration. It comes in the form of speaking in loud tone or yelling, frowning or glaring, and hitting or throwing objects. Physical and emotional side effects are possible from this kind of feeling. Anger that is not controlled can affect your physical health and make it harder to make logical judgments. But having anger is a good thing too, which may clarify of what your needs or wants are when they're not being met.
6. Surprise - Following an unexpected event, surprise is characterized by a physiological startle reaction and is often relatively short. Positive, negative, or neutral emotions can all fall under this category. An unpleasant surprise, for instance, would entail someone startling you as you go to your car at night by springing out from behind a tree. "Surprise can have important effects on human behavior. For example, research has shown that people tend to disproportionately notice surprising events" (Cherry, 2022).

Other types of emotions include guilt, contempt, shame, satisfaction, relief and pride. However, the ones introduced by Paul Eckman, they are said to be the universal emotions throughout the all the cultures around the world. There has been in no means a better way to demonstrate what emotions are. Some scientists suggest that there are two or three basic emotions. Others suggest that emotions are in some sort of hierarchy with - joy, love, joy, surprise, anger, and sadness - can be later broken down into secondary emotions. Then from there, they could later be broken down to tertiary emotions. A study theorizes that there are 27 distinct emotions, all of which are interconnected to each other. "In other words, emotions are not states that occur in isolation. Instead, the study suggests that there are gradients of emotion and that these different feelings are deeply inter-related" (cherry, 2022).

Overall, The fact that no emotion exists in isolation should be kept in mind, though. As opposed to this, your wide range of emotions are subtle and complicated, weaving together to form the intricate and varied fabric of your emotional life. People can better comprehend the ways in which emotions are exhibited and the effects they have on behavior by being more familiar with some of the various sorts of emotions. This is pretty understandable, as emotions play a critical role in how people experience the world around them. From influencing the daily decision-making and how people engage between each other.

If a person is feeling too many emotions at a time due to an unknown trauma. Or is unable to control their emotions, it is best to talk to a health professional. As they are the ones to understand the underlying reasons to the uncontrollable emotions. It is also great to take a good care of your health and daily life - as it may take a turn on your body and emotions.

References:

Cherry, K. (2021). The 6 Types of Basic Emotions and Their Effect on Human Behavior. [online] Verywell Mind. Available at: https://www.verywellmind.com/an-overview-of-the-types-of-emotions-4163976 [Accessed: 7 Jun. 2023].

Cherry, K. (2022). Emotions and Types of Emotional Responses. [online] Verywell Mind. Available at: https://www.verywellmind.com/what-are-emotions-2795178 [Accessed: 7 Jun. 2023].