Human emotions and feelings. What is the difference? Emotions and feelings are different parts of one whole Feelings and emotions depend on

Emotions and feelings are inherent in every person. But have you ever wondered what it even is and what are the differences between these concepts? They are often used as synonyms, although not all psychologists, psychiatrists and other representatives of science agree with this point of view. Of course, the issue of emotions and feelings in psychology is very multifaceted and it is simply impossible to cover it in one article (especially since specialists are not always unanimous in everything that concerns this area). In this article we will look at what are emotions person and what are feelings, What is the difference And what are the emotions.

Emotions: a matter of definition

We encounter different approaches to emotions already at the definition stage. Depending on the theories, views and ideas being analyzed, psychologists, psychiatrists and other specialists sometimes give very different answers to the question of what emotion means. In the context of this article, the most suitable ones seem to be, for example, following definitions:

• emotions are a special class of mental phenomena, manifested in the form of a direct, biased experience by the subject of the life meaning of these phenomena, objects and situations to satisfy his needs (Big Psychological Encyclopedia);
• emotions are states associated with an assessment of the significance for an individual of the factors acting on him and expressed primarily in the form of direct experiences of satisfaction or dissatisfaction of current needs. They are one of the main regulators of activity (Psychological Dictionary);
• emotions are a mental reflection in the form of direct biased experience of the relationship of phenomena and situations to needs (G. Verbina. Psychology of emotions).

All these definitions have in common perception of the essence of emotions as a reaction to external events and phenomena. Needs in this context are considered as broadly as possible: these are both needs in the literal sense of the word, as well as desires, plans, ideas about something, etc. Events/phenomena are also widely understood: they can happen now, we can only imagine them or experience them in some other way. Accordingly, all features of emotions, their external (facial expressions, gestures, etc.) and internal (our relationships, experiences) manifestations become a consequence of such a reaction.

Regardless of the interpretation of what emotions are, experts agree that the word itself goes back to the Latin verb emovere- excite, shock, excite.

How are emotions different from feelings?

So where are the feelings and where are the emotions? According to some theories, the main difference between emotions and feelings is related to the definition mentioned above. So, we call emotions a response to an event or situation. For example, a banknote found on the road
1,000 rubles causes joy, lost rubles cause sadness. As a rule, emotions pass quite quickly if the reaction to an event/phenomenon somehow fades away. You found 1,000 rubles - and are happy. Then you get distracted and the joy goes away.

A feeling is a stable, emotionally charged attitude towards any object/subject, which is not a reaction to specific situations or events. For example, love for a spouse, hatred for a traitor, etc. - they are constant over time, although they are also capable of changing (how can one not remember that from love to hate there is only one step).

Another difference between feelings and emotions is in their nature. Feelings usually concern the social sphere(relations with other people), whereas for emotions this is not necessary. Besides, feelings are attached to some subject/object, but for emotions this, again, is not necessary. It is impossible to love or hate in the abstract - only someone specific.

Note that different specialists have different attitudes towards feelings. Some consider them as higher emotions (we will discuss this issue further), while others distinguish them as a separate type of emotional/mental states. And here it should be noted that in scientific community There are different definitions of emotional and mental states. Therefore, we propose to accept that feelings are qualitatively different from fleeting emotions, but we will address the question of what emotional/mental states are in the following materials.

In relation to the same object/subject we can experience simultaneously multidirectional feelings and emotions. For example, you may love your spouse very much, but be angry with him for not keeping his promise. And the next moment - to rejoice at the gift he gave as an apology. We often do not know about the true feelings of another person towards us and sometimes we draw conclusions about them based on the emotions that he shows towards us (which may not coincide with feelings). It is useful to remember this: both when you want to understand how another person feels about you, and when you are trying to imagine how he perceives your feelings towards him.

What are the different emotions? Several basic classifications

All experts agree that emotions can be classified and divided into different groups depending on their particular qualities and characteristics. Although, the question of how exactly to divide emotions into groups, of course, is solved in different ways. We propose to dwell on those main features and classifications that most fully correspond to the above definitions. Here we can distinguish the following types of emotions:

1. Positive and negative

Of course, first of all there are emotions positive(joy, love, admiration, delight, gratitude) and negative(anger, rage, disgust, disappointment, sadness). Another name for the same division of emotions by sign, by modality - positive And negative. Also distinguished neutral emotions (interest, curiosity).

2. Thenic and asthenic

Emotions and feelings are not only expressed differently (both externally and internally), but also have different effects.
on our body, affecting metabolism, blood circulation, hormone release and other physiological processes. Emotions can slow down or speed up reactions, increase/lower energy levels, and positively/negatively influence perception, alertness, and much more. According to the nature of this influence, emotions are divided into sthenic(they are active) And asthenic(they are passive).

Stenic emotions activate life processes (give us energy, efficiency, etc.); asthenic ones, on the contrary, depress. Thus, joy allows you to forget about fatigue, gives a feeling of lightness, good health, etc. In turn, due to sadness, we can become discouraged, our energy level drops, and fatigue sets in.

3. Simple and complex

Emotions happen simple And complex(other names for the same classification: basic/elementary And composite). Figuratively speaking, complex emotions consist of simple/basic/elementary ones. In turn, simple/basic/elementary emotions cannot be divided into smaller components.

Let us remember that this is only one version of such a classification. Thus, some experts, for example, separate the concepts of basic and elementary emotions. For them, elementary are those that cannot be divided into smaller ones, and basic are those that are characteristic of every person, regardless of his age, the culture to which he belongs, etc.

Lists of the simplest emotions, of course, also vary. For example, Descartes identifies desire, love, hatred, joy, sadness and surprise. K. Izard in his book “The Psychology of Emotions” lists 11 basic, or fundamental, emotions: guilt, anger, interest, disgust, sadness, contempt, joy, embarrassment, fear, shame and surprise. And there is such a list: anger, sadness, joy, fear, shame. Or this: disgust, sadness, joy, fear, pleasure.

As you can see, most experts identify joy as simple emotion, at the same time, admiration or tenderness are components. Sadness is also usually seen as a basic emotion, while resentment or irritation is complex. It is interesting that in most lists there are more negative elementary emotions than positive ones.

4. Higher and lower

Another type of emotion - inferior And higher. The lower ones are emotions aimed at satisfying the simplest needs and instincts (the joy of food or rest). While the highest ones concern intellectual, social, moral, aesthetic and other complex issues(in the broadest sense of the word, for example, admiration for a beautiful picture or pride in a child who won a competition school olympiad). At the same time, there is a point of view that the highest emotions are feelings, but not everyone agrees with this approach.

Emotions and feelings are very close concepts and are often used as synonyms. “Feeling of anger” or “emotion of anger” – you can say either way, you will be understood. At the same time, sometimes, for special tasks, these concepts need to be separated.

“I love him, I really can’t live without him,” “I’m depressed today,” “I’m disappointed in you” - when people utter these phrases, it usually means that they are talking about their feelings. No, strictly speaking, we are talking about their emotions. What is the difference between them?

Emotions are short-term and situational: “I’m annoyed,” “you’re pissing me off,” “I’m in admiration,” “I adore you” - usually these are reactions to a specific situation. And feelings, living in streams under the excitement of flickering emotions, are more stable and speak more about the person himself than about the features of a particular situation.

If a young man is angry because the girl he likes is silent and does not answer his letters, the girl will not confuse: his anger is his emotions, and the fact that he likes her is his feelings. Hooray!

Speaking at the meeting, the girl was worried and constrained, not emotional. When the excitement passed (the feeling of excitement subsided), her emotions awoke and she spoke brightly and expressively. Here the feeling extinguished the emotions, and only with the departure of the feeling did the emotions begin to live.

The difference between emotions and feelings is the speed and duration of the processes.

If the face changes expression quickly and quickly returns to its original (calm) state, this is an emotion. If the face slowly began to change its expression and remained in the new expression for a (relatively) long time, this is a feeling. And since “fast” or “slow” is very relative, there are no clear boundaries between these two concepts.

Emotions are quick and short elements of feeling. Feelings are a lasting and more stable basis for flaring emotions.

It is easier to talk about emotions because they are not so intimate, emotions are on the surface, and feelings are in depth. Emotions, unless a person specifically hides them, are obvious. Emotions are visible on the face, they are intense, they are clearly manifested and sometimes look like an explosion. And feelings are always a bit of a mystery. This is something smoother, deeper, and at least at first they need to be unraveled - both by those around him and by the person himself. It happens that a person, without understanding what he really feels, talks about emotions and this misleads those who are trying to understand him. However, the meaning of each specific emotion can only be understood in the context of the feeling that it expresses.

Doubt “to say or not to say” can mean completely different things: “will I be able to formulate it accurately”, “can I tell you this now” and “maybe it’s time to confess?”

Feelings cannot be conveyed directly; they can only be conveyed in external language, in the language of emotions. It is fairly fair to say that emotions are feelings expressed to be presented to others.

Experiences for oneself are rather feelings. An outburst of feelings on another, a demonstration of feelings, expressive movements for... - these are rather emotions.

Be emotional and feel

Emotions and feelings are different things, but in many ways similar. But “being emotional” and “feeling” are very different states, rather contradictory to each other. A person in emotions feels worse about other (even close) people, and those who are used to feeling and empathizing are less likely to fall into emotions. Cm.

It’s difficult for me to understand my feelings - a phrase that each of us has encountered: in books, in movies, in life (someone else’s or our own). But it is very important to be able to understand your feelings.

The Wheel of Emotions by Robert Plutchik

Some people believe - and perhaps they are right - that the meaning of life is in feelings. And in fact, at the end of life, only our feelings, real or in memories, remain with us. And our experiences can also be a measure of what is happening: the richer, more varied, and brighter they are, the more fully we experience life.

What are feelings? The simplest definition: feelings are what we feel. This is our attitude towards certain things (objects). There is also a more scientific definition: feelings (higher emotions) are special mental states, manifested by socially conditioned experiences that express long-term and stable emotional relationships of a person to things.

How are feelings different from emotions?

Sensations are our experiences that we experience through our senses, and we have five of them. Sensations are visual, auditory, tactile, taste and smell (our sense of smell). With sensations everything is simple: stimulus - receptor - sensation.

Our consciousness interferes with emotions and feelings - our thoughts, attitudes, our thinking. Emotions are influenced by our thoughts. And vice versa - emotions influence our thoughts. We’ll definitely talk about these relationships in more detail a little later. But now let’s remember once again one of the criteria for psychological health, namely point 10: we are responsible for our feelings, it depends on us what they will be. It is important.

Fundamental Emotions

All human emotions can be distinguished by the quality of experience. This aspect is most striking emotional life person is presented in the theory of differential emotions by the American psychologist K. Izard. He identified ten qualitatively different “fundamental” emotions: interest-excitement, joy, surprise, grief-suffering, anger-rage, disgust-disgust, contempt-disdain, fear-horror, shame-shyness, guilt-remorse. K. Izard classifies the first three emotions as positive, the remaining seven as negative. Each of the fundamental emotions underlies a whole spectrum of conditions that vary in degree of expression. For example, within the framework of such a unimodal emotion as joy, one can distinguish joy-satisfaction, joy-delight, joy-jubilation, joy-ecstasy and others. From the combination of fundamental emotions, all other, more complex, complex emotional states arise. For example, anxiety can combine fear, anger, guilt and interest.

1. Interest is a positive emotional state that promotes the development of skills and abilities and the acquisition of knowledge. Interest-excitement is a feeling of capture, curiosity.

2. Joy is a positive emotion associated with the opportunity to sufficiently fully satisfy an actual need, the probability of which was previously small or uncertain. Joy is accompanied by self-satisfaction and satisfaction with the world around us. Obstacles to self-realization are also obstacles to the emergence of joy.

3. Surprise - without a clearly defined positive or negative sign emotional reaction to unexpected circumstances. Surprise inhibits all previous emotions, directing attention to a new object and can turn into interest.

4. Suffering (grief) is the most common negative emotional state associated with receiving reliable (or seeming) information about the impossibility of satisfying the most important needs, the achievement of which previously seemed more or less likely. Suffering has the character of an asthenic emotion and more often occurs in the form of emotional stress. The most severe form of suffering is grief associated with irretrievable loss.

5. Anger is a strong negative emotional state, often occurring in the form of affect; arises in response to an obstacle in achieving passionately desired goals. Anger has the character of a sthenic emotion.

6. Disgust is a negative emotional state caused by objects (objects, people, circumstances), contact with which (physical or communicative) comes into sharp conflict with the aesthetic, moral or ideological principles and attitudes of the subject. Disgust, if combined with anger, can interpersonal relationships motivate aggressive behavior. Disgust, like anger, can be directed toward oneself, lowering self-esteem and causing self-judgment.

7. Contempt is a negative emotional state that arises in interpersonal relationships and is generated by a mismatch in the life positions, views and behavior of the subject with those of the object of feeling. The latter are presented to the subject as base, not corresponding to accepted moral standards and ethical criteria. A person is hostile to someone he despises.

8. Fear is a negative emotional state that appears when the subject receives information about possible damage to his life well-being, about a real or imaginary danger. In contrast to suffering caused by direct blocking of the most important needs, a person, experiencing the emotion of fear, has only a probabilistic forecast of possible trouble and acts on the basis of this forecast (often insufficiently reliable or exaggerated). The emotion of fear can be both sthenic and asthenic in nature and occur either in the form of stressful conditions, or in the form of a stable mood of depression and anxiety, or in the form of affect (horror).

9. Shame is a negative emotional state, expressed in the awareness of the inconsistency of one’s own thoughts, actions and appearance not only with the expectations of others, but also with one’s own ideas about appropriate behavior and appearance.

10. Guilt is a negative emotional state, expressed in the awareness of the unseemlyness of one’s own actions, thoughts or feelings and expressed in regret and repentance.

Table of human feelings and emotions

And I also want to show you a collection of feelings, emotions, states that a person experiences during his life - a generalized table that does not pretend to be scientific, but will help you better understand yourself. The table was taken from the website “Communities of Addicted and Codependent”, author - Mikhail.

All human feelings and emotions can be divided into four types. These are fear, anger, sadness and joy. You can find out what type a particular feeling belongs to from the table.

And for those who read the article to the end. The purpose of this article is to help you understand your feelings and what they are like. Our feelings largely depend on our thoughts. Irrational thinking often underlies negative emotions. By correcting these mistakes (working on our thinking), we can be happier and achieve more in life. There is interesting, but persistent and painstaking work to be done on oneself. You are ready?

This might interest you:

P.S. And remember, just by changing your consumption, we are changing the world together! © econet

It is human nature to constantly show feelings and emotions, since he is a thinking and spiritually developed being.

Despite the apparent commonality of these processes, they differ significantly from each other.

How to develop yourself emotional intellect? Find out about this from ours.

Concept and examples of emotions

Emotions- mental states that a person experiences during situations and events that are significant to him.

These processes occur in the body constantly in response to almost any external stimuli or internal experiences.

For example, in a state of constant hunger, a person experiences suffering and fatigue.

A well-fed, healthy, physically developed person experiences satisfaction, he is active and cheerful.

Higher feelings arise as a result public life. They are divided into three groups:

1. Moral: partnership, friendship, affection, duty, pity, etc. They arise as a result of the assimilation of existing norms, principles, and patterns of behavior in society. Assimilation of information occurs at a conscious level, therefore, as a result, one’s own system of values ​​is formed.

   It determines the rules of behavior in society, the nature of relationships with people, carried out.

2. Intelligent: curiosity, search for truth. They appear in people during the development of their brain activity.
3. Aesthetic: admiration, sarcasm, sense of humor, tragedy, enthusiasm, etc. These sensations arise as a result of the perception of information of an aesthetic nature - artistic images, musical works. A person develops his own ideas about beauty and ugliness.

What is the difference?

These mental processes differ from each other according to the following criteria:

1. Degree of awareness. An individual, experiencing emotions, cannot always give a clear description of his condition. For example, he may be restless, but not understand the essence of this restlessness. It can be caused by fear, anger, etc. at the same time. Feelings are always clearly recognized. A person always understands for whom he has friendship and for whom he loves, when he is happy and when he is unhappy.
2. Understanding the reasons. Emotion sometimes arises for no reason at all. For example, we suddenly feel sad and lonely, but there is no real reason for such feelings. Feelings always have a specific reason. We are friends with a friend because we find him interesting, reliable, and fun. We are proud of our husband because he is successful and handsome.
3. Degree of stability.

   Emotions are always tied to a specific situation, to the current moment in time.

   The joy experienced “here and now” from some event may already be irrelevant tomorrow. Feelings are characterized by stability. They are tied to a specific subject and are not exclusively related to the current situation.

Correlation of concepts

Despite the existing differences, both types of mental manifestations are a way of expressing oneself and one’s attitude to the surrounding reality.

At the same time, feelings are a broader, complex and stable process that includes other manifestations.

The same feeling can be accompanied by different emotions. For example, a friendly attitude towards another person can be accompanied in the process of interaction by a whole palette of sensations - joy, mistrust, sadness, anger, boredom, jealousy, etc.

At the same time, the instability of momentary sensations, depending on specific circumstances, does not in any way affect the stability of friendship. That is, the object of friendship itself does not cease to arouse sympathy and be considered a friend just because a conflict has occurred in a particular situation.

Feelings are manifested externally through emotions. Thus, experiencing love for another person, we experience a whole range of positive moments in the process of communicating with him: joy, tenderness, interest, sentimentality, etc.

Feelings associated with love can also be negative: jealousy, anxiety, sadness, melancholy, etc.

Patterns

Both mental processes are subject to certain laws. So, feelings are characterized by:

1. Generality. By experiencing a certain character of feelings towards an object, one can transfer a similar attitude to all homogeneous objects. For example, love for one's domestic cat can transform into love for all cats.
2. Dullness. This means gradual fading, loss of intensity. This effect is especially clear when considering love relationships. Even the most intense love turns into a calmer direction over time.
3. Mutual influence. In a situation of observing different actions or phenomena, a more pronounced perception of one ongoing event against the background of another event is possible. Thus, the betrayal of one friend in a critical situation is perceived especially negatively against the background of the nobility shown by another friend.
4. Summation. Feelings experienced throughout life can add up. For example, pleasure from professional fulfillment may constantly increase as a result of new achievements and successes.

   Or constant failures in your personal life can ultimately lead to a state of depression.

Patterns of emotions:

How to determine what it refers to?

Often people confuse two mental phenomena with each other, cannot give an accurate definition of the sensation experienced.

To solve the problem, you need to analyze sensations according to the following criteria: awareness, stability, presence of a cause.

For example, phenomena such as anger, joy and sadness are emotions. They can appear unconsciously, without any specific reason, and are tied to a specific current event.

So, during the day you can experience causeless sadness in the morning, joy from meeting an old friend, and anger due to an argument with a neighbor.

All these feelings replace each other and do not affect the characteristics of the entire personality.

Such a mental phenomenon as pride is a feeling.

It has awareness, because a person feels pride in himself or a loved one, based on the analysis of objective data.

This phenomenon is sustainable because it is impossible to stop being proud because of any temporary situation. There is always a reason for pride based on achievements and successes.

The ability to express feelings and emotions is given to each of us. These psychic phenomena have certain differences, but at the same time closely related.

How are emotions different from feelings? Find out from the video: