Emotions and feelings are different parts of one whole. How do Emotions differ from Feelings?

In life, concepts such as emotions and feelings are often confused, but these phenomena are different and reflect different meanings.

Emotions are not always realized

Sometimes a person cannot quite clearly formulate what emotions he is experiencing, for example, people say “everything is boiling inside me,” what does this mean? What emotions? Anger? Fear? Despair? Anxiety? Annoyance?. A person cannot always identify a momentary emotion, but a person is almost always aware of a feeling: friendship, love, envy, hostility, happiness, pride.

Experts make a distinction between the concept of “ emotion" and the concepts " feeling», « affect», « mood" And " experience».

Unlike feelings, emotions do not have an object connection: they arise not in relation to someone or something, but in relation to the situation as a whole. " I'm scared"is an emotion, and " I'm afraid of this man" - this feeling.

The feelings and emotions listed here do not exhaust the entire palette, the entire variety of human emotional states. A comparison with the colors of the solar spectrum is appropriate here. There are 7 basic tones, but how many more intermediate colors do we know and how many shades can be obtained by mixing them!

It is difficult to say how many different emotional states there may be - but, in any case, there are immeasurably more than 70. Emotional states are highly specific, even if, with modern crude assessment methods, they have the same name. There seem to be many shades of anger, joy, sadness and other feelings.

Love for an older brother and love for a younger sister are similar, but far from identical feelings. The first is colored with admiration, pride, and sometimes envy; the second is a sense of self-superiority, a desire to provide patronage, sometimes pity and tenderness. A completely different feeling is love for parents, love for children. But to designate all these feelings we use one name.

The division of feelings into positive and negative is not done on ethical grounds, but solely on the basis of the pleasure or displeasure delivered. Therefore, gloating ended up in the column of positive feelings, and sympathy - in the negative feelings. There are, as you can see, much more negative ones than positive ones. Why? Several explanations can be offered.

Sometimes the idea is expressed that there are simply many more words in the language that express unpleasant feelings, because in a good mood a person is generally less inclined to introspection. This explanation seems unsatisfactory to us.

The initial biological role of emotions is signaling, of the “pleasant - unpleasant”, “safe - dangerous” type. Apparently, the signaling “dangerous” and “unpleasant” is more significant for the animal; it is vitally important, more relevant, because it directs its behavior in critical situations.

It is clear that such information in the process of evolution should receive priority over information signaling “comfort”.

But what has developed historically can change historically. When a person masters the laws of social development, this will change his emotional life, moving the center of gravity towards positive, pleasant feelings.

Let's return to the list of feelings. If you carefully read all 70 names, you will notice that some of the listed feelings coincide in content and differ only in intensity. For example, surprise and amazement differ only in strength, that is, in degree of expression. The same is anger and rage, pleasure and bliss, etc. Therefore, some clarifications need to be made to the list.

Typically, feelings come in five main forms:

The definition of feeling was given above.

Affect- this is a very strong short-term feeling associated with a motor reaction (or with complete immobility - numbness. But numbness is also a motor reaction).

Passion called a strong and lasting feeling.

Mood- the resultant of many feelings. This state is distinguished by a certain duration, stability and serves as the background against which all other elements of mental activity take place.

Under experiences however, they usually understand exclusively the subjective mental side of emotional processes, without including physiological components.

Thus, if we consider surprise a feeling, then amazement is the same feeling in content, but brought to the level of affect (remember the final silent scene of “The Inspector General”).

Similarly, we call anger brought to the level of passion by rage, bliss is the affect of pleasure, delight is the affect of joy, despair is the affect of grief, horror is the affect of fear, adoration is love that has become passion in duration and strength, etc.

Displays of emotions

Emotional reactions are associated with nervous processes, they also manifest themselves in external movements, called `` expressive movements." Expressive movements are an important component of emotions, the external form of their existence. Expressions of emotions are universal, similar for all people, sets of expressive signs that reflect certain emotional states.

Towards expressive forms of emotions include the following:

Gestures (hand movements),

Facial expressions (movements of facial muscles),

Pantomime (movements of the whole body) - see,

Emotional components of speech (strength and timbre, voice intonation),

Autonomic changes (redness, paleness, sweating).

You can read more about how emotions are expressed

The human face has the greatest ability to express various emotional shades (see). And, of course, the mirror of emotions is often the eyes (see)

Emotions and feelings are unique mental states that leave an imprint on a person’s life, activities, actions and behavior. If emotional states mainly determine the external side of behavior and mental activity, then feelings influence the content and internal essence of experiences caused by a person’s spiritual needs.
Based on materials from openemo.com

We often justify our actions with unexpectedly surging feelings, and sometimes we blame emotions for everything, using these concepts as synonyms. So maybe it’s true that there is no difference between feelings and emotions? Upon closer examination, it turns out that there is no smell of synonyms here. The concepts are, of course, similar, but once you understand their definitions, it will be impossible to confuse them later.

How are feelings different from emotions?

Our body reacts to changes in external conditions: the pulse quickens, the pupils dilate, breathing slows down, and goosebumps run through the body. And the initial impetus for these changes is given by emotions, which are a reaction to any situation. Emotions are needed to maintain vital functions and have a direct connection with the satisfaction of our needs or lack thereof. For example, if the body needs rest, then it is formed in the brain, due to which a person feels tired. If this need is satisfied, the emotion will change; if not, it will intensify. That is, these reactions are situational, and those associated with biological needs are innate.

How then are feelings different from emotions? The fact that they are not innate, unlike primary reactions, are based not on a momentary situation, but on acquired experience. They are also called secondary, higher emotions, since the initial impetus for formation was given by the primary reactions. The difference between feelings and emotions is also their associativity, implicitness and difficulty in explaining. For example, we are able to explain anger or surprise, but if we try to understand what causes love for a person, this is unlikely to work. Most likely, everything will end in lengthy discussions that will not provide an understanding of the reasons for such sensations. Also, the difference between human feelings and emotions lies in the long-term nature of the former and the short-term nature of the latter. The closest people can cause irritation, resentment, sadness, but with the resolution of the unpleasant situation this passes, but love remains, and such momentary reactions are unable to shake this feeling.

You can also notice the difference between feelings and emotions by their external manifestation. Emotions are expressed by our facial expressions, manner of speaking, tone of voice, gestures, and speed of conversation. Feelings have verbal expression, and if we hide them, they cause certain emotions. It often seems to us that these manifestations are invisible; in fact, those around us usually understand the state of our interlocutor. The point here is the social function of emotions and feelings, thanks to which external reflections of emotions have acquired stability. For example, in anger we flare our nostrils, and when amazed at some discovery we open our mouth.

How else are feelings different from emotions? Among the minor points, one can note the power of manifestation. Instant reactions can be very sharp and vivid, but feelings, due to their longer duration, are calmer.

One of the most interesting and mysterious areas of our psyche is the world of emotions. Studied for thousands of years by scientists from various fields of knowledge, it still keeps many of its secrets and mysteries. Emotions permeate our entire life, making it bright, rich, sometimes tremulous and tender, sometimes filled with unbearable burning pain. Yes, they are this life itself, because where feelings disappear, human existence ends.

It is psychology that most fully reveals the essence of this area of ​​the human psyche - the only science that has managed to organically link together the physiological basis and manifestations of emotional states.

In psychology, the concept of “emotions” is used both in a broad sense, as emotional states, and in a narrow sense, as one of the types of these states, along with feelings, moods, affects, etc. Emotional states are a special class of mental phenomena that reflect attitudes man to the world.

Emotions and needs

Interacting with the world around us and with other people, a person constantly encounters situations that evoke different attitudes in him: joy or indignation, sadness or hatred, surprise or sympathy. That is, a person reflects the world and stores information in memory not only in images and concepts, but also in the form of sensory experiences - emotions.

Emotions are closely related to. Those life circumstances, situations or people that contribute to the satisfaction of needs cause us positive emotions, and those that interfere or hinder us cause negative emotions. It's so simple and complicated at the same time.

• Firstly, we are not always aware of our needs, but we always experience the emotions associated with them. Therefore, we often cannot even explain to ourselves why we don’t like this or that person, or why our mood suddenly deteriorated.
• Secondly, a person lives a complex and multifaceted life, and often his needs come into contact not only with the needs of other people, but also with his own desires. Therefore, it can be extremely difficult even for an experienced psychologist to understand this confusing and chaotic whirlpool of emotions. You probably know that you can love and hate the same person at the same time, or be afraid and look forward to some event at the same time.

You can deal with your experiences only by realizing and bringing your confused desires and needs into at least relative order. Experienced psychotherapists can help a person with this. After all, only by understanding and accepting your needs or consciously abandoning them can you reduce the severity of negative experiences.

Psychophysiology of emotional states

Emotions are the oldest type of mental states; animals have them and are associated with the satisfaction of natural, and in higher animals, social needs.

• The antiquity of this type of mental state is confirmed by the fact that they are born in the old, from an evolutionary point of view, subcortical part of the brain - in the limbic system. By the way, the name is very telling. Limbo is purgatory, a place between heaven and hell, and even deeper lurks animal instincts and hidden, often dark desires and needs. They sometimes break through from the subconscious level, awakening in us strange emotions that frighten even ourselves.
• But the manifestation of emotions is controlled and controlled by the “youngest” and most rational part of the brain – the neocortex (“new cortex”). And when the rational part of the brain turns off, for example, during severe alcohol intoxication or in a state of passion, then emotions go out of our control, and behavior begins to be controlled by instincts, not reason.

Any external influence causes a focus of excitation in the cerebral cortex. If the irritation is weak, then the focus quickly fades, but the stronger the impact, the larger and more stable this focus is. Penetrating into the subcortical zone, it activates the centers of emotions.

Emotions, in turn, cause various changes in the physiological systems of the body, because emotions are a signal about the nature of the impact of the stimulus. And if they are negative, then our body is rebuilt, preparing to repel danger or run away from it. Moreover, for our brain, it turns out, it doesn’t matter whether the enemy is real or imaginary - the signal to restructure the body’s functioning is still received, and we experience various, often unpleasant, sensations. Thus, the emergence of a feeling of fear is accompanied by the following processes:

• Adrenaline is released into the blood, which should increase the supply of oxygen to the muscles and activate the sympathetic nervous system;
• blood and nutritional resources are directed to support the muscular system; this reduces the supply to other body systems, so a person feels cold, chills, his face turns pale, and due to lack of blood supply, dizziness and even loss of consciousness may occur;
• in order to cope with the increased needs for blood supply, the heart begins to beat faster, breathing quickens to supply the blood with oxygen and, as a result, difficulties arise with speech;
• rational control over behavior decreases, since the functions of the cerebral cortex are somewhat suppressed, and the person literally becomes stupid and does not think rationally well.

Changes in the functioning of various body systems under the influence of emotions are reflexive in nature, so we cannot consciously control them, but we can control emotions, at least at the initial stage of their occurrence. Our brain is quite capable of “persuading” the body not to succumb to feelings of fear or anger. And in psychotherapy there are special techniques and trainings that allow a person to learn even in the most critical situations.

Managing emotions is necessary not only to regulate behavior, but also to maintain physical health. The fact is that negative feelings (and they are experienced more strongly by a person than positive ones) have very unpleasant consequences. Their systematic experience can lead to the development, first of all, of the cardiovascular and digestive systems. It is these systems that are most affected by adrenaline surges and other physiological changes. That is, the saying: “All diseases come from nerves” has a rational basis.

Types of emotions

The most ancient and primitive type of emotional states are states of pleasure and displeasure, which are classified as the simplest organic sensitivity. These experiences are associated with the satisfaction (or dissatisfaction) of natural needs and are felt by a person even more physiologically than psychologically. For example, when, after a long and tiring day spent on your feet, you sit down in a soft, comfortable chair.

But most of our emotional states are “humanized,” that is, they are conscious in nature and associated with activity and social relationships.

Moods

This is the most generalized type of emotional states. Moods, on the one hand, are weakly expressed, and on the other hand, they create the background of all our activities, as if coloring our life at one stage or another.

The mood is quite stable. Changing it depends not only on the situation, but also on personal characteristics. In people with a mobile nervous system, moods are less stable and change frequently.

The most important characteristic of mood is its non-objective character. This emotional state creates a background, but is not associated with a specific subject. Although a person may well be aware of the circumstance that spoiled his mood, the emotion itself extends not only to this circumstance, but also affects activity (everything falls out of hand, you want to quit everything, etc.) and interpersonal relationships. Often we take our bad mood out on those who have nothing to do with it, or share our joyful well-being with the whole world.

Emotions

Actually, emotions (in the narrow sense) and feelings are quite close and similar, and psychologists are still arguing which of these emotional states can be attributed to a higher level and which is more primitive. But this is important for science, but does not play a role in everyday life.

Emotions themselves are more short-lived than moods, but also more clearly expressed. The power of expression of emotions is also much higher than that of mood. Emotions are more conscious of a person, and he clearly differentiates them: joy and anger, fear and hatred, pleasure and hostility.

But the main difference between emotions and moods is that they are objective and aimed at a specific object or situation. These emotional states are social in nature, that is, they are part of the communication process; a person conveys his emotions (with the help of facial expressions, pantomime, intonation, gestures) to other people and is able to perceive them, empathize, and sympathize with others.

Emotions have another unique feature - we are able to experience them in relation not only to a real situation, but also to an imaginary one. Memories and adventures of the heroes of books and films can also evoke emotions.

Feelings

This type of emotional state, just like emotions, is associated with certain objects. We love or hate very specific people, phenomena and situations. It is generally impossible to love, to experience feelings of respect or hostility. But feelings are longer lasting, more stable than emotions, deeper and more varied. And we can also say that feelings are more socialized and depend on a person’s interaction with the people around him. Therefore, feelings are varied, and there are several types of them:

• objective feelings are the largest variety of feelings associated with various aspects of human existence; these include, for example, admiration and disgust, feelings of the sublime and a sense of humor (comic);
• moral feelings are associated with relationships in society (love, hatred, sense of duty, friendship, envy, etc.);
• intellectual feelings are associated with cognitive needs (curiosity, inquisitiveness, a sense of mystery, doubt, confidence, etc.);
• aesthetic feelings arise in response to the perception of the beautiful or ugly in nature and art; in general, they can be characterized as the experience of pleasure or displeasure, pleasure or disgust, etc.

This classification, of course, is not entirely accurate and complete, since any feeling is essentially subjective. But it reflects quite well the diverse and colorful palette of human feelings.

Affect and stress

Affect is a very strong and vivid emotional response to a sudden situation that threatens a person’s health and life. The effects are short-lived, but they are expressed in a sharp activation of all the protective functions of the body. We can say that all the strength and hidden reserves of a person are directed towards getting rid of the cause of such strong negative emotions.

Cases are described when, in a state of passion, people jumped over four-meter fences and climbed tall trees. There was even a case recorded when a woman, saving a child from under the wheels of a car, was able to turn it over into a ditch by hitting the side of a small truck with her hands.

The peculiarity of affect is that it is accompanied not only by a powerful release of physical and emotional energy, but also by a state of altered consciousness. It manifests itself in a person’s loss of rational control over his actions. The subject seems to fall out of reality, and then cannot remember what he did in a state of passion. In criminology, murders committed in this state are classified as special types of crimes, since the person is not aware of his actions and does not control them.

After the affect comes a “rollback” - having used up all his strength, even internal reserves, a person feels weak, his hands tremble, his legs become “wobbly,” and sometimes he even loses consciousness.

Stress is similar to a state of passion in that it occurs as a response to or a threatening situation. But it is less strong and longer lasting. What is important is that stress is not accompanied by a change in consciousness and a shutdown of rational control. Although a person immersed in the cycle of his problems may not realize that he lives in a state of stress.

Stress also activates the body’s strengths, not only physical, but also intellectual. But in the initial stages this is felt as increased tone and a kind of stimulation of activity, and internal reserves are not spent. Only prolonged stress is harmful to a person, which leads to overload of the nervous system, chronic fatigue syndrome, and even depression.

Functions of emotions

Emotional states bring us many moments of pleasure, but often seem unnecessary. We would like to get rid of negative experiences, not worry about loved ones, not experience feelings of anger or fear. But emotions, even the most unpleasant ones, perform very important functions in our lives.

• Controlling or regulating function. Emotions, like negative or positive experiences, control our behavior, form motives and are the strongest incentive. After all, any living creature strives for what brings pleasure and tries to avoid unpleasant sensations.
• Evaluation function. Emotions help us make sense of a complex world and bring order to our relationships. They evaluate everything that happens to us: both good and bad. This assessment allows us to divide people into friends and enemies, and events into pleasant and unpleasant.
• Protective and mobilizing function. Emotions warn us of danger, and they also turn on the defense mechanisms of our body and mobilize forces to solve the problem.
• Signal or expressive. Emotions play a huge role in communication, conveying information to other people about our state and attitude. Expressive movements that accompany emotions are an important part of nonverbal communication.
• Synthesizing function. Emotions are a kind of “cement mortar” that connects events, images, and phenomena in memory. It is emotions that create in memory single blocks-complexes of events connected by experiences.

But along with positive and undoubtedly important and necessary functions, emotional states can also play a disorganizing role, that is, interfere with a person’s normal actions. The feeling of fear can develop into panic, which prevents you from properly comprehending the situation and making the right decision. Anxiety prevents you from concentrating on activities, for example, solving a problem on a test. And love, too, sometimes makes one’s head so dizzy that a person can no longer think about anything and does not evaluate his actions sensibly.

However, there is a way out. A person may well learn to control emotions and subordinate them to the control of the mind.

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 independently develop emotional intelligence? 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 of social 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 because of 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 mental phenomena have certain differences, but at the same time closely related.

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

IN what is the difference between emotion and feeling , a debate that arises from two terms that are often confused with each other, both in people's everyday speech and in scientific language, since their definitions cause quite a bit of confusion when distinguishing between one or the other.

Already in 1991, psychologist Richard Lazarus proposed a theory that included the concept of feeling within the framework of emotion.

In this theory, Lazarus considered two interrelated concepts so that emotions cover feeling in their definition. Thus, feeling is a cognitive or subjective component of emotion, subjective experience.

In this article, I will first explain to you what emotion is and, in brief, the various primary emotions that exist, and then I will continue to explain the concept of feeling and the differences that exist between them.

What are feelings and emotions

Definition and classification of emotions

Emotions are effects created by a multidimensional process that occurs at the level:

• Psychophysiological: changes in physiological activity.
• Behavioral: preparation for action or mobilization of behavior.
• Cognitive: analysis of situations and their subjective interpretation as a function of the personal history of the individual.

Emotional states result from the release of hormones and neurotransmitters, which then transform these emotions into feelings. Responses to stimuli come from both innate brain mechanisms (primary emotions) and behavioral repertoires learned throughout a person's life (secondary emotions).

The most important neurotransmitters involved in the formation of emotions are: dopamine, norepinephrine, cortisol and oxytocin. The brain is responsible for converting hormones and neurotransmitters into feelings.

It is important to be very clear that an emotion is never good or bad as such. All have an evolutionary origin, so it is the body's response to various stimuli for the survival of the individual.

Emotion is also ubiquitous in nonverbal communication. Facial expressions are universal and confirm the emotions you are feeling in that moment.

Functions of emotions

• Adaptive function: prepare a person for action. This function was first demonstrated by Darwin, who related to emotions with the function of facilitating behavior appropriate to each specific situation.
• Social: report our state of mind.
• Motivation: Promote motivated behavior.

Basic characteristics of emotions

The basic characteristics of emotions are those that every person has ever experienced in life. This:

• Surprise: surprise - as an adaptive function of research. This facilitates attention, focus and promotes search behavior and curiosity about a new situation. In addition, cognitive processes and resources are activated towards an unexpected situation.
• Disgust: This emotion has an adaptive function of rejection. This emotion makes avoidance or avoidance responses unpleasant or potentially harmful to our health. In addition, healthy and hygienic habits are improved.
• Joy: Its adaptive function is belonging. This emotion causes us to increase our capacity for pleasure and generates a positive attitude towards ourselves and others. On a cognitive level, it also promotes memory and learning processes.
• Fear: Adaptive protection function. This emotion helps us avoid responding to situations that are dangerous to us. It focuses primarily on the dangerous stimulus, allowing for a quick response. Finally, it will also mobilize a lot of energy that will allow us to carry out much faster and more intense responses about how we would do it in a situation that did not create fear.
• Anger: Its adaptive function is self-defense. Anger increases the mobilization of energy necessary to respond in self-defense to something dangerous to us. Removing obstacles that create frustration and prevent us from achieving our goals or goals.
• Sadness: This emotion has a reintegration of adaptive function. With this emotion, it would seem difficult to imagine the benefits of this. However, this emotion helps us increase our unity with other people, especially those who are in the same emotional state as us. In a state of sadness, our normal rhythm of general activity decreases, allowing us to pay more attention to other aspects of life that in a normal state of activity we would not stop thinking about.

It also helps us seek help from other people. This stimulates the emergence of empathy and altruism, both in the person who feels the emotion and in those who receive the demand for help.

Definition of feeling

A feeling is the subjective experience of emotion. As mentioned by Carlson and Hatfield in 1992, feeling is a moment-by-moment assessment that a subject makes every time he or she encounters a situation. That is, this feeling would be the sum of an instinctive and short-term emotion together with the thought that we receive a rational form of this emotion.

The passage of reasoning, consciousness and its filters thus creates a feeling. In addition, this thought can feed or support the feeling, making it more durable.

Thought, just as it has the power to nourish every feeling, can exert force to control those feelings and avoid the accumulation of emotions in case it is negative.

This is a process that requires learning because managing feelings, especially to stop them, is not something that is easily learned, it is something that entails a long learning process.

Childhood is a stage that is of great importance for the development of feelings.

In relationships with parents, a person learns the basics of desire and knowledge of how to behave socially. If the emotional bonds between parents and children are promoted positively, these children will arrive at the adult stage feeling secure in their own right.

Family bonds created from a very early age will cultivate and generate a personality capable of love, respect and coexist harmoniously throughout adolescence and adulthood.

When we do not express our feelings or do so inadequately, our problems increase, they can be affected in important ways even our health.

Duration of feelings

The duration of feelings depends on various factors, such as cognitive and physiological. It has its physiological origin in the neocortex (rational brain), located in the frontal part of the brain.

Although feelings improve willingness to act, they are not behavior per se. That is, a person may feel angry or upset and not have aggressive behavior.

Some examples of feelings are love, jealousy, suffering or pain. As we have already said, and you can imagine these examples, indeed, feelings have a rather long period.

Developing empathy allows people to understand other people's feelings.

In connection with the difference between feelings and emotions, the Portuguese neurologist Antonio Damasio made a definition of how a person moves from emotions to feelings, in which the most characteristic difference between both is reflected quite clearly:

When you experience an emotion, such as the emotion of fear, there is a stimulus that can trigger an automatic response. And this reaction, of course, begins in the brain, but then continues to reflect itself in the body, either in the real body or in our internal simulation of the body. And then we have the ability to project this particular reaction with several ideas that are associated with these reactions and with the object that caused the reaction. When we perceive everything that is, when we have a feeling.

Emotions operate from the very beginning of human life at birth as a warning system. Thus, a baby cries when he is hungry, wants affection, or requires other care.

Already in adulthood, emotions begin to form and improve thinking, drawing our attention to important changes.

Through this thought, when we ask ourselves, how is this person feeling? This allows us to have a real-time approach to a person's sensations and characteristics.

Additionally, it can help us advance feelings toward a future situation by creating an emotional stage of the mind and thus be able to more correctly determine our behavior by anticipating the feelings that arise from those situations.

Main differences

Here are some of the differences between emotions and feelings:

• The emotions are very intense, but at the same time very short. Just because an emotion has a short duration does not mean that your emotional experience (i.e. the feeling) is equally short-lived. A feeling is the result of emotions, a subjective emotional mood, as a rule, a long-term consequence of emotions. The latter will continue as long as our conscious mind takes time to think about it.
• Therefore, a feeling is the rational response we give to every emotion, the subjective interpretation we generate before all emotions have our past experiences as a fundamental factor. That is, the same emotions can cause different feelings depending on each person and subjective meaning.
• Emotions, as I explained above, are psychophysiological reactions that arise in front of various stimuli. While feelings are a conscious reaction of emotions.
• Another significant difference between emotions and feelings is that emotions can be created unconsciously, while in sensation there is always a conscious process. This feeling can be regulated by our thoughts. Emotions that are not perceived as feelings remain in the unconscious, although they can, however, influence our behavior.
• A person who is aware of a feeling has access to his mood, as I already mentioned, to increase it, maintain it or extinguish it. This does not happen with emotions, which are unconscious.
• Feeling differs from emotions in that it consists of more intellectual and rational elements. There is already some kind of elaboration in the feeling with the intention of understanding and understanding, a reflection.
• The feeling may be caused by a complex mixture of emotions. That is, you can feel anger and love for one person at a time.

Understand emotions and feelings

To try to understand our emotions and feelings, both positive and negative, it is very helpful to use our thoughts. To do this, it is effective to express our feelings in order to explain to another person, and who can be put in our place in the most terrifying and objective way.

If you are trying to talk to someone about your feelings, it is advisable to be as specific as possible about how we feel in addition to the extent of that feeling.

Additionally, we should be as specific as possible when identifying the action or event that makes us feel, which is a way to show as much objectivity as possible, rather than making the other person feel like they are being blamed directly.

I will conclude by giving an example of the process by which an instinctive and momentary emotion becomes, through reasoning, a sensation.

This is a case of love. It may start with emotions of surprise and joy that someone is paying attention to us for a while.

When this stimulus fades, that is when our limbic system will report the absence of stimulus, and the conscious mind will understand that this is no longer the case. This is when you move on to romantic love, a feeling that lasts longer in the long run.