The 8 types of emotions (classification and description)

Psychology has always been interested in emotions, because they influence our thinking, our behavior and even our mental health.

That is why the concept of emotional intelligence has been gaining ground in recent decades and words like emotional validation, emotional regulation or emotional management are becoming more and more familiar to us. Emotional intelligence has been shown to improve our well-being and performance. In this article we will talk about emotions and how these human manifestations are classified.

• Related article: "The 10 benefits of emotional intelligence"

What are emotions

There are many theorists who have tried to explain what emotions are. For the psychologist David G. Meyers, emotions are composed of "physiological arousal, expressive behavior, and conscious experience."

Nowadays, it is accepted that emotions originate in the limbic system and that these complex states have these three components:

• Physiological: It is the first reaction to a stimulus and they are involuntary: respiration increases, hormonal changes, etc.
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• Cognitive: Information is processed at the conscious and unconscious level. It influences our subjective experience.
• Behavioral: Causes a change in behavior: facial gestures, body movement ...
• Over the years, there has been some debate between what is an emotion and what is a feeling. You can know the difference in our article: "The 16 types of feelings and their psychological function"

Theories of emotion

In fact, different theories about emotion have been formulated for decades. The most important are classified in three ways: physiological, neurological and cognitive.

• Physiological theories: affirm that intracorporal responses are responsible for emotions.
• Neurological theories: suggest that activity in the brain leads to emotional responses.
• Cognitive theories: they propose that thoughts and other mental activities are responsible for the formation of emotions.
• You can delve into these theoretical models in our post: "Emotional psychology: main theories of emotion"

Classification of emotions (types)

But, How are emotions classified? There are different types of emotions, below you can find a list with a brief explanation of each of them. Keep in mind, however, that this is not a definitive classification, since none will reflect 100% how emotions are grouped and related to each other; it is simply a useful classification.

1. Primary or basic emotions

Primary emotions are also known as basic emotions, and are the emotions we experience in response to a stimulus. For Paul Ekman, the basic emotions are 6: sadness, happiness, surprise, disgust, afraid and go to. All of them constitute adaptation processes and, in theory, exist in all human beings, regardless of the culture in which they have developed.

On the other hand, it must be taken into account that the fact that a psychological phenomenon or trait occurs universally In all human societies it does not mean that it is part of our instincts, nor that it is an expression of our genes. There are cultural universals, which despite the fact that historically they have occurred in all human groups, in certain contexts they disappear. For example, the tendency to believe in religions.

Returning to the types of basic emotions, we have seen that it is possible to describe about 6 from the behavioral patterns of people. However, recently, research carried out by the University of Glasgow, which was published Current Biology, concludes that there are not six basic emotions, but that there are four.

• You can know more about this study in our article: "Study shows that the basic emotions are four, and not six as previously believed"

2. Secondary emotions

Secondary emotions are a group of emotions that follow the previous ones. For example, when we experience the basic emotion of fear later we can feel the secondary emotions of threat or anger, depending, of course, on the situation we are experiencing. Secondary emotions are caused by social norms and moral norms.

3. Positive emotions

Depending on the degree to which the emotions affect the behavior of the subject, they can be either positive or negative. Positive emotions are also known as healthy emotions, because they positively affect the well-being of the individual who feels them. They favor the way people think, reason and act. For example, joy, satisfaction, gratitude do not provoke a positive attitude towards life and they make us feel experiences that help us feel good.

4. Negative emotions

Negative emotions are opposite of positive emotions, because negatively affect people's well-being. They are also known as toxic emotions, and they often provoke the desire to avoid or avoid them. Fear or sadness are some examples.

However, it must be borne in mind that these types of emotions, in small amounts and relatively low intensity, are not harmful. In fact, they are part of the learning process, since thanks to them our emotional memory helps us remember the consequences of certain behaviors (or exposing ourselves to certain contexts).

5. Ambiguous emotions

Ambiguous emotions are also known as neutral emotions, since they cause neither negative nor positive emotions, neither healthy nor unhealthy. For example, surprise does not make us feel good or bad.

The existence of these emotions makes it clear that we are complex animals, and that our experiences are very nuanced.

6. Static emotions

Some authors have also made reference to static emotions. They are those that are produced thanks to different artistic manifestations, such as: music or painting.

Thus, when listening to a song we can feel very happy or very sad, but that feeling would be qualitatively different from happiness or sadness. that is experienced before any other experience, since it is lived in an artistic context, mediated by symbols and attributions on the intentions of the Author.

• Related article: "The 10 songs that make us feel the best (according to science)"

7. Social emotions

Social emotions do not refer to culturally learned emotions, but it is necessary that there is another person present or else they cannot emerge. For example, revenge, gratitude, pride, or admiration are emotions we feel about other individuals.

8. Instrumental emotions

Instrumental emotions are those whose aim or objective is manipulation or the purpose of achieving something. They are difficult to recognize because they can appear to be natural. However, they are forced emotions and hide an intention. Sometimes they are the result of self-suggestion: voluntarily submitting to certain contexts to make a part of that emotion color our way of behaving.

The importance of emotional education

Many times we do not realize the importance of emotional education. In schools, for example, they are more concerned with teaching us to be good professionals, and neglect to become emotionally intelligent and emotionally healthy people. Emotional intelligence has proven to be a basic tool for our mental health and is, without a doubt, a way to empower ourselves in the face of life, to become people much more prepared for day to day. happy!

Emotional intelligence is a term that became famous thanks to Daniel Goleman, and since then many investigations have affirmed that it is positive not just for our daily lives, but in work, sports and even education, it is highly effective and brings many benefits to performance.

• Related article: "Daniel Goleman: biography of the author of Emotional Intelligence"

According to Goleman, the components of emotional intelligence They are:

• Emotional self-awareness
• Emotional self-control
• Self motivation
• Recognition of the emotions of others
• Relationships
• Surely you want to know more about this theory. So you can visit our post: "What is emotional intelligence? Discovering the importance of emotions"

Bibliographic references:

• Damasio, A. (2014). In search of Spinoza: neurobiology of emotion and feelings. Barcelona: Booket, 2014. ISBN 978-84-233-4615-8.
• Ekman, P. (2004). What does that gesture say? Barcelona: RBA202f: Integral, 2004. ISBN 978-84-7871-202-1.
• Ekman, P.; Cordaro, D. (2011). What is Meant by Calling Emotions Basic. Emotion Review. 3(4): 364 - 370.
• Salmurri, F. (2015). Reason and emotion: resources for learning and teaching to think. Barcelona: RBA, ISBN 978-84-9056-407-3.
• Suchy, Y. (2011). Clinical neuropsychology of emotion. New York, NY: Guilford.