The 6 different types of emotions that we can feel

Emotional intelligence is in fashion and it is one of the topics that most arise and we repeat in the different areas in which we develop to talk about people's behavior. However, we know very little about emotions.

Emotions greatly influence our behavior, our thinking, our well-being, and our emotional health. An important part of working on our personal growth is learn to differentiate the types of emotions we have and identify them.

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What are emotions?

We all think we know what emotions are by the fact that we ourselves live them constantly, however, defining emotions and the types of emotions is more complicated than we think.

The R.A.E. defines emotions as "intense and fleeting mood changes, pleasant or painful that are accompanied by a certain somatic shock." Likewise, and regardless of the psychological branch from which we start, we agree that emotions are experiences that we have consciously and that they are somewhat brief where we have an intense mental activity and we experience pleasure or displeasure.

Yes OK there are many theories about emotions, currently we also agree that the different types of emotions arise in the limbic system, that network neurons in the brain that regulate our physiological responses to stimuli, that is, our instinct. There these complex states originate from three elements:

• Physiological: This is the first physical reaction we have to stimuli involuntarily, for For example, when our breathing accelerates, our heart rate accelerates, sweating, changes hormonal, etc.

• Cognitive: This element processes the types of emotions at the conscious and unconscious level as if it were a kind of evaluation on the stimuli, so it influences our experience subjective.

• Behavioral: This element is what generates a change in our behavior and expresses from this change, for example the gestures of the face, the postures that our body takes, etc.

However, the description of what emotions are It can confuse you a bit with feelings, but you have to know that emotions and feelings are different; in fact, feelings come after emotions as a subjective experience of that emotion that we have felt.

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The 6 types of emotions

As well as there are different theories and studies on emotionsThere are also some on the types of emotions and the way to classify them, some being more complex than others and none completely definitive.

However, we want to present you with a useful classification so that you learn to better identify the types of emotions we experience.

1. Primary, basic, or innate emotions

These are the types of basic or innate emotions that we have in response to a stimulus, they are common in all human beings and all of them constitute adaptation processes. These types of emotions are 6: sadness, happiness, fear, surprise, disgust and anger, although recently there is a study that says that there are only 4 primary emotions.

1.1. Sadness

Sadness is a type of negative emotion in which we do an evaluation process about something that has happened; that something is the loss or failure of something that is important to us. This loss or failure can be real or probable and permanent or temporary.

Something very interesting about sadness as emotion it is that we can also experience it if it is someone important to us who goes through that loss or failure. In addition, sadness can be in our present as a reflection of memories of the past or anticipation of what we believe will be the future.

1.2. Happiness or joy

Happiness or joy is a positive innate emotion that we experience since we are born and that as we grow up it becomes a great source of motivation. This emotion is very useful in the first years to strengthen the bond between the parents and the child, a fundamental basis for our survival.

1.3. Afraid

Fear is one of the emotions that has aroused the most interest in research on human emotions. It is about the emotion we experience when we are in front of what we consider a real danger and our well-being physical or mental is threatened, so our body reacts and prepares us to face or flee from that danger.

You should know that not all people experience fear in the same way and it depends on each one of us what we consider to be a danger or threat to ourselves.

1.4. Surprise

Surprise is a type of neutral emotion, as it does not have a positive or negative connotation in itself. It is what we experience when something happens completely unexpectedly, that is, when unforeseen stimuli appear.

Being an unforeseen, our organism feels that it has failed in its attempt to predict the outside world, then tries to explain this unexpected stimulus to himself to determine if it is an opportunity or if that event is an threat.

1.5. Disgust

The aso is the emotion that we experience when something causes us disgust, so a tension arises that seeks to avoid or reject that stimulus. It is a defense mechanism that we have to protect our body, hence nausea is often one of the answers.

1.6. Go to

The last of the basic types of emotions is anger and it arises as a self-protective mechanism when we feel offended by other people, mistreated or when we see that a person important to us is the one who is offended, generating an affective state of indignation, anger, frustration and rage.

2. Secondary emotions

The secondary types of emotions are the group of emotions that occur or originate after the basic ones and that are generated by learned social and moral norms. It is for example, when we experience the innate emotion before some stimulus, such as fear, and immediately afterwards we experience secondary emotions such as anger or threat.

3. Positive emotions

Here we include those emotions that when we experience them positively influence our behavior and well-being, that is why we also they are known as healthy emotions. Our way of thinking and acting improves when we experience joy as an emotion, for example.

4. Negative emotions

Contrary to the positive type of emotions, when we experience negative emotions, these negatively affect our well-being and behavior. They are also called toxic emotions and usually when we experience them they cause us to want to avoid or avoid them. Fear and sadness are negative emotions, however they are necessary for our learning and growth process because they teach us about the consequences.

5. Ambiguous emotions

Surprise is an ambiguous emotion because it is totally neutral in itself and does not make us feel good or bad, that's why is called ambiguous emotions.

6. Social emotions

Are those types of emotions we experience from the presence of another person necessarily, otherwise they do not arise, so we are not talking about learned cultural emotions. For example gratitude, admiration or revenge are emotions that arise with respect to someone else.

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