What are Human Emotions?

“emotion icon” by Łukasz Strachanowski is licensed under CC BY-NC 2.0

Human Emotions

Human emotions are adaptive responses involving physiological changes, thoughts, and behaviours, often classified into basic ones like happiness, sadness, fear, anger, disgust, and surprise, which are universal across cultures.​

Basic Emotions

Psychologists identify core emotions with distinct facial expressions and functions.​

• Happiness/Joy: Signals safety and reward; shown by smiling.​

• Sadness: Response to loss; involves withdrawal and tears.​

• Fear: Prepares for threat; wide eyes, fight-or-flight.​

• Anger: Mobilizes against injustice; furrowed brows.​

• Disgust: Avoids harm; wrinkled nose.​

• Surprise: Orients to novelty; raised eyebrows.​

Plutchik, a psychologist specialising in human emotions, adds trust and anticipation to this mix, forming a wheel of emotions that blends to create complex feelings like love (joy + trust).​​

Managing Emotions

Notice triggers without judgment, label feelings precisely, and use techniques like deep breathing or reframing.​

• Check in with yourself regularly: “What am I feeling and why?”
• Acceptance: Emotions pass like leaves on a stream.​
• Express healthily: Journal, talk, or move.​

Primary emotions signal needs; secondary (e.g., guilt over anger) add layers—address roots for balance.

​Theories of Emotion

A number of key models explain how emotions arise.​

James-Lange: Body reacts first (e.g., heart races), then emotion follows (“I feel afraid because I tremble”).​
Cannon-Bard: Body and emotion occur simultaneously.​
Schachter-Singer: Arousal + cognitive label = emotion (two-factor).​

Evolutionary theory views them as survival tools from ancestors.

Further Reading