Human beings experience a multitude of feelings almost without realizing: I feel happy, bored or confident are some examples. The term feeling can be confused with emotion and, although related, are not exactly the same.
In this article, we will talk about what feelings are and how we can recognize them.
The difference between emotions and feelings
Some of you might have wondered what difference there is an emotion. Well, in order to understand this difference we can extract a fragment from Antonio Damasio's error book "Descartes's error". The author is a researcher who has attached great importance to emotions and feelings in social behavior and even in reasoning.
For Damasio: "When you experience an emotion, such as the emotion of fear, there is a stimulus that has the ability to trigger an automatic reaction. And this reaction, of course, begins in the brain, but then reflects itself in the body, either in the real body or in our internal simulation of the body. And then we have the opportunity to project that concrete reaction with various ideas that are related to those reactions and the object that provoked the reaction. When we see everything that is when we have a feeling. "
So feelings are the way we relate to that emotional side of our mind, the narratives we establish about it and how we respond to these experiences.
Theoretically, then, feelings and emotions are distinguished between them by the different relationships that both have with their consciousness and with superior psychological processes: Feelings come from abstract ideas and consciously directed thinking, while emotions are not.
An example of emotions and feelings
In short, the emotion would be the first reaction we experience to a stimulus and it is related to the language system. And the feeling would be the result of an emotion and it has its origin in the neocortex, especially in the frontal lobe. The response to a feeling can be physical and/or mental and is mediated by neurotransmitters, such as dopamine, norepinephrine and serotonin. Also, feelings last longer than emotion, because their duration is proportional to the time we think about them.
In our daily lives, feelings are all the time, for example: We are at work, our boss approaches and tells us to accompany him to the office. There, he tells us that the management does not like our work and sacked us. We are almost constantly afraid of that, which would be the emotion.
Right after that, we looked at the situation and asked ourselves a number of questions: "Why me? What have we done wrong?" and we begin to experience sadness and pity because we have to leave the job, anger, inferiority, uncertainty about the future etc. this second reaction, modified by our conscious thoughts, would be a feeling.
The components of the emotion
It must be said, however, that the debate between sentiment and emotion comes from a long distance and was a controversial issue, because these are terms that are often confused and used interchangeably. One of the first authors to talk about emotions and feelings was Richard S. Lazarus, who said these two concepts are linked. The feeling would be part of the emotion, because it is its subjective, that is cognitive component.
Emotions, originating in the language system of the brain, are complex States in which different components are involved:
Physiological: These are involuntary processes, first reaction: Increase muscle tone, respiration, hormonal changes occur ...
Cognitive: Information is processed, both consciously and unconsciously, influencing our subjective experience.
Behavioral: Body movements, tone of voice, face ...
Feeling is the subjective experience of emotion. That is, the feeling would be the combination of instinctive and short emotion, with the thought we reasonably obtain from that emotion.
There are many feelings that human beings experience. Here's a list of 16 very common feelings:
Positive feelings
These feelings lead to more positive behavior:
Euphoria: This feeling makes us feel high and our perception of life is magnificent.
Admiration: When we look at something or someone in a positive way.
Affected: It's a pleasant feel to connect with someone.
Optimism: We perceive life in a positive way and without fear of facing it.
Gratitude: We are grateful to someone.
Satisfaction: A feeling of well-being for something that happened.
Love: A complex feeling that expresses the best of ourselves.
I like it: Something gives us pleasure.
Negative feelings
These are feelings that we experience in an unpleasant way:
Anger: It is a feeling of dislike or bad humor toward someone or something
Hate: A strong sense of rejection of a person
Sadness: a negative state causing discomfort tending to cry
Indignation: To be angry with something that is considered unfair
Impatience: Sense of need now.
Envy: Feeling that occurs when you want something you don't have and that someone else has.
Vengeance: You want revenge, but you do not have to carry it out.
Jealousy: Feeling that occurs when you think you will lose someone you love.
The importance of administering sentiments for emotional health
One of the most important topics in psychology today is emotional intelligence. Although people often talk about emotions, they actually refer to feelings. The proper management of feelings, i.e., self-awareness or Regulation, for example, offers many benefits to people both in the common-based system for their mental well-being and in their performance, whether in the workplace, in education or in sports.