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Emotions Explained

When I was younger (about 20) I could name and describe 4 different emotions.

Though I could only name 4 emotions I did know more than four names of emotions. But those I didn't really KNOW - they were just words to me - like the name of a city in a foreign language, where you've never been, never seen a picture of, and don't even know what language it is or what continent it's on. I couldn't tell you anything more about those emotions than simply that I knew they must exist because there is a name for them - but I couldn't have told you any more than the name.

Just as there were more names of emotions, I also knew more emotions than those four named ones. Though these familiar ones with no names were the opposite of those words I knew without meaning behind them, I only knew these unnamed emotions as feelings, and as actions - I could perhaps describe behaviors associated with more than 4 emotions, but I certainly couldn't identify them by any semblance of a name.

The four emotions I knew were: Happiness, Anger, Sadness, Fear. I couldn't name many emotions, but I could name those four. I knew them, and I knew they were distinct from each other.

But due to a fortunate coincidence of studying art and studying physics for a few years, I found myself contemplating a few important questions:

Are there fundamental feelings (like fundamental forces in physics)?

Are those fundamental feelings consistent across cultures and across time?

Can other (more complex feelings) be understood in terms of those fundamental feelings?

In a universe of opposites - between Happiness, Anger, Sadness, Fear - which of those last three is the true opposite of Happiness? And what emotion would be the opposite of the other two?

It was answering this last question that would bring answers to all the first questions.

Which is the opposite of Happiness? Would it be Sadness? That seems the obvious choice - certainly based on the common pairing of Happy/Sad concepts in cartoons and smiley-face charts. But isn't Love a form of Happiness? In that sense isn't Hatred (a variant of Anger - I supposed) the opposite of Love? So would that make Anger (not Sadness) the opposite of Happiness. What then would be the opposite of Fear - if Anger and Sadness were tied for the opposite of Anger? The opposite of Fear - based on their usual comparisons made in stories - would be Courage. What then was Courage - a form of excited-Happiness?

I needed a different approach.

I needed to define these positive emotions better in themselves. And I needed to articulate a few better names for variations of positive emotions.

I thought about what Fear was - the best I could think of was "...when something gets threatened..." or "...when something is vulnerable..." though I had no idea what that "something" might be. Then I asked myself what might be a definition for sadness? I came up with "...loss..." and "...hollow..." and a few other words that settled around the theme of "...the absence of something..." and still I didn't know what that "something" was.

Only when I sat down to define Anger did I see a clear definition of the other two.

Wondering how to define Anger, I asked myself what makes me angry - I hadn't a clue. If I could articulate that idea, then I probably wouldn't be clawing my way slowly toward a definition of a handful of emotions. I though about what makes other people angry. At the time I had a boss who was rarely ever angry - he was a calm, well-tempered person - except when he thought he was being insulted - then he was immediately and intensely angry.

So... Anger has something to do with pride? I wondered.

No, that's just the specific way he gets Angry. So, for him, Anger is the loss of peoples respect? I wondered further - but "...the loss of something..." was the definition for Sadness. And also that definition wouldn't hold up when we imagine a person getting angry at someone who throws a brick and smashes their window. People have Sadness for the loss of a thing, but they have Anger when someone else causes that loss - much like my boss would feel Anger when someone insults him - or, in other words, makes him lose his sense of importance, his sense of being respected. He values highly the respect (and opinions) of other people - that word resonated with me VALUES - and he feels Sadness at the loss, or Anger when someone does an action to destroy that thing he values.

So, Anger is the response to something of value being destroyed.

Yes, that checks out and fits as a good definition to explain every time I've seen or felt Anger.

And there too is the answer to the definitions of Sadness and Fear: "...the loss of something VALUED..." and "...the vulnerability of something VALUED..." respectively.

Yes, that checks out as well. People don't Fear for the vulnerability of something they don't value. Likewise people don't have Sadness for the loss of something they don't value.

Sadness is the feeling of the absence of something valued.

Fear is perception of the vulnerability of something valued.

Perhaps then emotions are all about various states of things that we value. That seems like a reasonable definition. Then what of the positive ones.

The opposite of Fear (vulnerability of what we value) would be Courage - the feeling of securing what is valued - I liked that definition. The feeling of "securing that which is valued" seemed like a very accurate description for the specific flavor of positive emotions that I associated as Courage / Boldness / and to a softer degree, Hope.

What about Love? I wondered. If Anger / Hatred related to the "destruction of that which is valued" then perhaps Love relates to the... creation of that which is valued?

I could see that definition making sense in hindsight. When I pass someone playing nice music in a public space I feel Fondness for that person - they have created a more enjoyable atmosphere - and Fondness I would place in the same category as Love.

What then is the Opposite of Sadness? - I wondered. If Sadness is the absence of what is valued, could we call it simply Happiness - defined as the presence of that which is valued. That definition sat well with me, and I spend some time considering other words in the same groups: Serenity - a calm version of Happiness. Affection - a small-but-blossoming version of Love. Terror - the state of perpetual Fear. Rage - the fullest Anger. Hope - a gentle Courage. Suspicion - a small Fear. Confidence - a stable state of Courage. Doubt - a stable state of Fear.

As I delighted in this list of the "fundamental feelings" I was looking for, and as I made this list of feelings in their categories, I also collected a list of emotions which would fit into none of these categories - and another list of feelings that would fit into more than one category!

From the emotions I'd found difficult to place into any of these categories, I would find two new categories to make a total of eight emotional categories of fundamental feelings.

The first of these two new ones was Frustration - an emotion with similarities to Anger, Fear, and Sadness as well - but without fully belonging to any of those. Frustration can even have some small similarities with positive emotions like Courage - when it's the specific flavor of Frustration associated with an invigorating challenge. Frustration came to be defined as - the emotion of two (or more) things of value being incompatible. This seemed to be a workable hindsight definition to explain my past experiences of Frustration - particularly with time conflicts - the Frustration of attending two things of value, each incompatible.

The second of these new categories was Amusement. For some time I placed Humor and "Funniness" into the same category as Happiness and Love - until the idea of laughing at tragic irony, or laughter at situations so terrifying, or so hopeless, that a person might collapse with laughter for a few moments before resuming their desperate situation at hand. Just as Frustration (the incompatibility of two things that are valued) did not fit fully into any of the other categories for positive not negative emotions, so too Amusement would be the opposite of Frustration in a category of it's own. A definition for Amusement came to mind - like the punch line of a joke - the absurd inversion of expectation - when two valued things of value or significance cancel each other out in opposition to each other. Like suppressing a giggle in a serious situation.

Beyond those eight categories I also listed many emotions that seemed to be a combination of one or more categories - such as "Jealousy - a combination of Saddness and Anger" or "Bitterness - a combination of Courage and Saddness" - but there are exponentially more of those emotions - too many to share here.

With all eight of these fundamental emotion categories listed out, and all other emotions seeming to fit nicely into similar-enough variations (or combinations of these fundamental) eight, I drew them in a circle - each opposite the other.

To simplify the circle I changed it to a circle of eight symbols instead of eight words. These symbols developed over time into the current form seen below - a representation of what the human face does when experiencing each emotion. When you see someone's face move this way, you know they are probably experiencing this emotions (not every time, but most of the times), and when you feel your face move this way, you should check yourself to know whether you are experiencing the corresponding emotion.

And I put these symbols onto a bracelet to remind myself what they are and what they mean - to help myself identify these feeling in the moment while I'm having them, so I can choose to respond in a way I would like, rather than simply react as the emotion compels me to.

I make and sell these bracelets myself. They are available for purchase for anyone who would like a reminder to recognize and understand their emotions. Emotional awareness and stability is a long journey, and this alone will not be all you need, but I find mine helpful. Every purchase of a bracelet comes with a scroll - a summary reminder of the information covered here in this page.

(brow neutral, mouth rising at sides)
Happiness - the presence of valued things. (shared category: joy, serenity, contentment)

(brow neutral, mouth neutral)
Frustration - the conflict between valued things. (shared category: annoyance)

(brow raised in middle, mouth opened and lowered at sides)
Fear - the vulnerability of valued things. (shared category: doubt, suspicion, concern, terror, confusion)

(brow lower in middle, mouth lowered at sides)
Anger - the destruction of valued things. (shared category: rage, fury, resentment, hatred)

(brow raised in middle, mouth lowered at sides)
Saddness - the absence of valued things. (shared category: disappointment, longing, despair)

(brow raised in middle, mouth opened and raised at sides)
Amusement - the counter-position of valued things. (shared category: humor, delight, surprise)

(brow lowered in middle, mouth raised at sides)
Courage - the security of valued things. (shared category: boldness, confidence, hope)

(brow raised in middle, mouth raised at sides)
Love - the creation of valued things. (shard category: fondness, affection)

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