Human beings experience a multitude of feelings almost without realizing it: I feel happy, bored or confident are some examples. The term feeling can be confused with emotion, and although these are related, they are not exactly the same.

In this article we will talk about what feelings are and how we can recognize them .

Difference between emotions and feelings

Some of you may have wondered what difference an emotion makes to a feeling. Well, to understand this difference we can extract an excerpt from the book “Descartes’ Mistake” by Antonio Damasio. The author is a researcher who has given much importance to emotions and feelings in social behaviour and even in reasoning.

For Damasio: “When you experience an emotion, for example the emotion of fear, there is a stimulus that has the ability to trigger an automatic reaction. And this reaction, of course, starts in the brain, but then it is reflected in the body, either in the real body or in our internal body simulation. And then we have the possibility to project that concrete reaction with various ideas that are related to those reactions and to the object that has caused the reaction. When we perceive all that, that’s when we have a feeling.”

Thus, feelings are the way in which we relate to that emotional side of our mind, the narratives we establish about it and the way in which we respond to these experiential situations.

Theoretically, then, feelings and emotions are differentiated from each other by the different relationships that both have with consciousness and with higher psychological processes: feelings are based on abstract ideas and consciously directed thought, while emotions are not.

An example of emotions and feelings

In short, emotion would be the first reaction we experience to a stimulus and it has to do with the limbic system. And the feeling would be the result of an emotion, and has its origin in the neocortex, specifically in the frontal lobe. The response to a feeling can be physical and/or mental, and is mediated by neurotransmitters such as dopamine, noradrenaline and serotonin. Likewise, feelings last longer than the emotion, as their duration is proportional to the time we think about them .

In our daily lives, feelings are expressed all the time, for example: We are at work, our boss comes up to us and tells us to accompany him to the office. There, he tells us that the management does not like our work and we are fired. Almost constantly, fear takes hold of us, which would be the emotion.

Right after that, we analyzed the situation and asked ourselves a series of questions: “Why me, what have I done wrong” and we began to experience sadness and pity for having 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 emotion

It must be said, however, that the debate between feeling and emotion is a longstanding and controversial issue, as these terms are often confused and used interchangeably. One of the first authors to speak about emotions and feelings was Richard S. Lazarus, who claimed that these two concepts are interrelated. The feeling would be part of the emotion, since it is its subjective component, that is, cognitive .

Emotions, which originate in the limbic system of the brain, are complex states in which different components intervene:

  • Physiological : These are involuntary processes, the first reaction: muscle tone increases, breathing, hormonal changes occur…
  • Cognitive : Information is processed, both on a conscious and unconscious level that influences our subjective experience.
  • Behavioral: Body movements, tone of voice, face…

For Carlson and Hatfield. Feeling is the subjective experience of emotion. That is, the feeling would be the combination of the instinctive and brief emotion, together with the thought that we rationally obtain from that emotion.

16 feelings we experience

There are many feelings that we humans experience. Here is a list of 16 very common feelings:

Positive feelings

These feelings lead to more positive behavior:

1. Euphoria : This feeling makes us feel high and our perception of life is magnificent.

2. Admiration : when we contemplate something or someone in a positive way.

3. Affection : It is a pleasant feeling when connecting with someone.

4. Optimism : We perceive life in a positive way and without fear of facing it.

5. Gratitude : We feel grateful for someone.

6. Satisfaction : A feeling of well-being for something that has happened.

7. Love : A complex feeling that expresses the best of ourselves.

8. Pleasure : Something gives us pleasure.

Negative feelings

These are feelings that we experience in an unpleasant way:

9. Anger : A feeling of disgust or bad disposition towards someone or something

10. Hate : A strong feeling of repulsion towards a person

11.Sadness: A negative state that causes discomfort with a tendency to cry

12. Indignation : Discomfort at something considered unfair

13. Impatience : Feeling of needing something now.

14. Envy : The feeling that comes from wanting something that you don’t have and that someone else has.

15. Vengeance : You want to take revenge, but you don’t necessarily have to carry it out.

16.Jealousy: the feeling that comes from thinking you are going to lose someone you love.

The importance of feelings management for emotional health

One of the most important topics in psychology today is emotional intelligence . Although we often talk about emotions, it actually refers to feelings. The correct management of feelings, that is, for example, self-knowledge or regulation, provides many benefits for people both in their mental well-being and in their performance, whether at work, in education or in sports.

  • If you want to know the benefits of this practice, you can consult our post: “The 10 benefits of emotional intelligence”