Difference between emotion and feeling

Emotions and feelings are all traits we share as humans. According to an article in the publication Psychology Today, “emotions are multi-faceted experiences” of “internal subjective experiences, facial expressions and physiological reactions.” Teasing out the feelings and emotions that people have, and learning why they have them, is an important role for mental health professionals. Those interested in exploring the difference between feelings and emotions — and understanding the mind, human behavior, and strategic ways of helping mental health patients — usually complete Feelings versus Emotions Many people use the terms “feeling” and “emotion” as synonyms, but they are not interchangeable. While they have similar elements, there is a marked difference between feelings and emotions. Feelings. Both emotional experiences and physical sensations — such as hunger or pain — bring about feelings, according to Psychology Today. Feelings are a conscious experience, although not every conscious experience, such as seeing or believing, is a feeling, as explained in the article. Emotions. According to Psychology Today, an emotion “can only ever be felt…through the emotional experiences it gives rise to, even though it might be discovered through its associated thoughts, beliefs, desires, and actions.” Emotions are not conscious but instead manifest in the unconscious mind. These emotions can be brought to the surface of the conscious state through extended psychotherapy. A fundame...

Key points • Emotions and feelings are not the same thing, despite people using the words interchangeably. • Emotions are real-time data sparked by sensations in the body. Feelings can be more biased, altered by mental misconceptions. • Developing emotional awareness can help prevent reactivity and false beliefs. Source: Engin Akyurt / Pixabay Many people agree that it’s healthy to be in touch with your feelings. Whether they regularly do so is a different matter. But what about being in touch with emotions? Despite the words being used interchangeably, emotions and feelings are actually two different but connected phenomena. Emotions originate as sensations in the body. Feelings are influenced by our emotions but are generated from our mental thoughts. Let’s look at a couple of examples: You notice the emotion of discomfort while at a party as your stomach clenches and your breathing gets constricted. Then your mind labels that as feeling awkward because perhaps you don’t know many people there, or you just saw an ex-boyfriend. Yet another person with those same emotional bodily sensations, however, might label the experience as exciting because they get to meet new people or see their ex again. Why does the difference between emotions and feelings matter? Our emotions are like the engine of the car; our feelings are the frame. You wouldn’t tune up your car and skip over the engine, right? The same goes for our emotions, which can give us a more accurate diagnosis of how ...

\( \newcommand\) No headers Emotion is more similar to conscious thought than feelings are to conscious thought. Although emotion and feeling can be described as unconscious thought, one of them is going to be more similar to conscious thought. Feelings are more like sensations, when you touch something you get a feeling. Therefore feelings are faster than emotions and thought, because when you touch something there is a slight delay before you can think of something about it (thought), or feel something deeply about it (emotion). Emotion is therefore just unconscious thought. Actually it would better be described as unconscious feeling (so a feeling is like a conscious emotion because you can "feel" it better and easier but emotion is a deeper, more unconscious experience similar to unconscious thought, but emotions are also more similar to conscious thought because thought is a deep experience while feelings are intense or shallow, but not deep). [So you feel emotions, but you also feel feelings, only feelings are more tangible (since they relate more to physical things and sensations, which cause feelings directly, not emotions). An emotion can come from something like a sight or sound or touch, but only after you have felt it as a feeling, so it is really the feeling that is causing the emotion. That also shows how the emotion is going to take longer to kick in, since it is a result of the feeling.] One definition of emotion can be "any strong feeling". From that desc...

Similarly, if I say, “I am proud”, I could mean that I am currently feeling proud about something, that I am generally proud about that thing, or that I am a proud kind of person. Let us call the first instance (currently feeling proud about something) an emotional experience, the second instance (being generally proud about that thing) an emotion or sentiment, and the third instance (being a proud kind of person), a trait. It is very common to confuse or amalgamate these three instances, especially the first and the second. But whereas an emotional experience is brief and episodic, an emotion—which may or may not result from accreted emotional experiences—can endure for many years, and, in that time, predispose to a variety of emotional experiences, as well as thoughts, beliefs, desires, and actions. For instance, love can give rise not only to amorous feelings, but also to joy, Similarly, it is very common to confuse emotions and feelings. An emotional experience, by virtue of being a conscious experience, is necessarily a feeling, as are physical sensations such as hunger or pain (although not all conscious experiences are also feelings, not, for example, believing or seeing, presumably because they lack a somatic or bodily dimension). Beyond this, it could be argued that even the purest of emotions is inherently self-deceptive in that it lends weight in our experience to one thing, or some things, over others. In that much, emotions are not objective or neutral percept...

You know the difference between being in a good mood when you tend to be happy and cheerful, and being in a bad mood when you tend to be sad and grumpy. Moods are different from emotions in three main respects. First, moods tend to be much more long-lasting, going for hours or days, whereas an emotion may only last minutes. Second, emotions are about something specific, such as a person or situation, but moods are much more diffuse with no identifiable object. A mood is a general feeling, not a reaction to a particular situation. Third, moods are not as intense as emotions, which can be strong feelings such as exhilaration, terror, or despair. In contrast, you might not be consciously aware that you are in a good or bad mood until you reflect on your response to situations. Moods and emotions are linked. When you are in a bad mood, you are inclined to have negative emotions such as being sad, angry, or afraid about something. But when you are in a good mood, you are inclined to have positive emotions such as being happy or hopeful about something. So the nature of emotions should inform us about the nature of moods. But what are moods that operate without representations of particular situations? I propose that moods are dispositions to have emotions. Salt has a disposition to dissolve in water, and glass bottles have a disposition to break when dropped. But what is a disposition? Philosophers often treat dispositions as counterfactual conditional (Choi & Fara, 2012). For ...

We’ve all seen it. Something is said or written, and someone will go off. I mean off. Rage, hatred, or both at once. A fight starts, and maybe these intense emotions get handled between two people, or maybe they don’t (online interactions specialize in the maybe they don’t category). So the raging people invite allies to share (and justify) their intense emotions, and a flame war starts. If this blowup isn’t dealt with, the behavior goes unchecked, and people learn that it’s okay to allow their emotions to explode. Moderate people may try to address the emotional issues, but once alliances are formed and people share their emotions in groups, the blowups start to look justified, and not like emotional decisions at all … they become incontrovertible facts, and emotional awareness is lost. In my book, The Language of Emotions, I call intense emotions like rage and hatred (and panic and the suicide urge) the raging rapids emotions, because if you don’t know what these emotions are supposed to do or what gifts they contain, you can very easily get caught up in their rapids, pulled underwater, and smashed repeatedly against the rocks! You can become a puppet of your emotions instead of their partner. The key to dealing with big, powerful, or troubling emotional states is to understand first that emotions are always true (about something), but they’re not always right. Emotions give you crucial information about every aspect of your world — and you can’t think, reason, learn, de...

Feelings vs. emotions are like a light breeze vs. a full-blown storm—they may both be winds, but they’re completely different experiences. That’s why psychology has actually separated these two phenomena. Most people use them as one and the same, though. But it’s important to understand the distinction so you can know how to navigate the complex world within you. So let’s explore the difference between your feelings and your emotions: • • • • • • Once you get to know these nuances of your inner universe, you’ll be able to flow through life with more grace and ease. It’s like Jon Butcher, Lifebook creator and trainer of Mindvalley’s Lifebook Online Quest says, “Emotional insight comes from learning to understand your emotions.” What Are Feelings? Feelings are different ways you experience emotions. You know, like when you get that warm, fuzzy sensation after a compliment or a pit in your stomach when you’re nervous. It turns out that these feelings are actually pretty complex. Your personal beliefs and memories play a big role in how you experience them. But it’s not just all in your head—neurotransmitters and hormones also come into play. • Think of serotonin as your happiness superhero, always swooping in to save the day. • Dopamine? That’s your go-to guy for feelings of accomplishment and enthusiasm. • What about norepinephrine? It may sound like a fancy latte, but it’s actually a stress hormone released when your brain processes a tough situation. Essentially, your body...

Can you guess how many emotions a human can experience? A study by The Greater Good Science Center suggests there are 27 distinct emotions – at least (Cowen & Keltner, 2017). And that does not even include combinations of emotions. With so many emotions, how can one navigate the turbulent waters of feelings, without getting lost? The answer: with an emotion wheel. Through years of studying emotions, American psychologist Dr. Robert Plutchik proposed that there are eight primary emotions that serve as the foundation for all others: joy, sadness, acceptance, disgust, fear, anger, surprise, and anticipation. (Pollack, 2016) So while it’s hard to understand all 34,000 distinct emotions, we can learn how to identify the primary emotions and act accordingly. It’s especially useful for moments of intense feeling and when the mind cannot remain objective as it operates from an impulsive “fight or flight” response. (Watkins, 2014) Before you read on, we thought you might like to This Article Contains: • • • • • • • • • What is Plutchik’s Wheel of Emotions? Let’s take a look at each of these emotions. But first, how about a clear idea of what we mean when we use the term “emotion.” In previous studies, researchers of emotions saw them as episodes influenced by stimuli. More specifically, “emotion is defined as an episode of interrelated, synchronized changes in the state of all or most of the five organismic subsystems in response to the evaluation of an external or internal stimulu...

Feelings vs. emotions are like a light breeze vs. a full-blown storm—they may both be winds, but they’re completely different experiences. That’s why psychology has actually separated these two phenomena. Most people use them as one and the same, though. But it’s important to understand the distinction so you can know how to navigate the complex world within you. So let’s explore the difference between your feelings and your emotions: • • • • • • Once you get to know these nuances of your inner universe, you’ll be able to flow through life with more grace and ease. It’s like Jon Butcher, Lifebook creator and trainer of Mindvalley’s Lifebook Online Quest says, “Emotional insight comes from learning to understand your emotions.” What Are Feelings? Feelings are different ways you experience emotions. You know, like when you get that warm, fuzzy sensation after a compliment or a pit in your stomach when you’re nervous. It turns out that these feelings are actually pretty complex. Your personal beliefs and memories play a big role in how you experience them. But it’s not just all in your head—neurotransmitters and hormones also come into play. • Think of serotonin as your happiness superhero, always swooping in to save the day. • Dopamine? That’s your go-to guy for feelings of accomplishment and enthusiasm. • What about norepinephrine? It may sound like a fancy latte, but it’s actually a stress hormone released when your brain processes a tough situation. Essentially, your body...

You know the difference between being in a good mood when you tend to be happy and cheerful, and being in a bad mood when you tend to be sad and grumpy. Moods are different from emotions in three main respects. First, moods tend to be much more long-lasting, going for hours or days, whereas an emotion may only last minutes. Second, emotions are about something specific, such as a person or situation, but moods are much more diffuse with no identifiable object. A mood is a general feeling, not a reaction to a particular situation. Third, moods are not as intense as emotions, which can be strong feelings such as exhilaration, terror, or despair. In contrast, you might not be consciously aware that you are in a good or bad mood until you reflect on your response to situations. Moods and emotions are linked. When you are in a bad mood, you are inclined to have negative emotions such as being sad, angry, or afraid about something. But when you are in a good mood, you are inclined to have positive emotions such as being happy or hopeful about something. So the nature of emotions should inform us about the nature of moods. But what are moods that operate without representations of particular situations? I propose that moods are dispositions to have emotions. Salt has a disposition to dissolve in water, and glass bottles have a disposition to break when dropped. But what is a disposition? Philosophers often treat dispositions as counterfactual conditional (Choi & Fara, 2012). For ...