At the same time, they stem from quick judgments made by our brains about the nature of the world around us. They cause changes in what our bodies feel. Instead, they lie at the intersection of the body and mind. Sadness results from the perception of loss.Įmotions, then, are not merely feelings. Anger occurs when someone else commits a wrongdoing. Guilt arises when people judge that they have done something wrong.
On the other hand, worry, anxiety, and fear occur when we expect something negative to come our way. Meanwhile, hope and excitement anticipate that something good is coming. It is our reaction when something we feared fails to materialize. Relief, on the other hand, is even more specific. Joy tends to be more specific, referring to the judgment that something positive is enduring. Thus, happiness is a broad term that stems from the judgment that something positive has happened or is happening. Some emotions involve a fairly general type of assessment. NEGATIVE Guilt, Sadness, Anger Worry, Anxiety, FearĪs it begins to illustrate, our emotions are caught up in positive and negative assessments we make about the past, present, and future. POSITIVE Happiness, Joy, Relief Excitement, Hope
To illustrate, consider the following chart: But at their core, emotions involve assessments, typically regarding things that matter deeply to us and things we cannot fully control. Sometimes, these judgments happen so quickly that we do not even realize we are making them. The feelings we have stem from judgments we make about the world around us. However, emotions also involve our minds. They trigger physiological responses within us, whether tears or smiles, an inner tightening or “the lifting of a load.”Įmotions thus involve our bodies in profound ways. Obviously, we feel emotions-sometimes in overpowering ways. With a touch of humor, psychologists Fehr and Russell have observed, “Everyone knows what an emotion is, until asked to give a definition.” 2 What exactly are they? Sometimes, the cool sphere of reason seems a welcome alternative to the stormy and tumultuous landscape of emotion. We know that negative emotions can overtake us and those we love. From an early age, our society has taught us:Įmotions can interfere with getting what you really want. They impact our lives in ways we cannot control. Yet, many of us also see emotions as problematic. We ask, “How are you?” Then we share, at least with those close to us, what makes us upset, what brings us joy, what saddens us, and what makes us smile. What interests or fascinates us, who we love, what angers us, what moves us, what bores us-all of this defines us, gives us character, constitutes who we are.” 1 When we talk with one another, our conversations often focus on emotions. As Robert Solomon puts it, “We live our lives through our emotions, and it is our emotions that give our lives meaning. We recognize, at least in part, that emotions are central to what it means to live life, to be human, and to experience reality. Most of us have developed a love-hate affair with the emotions. The University of Dubuque Theological Seminary Emotions and Faith: The Perplexing Relationship Between What We Feel and What We Believe Matthew Richard Schlimm
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