Do you know how many emotions we come equipped with? According to experts, there is a list of 7 basic emotions, and every other emotion is simply a variant or combination of these. We owe our ability to express emotions to our facial expressions. With 43 different muscles, the face can produce more than 10,000 expressions, many of which go back to primitive roots.
🗣️ Boston scientists claim: The human smile evolved at a time when primates bared their teeth while negotiating social status or establishing dominance.
Although every person is unique and has their own one-of-a-kind repertoire of expressions, there are 7 basic human emotions that “appear” on our faces regardless of sex, age, race, language or religion. To make them easier to understand, they are divided into negative and positive.
🎓 Fun fact: Facial expressions are one of the most important forms of non-verbal communication.
Join me as we dive into the biological nature of feelings and explore what makes us behave the way we do. Nothing happens for no reason! I will show you just how fascinating human emotions are!
Table of contents
Educational profile, what are emotions and what is their function?
Are you interested in the physiological nature of emotions? So am I. I have read plenty of international scientific publications explaining the function of human feelings, especially from a neurological point of view. What we know about emotions is so fascinating that I will try to pass it on to you in the most accessible form possible.
🗣️ David Matsumoto of San Francisco State University provides the introduction: The limbic system, the autonomic nervous system and the reticular activating system work together to help the body process and experience emotions.
💡 Tip: Red lentils help keep our brain healthy!
The limbic system processes emotional experience and acts as a relay!
The limbic system resembles a serpentine road, a narrow lane full of bends. Although it looks fragile compared with the surrounding brain tissue, it is a complex network of brain structures whose full complexity has not yet been fully explored, even by the most eminent researchers.
I will not overwhelm you with complicated details. For the purposes of this article, it is enough to note that the limbic system supports many neurological functions, including behaviour, memory, smell and, above all, emotions. When it comes to processing feelings, I must mention the 4 most important parts of the limbic system, namely the hypothalamus, the thalamus, the amygdala and the hippocampus.
Hypothalamus
It activates a specific part of the nervous system (the sympathetic nervous system), which is part of every emotional response.
Thalamus
It acts as a relay, meaning it projects signals to the amygdala for further processing. Thanks to the thalamus, the transmission of nerve signals takes longer, so the higher cortical areas of the brain have enough time to process the signals and prepare a response.
Amygdala
It plays the most important role in experiencing emotions because it is richly connected to the hypothalamus and the thalamus. It controls somatic reactions during emotional strain (for example, it causes trembling under extreme stress). It is known for its “reactivity”: when it is electrically stimulated during an EEG, it “responds” with a series of regular electrical impulses.
🎓 Fun fact: Removing the amygdala leads to a complete suppression of all bodily reactions.
Hippocampus
It links emotional experience with cognition (= acquiring and processing information, using knowledge and being aware of oneself). It works closely with the hypothalamus, “pre-filtering” information for it, which means that impulses reaching the hypothalamus are first “examined” by the hippocampus.
🗣️ Neurologists explain: The hippocampus is linked to learning, the formation of long-term memory and motivational behaviour. If it is removed, problems with long-term memory occur, while short-term memory remains intact.
💡 Tip: The limbic system also helps with self-reflection. Self-awareness is important. Learn to assess yourself objectively and without distortion!
The book Molecules of Emotion by Candace B. Pert describes the chemicals that connect mind and body!
This groundbreaking book by molecular physiologist Candace B. Pert tackles a fundamental question: are our body and mind separate, or are they part of one interconnected system?
🗣️ The Kosmas bookshop says of the book: Dr Pert’s pioneering research tells how the chemicals inside our bodies form a dynamic information network linking mind and body. By establishing the biomolecular basis of our emotions and explaining these new scientific findings in a clear and accessible way, the author enables us to understand ourselves, our feelings and the connection between our mind and body in a way we may never have been able to imagine before.
The pioneering work “Molecules of Emotion” is full of wisdom and well worth reading!
The function of emotions, or “Why do we have feelings at all?”
Life without emotions is unimaginable. Let us value our feelings: the joy of a ball game, the pleasure of a loved one’s touch, the satisfaction of a good meal. Even negative emotions are important: sadness at the death of someone close, anger over a failed relationship or fear of the unknown.
🗣️ Psychologists add: Emotions colour our life experiences and give them meaning and a sense of truth. Without emotions, these experiences and events would be mere facts. Emotions help coordinate relationships between people. And they play an important role in keeping human communities together.
What are the other functions of emotions?
- They help us act quickly with minimal conscious input.
- They prepare the body for immediate action.
- They influence thinking and behaviour.
The significance of feelings is divided into 3 groups:
- Intrapersonal: describes the emotions within each of us,
- Interpersonal: describes emotions within relationships between people,
- Social and cultural: describes the emotions that hold human society and individual cultures together.
7 basic human emotions, do you know them all?
If we were to write a list of all emotions, we would use up a great deal of paper. To keep things clear, scientists therefore established a set of seven basic emotions and added that every other emotion is just a variant of these.
Experts aptly point out that the facial expression of these 7 emotions knows nothing of concepts such as sex, race, language, religion or education. As human beings, our facial expressions are innate, and we can tell in any individual whether they are angry or content.
Psychology publications mention Ekman’s list of primary emotions, both positive and negative. These include:
- Happiness,
- Unhappiness,
- Unexpected surprise,
- Fulfilled expectation,
- Fear and dread,
- A sense of security,
- Joy,
- Sadness,
- Calm,
- Agitation,
- Contentment,
- Dissatisfaction to disgust,
- Interest,
- Disinterest.
Ekman’s list of basic emotions eventually grew so long that even experts became confused about what each facial expression meant. Over time, the approach shifted to summarising 7 primary human emotions, with the others placed in a kind of more detailed list, because “a person uses considerably more facial muscles to express them”.
International websites state that the seven basic human emotions are:
- Anger,
- Fear,
- Disgust,
- Contempt,
- Joy,
- Sadness,
- Surprise.
Anger
Purpose: Prepares a person to attack.
History: Anger (wrath) is considered one of the seven deadly sins. Righteous (so-called holy) anger is not a sin.
Physical signs: Tightly pressed lips, lips rolled inwards at the edges, narrowed eyes and flared nostrils. The eyebrows are drawn together and the hands are clenched into fists. The person is ready to lash out at any moment.
🎓 Fun fact: An angry face serves as a warning, whether it is just meant to intimidate or to show that a conflict has already begun.
💡 Tip: Learn to control your anger! It is easier than you think, and it will help you in many ways.
Fear
Purpose: A reaction to impending danger. Prepares a person to flee, escape or defend themselves.
Physical signs: Dilated pupils, raised eyelids, flared nostrils, trembling, rapid breathing.
🎓 Fun fact: Dilated pupils let in more light, so we have a chance to spot an intruder. The same goes for the nostrils: they let in more oxygen, which helps us prepare to fight or flee.
💡 Tip: Get rid of needless stress and fear! Our article shows you how!
Disgust
Purpose: It protects a person from anything repulsive.
Physical signs: Eyebrows pulled down, wrinkled nose, relaxed lips, physiological changes (for example, gagging and the urge to vomit).
🎓 Did you know? It originally developed as a reaction to repulsive (spoiled) food and was linked mainly with taste and smell. The physical signs have a purpose: by wrinkling our nose, we close our nostrils so that foul-smelling fumes cannot get in, and narrowing our eyes protects them from damage.
Contempt
Purpose: It expresses a feeling of superiority over other people and disapproval of their actions.
Physical signs: The chin points upwards, the corner of the mouth is still and slightly raised on only one side of the face, and the eyes look strikingly neutral.
🎓 Did you know? It is often linked with disgust, but it is reserved specifically for reacting to “people’s behaviour”, not for reacting to something spoiled or inedible. The expression of contempt is also unique because it is the only one that involves just one half of the face.
💡 Tip: Don’t let other people’s contempt hold you back! Write down your ranking of life values and live by it!
Joy
Purpose: It arises in response to success and gain, or from a sense of belonging.
Physical signs: The muscles around the eyes are tense, the corners of the mouth are raised and the cheeks are puffed out. Heart rate and blood pressure rise. A typical sign of joy is a smile, that is, showing the teeth.
🎓 Did you know? The origin of the smile is far more sinister than we might think. Primates bared their teeth to show their dominance in the group and to make clear who stood highest in the hierarchy.
🗣️ Professor Tomáš Halík remarked: Perfect joy comes from transformed pain.
💡 Tip: Learn 11 ways to be happy and feel joy every day!
Sadness
Purpose: It arises as a reaction to an event that affects us unpleasantly. It often develops into grief, that is, a longer-lasting negative state in which even basic needs are suppressed (reduced appetite for food, insomnia).
Physical signs: Inner corners of the eyebrows raised, eyelids relaxed, corners of the lips pulled down, often shedding tears (crying).
🎓 Did you know? According to scientists, sadness is either a form of social signalling (a so-called cry for help) or a form of “slowing down” and preparing to reorganise one’s life.
🗣️ A passage from the Bible: Godly sorrow brings repentance that leads to salvation and leaves no regret, but worldly sorrow brings death.
💡 Tip: WARNING! Long-term sadness often leads to burnout! Learn to manage it.
Surprise
Purpose: It occurs in an unexpected situation. It is described as the only neutral emotion, a kind of “opening act” for another, more distinct feeling.
Physical signs: The whole eyebrow is raised, including the eyelids. The pupils are dilated and the mouth is open. The first sound is a sharp intake of breath.
🎓 Did you know? Surprise is one of the fastest emotions, lasting a second at most. It is an emotion of alertness.
To finish, a few quotes about emotions:
- “Unexpressed emotions will never die. They are buried alive and will come forth later in uglier ways.” Sigmund Freud,
- “Inner peace begins the moment you choose not to allow another person or event to control your emotions.” Ralph Smart,
- “Emotions are contagious.” Carl Gustav Jung,
- “Negative emotions are a sign that you are resisting something.” Eckhart Tolle.
💡 Tip: Besides facial expressions, hand gestures are also an important means of communication. Find out what each gesture means. You can also go on to our article about body language.
