Psychologists most often name six basic emotions: happiness, sadness, fear, anger, disgust and surprise. From these, and from their different intensities, comes a much wider range – love, pride, shame, guilt, envy, hope, relief and dozens more. Which list is the “right” one depends on the theory, but any list is useful if it helps you recognise and name what you feel.
Emotions, feelings and moods: what’s the difference
Emotions are mental processes and states through which we express how we value the world or ourselves. They are relatively short, have a clear trigger and involve several layers at once: a bodily response (a faster heartbeat, tense muscles), a readiness to act, a facial expression and a subjective experience.
That last layer is what we call feelings – what we put into words (“I feel hurt”). A mood, by contrast, is longer and more diffuse, and we often can’t say exactly where it comes from. Anger at a rude remark fades in minutes; a bad mood can last all day.
Paul Ekman’s six basic emotions
In the late 1960s, the American psychologist Paul Ekman and his colleagues tested whether people around the world recognise the same emotions in faces. He also showed photographs to members of the Fore people in Papua New Guinea and found that they identified happiness, sadness, fear, anger, disgust and surprise much as Americans did. He later added contempt to the list.
| Emotion | What it tells us | Typical response |
|---|---|---|
| Happiness | this is good, I want more of it | approaching, smiling |
| Sadness | I have lost something important | withdrawal, need for closeness |
| Fear | I am in danger | flight, freezing, caution |
| Anger | someone crossed a line or is blocking my goal | confrontation, setting boundaries |
| Disgust | this could harm or contaminate me | pulling away, rejection |
| Surprise | something unexpected happened | pausing, focused attention |
Basic emotion theory has its critics. Some researchers point out that recognising emotions in still photographs is easier than in real life, and that culture strongly shapes how we express and name emotions. As a starting map, though, the list remains very useful.
Plutchik’s wheel and complex emotions
The psychologist Robert Plutchik proposed eight primary emotions arranged in a wheel: joy, trust, fear, surprise, sadness, disgust, anger and anticipation. Opposites face each other – joy and sadness, trust and disgust, fear and anger, surprise and anticipation.
The intensity of emotions
Every emotion has a milder and a stronger form. Annoyance can build into anger and then rage; apprehension into fear and terror; serenity into joy and ecstasy; pensiveness into sadness and grief. That’s why it helps to ask not only “what am I feeling?” but also “how strongly?”.
Complex emotions
When two neighbouring primary emotions combine, Plutchik says a complex emotion emerges:
- love = joy + trust
- optimism = anticipation + joy
- submission = trust + fear
- awe = fear + surprise
- disapproval = surprise + sadness
- remorse = sadness + disgust
- contempt = disgust + anger
- aggressiveness = anger + anticipation
The same approach helps with familiar emotions that don’t appear on these lists: jealousy is often a mix of fear of loss, anger and sadness, while nostalgia blends joy and sadness.
A list of emotions: pleasant and unpleasant
For everyday use, a list sorted by how emotions feel is the most practical. Negative emotions are not “wrong” – they are unpleasant because they alert us to something that needs attention.
- Pleasant emotions: joy, enthusiasm, gratitude, pride, relief, contentment, hope, tenderness, love, curiosity, calm, trust.
- Unpleasant (negative) emotions: sadness, fear, anxiety, anger, disappointment, shame, guilt, envy, jealousy, loneliness, disgust, despair, frustration.
- Mixed or ambiguous: surprise, nostalgia, longing, being moved, uncertainty.
Shame and guilt are often confused. Guilt is about an action (“I did something wrong”); shame is about the whole person (“something is wrong with me”). Guilt pushes us to make amends, shame to withdraw – which is why the difference matters.
How emotions affect your health
Emotions are not only in your head. Long-lasting tension, fear or anger trigger the stress response, which can show up as fatigue, headaches, a pounding heart, digestive trouble, tense muscles and poor sleep. Public health guidance lists a good social network, regular exercise, a balanced diet, relaxation techniques and healthy boundaries as protective factors.
Why naming an emotion helps
A study led by Matthew Lieberman at UCLA, published in Psychological Science in 2007, found that when participants labelled the emotion on a photographed face with a word, activity in the amygdala – the brain’s “alarm centre” – decreased. A simple “I notice I’m angry” is therefore more than a description; it is already the first step in regulating the emotion. The richer your emotional vocabulary, the more precisely you can work out what you need.
If unpleasant emotions last for weeks and get in the way of daily life, it’s time to talk to a professional – your GP is a good first step. Readers in Slovenia can find helplines in the overview of support services by the Slovenian public health institute NIJZ.
Colours and emotions
We often link colours to emotions, but these links are mostly cultural rather than biological. Red can mean love or anger, blue calm or sadness. White is the colour of weddings in Europe and of mourning in parts of Asia. Colour charts of emotions are therefore best used as a conversation aid, for example with children, not as a rule.
Frequently asked questions
How many emotions are there?
It depends on the theory. Ekman describes six (later seven) basic emotions, Plutchik eight, from which complex emotions are formed. In total there are dozens of named emotions and shades of feeling.
What are the basic emotions?
The most commonly cited basic emotions are happiness, sadness, fear, anger, disgust and surprise. Plutchik adds trust and anticipation.
What are complex emotions?
Complex emotions arise when two or more basic emotions combine – for example love as joy plus trust, or contempt as disgust plus anger.
Are negative emotions harmful?
No. Fear, anger and sadness warn us of danger, injustice or loss. What does harm is suppressing them for a long time, or feeling them so long that they wear the body down.
