We’ve probably heard this saying before that we should never make a major decision based on temporary emotions, because emotions can be deceiving. Emotions are the assessment or evaluation that the goals we have set are met and satisfied. They play a vital role in decision-making. We might have made a promise we didn’t mean on impulse because we are happy or might have said hurtful things because we’re angry and frustrated.

According to Alison Alverson’s book “Emotional Intelligence”‘. Emotions are feelings that come into your mind and that affect how you react to a given stimuli. Emotions can be characterized by three major elements: physiological arousal like increased heart rate, sweating, flushing, psychological appraisal or expressive behaviors like our motivation, personality, and temperament, and lastly, subjective or personal experiences like what’s making you angry might be different to another individual.

Emotions and moods have been interchangeably used but there is a difference in definition. Emotion is a fleeting experience with intense mental and physiological feeling states caused by an unusual stimuli, while mood is more prolonged and less intense, and also refers to the positive and negative feelings of our day to day experiences. Our emotions influence our mood, decision making and behavior. Let’s try to focus on how emotions can actually influence our thinking.

There are 7 universal major emotions according to Alison Alverson which are also based on the Psychologist, Paul Eckman. These emotions are happiness, sadness, fear, anger, disgust, surprise, and contempt. These emotions are universal and can be experienced by everyone in all cultures and races. Emotions can be positive and negative and these emotions are normal and valid. Happiness is the state that everyone strives for the most that includes bliss, contentment, gratification, and satisfaction. You feel happy when you eat your favorite food or meet with your loved ones. Sadness is characterized by gloomy feeling, grief, hopelessness, and dampened mood. You feel sad when you see a homeless person or a loved one die. Fear plays an important role in survival where it can be activated by an abrupt and immense threat. You feel fear by watching thrilling or suspense movies, or if you’re at an imminent danger. Disgust is an intense emotion that can be triggered by unpleasant smell or taste or even immoral acts. You feel disgusted with exotic foods or hideous crimes. Anger is a powerful emotion that includes aggression, hostility, and frustration. You feel angry when someone educates you in a condescending manner. Surprise is a physiological startle or shock that is unexpected. It can be positive, negative and even neutral. You feel surprised when your family and friends visit you after a long time, or when you received a gift from someone unexpectedly. Contempt is an ill-feeling or less regard to another inferior person. You feel contempt when you separate yourself from a person who is less important than you. Both positive and negative emotions help us adapt in changing situations and aid survival through activating the ‘Fight or Flight’ reaction.

The movie Inside Out portrays 5 major emotions as Joy, Sadness, Anger, Disgust, and Fear. The movie shows that our emotions are vital in decision-making. Emotions can be triggered by an internal and external stimuli which shows that emotions are also related to our core memories. We established our habits through the learnings from our past experiences that were based on emotions. Our emotions affect the right frontal cortex which includes the limbic system – the amygdala and hippocampus as the center processors. These learned emotions became patterns that influence us on how we think and perceive things.  What the mind conceives, the body achieves.

Emotions play a vital role in our daily lives. They might be complex sometimes, but if we try to understand and validate our emotions, we can have a better understanding on how it is affecting our behavior. If you are a person with high  emotional intelligence, you might be able to have skills such as empathy, self-awareness, self-control and you probably know how to manage and understand your emotions.