What are Emotions?

“Emotions are a process, a particular kind of automatic appraisal influenced by our evolutionary and personal past, in which we sense that something important to our welfare is occurring, and a set of psychological changes and emotional behaviors begins to deal with the situation.” — Paul Ekman, PhD

In other words, emotions prepare us to deal with important events without having to think about them. These emotional responses are an unbidden occurrence, meaning that we don’t choose to feel them, they just happen to us automatically. Of all the human emotions we experience, there are seven universal emotions that we all feel, transcending language, regional, cultural, and ethnic differences

Each of the universal emotions has distinctive signals, physiologies and timelines. While they vary in their onset duration and decline, emotions typically don’t last longer than an hour. If an emotion persists for an extended amount of time without interruption, it’s more likely that the emotion can be categorized as a mood or a disorder.

To learn more about universal emotions, visit paulekman.com/universal-emotions.

Dr. Ekman, one of the world’s leading experts in the field of emotions has devoted his life to researching emotions and developing tools to help us better understand the emotional lives of ourselves and others.