Today, the emotions are so neglected that most people are oblivious to the deep currents that move them, hold them back, and lose them.
If I say, “I am grateful”, I could mean one of three things: that I am currently feeling grateful for something, that I am generally grateful for that thing, or that I am a grateful kind of person. Similarly, if I say, “I am proud”, I could mean that I am currently feeling proud about something, that I am generally proud about that thing, or that I am a proud kind of person. Let us call the first instance (currently feeling proud about something) an emotional experience, the second instance (being generally proud about that thing) an emotion or sentiment, and the third instance (being a proud kind of person) a trait.
Many people confuse or amalgamate these three instances, especially the first and the second, calling them both ‘emotions’. But whereas an emotional experience is brief and episodic, an emotion—which may or may not be the outcome of repeated emotional experiences—can endure for many years, and, in that time, predispose us to a variety of emotional experiences as well as thoughts, beliefs, desires, and actions. For instance, love can give rise not only to amorous feelings, but also to joy, grief, rage, longing, andjealousy.
Similarly, many people confuse or amalgamate emotions and feelings. An emotional experience, by virtue of being a conscious experience, is necessarily a feeling, as are physical sensations such as hunger or pain (although not all conscious experiences are also feelings, not, for example, believing or seeing). In contrast, an emotion, being in some sense latent, can only ever be felt, sensu stricto, through the emotional experiences that it gives rise to, even though it might also be known through its associated thoughts, beliefs, desires, and actions. Despite these conscious and unconscious manifestations, emotions need not themselves be conscious, and some emotions, such as resenting one’s mother or being in love with one’s best friend, might only be uncovered after several years of psychotherapy.
If an emotion remains unconscious, this is often through repression or through some other form of self-deception. However, self-deception can also take place at the level of emotional experiences if these are not acceptable or tolerable, for example, by misattributing the type or intensity of the emotional experience, or misattributing its object or cause (which might, of course, be an emotion). For instance, envy is often construed as indignation, and Schadenfreude (the pleasure derived from the misfortune of others) as sympathy. Fear of ghosts or ‘the dark’ is in fact fear of death, since people who have come to terms with death are seldom frightened of such things. Beyond this, one could argue that even the purest of emotions is inherently self-deceptive, lending weight in our experience to one thing over others. In that much, emotions are not objective perceptions (in so far as there can be objective perceptions), but subjective 'ways of seeing' that reflect our needs and concerns.
Today, the emotions are so neglected that most people are oblivious to the deep currents that move them, hold them back, and lose them.
If I say, “I am grateful”, I could mean one of three things: that I am currently feeling grateful for something, that I am generally grateful for that thing, or that I am a grateful kind of person. Similarly, if I say, “I am proud”, I could mean that I am currently feeling proud about something, that I am generally proud about that thing, or that I am a proud kind of person. Let us call the first instance (currently feeling proud about something) an emotional experience, the second instance (being generally proud about that thing) an emotion or sentiment, and the third instance (being a proud kind of person) a trait.
Many people confuse or amalgamate these three instances, especially the first and the second, calling them both ‘emotions’. But whereas an emotional experience is brief and episodic, an emotion—which may or may not be the outcome of repeated emotional experiences—can endure for many years, and, in that time, predispose us to a variety of emotional experiences as well as thoughts, beliefs, desires, and actions. For instance, love can give rise not only to amorous feelings, but also to joy, grief, rage, longing, andjealousy.
Similarly, many people confuse or amalgamate emotions and feelings. An emotional experience, by virtue of being a conscious experience, is necessarily a feeling, as are physical sensations such as hunger or pain (although not all conscious experiences are also feelings, not, for example, believing or seeing). In contrast, an emotion, being in some sense latent, can only ever be felt, sensu stricto, through the emotional experiences that it gives rise to, even though it might also be known through its associated thoughts, beliefs, desires, and actions. Despite these conscious and unconscious manifestations, emotions need not themselves be conscious, and some emotions, such as resenting one’s mother or being in love with one’s best friend, might only be uncovered after several years of psychotherapy.
If an emotion remains unconscious, this is often through repression or through some other form of self-deception. However, self-deception can also take place at the level of emotional experiences if these are not acceptable or tolerable, for example, by misattributing the type or intensity of the emotional experience, or misattributing its object or cause (which might, of course, be an emotion). For instance, envy is often construed as indignation, and Schadenfreude (the pleasure derived from the misfortune of others) as sympathy. Fear of ghosts or ‘the dark’ is in fact fear of death, since people who have come to terms with death are seldom frightened of such things. Beyond this, one could argue that even the purest of emotions is inherently self-deceptive, lending weight in our experience to one thing over others. In that much, emotions are not objective perceptions (in so far as there can be objective perceptions), but subjective 'ways of seeing' that reflect our needs and concerns.
Neel Burton is author of Hide and Seek: The Psychology of Self-Deception(link is external), The Art of Failure: The Anti Self-Help Guide(link is external), and other books.