The Psychology Behind Emotions, Feelings, and Moods: What Sets Them Apart?

Everyone everywhere experiences emotions, feelings and moods. When working with clients as a person centred integrative counsellor at my practice in North Dorset, I frequently meet people whose emotions are an issue for them. Some clients do realise that their emotions are at the heart of their distress and from the word go want to focus on how to express them more fully. However, for many clients emotions, and their related feelings and moods lie in a murky, hidden area just out of their awareness. Off the radar and out of reach, they unconsciously push down their emotions rather than expressing them. Without realising this pattern in their behaviour, their unexpressed emotions are often the root cause of their distress and can manifest as rumination, physical discomfort and tension and in self critical negative thinking. Understanding our emotions, feelings and moods is essential for our sense of well being. A good place to start in understanding these three, is to explore the difference between these often misunderstood terms.

What are emotions?

According to the recent thinking of Paul Eckman from the University of California, we have six primary emotions. These are anger, fear, sadness, joy, surprise and disgust.

Already I can sense that you may be surprised by this statement for two reasons. Firstly you will probably be thinking that six emotions is not enough. What about frustration, happiness, irritation, jealousy, guilt etc. Aren’t these all emotions too? Secondly, I expect you are probably quite comfortable with fear, anger, sadness and joy. However, surprise and disgust? Surely these are not emotions at all? And of course I totally understand this. In fact, I have a book by Chris Germer called 'The Mindful Path to Self Compassion' that contains an appendix that lists of hundreds of different words to describe emotions. However, technically, these words are really feelings (see below); if we define what we mean by an emotion things should become clearer.

My understanding is that an emotion precedes thought and mental analysis. It is a bodily response to our environment that occurs before our reasoning minds start to add layers of interpretation. It will have identifiable physical outcomes and is activated by our sympathetic nervous system that enables our fight or flight or freeze responses. Emotions are ancient and hardwired into our physiology and are a key part of our survival instincts.

The Emotions and their Purpose

• Fear is the body’s response to danger. Before thinking, a tiny part of our brain called the amygdala gathers data from the environment assessing threat levels. If a threshold is reached the body is flooded with adrenaline and cortisol, preparing us to run from a danger, to fight our corner or to play dead. Over the immense periods of time that have allowed human evolution, fear has been an essential prerequisite for survival.

• Similarly, anger is required for boundary setting. It allows us to generate the ability to protect what we value and care for. Without anger, our ancestors would have succumbed to the attack of predators or rival clans competing for resources.

• Sadness is a request for help. Expressing this emotion is a signal that others need to rally around and that you need support. Humanity’s success has been partly due to our ability to work together and support each other in community and expressing sadness is an essential part of this. Sadness also signals a time for self reflection and possibly a need for time alone and away from the group. But this separation from the clan has its dangers, and so again sadness is a way of signalling that one may need support.

• Disgust is an instantaneous recoil against danger, whether it be from a snake about to strike, contaminated food or other poisons in our environment; it serves to protect us at the level of a reflex from dangers in our environment.

• Surprise is the sudden preparedness for action that occurs when an unexpected event arises. Again it’s link to our survival is obvious.

• For me joy and love are interconnected. Clearly, love links together communities and families and draws together individuals to bond and maintain security and ensure that a new generation is born. Furthermore, joy arises naturally when we work together, enjoying the company of our family friends, working together towards common goals in the absence of fear and anger. Joy arises spontaneously when the other emotions are absent. It is our natural state of being. Having expressed anger, fear and sadness and being free from surprise and disgust our being can feel joyous. Joy is not directed, it manifests when the absence of other emotions allows it to shine.

What about Feelings?

If an emotion persists and is not experienced or processed, then feelings arise. These are a combination of the original emotion and some interpretation of it. For example, guilt can be seen as being a blend of the emotion fear and a sense of regret that we may have overstepped our position in our family or community and could be ostracised or banished for doing so. The feeling of shame occurs when fear blends with the sense that if other members of the tribe knew us warts and all, knew our darkest thoughts and secrets then we would be abandoned and no one would want to know us. We'd be caste out and left to fend for ourselves.

Shame and guilt are feelings that differ from emotions because at some level, that is often unconscious, a layering of interpretation has been added by our thinking mind. This potential for highly nuanced and subtle reflection leads to literally hundreds of different feelings all of which our species has produced language to communicate about. However, these hundreds of feelings have at their root the six primary emotions.

How do Moods fit in?

When emotions and feelings are not recognised and not allowed to be expressed, when they are buried and pushed down, this can lead to rumination. As the analytical problem solving part of our mind tries to think its way out of an emotion, other memories arise of times when we have felt this way before, as well as a critical inner voice berating us for being in this same place again. The memories carry with them an emotional residue which sustains over time, creating a mood, a prolonged period of feeling in a particular way. If the memories are positive, the mood may be joyous and happy. But if the memories that arise are unpleasant, then that original emotion of sadness, which may have produced feelings such as disappointment, regret and self loathing lasts for an extended period of time, and deepens into a prevailing mood.

How are Emotions, Feelings and Moods Interlinked?

Happiness brings a sense of joy and can also foster feelings of contentment, excitement, gratitude, pride, love, and serenity, often leading to an overall mood of optimism and well-being. When the emotion of sadness arises but not felt without judgement, one might have feelings sorrow, disappointment, grief, or even a deep sense of loneliness and regret, which can create a mood of melancholy or despair. Fear has a way of triggering anxiety, worry, nervousness, and, in some cases, an overwhelming sense of dread or helplessness, often resulting in a tense or cautious mood. Feelings of frustration, resentment, annoyance, or rage often follow anger, sometimes leading to irritation, jealousy, or bitterness, which can create an overall mood of hostility or agitation. Disgust creates a strong sense of revulsion, making one feel contempt, aversion, disdain, or even moral outrage, often resulting in a mood of detachment or moral indignation. As for surprise, it can spark amazement and wonder, leaving a person feeling startled, astonished, confused, or bewildered, which may lead to a mood of curiosity or excitement.

At my North Dorset Counselling Practice, Counselling with Rich - East meets West, a clearer understanding of emotions, feelings and moods can help my clients begin to understand what the causes and conditions for their low moods are. This awareness is the first step on the journey to expressing all of our emotions including sadness, anger and fear as they arise in our daily lives.

Bibliography

M. William, J. Teasdale, J. Segal Z and J. Kabat-Zinn, 'The Mindful way through Depression,' Guildford Press, 2025

Germer, C., ‘Mindful Self Compassion’, Guildford Press, 2009

Ekman, P.  'Emotions Revealed: Recognizing Faces and Feelings to Improve Communication and Emotional Life.',  New York: Henry Holt and Company, 2003