Emotions and how they work

Emotions are brief, coordinated responses to events that matter to us. They typically combine a feeling, changes in the body such as a racing heart, a tendency to act, and often a facial expression.

Psychologists distinguish emotions from moods. Emotions are usually triggered by something specific and pass relatively quickly. Moods are longer-lasting, more diffuse states, such as a gloomy day without an obvious cause.

Charles Darwin argued in 1872 that emotional expressions evolved because they were useful. Fear prepares the body to escape danger; disgust helps avoid contaminated food; anger mobilises energy to overcome obstacles; and sadness can signal a need for support.

Emotions also help social life. Expressions communicate our intentions and needs to others, and emotions such as guilt, gratitude and love help maintain relationships and cooperation.

In the 1960s and 1970s the psychologist Paul Ekman studied facial expressions across cultures, including an isolated community in Papua New Guinea, and argued that a set of basic emotions, such as happiness, sadness, fear, anger, surprise and disgust, is recognised universally.

Later researchers, including Lisa Feldman Barrett, challenged this view, arguing that facial expressions vary much more across people and situations than the classic studies suggested, and that the brain constructs emotions from bodily sensations and learned concepts. The debate continues, and many psychologists now take a position somewhere in between.

• The amygdala plays a key role in detecting threats and triggering fear responses.
• The sympathetic nervous system drives the fight-or-flight response, raising heart rate and releasing adrenaline.
• The prefrontal cortex helps interpret situations and regulate emotional responses.
• Hormones such as cortisol sustain stress responses over longer periods.
• Emotions involve networks across the brain rather than single dedicated centres.

Emotion regulation is the ability to influence which emotions we have, when, and how we express them. The psychologist James Gross described several strategies. Reappraisal, reinterpreting a situation, such as seeing a stressful exam as a challenge rather than a threat, is often linked to better wellbeing.

Suppression, hiding an emotion while still feeling it, tends to be less effective when relied on habitually, and it can strain social relationships. Other helpful strategies include naming emotions precisely, taking a pause before reacting, physical activity, sleep and talking with trusted people.

Everyone experiences painful emotions, and they are a normal part of life. But when emotions such as anxiety or low mood become intense, persistent and interfere with daily life, they may be signs of conditions such as anxiety disorders or depression.

These conditions are common and treatable. Approaches such as cognitive behavioural therapy help people identify and change unhelpful thought patterns, and medication can help some people. Anyone struggling should consider speaking to a doctor or mental health professional, and anyone in crisis should contact local emergency services or a crisis line.