Issue #16: Why Do Unpleasant Emotions Exist?
Learn about the function behind emotions that cause negative feelings, like anger and jealousy
Dear mental health advocate,
Greeting from my holiday destination and sunny Croatia! Hope you are all doing great. As two weeks have passed, I have written a new edition of The Present Psychologist Paper to help raise awareness about mental health and psychology.
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And now, back to the content. In this edition I will dive deeper into unpleasant emotions. We all feel anger, sadness and guilt sometimes. It’s pretty normal, but it can be very annoying to deal with. Evolutionary psychology tries to explain why these unpleasant emotions exist and why these are actually pretty useful. Keep on reading to find out more!
Why Do Unpleasant Emotions Exist?
In our current society, it often seems that several ‘negative’ emotions are considered bad or should be avoided at all costs. I mean, no one wants to feel sad, guilty or angry right? Well… although these emotions can be painful or difficult to navigate, they are really important and exist for a reason. A quote we often hear: ‘To live is to suffer, to survive is to find meaning in the suffering’. I guess there is some truth to it. Imagine feeling happy and elated all the time. Would it still feel like happiness if we would feel it all the time? Or would we feel numb after a while, always waiting for a new sensation or emotion? To be happy means we need to feel sad too. Our emotions and moods are like a rhythm, going up and down. Sure, for some more than others, but it’s a part of being human.
I sometimes ask people how they would rather experience life. Like a flat line, feeling steady but not with many emotions? Or rather a flowing line with ups and downs feeling everything? I know in the mental health professions a strong focus is to help people who are struggling with unpleasant emotions and moods. And we should. Especially when there is an imbalance between them, such as enormous and continuous lows with only a few small peaks. But, at the same time it is healthy and very human to alternate our positive and negative emotions. Emotions like shame and anger can disrupt our lives, but they also occur as a signal to ensure we act and change the situation we find ourselves in.
What is the function of these unpleasant emotions?
All emotions are there for a reason. In the mental health field, evolutionary psychologists always try to figure out and theorize why we have all sorts of instincts or behave in a certain way. For them, emotions are a big topic. Every human being has to deal with processing all sorts of feelings, which are many times difficult to control and can be triggered automatically in various situations. A famous psychologist Paul Ekman is known for his research on emotions and facial expressions. He traveled far and did cross-cultural studies to examine if our emotions and expressions are similar in the world. He visited the Fore people (who were very isolated from others) in Papua New Guinea and studied their nonverbal behavior.
Based on the results from his research, Ekman found compelling evidence that our facial expressions are universal. These findings led Ekman to believe there are six basic emotions: fear, anger, joy, sadness, disgust and surprise. The idea is that humans only have a limited amount of emotions that are ‘basic’, which means that they each show and follow a specific, organized and recurring pattern. This basically means that these emotions work the same for all of us. Psychologists agree that these basic emotions are universal because they serve very important purposes (both socially and biologically) and are essential to our evolution as mankind.
Our basic emotions evolved like that because they were and are crucial to our survival, they influence our actions and tasks we need to do to ensure that we prosper in life. Think about fight-or-flight, if a tiger approaches us we need to feel fear, so that adrenaline can kick in and we can run away. Ekman also believed that if you combine certain elements of basic emotions, you get the more complicated feelings. These emotions differ in the sense that they have various body responses, facial expressions and have other triggers or stimulation effects. The negative emotions exist, because they alert us that change is necessary and subsequently motivate us to make that change happen.
Unpacking each ‘unpleasant’ emotion
In today’s article I am considering ‘unpleasant’ emotions the ones that people generally report as a negative feeling: anger, guilt, frustration, fear, disgust, jealousy, regret and sadness. When a person goes through these emotions, they mostly feel uncomfortable. But, as Ekman mentioned and as many agree, they all have an important function as they signal something needs to change. I will unpack all of these emotions and try to explain why psychologists believe they exist and are necessary to process.
Anger. The function of anger is to be able to express your dislike and negative feelings towards something or someone. It is triggered by the feeling of something or someone doing you wrong (whether on purpose or not). Being angry helps with ensuring your vulnerability is protected. Anger also occurs when a person’s sense of self is being threatened and motivates them to find a solution.
Guilt. Guilt is seen as a moral and social emotion geared towards others. It has the goal to signal that we are doing something morally wrong which makes us feel bad and then causes us to make amends. Psychologists say that feeling guilt has three main functions: to maintain and repair relationships, to influence others and to deal with experiencing emotional distress.
Frustration. When there is a situation where a person cannot achieve a desired outcome (sometimes because something or someone is blocking it), the person will likely feel frustration. It is generally seen as an emotional reaction to stress. Frustration signals that we need to use a different tactic or strategy to reach our goal, as the current one is not working out.
Fear. The function of fear might be quite obvious to many: it exists to signal to people there is imminent danger, a threat or a motivational conflict. The goal is to avoid pain or stress that prolonged exposure to the threat might lead to. The fight-flight-freeze system is triggered by the fear, so that immediate action can be taken. Also, it helps people understand which situations or stimuli they should avoid in the future.
Disgust. Psychologists believe that the main function of disgust is to protect a person from illness, contamination and potential diseases. For example, the smell, taste and sight of a rotten apple likely leads to feeling disgust and is required to prevent you from eating it. Otherwise, the rotten apple could make you sick. Also, disgust is triggered when we are confronted with something offensive or unpleasant so we distance ourselves from it.
Jealousy. When people perceive a threat (whether it is real or not) to a relationship they have with someone, jealousy occurs. This could be because a person believes someone else loves them or will take the person away from them. It tries to signal to us that a relationship we value might be threatened, so we should act to fix it or make it better. The goal is to preserve and maintain social bonds and relationships.
Regret. The main reason why we feel regret is to learn from mistakes we have made so we can make better informed decisions in the future and plan things in a more useful way. Essentially, it is a signal that tries to tell us to take another look at the choices we made, so we understand that our actions could lead to negative consequences.
Sadness. Ekman describes sadness as an important signal to us that we need help. This help is sometimes needed from other people, for example when we need comfort or a shoulder to cry on. At other times it could mean we need to help ourselves, by taking a step back, take some time off and mourn the thing or people we lost. It shows us what we find important, what we want or miss having.
So, are negative emotions always okay?
The magical word, like with so many things in the mental health field, is balance. Our emotions are valid and exist for a reason. Undergoing them is necessary and part of what it means to be human. I always tell people to not suppress them but instead let it overwhelm you every now and then, as processing your emotions will help with healing and growth. That said, many mental health disorders and issues are caused by experiencing certain emotions disproportionately. Many phobias and anxiety disorders are based on having fear that is not realistically related to actual threats, only perceived ones. Feeling too much anger or jealousy can lead to destructive behavior and impact relationships. Too much of something is not sustainable for people most of the times, so trying to balance them is key.
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My name is Alf Lokkertsen and I am a psychologist and writer, creating mental health content for you. My passion is to raise awareness about topics related to psychology, as it has helped me greatly in my personal life. I strongly believe that many problems could be avoided or dealt with better if everyone had some in-depth psychology knowledge.
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The title of this essay is, with all due respect, bizarre.
Sometimes life is harsh. We may have harsh emotions to enable us to battle the harsh conditions we confront.
If we had pleasant emotions all the time, we would be programmed, idiotic, cartoon characters with saccharine giggles and looks that exuded pastel prissiness
If we are in a fire. One may be anxious. Does that mean that one should consume valium. Of course not.
Life is not a succession of imbecilic tea parties frequented by muppets from Sesame Street