As long as you have happiness (a tool that only works in a couple of scenarios), sadness (Phillips head screwdriver, extremely useful all the time), and anger (a big, blunt instrument to be used in every other situation whether it’s appropriate or not) I can’t imagine why we’d need more.
You’re missing fear. Which is a really important tool. Possibly the most important one.
But yeah, happiness, fear, anger and sadness are the basic emotions. But that’s like red, blue, and yellow were the basic colors you used in elementary school painting. You get different degrees and different blends of them and that’s where the complexity comes in. Rage, anger, annoyance? Different degrees of anger. Anticipation? It’s some degree of happiness and fear. Grief? Usually some happiness, fear, and a lot of sadness.
As long as you have happiness (a tool that only works in a couple of scenarios), sadness (Phillips head screwdriver, extremely useful all the time), and anger (a big, blunt instrument to be used in every other situation whether it’s appropriate or not) I can’t imagine why we’d need more.
You’re missing fear. Which is a really important tool. Possibly the most important one.
But yeah, happiness, fear, anger and sadness are the basic emotions. But that’s like red, blue, and yellow were the basic colors you used in elementary school painting. You get different degrees and different blends of them and that’s where the complexity comes in. Rage, anger, annoyance? Different degrees of anger. Anticipation? It’s some degree of happiness and fear. Grief? Usually some happiness, fear, and a lot of sadness.
Fear is unbelievably important in this conversation.
Fear is linked to anger for me in a lot of ways because that’s just how I survived for a while. Afraid? Ok fight or flight time let’s go.
Disassociating those two is a massive part of my therapy lol.