Emotions are usually responses to stimuli that include physiological changes (increased heart rate, increased body temperature, activity of certain glands, increased or decreased respiratory rate) that motivate a person to take action.
In English, there are more than 400 words designed to describe human emotions and feelings, in Russian there are about 150. In Italian, Spanish and French there are 600 or more. Europeans and Americans are 2-3 times more emotionally developed than Russians. And 10-12 times than the northern peoples. Norwegian, Swedish and Finnish have 50-60 words each - the meanings of emotions.
Any emotion consists of three components: 1) physiological changes (for example, acceleration of the heart rate); 2) behavioral responses, such as the tendency to move away from what triggers the emotion; 3) subjective experiences - feelings, resentment, anger, happiness, or sadness.
The word "instinct" in Latin ("instinctus") means incitement. 99% of aggression is transmitted through emotions. Emotional abuse is characterized by the peculiarity of systematically erasing a person's self-confidence, self-respect and self-esteem.
Most neuroscientists distinguish between the words "emotion" and "feeling." They use "emotion" to describe the brain's auto-programmed responses to certain stimuli, and "feeling" to describe our conscious, brain-processed experience.
Charles Darwin believed that human emotions were beneficial to evolution because they increased the chances of survival. For example, the brain uses emotions to keep us away from dangerous animals (fear), away from rotting food and feces (disgust), in managing our resources (anger), and in the pursuit of good food or procreation (pleasure and lust).
Most scientists believe that basic human emotions are innate, not acquired. For example, people who are born blind and have never seen a face still display typical facial expressions and basic emotions.
Research shows that if people adjust their facial expressions to reflect emotions, then they actually begin to feel those emotions. (For example, display a smile on your face and after a while the body will "feel joy").
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Human emotions are contagious. Negative or unpleasant emotions are more contagious than neutral or positive ones. Research shows that men and women experience the same amount of emotions, but women tend to show more.
It is noted that most human emotions are associated with fear and interest, two reptilian functions of all living beings on earth - absorption and disgust.
Research shows that people are more likely to recognize and interpret the emotional expressions of their own race and nationality. A person can make over 10,000 facial expressions to express a wide variety of subtle emotions.