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List of Emotions & Meanings

Humans express a wide variety of emotions. Robert Plutchik, who was a professor emeritus at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine, researched emotions and designed a color wheel that depicts the intensity level of emotions. Eight primary emotions, in three strengths, for a total of 24 emotions, form this wheel. These are: joy, trust, fear, surprise, sadness, disgust, anger and anticipation. Eight other, and secondary, emotions are: love, submission, awe, disapproval, remorse, contempt, aggressiveness and optimism.

  1. Serenity

    • Serenity and its increasingly intense companions, joy and ecstasy, demonstrate increasingly positive feelings. Serenity is calmness. Joy shows happiness or gaiety. Ecstasy flows forth as pure delight or bliss.

    Acceptance

    • Acceptance, and then trust and admiration, show increasing feelings of respect. Acceptance means approval. Trust means a firm belief in someone or something. Admiration signifies esteem.

    Apprehension

    • Apprehension, fear and terror signify emotional discomfort. Apprehension means a sense of uneasiness. Fear represents aversion. Terror means phobia.

    Distraction

    • Distraction, surprise and amazement relate to the unexpected. Distraction shows a lack of focus. Surprise means unexpected, usually in reference to a gift or event. Amazement is astonishment or sudden wonder.

    Pensive

    • Pensiveness, sadness and grief represent intensified feelings of sorrow. Pensiveness shows sad thoughtfulness. Sadness means unhappiness. Grief generally relates to sorrow over death.

    Boredom

    • Boredom, disgust and loathing show aversion. Boredom represents a lack of interest. Disgust is repugnance. Loathing means extreme hatred.

    Annoyance

    • Annoyance, anger and rage demonstrate levels of ire. Annoyance shows mild irritation. Anger may be spoken or nonverbal but demonstrates hostility. Rage vents as intense fury.

    Interest

    • Interest, anticipation and vigilance show increasing concern. Interest is beginning attention. Anticipation marks an pleasurable expectation. Vigilance signifies watchfulness.

    Love and Submission

    • Plutchik introduced the secondary emotions with love, although most people would consider it a primary emotion. Love demonstrates strong affection. Submission is a feeling of service.

    Awe and Disapproval

    • Awe represents wonder combined with slight fear. Disapproval means censure.

    Remorse and Contempt

    • Remorse means deep sorrow or disappointment. Contempt is disdain.

    Aggressiveness and Optimism

    • Aggressiveness signifies the powerful outward expression of strong emotion such as that shown by bullies. Optimism shows a positive belief in the best possible outcomes.

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