What Is an Emotion?
Emotional Regulation: Understanding your emotions
Start
How to Navigate
Click the arrow to go to the next page.
Click the arrow to go back.
+ or numbers (1 to 5) Click to open more information.
Click the arrow to continue to the next page.
Take a moment to get used to these buttons — you’ll see them all the way through. They’ll make it easier to move around and enjoy the session.
Remember this
Definition
What Is an Emotion?
An emotion is an automatic response from your brain and your body to something important that’s happening to you. It helps you adapt, react quickly, and express what you feel.
Researchers define an emotion as: “A set of rapid physical and mental changes that prepare the body to respond to a situation.”
Every emotion includes:
A physical reaction
A behaviour
A thought
You interpret what’s happening (“This is unfair”, “This is amazing”, “I’m scared”).
You shout, you laugh, you move away, you speak up, etc.
Your heart beats faster, you shake, you smile or you cry.
+ Info
+ Info
+ Info
What Are Emotions For?
Emotions play an essential role. They:
Help you understand yourself
Help you build relationships
Help you communicate
Help you survive
Emotion, Feeling, Mood
They’re not the same thing.
Click the arrow to continue.
An Emotion
Duration:Short (seconds to minutes)
What makes it unique:An immediate reaction of the body and the brain
Examples:Anger, joy, fear
A Feeling
Duration:Longer (minutes to hours)
What makes it unique:It comes from thinking about an emotion
Examples:Pride, jealousy, gratitude
A Mood
Duration:Lasts longer (hours to days)
What makes it unique:A general emotional state with no specific cause
Examples:Good mood or bad mood
Example
You feel frustrated (emotion) because a friend forgot about you.
When you think about it again, you feel sad (feeling).
The next day, you feel low for no clear reason (mood).
How Does an Emotion Start?
Your body reacts
A triggering event
You react
You express it or you block it, you speak up or you hold back.
Hormones, breathing, muscle tension, heart rate.
Something catches your attention (a comment, a success, a look).
You feel the emotion
Your brain evaluates
It interprets the situation — is it a threat, a gain, a loss?
You become aware of what you’re experiencing.
Starting Point for Emotional Regulation
Step 5: You react
It’s at step 5 that emotional regulation comes into play: this is where you need to learn, consciously, to choose how to react instead of letting yourself react automatically. The good news is that once you start making that choice, the more you practise reacting well, the more it becomes second nature. But it also means that the more you let yourself react badly, the more that becomes second nature — to the point where, over time, you almost become unable to react in any other way.
Basic Emotions
Psychology research identifies the following emotions as basic emotions — ones that are present in all human beings.
Click on the arrow to continue.
Basic Emotions
Joy
Disgust
Anger
When something repels you or strongly bothers you.
When you feel something is unfair or hurtful.
When you feel happiness or pleasure.
Fear
Sadness
When you sense danger.
When something hurts your heart.
Surprise!
Why do we call them basic emotions?
Joy, sadness, anger, fear and disgust are called basic emotions because they appear in all cultures and can be recognised on people’s faces everywhere in the world. Secondary emotions (jealousy, shame, pride, guilt, frustration, tenderness…) are combinations or variations of those five.
Surprise is often described as a sixth basic emotion, but many modern researchers see it more as a quick reaction from the brain that alerts you that something unexpected has happened — before the real emotion (joy, fear, anger, etc.) takes over.
Why Some Emotions Feel Stronger at Your Age
During adolescence, your brain changes a lot.
The amygdala (the emotion centre) becomes very reactive.
The prefrontal cortex (the reasoning and self-control area) develops more slowly.
Result: You feel things more strongly, more quickly, and sometimes you react before thinking. That’s normal. Your brain is still learning how to balance emotion and reason. This phase is a period of learning — not a character flaw.
Good to Know
Childhood and adolescence are learning periods that help you build good character. But if you don’t make the effort to learn, this phase eventually becomes your character. Your character is what you become through your choices and your repeated reactions. It’s different from your personality, which is who you are naturally.
Your personality is the set of stable traits that make you unique — your temperament (biological and inherited), but also your thinking style, your way of being, acting and feeling, shaped by your environment, your upbringing and your experiences.
“It’s really important to remember this: your character depends on you — it is shaped through learning and repetition. It is the responsibility of your parents, and later on of yourself, to train your body to act and react well.
In Summary
Emotions are messengers — they show where your heart has been touched and invite you to respond with intention, not impulsively.
Emotions are essential biological and psychological signals.They are neither good nor bad — what matters is what you do with them. Learning to regulate them means learning to stay in control of yourself, no matter what you feel.
Activities to Check Understanding
Question 1
Question 2
Question 3
Question 4
Question 5
Well done! This is the end of this exploration.
Help you build relationships
Sharing an emotion brings people closer (laughing together, empathising, celebrating).
Help you understand yourself
They show you your needs, your values, your desires, your limits.
Help you survive
Fear pushes you to escape danger; anger gives you the strength to react; disgust protects you from what is harmful.
Help you communicate
Your face and your voice show others what you’re feeling, even without speaking.
What Is an Emotion?
Muriel Akahi
Created on November 27, 2025
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Transcript
What Is an Emotion?
Emotional Regulation: Understanding your emotions
Start
How to Navigate
Click the arrow to go to the next page.
Click the arrow to go back.
+ or numbers (1 to 5) Click to open more information.
Click the arrow to continue to the next page.
Take a moment to get used to these buttons — you’ll see them all the way through. They’ll make it easier to move around and enjoy the session.
Remember this
Definition
What Is an Emotion?
An emotion is an automatic response from your brain and your body to something important that’s happening to you. It helps you adapt, react quickly, and express what you feel.
Researchers define an emotion as: “A set of rapid physical and mental changes that prepare the body to respond to a situation.”
Every emotion includes:
A physical reaction
A behaviour
A thought
You interpret what’s happening (“This is unfair”, “This is amazing”, “I’m scared”).
You shout, you laugh, you move away, you speak up, etc.
Your heart beats faster, you shake, you smile or you cry.
+ Info
+ Info
+ Info
What Are Emotions For?
Emotions play an essential role. They:
Help you understand yourself
Help you build relationships
Help you communicate
Help you survive
Emotion, Feeling, Mood
They’re not the same thing.
Click the arrow to continue.
An Emotion
Duration:Short (seconds to minutes)
What makes it unique:An immediate reaction of the body and the brain
Examples:Anger, joy, fear
A Feeling
Duration:Longer (minutes to hours)
What makes it unique:It comes from thinking about an emotion
Examples:Pride, jealousy, gratitude
A Mood
Duration:Lasts longer (hours to days)
What makes it unique:A general emotional state with no specific cause
Examples:Good mood or bad mood
Example
You feel frustrated (emotion) because a friend forgot about you.
When you think about it again, you feel sad (feeling).
The next day, you feel low for no clear reason (mood).
How Does an Emotion Start?
Your body reacts
A triggering event
You react
You express it or you block it, you speak up or you hold back.
Hormones, breathing, muscle tension, heart rate.
Something catches your attention (a comment, a success, a look).
You feel the emotion
Your brain evaluates
It interprets the situation — is it a threat, a gain, a loss?
You become aware of what you’re experiencing.
Starting Point for Emotional Regulation
Step 5: You react
It’s at step 5 that emotional regulation comes into play: this is where you need to learn, consciously, to choose how to react instead of letting yourself react automatically. The good news is that once you start making that choice, the more you practise reacting well, the more it becomes second nature. But it also means that the more you let yourself react badly, the more that becomes second nature — to the point where, over time, you almost become unable to react in any other way.
Basic Emotions
Psychology research identifies the following emotions as basic emotions — ones that are present in all human beings.
Click on the arrow to continue.
Basic Emotions
Joy
Disgust
Anger
When something repels you or strongly bothers you.
When you feel something is unfair or hurtful.
When you feel happiness or pleasure.
Fear
Sadness
When you sense danger.
When something hurts your heart.
Surprise!
Why do we call them basic emotions?
Joy, sadness, anger, fear and disgust are called basic emotions because they appear in all cultures and can be recognised on people’s faces everywhere in the world. Secondary emotions (jealousy, shame, pride, guilt, frustration, tenderness…) are combinations or variations of those five.
Surprise is often described as a sixth basic emotion, but many modern researchers see it more as a quick reaction from the brain that alerts you that something unexpected has happened — before the real emotion (joy, fear, anger, etc.) takes over.
Why Some Emotions Feel Stronger at Your Age
During adolescence, your brain changes a lot.
The amygdala (the emotion centre) becomes very reactive.
The prefrontal cortex (the reasoning and self-control area) develops more slowly.
Result: You feel things more strongly, more quickly, and sometimes you react before thinking. That’s normal. Your brain is still learning how to balance emotion and reason. This phase is a period of learning — not a character flaw.
Good to Know
Childhood and adolescence are learning periods that help you build good character. But if you don’t make the effort to learn, this phase eventually becomes your character. Your character is what you become through your choices and your repeated reactions. It’s different from your personality, which is who you are naturally.
Your personality is the set of stable traits that make you unique — your temperament (biological and inherited), but also your thinking style, your way of being, acting and feeling, shaped by your environment, your upbringing and your experiences.
“It’s really important to remember this: your character depends on you — it is shaped through learning and repetition. It is the responsibility of your parents, and later on of yourself, to train your body to act and react well.
In Summary
Emotions are messengers — they show where your heart has been touched and invite you to respond with intention, not impulsively.
Emotions are essential biological and psychological signals.They are neither good nor bad — what matters is what you do with them. Learning to regulate them means learning to stay in control of yourself, no matter what you feel.
Activities to Check Understanding
Question 1
Question 2
Question 3
Question 4
Question 5
Well done! This is the end of this exploration.
Help you build relationships
Sharing an emotion brings people closer (laughing together, empathising, celebrating).
Help you understand yourself
They show you your needs, your values, your desires, your limits.
Help you survive
Fear pushes you to escape danger; anger gives you the strength to react; disgust protects you from what is harmful.
Help you communicate
Your face and your voice show others what you’re feeling, even without speaking.