{"id":75302,"date":"2022-08-08T13:07:00","date_gmt":"2022-08-08T17:07:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/?p=75302"},"modified":"2022-08-16T15:11:13","modified_gmt":"2022-08-16T19:11:13","slug":"psychological-feelings-and-emotions","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/psychological-feelings-and-emotions\/","title":{"rendered":"Feelings and Emotions: Psychologically They&#8217;re Different"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>How are feelings and emotions psychologically different? How do experts explain this difference?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Neuroscientist and psychologist Lisa Feldman Barrett wrote the book <em>How Emotions Are Made<\/em> after years of psychological research. Feelings and emotions are two distinct concepts, according to Barrett, and understanding the difference could help you feel better, mentally and physically. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Keep reading for Barrett&#8217;s explanation of why feelings and emotions are psychologically different.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<!--more-->\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-how-feelings-and-emotions-are-different\">How Feelings and Emotions Are Different<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p><strong><em>Myth:<\/em><\/strong> Feelings and emotions are two words that mean the same thing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong><em>Reality:<\/em><\/strong> Simple feelings of pleasure and displeasure or calmness and agitation are not the same as complex emotional experiences such as joy and sadness. <strong>These basic feelings are your body&#8217;s internal sensations, whereas emotions are the psychological concepts that your brain assigns to the feelings to give them meaning.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Even though emotions are not the same across cultures, Barrett says that basic internal feelings on a spectrum from pleasure and displeasure and calmness to agitation are universal. These feelings are essentially summaries of your body\u2019s inner state (they\u2019re also called <em>affect<\/em>). They\u2019re part of an internal process called <em><a href=\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/interoceptive-sense\/\">interoception<\/a><\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">What Is Interoception? Your Inner Sixth Sense<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>Feeling and emotions may be psychologically different, but they are still connected. In interoception, your brain gets sensory input from inside your body, including information about your heart rate, breathing, blood pressure, temperature, hormones, metabolism, and so on. Then, <strong>in a process that Barrett dubs \u201cbody budgeting,\u201d your brain makes predictions about what those internal sensations mean in terms of your body\u2019s energy needs<\/strong>, and it regulates the body accordingly\u2014by doing things such as speeding up your heart, slowing down breathing, releasing more cortisol, or metabolizing more glucose.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Interoception is a whole-brain process. <strong>This means that the brain is structured so that all of your decisions and actions<\/strong>, no matter how much you believe them to be rooted in logic and reason, are affected by your inner feelings.&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>How are feelings and emotions psychologically different? How do experts explain this difference? Neuroscientist and psychologist Lisa Feldman Barrett wrote the book How Emotions Are Made after years of psychological research. Feelings and emotions are two distinct concepts, according to Barrett, and understanding the difference could help you feel better, mentally and physically. Keep reading for Barrett&#8217;s explanation of why feelings and emotions are psychologically different.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":19,"featured_media":75335,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[15,9],"tags":[714],"class_list":["post-75302","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-education","category-psychology","tag-how-emotions-are-made","","tg-column-two"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v24.3 (Yoast SEO v24.3) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Feelings and Emotions: Psychologically They&#039;re Different - Shortform Books<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Feelings and emotions aren&#039;t synonyms. Psychologically, you experience them differently. 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Learn the key difference, according to Barrett.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/psychological-feelings-and-emotions\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Shortform Books\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2022-08-08T17:07:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2022-08-16T19:11:13+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/s3.amazonaws.com\/wordpress.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/colorful-balloons-emotions.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1848\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1240\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Emily Kitazawa\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Emily Kitazawa\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/psychological-feelings-and-emotions\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/psychological-feelings-and-emotions\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Emily Kitazawa\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/e094024454c7d3334a149c0cf039bdeb\"},\"headline\":\"Feelings and Emotions: Psychologically They&#8217;re Different\",\"datePublished\":\"2022-08-08T17:07:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2022-08-16T19:11:13+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/psychological-feelings-and-emotions\/\"},\"wordCount\":334,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/psychological-feelings-and-emotions\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/colorful-balloons-emotions.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"How Emotions Are Made\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Education\",\"Psychology\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/psychological-feelings-and-emotions\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/psychological-feelings-and-emotions\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/psychological-feelings-and-emotions\/\",\"name\":\"Feelings and Emotions: Psychologically They're Different - Shortform Books\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/psychological-feelings-and-emotions\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/psychological-feelings-and-emotions\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/colorful-balloons-emotions.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2022-08-08T17:07:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2022-08-16T19:11:13+00:00\",\"description\":\"Feelings and emotions aren't synonyms. 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