What is the difference between emotion and feeling?
Emotion and feeling seem to be similar in meaning and are often confused by many people, yet they are different concepts.
What is an emotion?
An emotion is a set of neurochemical and hormonal responses that predispose us to react in a certain way to an external stimulus or internal (thought, memory, image). Emotions are transitory, causing them to take us out of our normal state, propel us, and motivate us to action. They are more intense than feelings, but they last less than these.
What is the feeling?
The feeling is the sum of emotion and thought; it is the result of emotions. An emotion is transformed into a feeling as one becomes aware of it.
How to differentiate feelings and emotions?
Both emotions and feelings have to do with the irrational, that is, with the subjective way in which we experience a situation. Although they are different concepts in practice, where there is an emotion, there is always a feeling (or several), the two are presented at the same time.
The words we use to separate them only exist in theory to allow us to understand more preciously what part of the conscious experience we are describing. In other words, the difference between similar terms the two is more virtual and theoretical than material, because we cannot effectively isolate a feeling and separate it from the emotion with which it is presented.
Emotions are transitory states; however, feelings have a longer duration; they will last as long as our conscious time takes to think about it.
Emotions occur quickly and unconsciously, conversely, feelings occur when consciousness intervenes, and it takes time for a feeling to form.
Emotion always comes first; without emotion, there will be no feeling. The same emotion can awaken different feelings to a person.
Emotions are psychophysiological reactions that occur spontaneously and automatically. Instead, feelings are our interpretation of those emotions and can be regulated by our thoughts.
If we are aware of our feelings, we can manage them. However, emotions do not occur because we want it, or they will not be there since they occur automatically in the face of a situation or thought.
Emotions are more intense than feelings since they are less intense because consciousness and thoughts already intervene, and therefore, more complex processes intervene.
Therefore, the main differences between emotion and feeling are their duration, intensity, and the reaction of our body.
