BRAINPICKER
"Feelings are like waves. You cannot stop them from coming but you can decide which ones to surf."
EMOTIONS:
What are they?
There are many theories on how emotions truly work. While there is a science behind it, many psychologists speculate the more complicated questions about emotions.
THE SCIENCE
Emotions are caused by specific hormones that correlate to certain emotions. There are hormones for love, anger, happiness, etc.
Interestingly, the frontal lobe of the brain is responsible for reason and gets into cahoots with the amygdala in certain situations. Usually, the frontal lobe “wins,” and so you go with the voice of reason rather than what your emotions say.
THEORIES
Many psychologists have different theories about how emotions work, how many there are, and how they are caused.
EMOTIONS ARE CAUSED BY ACTIONS
Psychologists speculate that emotions are caused by actions which in turn cause actions based on those emotions. For example, your facial expressions, whether forced or optional, will lead to certain emotions pertaining to what expression you made.
SOME EMOTIONS EXIST AS AN EVOLUTIONARY TRIGGER
Many psychologists agree that some emotions such as anger, fear, sadness, and happiness exist as evolutionary triggers. Many emotions considered "basic" can be described as a set of predictable responses to certain situations.
HOW MANY EMOTIONS ARE THERE?
The number of possible emotions is up in the air, but some psychologists say that there is an emotion for every possible circumstance. While this is up for debate, the concept is certainly believable. Many emotions are very complex and some don't even have names (at least in English).