Understanding what, why, and how emotions are felt is complex, but there are practical strategies to retrain emotional responses and live a more balanced, fulfilling emotional life.
In a previous post, the D.A.D. Framework was used to explore online toxicity and the thought processes behind negative behaviors. However, this raised deeper questions about emotions—what they are, why they arise, and how they function—questions worth exploring further here.
Why Do We Feel?
Despite advances in neuroscience and psychology, the nature of emotions remains a mystery. Scientists have identified chemicals that influence feelings like happiness and sadness, but answering the fundamental question—what is emotion?—is far from simple.
Emotions are states of mind shaped by environmental, social, and health factors.
There are competing theories about how emotions arise and whether they are reactive or proactive. One leading perspective, the theory of constructed emotion, suggests that emotions are not automatic reactions. Instead, they emerge from the interplay between memories and emotional concepts that are learned over time [1].
A helpful metaphor is to think of emotions as a stone building. Memories are collected, sorted, and stacked like stones, cemented into the walls that represent emotional experiences. These walls are built to protect, but reflecting on them can reveal cracks or damage, which may feel overwhelming.
Certain emotions arise because clusters of memories predict how similar experiences will unfold, yet this still doesn’t explain how emotions are felt in the body.
How Do We Feel?
Research offers an important clue: “Emotions emerge when representations of bodily changes are conceptualized as an instance of emotion” [2.] Put simply, emotions are felt when the mind recognizes and labels bodily sensations. Before an emotion can be fully understood or processed, it must first be acknowledged.
This idea of emotional recognition calls to mind a passage from Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie’s novel Americanah. The protagonist, after being diagnosed with panic attacks, reflects: “Nobody in Kinshasa had panic attacks. It was not even that it was called by another name, it was simply not called at all. Did things begin to exist only when they were named?” [3].
This observation highlights a critical point: emotions are deeply tied to concepts. Without a clear understanding or label for an emotion, it can be difficult to fully recognize or even experience it.
Several models explain the factors that shape emotional states, but most agree on common themes. While genetics can predispose individuals to certain emotional tendencies, environment, education, and cultural differences play significant roles in how emotions are experienced and interpreted.
In short, emotions arise, in part, from conceptual knowledge. This brings up another important question: What exactly do we feel?
What Do We Feel?
Understanding what we feel requires looking at how the brain interprets our experiences. Emotions are not random; they are the result of patterns the brain has learned over time. By processing signals from the body and drawing on past memories, the brain predicts which emotion best fits a given situation.
Modern neuroscience often describes the brain as a prediction engine. It processes memories and experiences to predict the most appropriate emotional response for a given situation. Similar to an AI model trained on data, the brain uses stored experiences to generate emotions that “fit” the context of new situations.
One influential concept, interoceptive inference, explains this process further. It suggests that emotions arise from the brain’s interpretation of bodily changes [4]. For example, physical signals like dehydration or fatigue trigger predictions about the corresponding emotional state based on past experiences.
To illustrate, consider someone prone to migraines triggered by dehydration. The body sends thirst signals, which, if ignored, lead to a migraine. Over time, repeated experiences of dehydration might cause the brain to skip early signals and directly associate thirst with feelings of frustration, sadness, or guilt.
This process reveals that emotions are not just about the moment—they are shaped by the brain’s learned shortcuts, whether or not those predictions are helpful.
Conclusion
Understanding what, why, and how emotions are felt is complex, but a few key takeaways can help navigate emotional experiences more effectively.
- Emotions can be unreliable. How individuals respond to situations—whether laughing or crying—often depends on personal connections and interpretations.
- The brain takes shortcuts. These shortcuts may not always serve us well, like misinterpreting a family member’s reaction to pain.
- Emotions can be retrained. Recognizing and recontextualizing difficult feelings allows for healthier emotional responses over time.
To foster better emotional health, a strong foundation of diet and exercise is important, but there are also practical strategies to retrain emotional responses:
- Research emotions you want to feel. A deeper understanding of emotions like happiness, calm, or gratitude makes them easier to access.
- Acknowledge mismatched feelings. If emotions don’t align with a situation, recognize that the brain may have made an incorrect prediction.
- Focus on finding positives. When the brain repeatedly predicts unhelpful emotions, it may lack the “data” to choose better ones. Actively seeking positives helps build new, more beneficial patterns.
By recognizing the shortcuts the brain takes and intentionally shaping the experiences it relies on, it becomes possible to retrain emotions and build a more balanced, fulfilling emotional life.
References
- “The Theory of Constructed Emotion: An Active Inference Account of Interoception and Categorization” (2016), Lisa Feldman Barrett, in Social Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience
- “Bodily Contributions to Emotion: Schachter’s Legacy for a Psychological Constructionist View on Emotion” (2017), J.K. MacCormack and K.A. Lindquist, in Emotion Review
- Americanah (2013), Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, a novel
- “Interoceptive Inference, Emotion, and the Embodied Self” (2013), Anil K. Seth, in Trends in Cognitive Science
This post was written by PTH Staff Writer Jimmy Dutton.