(Watkins, 2014)īefore you read on, we thought you might like to download our three Emotional Intelligence Exercises for free. It’s especially useful for moments of intense feeling and when the mind cannot remain objective as it operates from an impulsive “fight or flight” response. So while it’s hard to understand all 34,000 distinct emotions, we can learn how to identify the primary emotions and act accordingly. Robert Plutchik proposed that there are eight primary emotions that serve as the foundation for all others: joy, sadness, acceptance, disgust, fear, anger, surprise, and anticipation. Through years of studying emotions, American psychologist Dr. With so many emotions, how can one navigate the turbulent waters of feelings, without getting lost? And that does not even include combinations of emotions.
Can you guess how many emotions a human can experience?Ī study by The Greater Good Science Center suggests there are 27 distinct emotions – at least (Cowen & Keltner, 2017).
