Differentiation[edit]

Emotion can be differentiated from a number of similar constructs within the field of affective neuroscience:[25]


Feeling; not all feelings include emotion, such as the feeling of knowing. In the context of emotion, feelings are best understood as a subjective representation of
emotions, private to the individual experiencing them.[31]

Moods are diffuse affective states that generally last for much longer durations than emotions, are also usually less intense than emotions and often appear to lack
a contextual stimulus.[27]


Affect is used to describe the experience of feeling or emotion.

Purpose and value[edit]

One view is that emotions facilitate adaptive responses to environmental challenges. Emotions have been described as a result of evolution because they provided good
solutions to ancient and recurring problems that faced our ancestors. [32]Emotions can function as a way to communicate what's important to us, such as values and ethics.
[33]
However some emotions, such as some forms of anxiety, are sometimes regarded as part of a mental illness and thus possibly of negative value. [34]

Classification[edit]
Main article: Emotion classification

A distinction can be made between emotional episodes and emotional dispositions. Emotional dispositions are also comparable to character traits, where someone may be said
to be generally disposed to experience certain emotions. For example, an irritable person is generally disposed to feel irritation more easily or quickly than others do. Finally,
some theorists place emotions within a more general category of "affective states" where affective states can also include emotion-related phenomena such
as pleasure and pain, motivational states (for example, hunger or curiosity), moods, dispositions and traits.[35]