Briefly: emotion are didpositions to action due to neurovegetative change: activation of sympatic system. Feelings are what I tell about what happen when I have emotions: the account. Another term I use in this sense is affect. The big difference is the difference between, to use an inappropriate metaphor, hardware and software.

I agree with the distinction described, though some authoritative authors (e.g., @Joseph-Ledoux) in the field use these terms basically as synonyms or together ("emotional feelings"; LeDoux & Brown, 2017 ––> Article A higher-order theory of emotional consciousness

Article Coming to Terms with Fear

As you'll likely see from the responses, there are differing viewpoints, evidence, and interpretations. Some (too many, IMHO) use the terms interchangeably.

I subscribe to a dual-process model and, from that perspective, we might describe feelings (or an affective response) as automatic, conditioned, fast, and approximate reactions to seemingly important stimuli. We have very little control over these reactions and affect is tightly connected to the parasympathetic (safety) and sympathetic (threat) divisions of our peripheral nervous system. The behavioral reaction to affect is reflexive or instinctive (e.g., being startled, laughing, or the 'pit in the stomach'). A common way of measuring affect is using the dimensions of arousal and valence – allowing us to have low-arousal/high-valence states, low-arousal/low-valence states, high-arousal/high-valence states, high-arousal/low-valence states, and anything in-between. Some interpretations of these states might, respectively, be contentment, dysphoria, joy, and anger.

Emotion is an interpreted state (i.e., involves cognition) that is a more complex, slower, and longer-lasting behavioral reaction. It is constrained by affect. That is to say that affect 'sets the stage' for our emotional response. It's very difficult, for example, to be compassionate toward someone when your body is shaking due to how angry you were at them – your affective state just doesn't allow that at the moment. Emotion is also subject to situational context, memory, and goals. This is why we may have a very similar affective state, but the emotion varies depending on where we are, who we're with, our experience in that context, and what we're trying to accomplish. Lisa Feldman Barrett takes this to the extreme with her take on constructed emotion.

We share affective reactions with many other non-human animals and these are fairly predictable. If you ask someone you really like out on a date, and they reject you, it's pretty easy to predict that you'll be feeling 'bad'. Your emotional response, however, is more difficult to guess. Maybe you'll be angry? Maybe you'll be sad? It's unlikely, though, that you'll be happy as this emotion is incompatible with the 'bad' affective state.

In regard to the "essential difference," affect is a quick, instinctive experience that prepares one for a (hopefully) adaptive response to some, potentially important, situation. Emotion is a more complex behavioral reaction that is influenced by our affective state, along with several other things, is highly subjective and which has the possibility to be altered/controlled/regulated.

As another responder indicated, Joseph LeDoux has written extensively on the role of affect in human and non-human animals. Another prominent researcher that you might be interested in is Luiz Pessoa at the University of Maryland. A resource that provides a pretty nice overview of the area is the book "The Feeling Brain" by Elizabeth Johnston and Leah Olsen.

Eric Andrews

Do you know that these psychological phenomena are "double process models", so have you thought that "process" itself can be used as a concept as a research object? In other words, regard human psychological phenomena as various "processes"? A process like the "feeling process" and if something goes wrong, A certain chain of this process fails, is that not a mental illness or psychological disorder? This "process" is a research object or a tool. If we abstract this "process" as a concept, as the most fundamental unit of psychology, Let it as a basic abstract concept such as "mass" and "volume" in physics, does psychology have its own "operational definition"?

Eric Andrews

The research object of computer software is computer program, the "psychological process" of the computer is computer program, the research object of that psychology is psychological process, why not regard this kind of psychological process as a program?

Hi Duan Xian Xiang. The 'brain as a computer' analogy was popular during the rise of computational hardware, but it doesn't really fit with what we now know within neuroscience. At the most fundamental level, I think one would need to have a computational structure that allows for unreasonable variability in function parameters, interrupts, and outputs. I don't want to hijack María Luz González-Rodríguez’s question, but I think you should post this as a question of your own and I’m sure you’ll get some interesting responses!

A feeling is a conscious experience of an emotion. An emotion is a complex psychological state that involves physiological changes, cognitive processes, and expressive behaviors. In other words, an emotion is a combination of physiological arousal, a cognitive interpretation of that arousal, and an expressive response. Feelings are the subjective experience of emotions, and are often described in terms of "positive" or "negative" valence, such as happy or sad.

´Thank you very much Eric Andrews for your very interesting and helpful answer! I appreciate it.

Good question, María Luz González-RodríguezIn, the definition of emotions is fundamental to both research and life.

I share a definition of emotions of my own, the result of research and work in the field for decades.

"The constitution and psychic structuring of the World of Emotions are characterised by the following Components that form the Psychic System of each individual:

a) “Sensations” (impressions), based on the psychic perception of stimuli from the physical and social environment. Sensations are generated and co-ordinated by the human cerebellum;

b) “Pulsions” (needs - requirements – necessities), based on the organisation of stimuli internal to the individual, determined by hormonal needs and gratification or frustration to subjective necessities and expectations. The Pulsions are generated and regulated by the limbic - pituitary - hypothalamus system of the human brain;

c) “Affects”, determined by the conceptual processing of emotions and sensations, according to the psychic abilities and personality of the individual. The Affects are processed and developed by the human cerebral cortex;

d) “Feelings”, determined by the conceptions and mental-conceptual representation of individual affectivity in relation to the values of the social and environmental context in which the individual lives. The Feelings are determined and expressed according to the processing and conceptual development of the upper part of the cerebral cortex" (Presutti, 2022a).

I hope it is useful for your research.

Thank you, María Luz González-RodríguezIn, for the question.

I think that it is difficult to define and differentiate emotions and feelings without mentioning affect (affectivity) and consciousness. Mark Solms is a neuropsychologist turned psychoanalyst (founder of neuropsychoanalysis) and has a very interesting take on the subject (there are many insightful hour of his talks on Youtube (check “Ask Mark”). Also, Antonio Damasio has devoted his career to the study of this topic. I recommend two of his books: “Descartes’ Error” and “Feeling and Knowing”. For Solms, Damasio and others, understanding affects, emotions and feelings is directly related to the problem of an emerging consciousness or, as Damasio puts it, “making minds conscious.” Certainly, contrasting these concepts is essential in any applied field related to human behavior.

Fausto Presutti

Marcelo Tavares, Thank you very much both for your detailed responses. Yes, they're of great help to my research.

I study the BIS/BAS reaction for 12 years.

Based on my experience I would recommend you strongly prof Lisa Feldman Barrett theory of constructed emotion which in my view plainly explains BIS/BAS as an affect.

Thank you Marek Rudziński, I will!

Then you will, of course, find the basic difference between affect which is inherent to all animals, and emotions which Lisa Barrett state, and I agree with her, is specific almost uniquely to men.

Regards

Marek Rudziński Thank you very much. Good point!

Feeling is the minimal primitive act from which (with also added cold information) emotions, which are larger and more complex things, are made.

Article The Nature of Fundamental Consciousness - - - PsyArXiv downl...