What is Order - Emotion, Feeling, Thought - What is the Difference? And, Why Does It Matter?
Yellow emojis expressing different emotions.
Emotions! Let’s dive right into this post by beginning the discussion by taking a quick peek at emotions. Emotions have a rather large impact on human judgement and thought (Clore & Huntsinger, 2007). Additionally, emotions are a vast source of information for humans to understand others and the world around them (Dennison, 2024; Pace-Schott et al., 2019). So at the end of the day, we need our emotions. Yep, the whole spectrum of them. But, what exactly are emotions? Emotions are generally considered to be rapid, unconscious physiological responses, which are different from feelings. Though feelings and emotions are often used interchangeably, they are actually not the same thing according to the different theories.
Feelings! How are they different from emotions? Feelings are conscious, cognitive interpretations and labelings of the bodily states when looking through the lens of appraisal models (Gross & Feldman Barrett, 2011). Simply said, feelings are our way of taking our reactions and turning them into subjective experiences that are then influenced by our thoughts and memories. Unlike emotions, feelings are more connected to our prefrontal cortex, rather than the amygdala, like emotions, as discussed in some theories (Šimić et al., 2021). Another interesting piece of research points out that people reflect on their emotions in different life domains, thus applying their unique experiential lens, which are then reported as their conceived realities (Goetz et al., 2023). One way to think about this is that we look at emotions through different filters and that gives meaning based on the lens we use.
Thoughts! Oh, thoughts. Depending on which field you dive into, human thought can be defined in so many different ways. If you were to take a more biological approach, thought would be considered a complex, distribution patterns of electrochemical activity in the brain due to the firing of neurons, release of neurotransmitters, and synchronized communication between brain cells. Thus, resulting in mental representations of the world. And honestly, this is a simplified version and for the purposes of our discussion, not extremely helpful. Interesting, maybe, but not helpful. So we will turn to a more psychological perspective. Thoughts can be understood more as a cognitive process representing ideas, images, opinions, or information, that serve as a mental map or mental representation for us that interprets stimuli to create meaning, form beliefs, etc.
Being critical thinkers, there is something that we do need to keep in mind and acknowledge. Researchers are always still doing their thing, researching! Why? With good reason. There is always more to learn and right now we have theories and data, but no one has landed on this is the end all be all definition of emotions, feelings, and thoughts and what they actually are and how they arise. So while we have decent working definitions, we want to be good critical thinkers and remember that as researchers learn more, we must be prepared to study and evidence and adjust accordingly.
To put all of the above in a simple diagram that shows the follow, we have the following:
Stimulus → Emotion (Subconscious) → Feeling (Conscious Interpretation) → Thought (Explanation/Rationalization)
So now that everyone is on a level playing field, let's get to one more important discussion.
There is a complex interplay between emotions, feelings, and thoughts. As this post has already discussed, emotions or instinctive reactions precede conscious feelings or interpretation and thoughts or the narrative that we add to the experience because sensory input reaches emotional centers first before we can rationally process the information. Emotions originate in the limbic system, which the amygdala is part of, and it is the prefrontal cortex that adds the feeling or a layer of interpretation or mental representation. To be fair, theories like Richard Lazarus’s, Cognitive Appraisal Theory (1991) also consider the possibility of cognition being key to emotion, creating a cyclical relationship where they each influence the others to create a conscious experience. The Cognitive Appraisal Theory says that emotions arise from cognitive interpretation, meaning that we think about a situation first and our ability to cope before the emotion arises. Below is a very simple depiction of what was just written.
Stimulus → Appraisal (Cognitive) → Emotion/Feeling
And, if we really want to dive deeply the Constructist Theories take about simultaneous emergence and it be would put it this way:
All three (Emotion, Feeling, Thought) arise from distributed networks, differing in network emphasis.
Remember what was said above about critical thinking and holding space for other perspectives. Here it is! This author is holding themself accountable. No double standards here!
Now to the point! The ideas discussed above influence different interventions in many branches of psychology, like sports psychology, for example. That is our next stop!
You might have been wondering why mental maps and mental representation were bolded above. It was not a typo, because those are the words we will come back to. Those mental representations are thoughts, which we can talk about in this post as self-talk. And, in sport psychology, self-talk is a big topic. Because, more than 85% of athletes engage in self-talk while they are engaged in sport (Nedergaard et al., 2021). That is a large percentage of athletes. So when sport and performance professionals and/or mental health counselors work with athletes around self-talk, body awareness, mindfulness, and emotional awareness there is good reason. By targeting these key topics, athletes can change their mental game by understanding the process of how that self-talk arose and address any underlying emotions and feelings that may impact mental health and performance.
take action today moment:
Take a moment to digest everything from this post. It was long and involved, and hopefully helpful. Once you have digested as much as you can after each round of reading it, consider exploring your own emotions, feelings, and thoughts (self-talk). How are they connected in your life? And why might you want to understand each one so you can either work on any areas of concern yourself or with a qualified professional?
Learn More About the Connection of Mind and Body in Athletics:
You aren't at the mercy of your emotions -- your brain creates them | Lisa Feldman Barrett
Paul Ekman 2 of 5 What is an Emotion?
References
Clore, G. L., & Huntsinger, J. R. (2007). How emotions inform judgment and regulate thought. Trends in Cognitive Sciences, 11(9), 393-399. doi: 10.1016/j.tics.2007.08.005
Dennison, J. (2024). Emotions: functions and significance for attitudes, behaviour, and communication. Migration studies, 12(1), 1-20. https://doi.org/10.1093/migration/mnad018
Goetz, T., Gogol, K., Pekrun, R., Lipnevich, A. A., Becker, E. S., Krannich, M., & Sticca, F. (2023). Our individual order of things directs how we think we feel. Cognition and Emotion, 37(5), 990-996. https://doi.org/10.1080/02699931.2023.2214349
Gross, J. J., & Feldman Barrett, L. (2011). Emotion generation and emotion regulation: One or two depends on your point of view. Emotion Review, 3(1), 8-16. doi: 10.1177/1754073910380974
Lazarus, R. S. (1991). Progress on a cognitive-motivational-relational theory of emotion. American Psychologist, 46(8), 819-834.
Nedergaard, J., Christensen, M. S., & Wallentin, M. (2021). Valence, form, and content of self-talk predict sport type and level of performance. Consciousness and Cognition, 89, 103102. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.concog.2021.103102
Pace-Schott, E. F., Amole, M. C., Aue, T., Balconi, M., Bylsma, L. M., Critchley, H., ... & VanElzakker, M. B. (2019). Physiological feelings. Neuroscience & Biobehavioral Reviews, 103, 267-304. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neubiorev.2019.05.002
Šimić, G., Tkalčić, M., Vukić, V., Mulc, D., Španić, E., Šagud, M., ... & R. Hof, P. (2021). Understanding emotions: origins and roles of the amygdala. Biomolecules, 11(6), 823. doi: 10.3390/biom11060823