What are emotions? Definition and terminology issues

Everyone experiences emotions every day and a lot of times a day and at first glance it seems so easy to explain them.  

But … when it comes to definitions a lot of other questions appear simultaneously: What?, Why?, How?, … .

Fehr and Russell have wittily written in one of their articles that “everyone knows what an emotion is until asked to give a definition. Then it seems no one knows” (Fehr and Russell: 1984).

Tina Hascher observes about the complexity and connected with it multiaspectedness of defining emotions that:

“The main problems facing researchers of learning and emotions can also be attributed to the theories about emotions and the fact that there is confusion about the definition of the term “emotion”. Kleinginna & Kleinginna (1981) pointed out that over 100 different definitions of “emotion” exist. Furthermore, there are many similar terms like “feeling”, “mood”, “affect”, or “affective reaction” (see also Davidson et al: 2003). However, it is not only the differences in approaches that make the topic so complicated, it is the phenomenon itself that challenges the researchers. Emotions are complex things and are strongly interwoven with cognition and motivation (Hascher: 2010).”

Paul R. Kleinginna and Anne M. Kleinginna, have not only selected and grouped more than 100 definitions, they have also proposed a definition of their own that emphasizes the many possible aspects of emotion:

“Emotion is a complex set of interactions among subjective and objective factors, mediated by neural hormonal systems, which can:

• give rise to affective experiences such as feelings of arousal, pleasure/displeasure;
• generate cognitive processes such as emotionally relevant perceptual effects, appraisals, labeling processes;
• activate widespread physiological adjustments to the arousing conditions;
• lead to behavior that is often, but not always, expressive, goal directed, and adaptive” (Kleinginna, Kleinginna:1981).