Full List of the 27 Emotions (+ Definitions and Examples)

This article was originally published on Sous le tapis and written by Margaux Damain, mental health writer and podcaster. 

Knowing how to identify your emotions is a superpower. In fact, learning how to name and distinguish them is the “ABCs” of emotional health if you want to learn how to manage them and live better with them. In other words, identifying your emotions is the foundation of emotional regulation.

In this article, I’ll give you a simple overview of the major theories surrounding emotions. The goal? To better understand what we’re talking about and to expand your vocabulary to help you better pinpoint your own emotions and those of others.

Definition of an Emotion

Before diving into what the emotions are, let’s define what an emotion actually is. The following definition comes from Christophe André, a psychiatrist and psychotherapist who does remarkable work helping people live better with their emotions.

In a masterclass titled “Keys to Managing Your Emotions,” he defines an emotion as a reaction to external or internal events (or stimuli).

This reaction has three main characteristics. It is:

1. Automatic
2. Both mental and physical
3. Adaptive

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Emotion is an automatic reaction

Emotion is automatic: this means you cannot prevent it from manifesting.

This is why it’s so important to learn how to manage them—to prevent unpleasant emotions from becoming overwhelming and, consequently, having a negative long-term impact on your body and mind (see “psychosomatic illnesses” below).

Note that, while no one can stop an emotion from arising, we are all capable of developing—more or less consciously—defense mechanisms to repress these emotions. In other words, we can be in denial, meaning we are unconscious of our emotions at certain times (or chronically). But that doesn’t mean they don’t exist!

Emotion is a mental and physical reaction

An emotion is felt in your mind, but also in your body. For example, fear is accompanied by various physical manifestations such as heart palpitations, rapid breathing, or trembling.

It is vital to emphasize the physical aspect of emotions because an unpleasant emotion that is not “digested” (processed) will continue to manifest in your body. Over the medium and long term, this can have harmful repercussions: these are known as psychosomatic illnesses (cardiovascular disorders, migraines, insomnia, etc.). In these cases, the psychological distress is so great that it becomes physical.

If you’re interested in this, I recommend checking out the map of emotions in the body developed as part of a Finnish study.

Here is the translation for the next section of the article. I’ve maintained the professional yet accessible tone, ensuring it’s easy to read for the Compassion is Sexy audience.

Emotion Is an Adaptive Reaction

Emotions exist for a reason: to help you:

• Survive
• Adapt to your environment
• Evolve (grow)

Let’s look at a few examples to illustrate these three concepts.

Example 1 : The emotion that ensures survival

Imagine you are hiking deep in the forest. Suddenly, the wind shifts; you can feel a storm brewing. You realize the sun will set very soon. You feel a surge of apprehension. This emotion is signaling a need for safety. You decide to turn back immediately so you don’t get stuck in the woods at night, in the rain, risking getting lost. It’s a matter of survival.

Example 2 : The emotion that helps you adapt

Imagine you are a manager presenting project results to the company president. Your team has worked incredibly hard, even if the results aren’t perfect yet. You know they are motivated and just need more time. However, the president is being unpleasant and tactless, focusing only on the failures.

You feel anger at his unfair remarks, but also apprehension as you see your team’s morale dropping. Since the project’s success depends on their motivation, you decide to crack a joke to break the tension and grab the president’s attention. You then pivot to explain that better results require more resources.

In this moment, your fear (of a demotivated team) and your anger (at the lack of support) pushed you to adapt to the situation, managing the different personalities in the room to get the best possible outcome.

Example 3 : The emotion that allows you to evolve

Finally, emotions act as a compass for personal growth. 

Imagine you are deeply sad after yet another breakup. This sadness pushes you toward introspection and withdrawal.

It shows up because you are grieving a relationship, but also—and this is where the wisdom of emotion comes in—it signals that you need to let go of certain self-sabotaging patterns in your love life. You ask yourself: “Why am I always attracted to emotionally unavailable people?”

In a moment of clarity, you realize it’s time to stop giving your energy to those who don’t value it. You might even decide to start therapy to break these habits once and for all. This is what emotions do: they force you to see things from a new perspective and encourage deep, meaningful change.

📌 Memo

The etymology of the word “emotion” reveals its purpose. In Latin, emovere means “to set in motion.” Researchers often refer to this as the “action tendency” of emotions. It’s a reminder that when we take the time to feel and listen to them, emotions are our allies because they drive us to act.

What Are the Emotions?

In this section, I won’t give you an exhaustive list of every psychological theory, but rather a simple overview of the ones I find most useful for everyday life.

Ekman’s 6 Primary Emotions

Paul Ekman was a pioneer in the study of emotions. In the 1970s, this American psychologist established a list of 6 “primary” emotions:

1. Sadness
2. Joy
3. Anger
4. Fear
5. Disgust
6. Surprise

Why are they called primary? Because, according to Ekman, they are universal. To prove this, he conducted research with an isolated tribe in Papua New Guinea. His work showed that facial expressions for these six emotions were recognized the same way by people in Western cultures and those living in total isolation.

Every emotion has a function

Knowing the function of an emotion helps you understand your needs and make clearer decisions. For example, sadness signals a need for renewal after a loss. When expressed, it tells others that you need to be reassured, comforted, or helped.

My Take: The value of the “6 Primary Emotions” theory is its simplicity. It’s a great first step toward understanding our inner world. However, to truly navigate our feelings, we need a richer emotional vocabulary—which leads us to the following theories…

Plutchik’s Wheel of Emotions

In the 1980s, Robert Plutchik, another American psychologist, proposed a classification model for emotions in the form of a wheel. It is a practical tool for expanding your vocabulary and putting words to what you are feeling.

Plutchik identifies 8 basic emotions: joy, fear, disgust, anger, sadness, surprise, trust, and anticipation.

Each emotion can vary in intensity, represented by the shades of color. For instance, joy ranges from serenity (low intensity) to ecstasy (high intensity). Finally, basic emotions can combine to form secondary emotions. For example, love (a secondary emotion) is a combination of the two fundamental emotions of joy and trust.

In my view, this wheel representation has a triple advantage: it makes emotions easier to memorize, highlights the concept of emotional intensity, and showcases the complexity of emotional expression through the idea of mixing. Plutchik uses the term “dyad” to describe these combinations. Without diving too deep into the details, the concept of the dyad is fascinating because it helps us become aware of the contradictions that often live within us. For example, according to Plutchik, the combination of joy and fear results in guilt; trust and fear lead to submission, and so on.

Cowen and Keltner’s 27 Emotions

Much more recently (2017), a study conducted by Alan Cowen and Dacher Keltner revealed 27 major categories of emotions, challenging the historical theories of Ekman and Plutchik, which suggested that most emotional experiences fall into just a handful of primary emotions.

As part of their study, Cowen and Keltner showed 2,000 videos to over 800 men and women. The participants then described their emotional responses. The data analysis identified the following 27 major categories, demonstrating the richness of human emotional expression:

• Admiration
• Adoration
• Aesthetic Appreciation
• Amusement
• Anger
• Anxiety
• Awe
• Awkwardness
• Boredom
• Calmness
• Confusion
• Craving (Envie)
• Disgust
• Empathic pain
• Entrancement (Intérêt étonné/intrigué)
• Excitement
• Fear
• Horror
• Interest
• Joy
• Nostalgia
• Relief
• Romance
• Sadness
• Satisfaction
• Sexual desire
• Surprise

Resource : To expand your emotional vocabulary, I’ve discovered a card deck called “The Language of Emotions” (though I haven’t tested it myself!).

A Closer Look at Positive Emotions with Fredrickson

The theory of researcher Barbara Fredrickson shines a beautiful spotlight on positive emotions, which have often been eclipsed in psychology by negative emotions and mental pathologies. I have a particular interest in Fredrickson’s theory because it inspires us to learn how to cultivate positive emotions.

Her theory values positive emotions—such as joy, pride, inspiration, hope, and gratitude—not just as fleeting rewards, but as true catalysts for resources!

According to Fredrickson, positive emotions encourage us to explore, learn new things, cultivate strong social bonds, and develop intellectual, social, and emotional skills. Let’s take a simple example: a joyful person tends to be more optimistic, which encourages them to put energy into new projects. Furthermore, they are more social and nurture quality relationships. While unpleasant emotions generally lead to more stereotyped behavior (like aggression in the case of anger), positive emotions open up the field of possibilities: we think and act differently. In other words, positive emotions broaden our repertoire of perceptions, thoughts, and actions.

Fredrickson shows that positive emotions are key to the process of psychological flexibility—the ability of an individual to keep living and growing regardless of the context or difficulties encountered. In other words, learning to cultivate positive emotions is key to our resilience.

I find her theory especially relevant because I am sometimes overwhelmed by anxiety-inducing news on social media, which can lead to weariness or a sense of helplessness regarding the state of the world. It is therefore essential for me to make more room for pleasant emotions—for example, by choosing who I surround myself with, taking a “news detox,” etc.

Is a Negative Emotion Really “Negative”?

I am using the term “positive emotion” here as used by the researcher. However, I prefer to speak of “pleasant” and “unpleasant” emotions, because all emotions have a reason for being and carry meaning.

Calling an emotion “negative” can encourage us to reject it, which prevents us from listening to what it has to tell us about our needs.

Want to learn more ?