Emotional Expression

Definition of Emotional Expression

We all have them, but they can be tricky to pin down and trickier to define fully. Psychologists don't all agree on how to identify our basic emotions, but many agree that there are a minimum of four basic emotions that other emotions stem from; happiness, anger, fear, sadness, and disgust. Emotions are typically understood as the experience of feeling that generates both physiological and cognitive responses that impact our behavior. In other words, emotions result from our feelings that manifest in both mental and physical ways. Our behavioral responses to experiencing emotions are emotional expressions.

Emotional Expression in Communication

The way we express our emotions is a huge part of communicating with others. There are two main ways we express our emotions to others: verbal and non-verbal.

Verbal

Verbal emotional expression is more or less how it sounds; using words and language to communicate our emotions to others. This is often done in a way to seek help or share our experiences.

Non-Verbal

Non-verbal emotional expression is when we communicate our feelings through physical actions and expressions without using language. This is often done through facial expressions, hand gestures, or body language. Sometimes non-verbal emotional expressions can be as subtle as a glance or a slight cough during a conversation to let our friends know we are bored, annoyed, or ready to leave that situation.

Fg. 1 Facial Expressions, Pixabay.com

Emotional Expression Examples

The way we express emotions can vary widely from cultures and even from individuals in the same family. However, some expressions of emotions are the same across cultures, languages, and families. Examples of emotional expression look like:

Importance of Emotional Expression

Emotional expression is a fundamental aspect of communicating with others. There are three main functions of emotions vital to our survival and bring purpose to our lives. When we can share these emotions with others, it can enhance our lives and help us build even stronger relationships. The three primary functions of emotions are:

Preparing Us for Action

This function shows how emotions act as a link between what we experience and how we respond to it. For example, if you were lost in the woods and saw a bear, you would feel fear; that fear would drive you to run away or find a way to escape the bear and hide. So the emotions prepared you for the action of running away.

Shaping Our Future Behavior

This function highlights how emotions can help us make smarter choices in the future to avoid what we don't want to feel and achieve what we do want to feel. An example of this is after you escaped the bear and felt the fear, you would likely avoid situations that would put you in a similar position.

Helping Us Interact with Others

This function of emotions is to express to those around us how we are feeling and what we have experienced. Think of the following example - after finally making it home from being in the woods with the bear, you tell your partner about your experiences or show them by running in, screaming or yelling in fear, or even shaking your head and hands to show that you are distressed. This information helps your partner know how to respond to you after having a scary experience. Otherwise, they would not know you are distressed and would act as if nothing happened.

Fg. 2 Running away, Pexels.com

Benefits of Expressing Emotions

As we mentioned earlier, the expression of emotions can help us in practical ways, like helping us share our experiences with others and get help. Emotional expression can also benefit our mental and physical health.

Mental Health Benefits

Expressing our emotions can help our mental health by allowing us to make sense of our own emotions. Sometimes our emotional responses don't make sense to us, or they can feel out of our control. Maybe you don't want to be feeling jealous or upset; expressing how you feel to others, or even yourself, can help you understand what is making you feel the unwanted emotions, and then you can use that knowledge to avoid them in the future.

Physical Health Benefits

Expressing emotions also brings physical health benefits. Emotions are signaled in our body through the limbic system. The limbic system is the part of the brain responsible for emotions and emotion regulation. The amygdala is an almond-shaped inner part of the brain that is part of the limbic system responsible for emotional perception and response. The amygdala also helps us form memories. It makes sense why memory and emotions seem to work closely together.

The limbic system uses brain chemicals to feel emotions, which means that an increase in stressful emotions also means an increase in stress hormones released in the body. Emotional expression is one of the ways you can help reduce the amount of these hormones in the body, helping you feel better physically and emotionally. The effect of stress hormones and the connection between our emotional selves and our physical health is studied further in what is called health psychology.