8 basic types of moods – Emotions psychology

Our emotions greatly influence our way of life. Man is a moody animal. Our mood has the power to mould things in its own way. A person’s mood can literally affect how he interact with others, his working capacity, his decision making power and his entire lifestyle. Despite of it’s importance in life, it cannot be denied that mood is not been studied properly and there’s a limited exposure of this subject. Knowing about different types of mood for can do a good favour if understanding human behaviour. As such, talking about basic emotions that are modulated by neuromodulators is necessary. There are 8 types of basic moods that we humans express as certain typical behaviors. Disorders that are related to your mood are the main reason behind medical problems. Considering this importance of mood in psychology, we have made this article discussing the 8 types of mood in psychology.

In 20th century, when Paul Ekman studied about the psychology related to mood, he classified mood in 6 basic types while Robert Plutchik classified mood in 8 types which he grouped in four pairs namely happiness-sadness, anger-fear, surprise-anticipation and trust-disgust. These pairs are opposite of each other and are based on the physiological reaction of these emotions marked in animals. Read along as we overview them in detail:-

Happiness

Happiness is the basic emotion that every person wants to seek in life. A person do things to make himself/herself happy. Happiness is linked with feelings of excitement, gratification, satisfaction, joy and contentment. This primary mood makes a person smile, his body language feel relaxed and his way of speaking is pleasant and calm. While the goal of every person is to become happy in life, the things and ways a person feels so is different. Such things and methods are highly influenced by the culture and society a person belongs to.

A person may feel happy by earning a lot of money while an other person gets happiness by spending time with family and friends. A man may relate happiness with buying luxury things. If rightly said, happiness is a subjective matter and the way to be happy is different for every individual. Happiness in psychology is also related to boosting mental and physical health. It is not hidden that happiness is proved successful in coping with health issues like depression and stress while unhappiness is linked with health problems.

Sadness

One another basic mood every person experience from time to time is sadness. Sadness is related to a dull state of mind that makes a person disinterested. Feelings of hopelessness, grief, dampened mood and disappointment are the consequence of sadness. And, the truth is that even after all the efforts people make to avoid it, sadness come and go time to time.

Every individual has his own way of expressing sadness by either crying, withdrawing from others, over thinking, quietness or lethargy. While sadness should be stopped quickly, it continues in some persons for a long time. The prime reason behind sadness may differ for each individual. When not controlled properly, sadness can result into mood disorders, stress and depression.

Anger

Anger is a strong emotion that forms a part of our body’s fight or flight response. When our body senses a threat or danger, it deals with such danger in two ways. One way is to run away from that situation. The other one is to stand and fight. Anger is characterized with emotions like humility, agitation and frustration. A person often expresses anger with frowning or glaring that comes with a strong body stance. The tone of voice is high. Anger stimulates behaviour like kicking and throwing objects.

Anger is not necessarily a negative mood. A little anger in a person makes him take better decisions and handle his relationship and work in a good way. However, excessive anger is always bad and can turn into violence. An uncontrollable anger makes a person takes regretful decisions and it also has a bad effect of health.

Fear

Fear is an other important primary mood that forms a part of human’s fight or flight response. While experiencing fear, a person’s fight or flight mode gets active which helps in survival. Fear is displayed with eyes open wide and chin pulled back. A person’s body while preparing itself to fight against that threat increases the blood circulation rate, breathing rate, the muscles become tensed and brain gets alerted.

People have different reasons behind their fear. The threat or thought inducing that fear is different for everyone. Sometimes, while seeing a particular danger, the fear wakes up. Fear can get stronger just by anticipating such thoughts. This is also a common character of anxiety. For example, creating a few about social interaction is a part of social anxiety. People even enjoy meeting their fears and do activities to provoke it like extreme sports.

Surprise

Surprise is the other main type of mood that refers to the response a person makes to something unexpected. Such sudden moments can affect the mood of a person and influence his behavior. This mood can be positive or negative depending upon what kind of moment that is. A surprising mood is often shown with eyebrows raised, eyes wide open, mouth opened and loud screaming.

Surprise can be pleasant or unpleasant. A pleasant surprise can be like arriving at home and finding your family preparing a party for yourself. An unpleasant surprise may be something like a tree getting fallen suddenly near your house. This mood can also trigger fight or flight response. Surprise can boost adrenaline levels in your body to prepare your body for a situation.

Anticipation

Classified by Robert Plutchik in his 8 basic types of mood, anticipation is a feeling about considering an expected or longed event. Anticipation is the opposite of surprise as it makes a person think about an upcoming moment. A person feels enthusiastic about that good event and feels irritated when he has to wait. A person who anticipates often expresses it with enthusiasm and smile.

However, this hope about future makes a person so focused on the happening of such event that it can make him anxious and he gets sick. For example, the anticipation that an actor will perform good at the stage creates a stigma in his mind. Anticipation actually revolves around experiencing the future emotions whether sadness or happiness at present. Anticipation can be a powerful tool in bringing pleasure or pain.

Trust

Trust is a very positive emotions that can help us in making social connections. Trust is characterized by feelings of agreement, friendship, love, relaxation and companionship. A person feels this emotion when he thinks that the other person will not take advantage of his vulnerabilities and will behave in a manner he has predicted. A person when can’t predict the situation and the way a person behave, he will not be able to develop trust.

Trust is based on the principle of reciprocity. Trust involves an exchange with someone when you don’t have a complete knowledge about them and giving with an expectation that it will be paid back. Studies have found that positive emotions like happiness increase trust while negative emotions decrease it.

Disgust

Disgust is the other primary mood type classified by Paul Ekman that was developed as a reaction against the food that may be harmful or deadly, according to the researches. Disgust is an uncalled emotion that is expressed normally by turning away from the object stimulating wrinkling the nose and even reactions like vomiting. It is however a way to avoid any infectious disease.

A disgusting mood is triggered due to many reasons like an unpleasant taste, smell and visual. Disgust is induced by visuals like poor hygiene, infection, blood and death. Food is however the main reason. When people taste a bad food item, disgust is a normal reaction.

Emotion is an important factor that describes the behavior of a person. As mood has the ability to affect our day to day lives, it is very important to know about them in detail. Researches by Paul Ekman and Robert Plutchik made it easy for us to understand the type of moods in psychology. Mood has ability to affect our decision making power. It’s not wrong to say that mood is also the prime factor behind the mental disorders. Mood disorders are becoming a matter of discussion and just a basic knowledge about our primary moods can help a lot in dealing with mood disorders. Moreover, it will be helpful in emotional awareness.

Bad Mood: 11 ways to overcome it and Effects of Bad Mood

There are often days when things don’t go your way. You wish for something and in return, you don’t get what’s expected, what happens then? A volcanic eruption in your brain cells and thus results in a bad mood. Well, there is no single reason specific to the cause of bad mood, it could be anything. Things that annoy you, things that don’t let you be in a peaceful state of mind, or things that make you feel irritated all can lead you to a bad mood.

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A mind is a place that experiences roller coaster rides of emotions. Some days go as you have planned while some don’t. In this fast-paced life, it’s a tedious task to maintain a constant mood throughout. Irrespective of age, anyone could be caught up in bad mood. But most commonly these mood swings are a part of the younger generation group. Especially for teenagers, it becomes quite a big deal to know how to deal with a bad mood. That’s what is a bad mood.

Why is everyone in a bad mood today?

Well, this could be the question of the century. People these days have developed the thinking of inferiority complexion. The world runs at a rapid pace, and people’s expectations of getting better than someone never ends. Someone wants to earn more than their neighbors, someone wants to manage work and fun altogether, some are just running this race for the sake of their ego, and if they fail in this at any point, the result is nothing but a bad mood.

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At a younger age, people often feel low sometimes. This is the phase where each one of us struggles to build our image and identity. Young age specifically symbolizes teenage, the phase of life where everything is new. Teens often fail to understand the ongoing things in this journey. They are young by their ages and approach of thinking as well. Even a small loss in a fun game or a low grade in exams can dishearten them up to the extrema. But, a bad mood is not just about those who are young or aren’t mature enough to understand things. The grown-ups as well cant escape this trap of mood swings.

Effects of Bad Mood

People often do not realize what do they end up doing or speaking when they are in bad mood. There can be days when you are waking up in a bad mood due to a terrible sleep at night or it may be anything else. Such a bad start to the day could end up spoiling your entire day. You won’t be doing your works with the same focus which is required. You might end up messing up things. To make it worse a bad mood can also lead to an unnecessary fight. Most of the mood swings occur in the teenage as it symbolizes immaturity up to some extent.

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With time comes the mature mindset, but maintaining a good mood all the time is not at all easy. Even people with a good amount of life experience end up feeling the heat of the bad mood. People have a lot of responsibilities on them and at times it becomes frustrating when things aren’t going your way. Sometimes you will have a fight with people with whom you are close, your family just because your mood wasn’t right. The constant development of this nature would lead towards making you short-tempered. People often complain of depression, but hardly realize the fact that bad moods are of the major causes of it.

Types of Bad Mood

A bad mood could be due to any reasons as life always has something or the other to worry about. Let us discuss a few of the common types of bad moods. The most common one is the constant bad mood. Few people have this habit of being annoyed and frustrated all the time. It becomes really difficult for them to be in a normal state with anyone around them. They will be always in a bad mood and tired in their approach. They often end up having a bad mood with family, friends, and all other acquaintances. The main reason for constantly having a bad mood is the negativity in the mind. People have a really bad habit of comparing themselves with others or feeling inferior about themselves. Even though they are capable enough but the negativity makes them feel worthless and thus resulting in a bad mood.

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People also go into a state of bad mood due to a dark past. Its often said that memories haunt people sometimes. Yes, indeed it’s true, this is mainly caused by overthinking about something. A past could be about anything about you and your mistakes which can make you feel embarrassed at times. This feeling of ‘what if I had done this or I had not’, makes you go into a very sabotaged state of mind. One must understand that they can’t change the past so it’s better to forget and move on in life.

Some people have a habit of turning off their moods even for small things. The only way to command this is by stopping the overthinking nature and adopting let bygones be bygones philosophy.

11 ways to overcome Bad Mood

We saw what are bad moods and their various types, let us see some ways with which we can overcome it;

• Learn to Express – It’s a really common issue among people that most of them are shy to express themselves. They rarely open up on something. A person who is having a problem of a bad mood needs to talk with the people whom they trust and who can understand their concerns.
• Don’t run away: When problems are on the head, most people try running away from them and this creates a real fuss. Learn to face the problems and ways to deal with them. It may take time to resolve but at the end of the day, you will walk out stress-free.

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• Calm Down: It is also advisable to stay in calmness when these mood swings occur. Try to keep your breaths and heart rates under control by doing the relaxation activities which suit you.
• It’s not just you: It is often a misconception in people’s minds that they are the only ones who are going through this. At a young age, almost every teen experiences this and it is quite a common thing. So, you are not alone.
• Engage yourself in Exercises: Yes, doing regular physical activities not just makes you fit but also shifts your focus from your current state. Your bad mood can be wiped out with continuous efforts in exercises. Rather than harming your body by smoking in stress, just put that energy into your workout and feel the change.
• Be Creative: Well, being creative is not everyone’s cup of tea, but we can still manage to come up with something. Each one of us has the ability to do something creative and different. The only task is to identify what’s in you and spend your time in this. It could be anything like writing, singing, dancing or whatever you are best at.
• Try to Cry: It is often said that Men don’t cry, or crying symbolizes weakness. But, this thought process must be changed. Sometimes it’s really good to cry your heart out. It often helps in making you feel better. There are times when people become hopeless and at that time it is not a good idea to suppress your emotions. Just let it flow.

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• Sleep Well: Sleeping holds the key to most of the problems. People become irritated if they lack proper sleep as the mind hasn’t relaxed properly it won’t be ready to function to the fullest extent. So, it is the best solution which is in our control.
• Do what you like: People are shy in their approach towards life and livelihood. Remove the fact ‘what people will think’ from your mind and see you have a whole world to conquer. It is our lives and we live only once, so shape it as you like it. This would let your mood be light and cheerful.
• A trip would do it: Sometimes being at one place makes you feel imprisoned. It is a good idea to have a trip alone or with your loved ones to have some fun and a change of atmosphere.

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• Time is the best Healer: Time, the ultimate healer would be the last thing you can rely on to overcome this bad mood. Everything has its phase and it comes to an end someday. So, when you can’t really help yourself then just leave it on time and it will be taken care of.

Now, since you know about the bad moods and their effects on day-to-day lives. You need to understand that being in bad mood is not going to help you in any way. You will always be in an irritated and annoyed mindset which would often lead you to make wrong decisions under such circumstances. But, it is also a common thing to experience in different age groups and it is not a disease. Don’t panic or go into an exaggerated state just because you are constantly getting into bad moods. There are ways to get rid of it, follow them, and attain peace of mind!

How Do Mood Rings Work?

Mood rings originated in the era of the ’70s and were highly trendy until the late ’90s. The reason for this trend was not just the beauty of the ring rather it was something that was beyond science’s reach in those days. These mood rings actually have the capability to reveal the person’s current mood whosoever is wearing it. Maris Ambats and Josh Reynolds take the honor of showcasing this ring to the world back in 1975.

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Mood rings have gemstones made up of quartz or glass which were hollow shells. These hollow shells consist of liquid crystals which are thermochromic. The term thermochromic signifies the science behind how the ring would change color in response to temperature change. It is not like people nowadays do not wear mood rings, you will certainly find some in the crowd, but what is a mood ring? How does it work? There might be many more such curious questions in your mind. So, let us know more about it!

How do mood rings detect your mood?

A mood ring is basically a jewel that reveals the mood of the wearer by changing its colors as per the body temperature. So, how do mood rings change color? These rings have thermotropic liquid crystals present inside them. This liquid crystal is present in the band of the ring and also in the stone where the color change is visible. The liquid crystal present in the ring is highly reactive to the change in temperature.

A phenomenon of twisting or change in position changes the molecular composition of the ring and thus the wavelength of light is changed as well. The change in wavelength actually appears to the viewer as a color change and this is how a mood ring changes color.

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In simpler terms, the amount of blood that reaches our finger skin is solely dependent on the body temperature corresponding to mood. If a person is anxious, most of the blood will flow to the internal organs thus less blood reaches your finger. The mood ring will change the color according to a lower temperature. Whereas if someone is in a joyful state the blood flow will be at extrema and temperature near fingers will be certainly more. Thus the ring will display the color which is for the higher temperatures.

Do mood rings actually work?

The whole idea behind the mood ring revolves around your body temperature. A normal human body temperature is to be around 98.6°F or 37°C. So, if someone has their body temperature lower than normal the ring would show some dark color. When a person is stressed or anxious the blood would be slightly cold which runs through the organs thus reducing the overall body temperature. This change in temperature will make the ring change to a darker color. Whereas if a person is in a happier or light mood the color of the ring would change accordingly. This mysterious phenomenon is thereby dependent on a correlation between the body temperature and your mood.

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This actually attracted a lot of people from the younger generation for whom it was fascinating to see the ring change colors. Especially the women section were highly impressed by this jewel despite the questionable accuracy. People often look for the right temperature charts for these rings. But there aren’t any mood ring right temperature charts that have efficient accuracy. There have been several claims based on the assumptions and observation statistics from a different person.

But, it is a matter of individual bodies and their body temperature for different moods. The range of this temperature can be stated by taking the average temperature of the stats but none can specify the exact temperature chart for it.

Meaning of Colors in Mood Rings

There are several colors that pop up on a mood ring whenever the body temperature changes. Since these changes are all based on body temperature so one can’t say this will determine the mood every time. It is a mere probability based on the observations which work behind mood rings. Let us take a look at those colors and their meanings.

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Green: Green color on the mood ring comes in different shades. The lighter green color shows that the person is in a relaxed state of mind. The other shades of green color reflect peaceful, energetic, and sometimes mixed emotions.

Black: Whenever the ring is not worn it reflects black color. If the color of the mood ring turns black while wearing, it indicates negativity. The state of mind which is like tiredness, stress, or harassment will always reflect dark colors like black on the ring.

Grey: Mood rings show the grey color very rarely. This color is a symbol of sadness and anxiousness among people.

White: White color indicates the state of boredom or frustration among the person. It also symbolizes the state of confusion.

Blue: The color blue on the mood ring signifies happiness at the prime course. But similar to green, blue as well, has various shades which reflect various moods like love, compassion, and sometimes even deep thinking.

Red: The color red basically associates with the emotional state of mindset. The deeper shade of red color on the mood ring symbolizes love and passion. The lustrous red reflects a state of anger and excitement whereas the orange alike redness shows signs of aggression and stress.

Purple: This color appears on the mood ring when a person is in a balanced state of mindset. The other reddish shade of purple would indicate the person is in a desperate mood.

Pink: Pink color on the mood ring reflects calmness and relaxation. This is generally the color that signifies affection and happiness in the mood of the wearer.

Yellow: The various shades of yellow color on the mood ring reflects a mixed range of emotions. It could be an imaginative state of mind in which the wearer is or it could relate to being upset and anxious.

Final Verdicts

Mood Stone or Mood Ring, the color-changing sensation from the era of the ’70s can still be seen in some hands today. The mood ring will work completely fine unless there is a degradation in the material due to long-term usage. With time passing and craze down trending, these rings seem to be out of fashion these days. But, the curiosity to experience this phenomenon makes people go after it even today.

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The accuracy of these mood rings is still questionable as they are just body temperature and probability dependent. So, all those who look to experience something new should definitely try this out. The fascinating color changes are good enough to blow your minds in the very first impression of these mood rings!