The English word emotion is derived from the French word émouvoir. This is based on the Latin emovere, where e- (variant of ex-) means "out" and movere means "move." The related term "motivation" is also derived from the word movere.

Emotion is the complex psychophysiological experience of an individual's state of mind as interacting with biochemical (internal) and environmental (external) influences. In humans, emotion fundamentally involves "physiological arousal, expressive behaviors, and conscious experience."

Emotion is associated with mood, temperament, personality and disposition, and motivation. Motivations direct and energize behavior, while emotions provide the affective component to motivation, positive or negative.

No definitive taxonomy of emotions exists, though numerous taxonomies have been proposed. Some categorizations include: "Cognitive" versus "non-cognitive" emotions
Instinctual emotions (from the amygdala), versus cognitive emotions (from the prefrontal cortex). Categorization based on duration: Some emotions occur over a period of seconds (for example, surprise), whereas others can last years (for example, love).

A related distinction is between the emotion and the results of the emotion, principally behaviors and emotional expressions. People often behave in certain ways as a direct result of their emotional state, such as crying, fighting or fleeing. If one can have the emotion without the corresponding behavior, then we may consider the behavior not to be essential to the emotion.



Emotions are psychophysiological phenomena that represent modes of adaptation to certain environmental stimuli or self.

Physiologically, emotions rapidly organize the responses of different biological systems, including facial expressions, muscles, voice, the activity of the ANS and the endocrine system, in order to establish an optimal internal environment for more effective behavior.

Behaviorally, emotions serve to establish our position with regard to our environment, and drive us to certain people, objects, actions, ideas and take us away from others. Emotions also act as a reservoir of innate and learned influences, and have certain characteristics fixed and others that show some variation between individuals, groups and cultures.

Etymologically, the word emotion comes from the Latin Emoti,-onis, meaning "the impulse that induces action." In psychology is defined as a feeling or perception of the elements and relations of reality or imagination, which is expressed physically through some physiological function such as heartbeat or facial reactions, including behavioral reactions such as aggression, crying. Emotions are subject matter of psychology, neuroscience, and more recently, artificial intelligence. View Biopsychology of emotion.

Emotional intelligence is the ability to recognize feelings in self and others, and ability to handle them. The term was popularized by Daniel Goleman, in his famous book, Emotional Intelligence, published in 1995. Goleman believes that emotional intelligence can be organized in five capacities: to know the emotions and feelings, manage, recognize, create your own motivation, and managing relationships.

The characteristics of the so-called emotional intelligence: the ability to motivate ourselves, to persevere in the effort despite the possible frustrations, to control impulses, to defer gratification, to regulate our own moods, to prevent anxiety which interferes with our rational faculties and the ability to empathize and trust on others.

Measuring emotional intelligence and IQ

There is no test able to determine the “degree of emotional intelligence”, "unlike what happens with the tests that measure intelligence quotient (IQ). Jack Block, a psychologist at the University of Berkeley, has used a similar measure of emotional intelligence which he calls "adaptive capacity of the ego", creating two types theoretically pure, but the most salient features differ slightly between women and men.

    "Men who have high emotional intelligence tend to be socially balanced, outgoing, happy, little predisposed to shyness and chew their concerns. They prove to be endowed with a remarkable ability to engage with the causes and people tend to take responsibilities, maintain an ethical vision of life and are friendly and loving in their relationships. Their emotional life is rich and appropriate; they feel, in short, good about themselves, their peers and the social universe in which they live. "

    "Women tend to be emotionally intelligent, energetic and unequivocally express their feelings, have a positive view of themselves and for them life always has meaning. As with men, tend to be open and sociable, express their feelings appropriately (rather than indulge in emotional outbursts you later regret) and bear right tension. Social balance enables them to make new friends quickly, feel comfortable enough with themselves to appear cheerful, spontaneous and open to sensual experiences. And, unlike what happens with the pure type of woman with a high IQ, they rarely feel anxious, guilty or drown in their concerns. "

    "Men with high IQ are characterized by a wide range of interests and intellectual abilities and tend to be ambitious, productive, predictable, tenacious and highly unlikely to make good on their own needs. Tend to be critical, condescending, apprehensive, inhibited, feel uncomfortable with sexuality and sensory experiences in general and not very expressive, emotionally distant and cold and quiet. "

    "Women with a high IQ shows a predictable intellectual confidence, is able to clearly express their thoughts, values the theoretical issues and presents a wide range of aesthetic and intellectual interests. It also tends to be introspective, predisposed to anxiety, worry and guilt, and is reluctant to publicly express their anger (although it may put in an indirect way). "

These portraits, of course, are caricatures since everyone is the result of the combination between IQ and emotional intelligence in different proportions, but give a very instructive on the type of specific skills that both dimensions can contribute to the set of qualities that is a person.