anyway, what do all ya'll think.

Fear and anger are definitely separate for me. Fear is in my chest, anger is in my stomach.

I want to say that frustration, for me lately, has been different than any of those, but I could be convinced that it's actually the combo of fear and anger, since it does tend to be both stomach and chest -- but also head.

Speaking as a student of psychology, you seem to be referencing "arousal," which is a general state of heightened emotion, and "affect," which is the color or flavor of that emotion. Emotion is a spectrum, arousal (your tingly thing) the intensity (or amplitude, for us closet physicists). There is a notion called "transfer of arousal" where circumstances can switch one intense feeling for another.

To me fear and anger are most defiantly different. People often fear me when I'm angry (I am 6'4" 250 lbs and my anger can be intense enough to melt lead at twenty paces with a glare) so there must be a relationship but more of shared thing.

I think what you may want to look at is emotion as a spectrum. Maybe you could identify equidistant cardinal emotions the same way yellow, green, blue and red make convenient dividers of the visible spectrum. I would also suggest you take a look at regret/shame, I know I have.

As to physical sensations: joy makes me feel like I am expanding out and becoming more at one with the world, desire gives me the shakes like I am cold and just nearing a source of heat, fear makes me jumpy, anger makes me feel light as a mist and shame makes me feel as if my insides are made of coal and broken glass.

Maybe you could talk about the three 'colors' of emotion while 'white' and 'black' could stand for some of the other primitives that are like the Titans to the Gods kind of things.

You're taking a road similar to the one Antonio Damasio's been pioneering. You'll might enjoying feeding you head on some of his popular works.

(I will note I find his popular stuff a bit discursive. Convincing, but perhaps I don't have much patience for emotion.)

Now that I think about it, the proper 'negative' feelings might be "fight-or-flight" (i.e. anger and fear) and "stress".

Fear and anger are definitely separate for me. Fear is in my chest, anger is in my stomach.

I've never really noticed the difference between fear and anger is how we think we can deal with it. If we can fight it, it's anger. If we feel helpless, it's fear, and if there is no hope at all, it's sadness (like if someone dies)

frustration could then be caused by stress, rather then fear. I donno.

Eideteker: I've taken a few psych classes. What I'm trying to do is come up with a 'theory of emotion' that encapsulates everything we consider emotional, without including things that we don't consider emotion (like hunger, for example)

Isn't there a theory in psychology that says, basically, you observe yourself and then your brain tries to figure out what you 'want' by your actions? It's very similar to cognative consistency in that it explains the same things but is more hardcore. Wait (scrolls down) Yeah, I'm talking about the self perception theory I always found that pretty interesting. Not exactly falsifiable, but interesting :P

To me fear and anger are most defiantly different. People often fear me when I'm angry (I am 6'4" 250 lbs and my anger can be intense enough to melt lead at twenty paces with a glare) so there must be a relationship but more of shared thing.

Sure, but if I were 7'2 and 400 lb's I wouldn't be afraid :P. That ties into what I'm talking about. If I'm in fight-or-flight mode and I'm looking at some beefy dude, my brain sizes up the situation and runs the fuck away.

Mr. t what situations make you angry? I bet if you analyze them bet that in most cases you are afraid of something, can you give us an example?

I wonder if you could say something like: (to put it crudely)

Fear/anger/sadness = adrenaline
joy = endorphins.
Stress = ??? (maybe lack of serotonin?)
Desire = ??? (feels very similar to adrenaline, but somehow it's different. bleh)

what's interesting about emotion is that it's like three step process:

1) the mind analyzes a situation and comes to a conclusion about it (which could be I don't know)
2) somehow that information gets sent out of the conscious mind and somehow triggers a release of chemicals that creates the physical sensation of emotion
3) Emotions change behavior and actions, including intellectually coming up with solutions (which in some cases, in some people, means changing initial input data so that the information doesn't cause step 2)

I'm not saying its exactly like that, but information leaves the 'mind' and comes back as emotion.

A bit discursive, orthogon? Check out his monographic chapter on the aphasias for Cecil's textbook; he does run on.

It's the clearest and most delightful chapter on the aphasias I've ever read, though; and perhaps one of the nicest explanations I've of any neurological phenomena.

My favourite emotion is ambivalence.

Other emotions I can think of:
- protectiveness. (I know it's not a word)
- Submisiveness
- Obsession

Although you could define ambivalence as a combination of emotions, for me it's something more than that, and something different to frustration. I'm hard pushed to define protectiveness and submisiveness in terms of your primary emotions too.

My favourite emotion is ambivalence.

meh

arse_hat: Go and join the ironic Ms Morisette in the corner.
Ambivalence
I've no idea why the meaning of this word is slowly changing to "not bothered / indifferent", but on the day it finally finishes this transformation, then that will be a crime.

I've no problem with words changing meaning generally, but ambivalent is such a useful word. I'd be a shame to lose it.

How about nostalgia?

I got told that shame was the emotion that ruled us the most.

There's a quote about the difference between shame and guilt. This isn't it, and this comes close.

Loosly put, (and this is my interpretation) guilt is a fear that you've done bad and shame is a fear that others know that you've done bad.

I wonder how this would break down into primary emotions. They're both types of fear, yet they physically feel completely different.

What about jealousy?

jealosy is totaly fear.

totaly. not to mention jalousie - hot slats scare me.

Ah, little lad, you're staring at my fingers. Would you like me to tell you the little story of right-hand/left-hand? The story of good and evil? H-A-T-E! It was with this left hand that old brother Cain struck the blow that laid his brother low. L-O-V-E! You see these fingers, dear hearts? These fingers has veins that run straight to the soul of man. The right hand, friends, the hand of love. Now watch, and I'll show you the story of life. Those fingers, dear hearts, is always a-warring and a-tugging, one agin t'other. Now watch 'em! Old brother left hand, left hand he's a fighting, and it looks like love's a goner. But wait a minute! Hot dog, love's a winning! Yessirree! It's love that's won, and old left hand hate is down for the count!

Ahh, Robert Mitchum, a.k.a. All-American Badass.

I say the three emotions are:

happy
sexy
food

Wow, I sound like a total dork. Too much caffine last night.

You know Mitchum was stoned like, all the time? Thus the laconic movements and lidded gaze. He's the man!