Emotion is a coordinated response of the whole organism that includes physiological arousal, expressive behaviors, and conscious experience. It prepares the body for action, communicates state to others, and colors the interpretation of events.

Basic emotions such as fear, anger, joy, sadness, and disgust appear early in development and show recognizable facial expressions across cultures. More complex emotions—pride, shame, guilt, envy—depend more heavily on social context and self-reflection. Theories differ on the sequence of components. The James-Lange view holds that bodily changes come first and are then interpreted as feeling; the Cannon-Bard view holds that arousal and feeling arise together; cognitive theories emphasize the appraisal of the situation as the critical step.

Emotion is not the enemy of reason. It prioritizes goals, tags memories with significance, and guides rapid decisions when full analysis is impossible. Dysregulation of emotion is central to many psychological disorders, and therapies often aim to increase awareness and flexibility of emotional responses.

An emotion is the body’s and mind’s joint verdict on the meaning of the moment.