Complex Emotions

 Envy, Jealousy, Guilt, Pride and Admiration

How do you feel emotions such as envy, jealousy, guilt, pride, and admiration?

Before moving on to my phenomenological description of these experiences, I invite you to investigate for yourself: how do these emotions manifest in you?

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Description

In general, my perception of so-called complex emotions is that many of them do not exhibit expressive characteristics or bodily sensations as clearly defined as those found in the so-called “basic emotions.”

However, some exceptions stand out. Shame, for example — considered by some theories to be a complex emotion — has a very clear and recognizable expressive configuration and bodily sensations (see here).

Envy and Jealousy

In my experience, envy and jealousy do not have phenomenological features distinct enough to differentiate them from basic emotions based solely on bodily sensation or expression.

What seems to distinguish them are the cognitive appraisals involved and the contexts in which they arise. Recognizing them depends more on the situation they emerge from and the content of the accompanying speech than on a unique emotional signature.

Envy tends to arise when we desire — and feel we deserve — something that belongs to someone else: a material possession, a physical or psychological trait, a social position, a talent, a relationship, recognition, or even someone’s attention.

Jealousy, on the other hand, tends to emerge when we feel that something we consider ours is being coveted by someone else. This “possession” can be a belonging, a status, or even a conscious being (such as a person or an animal) that might start paying attention to another.

In these situations, basic emotions are often triggered — especially anger. I’ve described that emotion in another post.

Thus, envy and jealousy often manifest as forms of anger: anger directed toward the person who has what we desire (envy), or toward the person who wants to take what we have or love (jealousy).

Sometimes even toward the person we value, for seeming to desire someone else.

Other basic emotions may also arise, depending on the context and interpretation: for example, sadness (described here) may appear in experiences related to both envy and jealousy. 

It could be the sadness of not having what another has, or of feeling unworthy of what one possesses.

In such cases, the best label might not be envy or jealousy per se, but rather something like a sense of failure or inadequacy. 

The appraisal changes: it is no longer the sense of deserving what belongs to another, but the perception of not deserving — and that brings sadness.

Or one may feel unworthy of what one possesses — whether it’s love, recognition, or social status.

Therefore, even if the situation initially involves desire for what belongs to another (envy) or a threat to our possession (jealousy), the predominant emotion may be something else, shaped by different cognitive appraisals.

Fear (see here) can also emerge: fear of never achieving what another has, or fear of losing what one already has. 

Envy may, in some cases, be expressed as contempt or disgust — an attempt to diminish the value of the other person or what they possess. An emotional disguise that hides the secret desire to have it for oneself.

Guilt

Guilt involves the perception of responsibility for something negative — either something one did or something positive one failed to do. This appraisal can trigger emotions such as sadness, anger toward oneself, frustration, shame, anguish, or fear.

On the other hand, a person may recognize being responsible for something bad and yet feel no guilt — out of indifference, or even out of pleasure or pride. In that case, there would be no guilt in the proper sense.

One might perhaps consider that person cold or cruel, depending on the context.

Thus, from my perspective, guilt is not an emotion with its own expressive traits and bodily sensations, but rather a specific appraisal — “I am responsible for something negative” — associated with other unpleasant emotions.

Pride

Pride arises from the appraisal that one has done something very good or is, in essence, a valuable person. 

It is often expressed as a form of joy — which can be exuberant or even aggressive (both described here). In certain cases, it manifests as contempt for others, due to a feeling of superiority.

It is also possible to feel pride in another person, especially when we feel we’ve contributed in some way to their achievement — like a parent, mentor, or even as a friend, without having directly contributed to their achievement.

Admiration

Admiration seems close to the pride one feels for another person, but without the sense of direct participation or necessarily of closeness to that person. 

At the same time, it can contain a trace of "envy" — not in the sense of wanting to take something away from the other, but in the desire to be like them or achieve something similar.

Perhaps this is what some call “good envy.” You don’t want what the other person has; instead, you aspire to reach that level, to be inspired by them.

Admiration seems a bit like what I mentioned about shame, in that it appears to have more distinct characteristics than the other complex emotions described here. 

It doesn’t seem to be merely an appraisal that triggers basic emotions associated with it. However, this emotion will be explored in more detail in the future. For now, I haven’t explored it deeply enough to describe it further.

Conclusion

These so-called complex emotions such as envy, jealousy, guilt, and pride do not seem, in my experience, to possess unique bodily sensations or expressions that distinguish them from basic emotions.

What defines them is, above all, the type of cognitive appraisal involved and the context in which they arise.

A possible analogy is with phobias: although they have different names, they all share the same core emotion — fear. What changes is the stimulus that triggers that fear.

So it is with envy, jealousy, guilt, and pride. The emotional background consists of basic emotions, but the plots that give rise to them, the thoughts that organize them, and the meanings they assume are what make them distinct.

Check here how I described the flow of sensations involved in emotions in general.

Check out these posts to understand the phenomenological approach used in providing these descriptions of experience: 1) What is Phenomenology; 2) Naturalization of Phenomenology; 3) Micro-Phenomenology; 4) Intersubjective Validation; 5) Embodied Cognition; 6) 4E