Surprise!

Surprise, in my view, is also an experience that is difficult to capture phenomenologically — as is, for example, the state of flow or joy as plenitude — but for different reasons.

Flow and joy as plenitude are difficult to access because they are rare states, and flow, in particular, tends to dissolve the moment we try to observe it.

Surprise, in turn, is not necessarily rare, but depends on a stimulus that is difficult to evoke voluntarily, making its occurrence unpredictable and hard to isolate for an investigative self-observation.

The startle reflex — which can be seen as a reaction similar to surprise, though not identical — also depends on something unexpected, but it is easier to elicit, as it can be triggered by sudden, simple sensory stimuli, such as a loud sound or a quick movement.

Even when we know a sound is about to occur, if we don't know exactly when it will happen, we can still experience the startle.

Thus, surprise is different from other emotions that I can evoke through memories and related imaginations.

Emotions like joy, sadness, anger, and fear have corresponding mood states — such as being cheerful, gloomy, irritable, or apprehensive — which allow these emotions to extend over time. Surprise, on the other hand, has no associated mood state and therefore tends to be brief and momentary.

Surprise seems to be, in itself, a neutral emotion. It is neither positive (pleasant) nor negative (unpleasant). It is simply the eruption of the unexpected in the course of experience.

Something appears abruptly, breaking the predictable flow of events — and for a brief moment, everything stops. It is like a moment of suspension. Just a moment of realizing something outside the normal course of everyday life.

Then, in the next second, as soon as we truly understand what happened, surprise gives way to another emotion. It’s as if it opens the door — but what enters is something else.

Imagine someone suddenly approaching you and saying:

"I have a gift for you!"

At that moment, you feel surprise. If the gift is something you’ve longed for, something you’ve desired for a long time, surprise soon turns into joy.

Now, imagine that the gift is, in fact, just a joke — a prank played on you. If it’s funny to you, what emerges is the sensation of comedy, followed by laughter.

But what if it’s a bad joke, one that touches a sensitive spot — something you fear, that exposes you, affects you, or humiliates you? In that case, surprise gives way to sadness, shame, fear, or perhaps anger.

And what if the surprise is the unexpected reunion with a person or a pet you haven’t seen in a long time and whom you’ve missed deeply?

What emerges immediately after the surprise? An experience of joy, or perhaps a mild suffering, reflecting everything that has been lived and lost over time? A smile, tears, or even an absence of reaction that lasts longer than the suspension of surprise?

Therefore, surprise is a threshold moment — it doesn’t last long. As soon as the unexpected is recognized, the emotional experience shifts. It’s like a flash of lightning before the thunder — brief, but striking.

The physical reaction is often a quick, short inhale, sometimes accompanied by a sound, followed by a brief pause. There’s also an action in the throat area that contributes to the change in breathing.

In the facial expression, the eyebrows raise, the eyes widen, and the mouth tends to open — a little or a lot, depending on how unexpected the situation is. Sometimes, this is what we call "being left with our jaw dropped."

There is also a movement of elevation and readiness in the head, shoulders, and torso for what comes next.

There is an internal movement that may resemble that of a startle, but not exactly, as it’s not as unpleasant as a shock. 

I don’t feel a cold jolt in my ‘stomach area,’ but rather a sensation of excitement in my head, especially in my face — as if the face were to light up. While in the startle reflex, it seems like a protective movement, in surprise, it’s something that opens outward.

Moreover, as mentioned above, in surprise there is a wider opening of the eyes, while in startle the eyes blink.

There is no specific motivation for an action. As I’ve mentioned, it seems more like a momentary reaction of suspension. The motivation for action will come in the next moment, when another emotion takes its place.

Note 1: When I was writing the first version of this text, I ended up exiting without saving it, and the surprise of returning to see the message was blank was quite unpleasant. 

However, in the first moment, there was a brief reaction of surprise, which soon turned into guilt (see here), which initially expressed itself as anger (see here), and then as frustration (see here).

Note 2: In the book Fenomenología de la sorpresa: un sujeto cardial (in Spanish), philosopher Natalie Depraz explores the experience of surprise in depth. If you're interested in reading it, here is my link to purchase the book on Amazon: https://amzn.to/3H3fKQS

Another book on the subject you might also find interesting is Surprise: An Emotion? (Contributions to Phenomenology Book 97), edited by Natalie Depraz and Anthony J. Steinbock: https://amzn.to/3SxASkQ

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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