The 7 Laws Of Emotions According To Nico Frijda

Psychologist Nico Frijda was a prestigious researcher. In 2006, he published an article in which he explained what he believes are the laws of emotions. He wanted to establish a specific pattern of emotions.

Emotions are realities that can be difficult to classify. Finding common emotional patterns from one person to another is very complicated. But, from extended research,  Frijda postulated that there are general rules that can be applied universally.

The researcher himself pointed out that  with all these rules, there are also expectations. But he believes that certain patterns are more than just deviations. Although Frijda established 12 laws of emotion, we can combine them together to get seven. Here they are.

Situational meaning, the first of the laws of emotion

For Frijda, emotions are the result of certain situations. They do not appear completely spontaneously, without a starting point. Rather, they come from certain scenarios. Whether such scenarios exist only in the imagination, they are constantly connected to real situations.

Therefore  , two similar situations can generate the same type of emotional response. This means that a loss leads to sadness and achievement to joy. It does not matter what the loss or what the achievement is, the emotional response will always be the same.

2. Apparent reality

This is one of the most interesting laws of emotion. It postulates that  people respond in an emotional way to what we consider to be real. Not what is real, but what we really do.

It is a way of interpreting reality that gives way to emotions, not reality itself. That is why, for example, we can cry when we watch a movie. Or that we feel scared when we imagine a danger that is not really there.

3. Change, habit and the sense of comparison

In this case, there are three laws of emotion: change, habit and the sense of comparison.  The law of habit says that we get used to our situations and look at them as “normal”, even if they are not. Our emotional response to the ordinary is not intense.

4. Hedonic asymmetry

This is one of the most surprising emotions. It on how  it is so much harder to get used to negative situations. Our emotional response in this case is resistance and relative use of the law of habit.

With positive situations, the opposite happens to us. We get used to those situations much more easily. Therefore, and because we get used to it,  positive emotions tend to be much less intense each time, until they disappear.

5. Preservation of emotional drive

Negative experiences tend to hold on to their emotional power for a long time. Their impact on us can last for many years. The feelings are present, even if the situation has disappeared.

It remains so until similar situations arise and can be re-evaluated in a positive way. This means that  you have to go back to living and resolving the situation properly so that the negative feeling disappears.

6. Conclusion and care for the consequences

The Closing Act states that emotions tend to create an absolutist idea of ​​reality. When the intensity of an emotion is very great, we will see everything in black and white. We only look at one side of the issue.

One of the other laws of emotion is care for the consequences. This indicates that  people can modulate their emotions, depending on the consequences they may lead to. For example, you may feel a lot of anger, but not attack, unless the consequences are severe.

7. The lightest load and the greatest achievement

The law of light cargo states that people  can change their emotions if they interpret a situation in a different way. We tend to look at interpretations that help us get away from negative emotions. For example, “if a bad event happened to me, it’s because something good is coming.”

The law of the greatest attainment indicates that we seek to reinterpret situations in order to gain an emotional benefit with this new point of view. For example, we feel fear of heights and assume that those who play with heights are very irresponsible.

Frijda’s laws of emotions are a contribution to a long-term task of understanding human emotions. Although he postulates those who promise, not all schools of psychology use them in this way. They do not consider them laws. However, this does not dull their conclusions.