Sadness
Paul Ekman identified sadness as one of six basic emotions shared by all humans. This classification places it alongside happiness, anger, surprise, fear, and disgust. The American Journal of Psychiatry notes that sadness involves feelings of disadvantage, loss, despair, grief, helplessness, disappointment, and sorrow. An individual experiencing this state may become quiet or lethargic. They might withdraw themselves from others entirely. Crying often serves as a visible indication of the internal pain.
Pediatrician T. Berry Brazelton suggests acknowledging sadness makes it easier for families to address more serious emotional problems. Sadness is part of the normal process where a child separates from an early symbiosis with their mother. Every time a child separates a little more, they must cope with a small loss. If the mother cannot allow the minor distress involved, the child may never learn how to deal with sadness by themselves. Selma Fraiberg argues that it is important to respect a child's right to experience a loss fully and deeply. Robin Skynner has suggested that rules making sadness not allowed cause people to become shallow and manic.
Researchers used positron emission tomography to provoke sadness among seven normal men and women. They asked subjects to think about sad things during the experiment. This method observed increased brain activity in the bilateral inferior and orbitofrontal cortex. A study inducing sadness through emotional film clips correlated the feeling with significant increases in regional brain activity. The prefrontal cortex showed activation, specifically in the region called Brodmann's area 9. Activity also rose significantly in the thalamus and bilateral anterior temporal structures. The middle and posterior temporal cortex displayed increased bilateral activity alongside the lateral cerebellum.
Sadness serves two primary functions that enhance one's ability to cope with loss. One function promotes cognitive changes that restructure beliefs and goals. When sad, people tend to be less affected by their schemas regarding political ideology when making decisions. Another function signals a need for assistance and elicits support from others. This may be done by following group norms or being kinder to others. Expressing the need for help physically and verbally strengthens these bonds. As a result, the experience of sadness as a group may decrease emotional polarization and increase relationship building.
Some individuals exclude themselves from social settings to take time to recover from the feeling. While being one of the moods people most want to shake, sadness can sometimes be perpetuated by coping strategies chosen. Ruminating, drowning one's sorrows, or permanently isolating oneself are examples of such behaviors. Cognitive behavioral therapy suggests challenging negative thoughts instead. It also recommends scheduling some positive event as a distraction. Getting social support remains an important mechanism. Spending time with a pet offers another path forward. Creating a list helps some people engage in activity to express sadness.
A sad facial expression with small pupils is judged to be more intensely sad as the pupil size decreases. A person's own pupil size mirrors this and becomes smaller when viewing sad faces with small pupils. No parallel effect exists when people look at neutral, happy, or angry expressions. The greater degree to which a person's pupils mirror another predicts a higher score on empathy. In disorders such as autism and psychopathy, facial expressions that represent sadness may be subtle. This subtlety shows a need for a more non-linguistic situation to affect their level of empathy.
DIPR scientist Swati Johar argues that slow, low pitched speech with weak high audio frequency energy is produced when someone is sad. Measurements distinguish sadness from other emotions using root mean square energy and inter-word silence. Sadness communicates mostly by lowering the mean and variability of the fundamental frequency. It associates with lower vocal intensity and decreases in pitch over time. Klaus Scherer found that in Western countries sadness had 79% accuracy for facial recognition and 71% for vocal identification. Non-Western countries showed results of 74% and 58%, respectively.
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Common questions
What did Paul Ekman identify as one of six basic emotions shared by all humans?
Paul Ekman identified sadness as one of six basic emotions shared by all humans. This classification places it alongside happiness, anger, surprise, fear, and disgust.
How does the American Journal of Psychiatry describe feelings associated with sadness?
The American Journal of Psychiatry notes that sadness involves feelings of disadvantage, loss, despair, grief, helplessness, disappointment, and sorrow. An individual experiencing this state may become quiet or lethargic and withdraw themselves from others entirely.
Why is acknowledging sadness important for children according to pediatrician T. Berry Brazelton?
Pediatrician T. Berry Brazelton suggests acknowledging sadness makes it easier for families to address more serious emotional problems. Sadness is part of the normal process where a child separates from an early symbiosis with their mother.
Which brain regions show increased activity during experiments provoking sadness using positron emission tomography?
Experiments using positron emission tomography observed increased brain activity in the bilateral inferior and orbitofrontal cortex. The prefrontal cortex showed activation specifically in Brodmann's area 9 while activity also rose significantly in the thalamus and bilateral anterior temporal structures.
What are the two primary functions that enhance one's ability to cope with loss through sadness?
Sadness serves two primary functions that promote cognitive changes restructuring beliefs and goals. Another function signals a need for assistance and elicits support from others by following group norms or being kinder to others.