The 7 Laws Of Emotions According To Nico Frijda

The psychologist Nico Frijda was a prestigious researcher. In 2006, he presented an article explaining what he believes are the laws of emotions. He intended to establish fixed patterns about emotions.

Emotions are realities that are difficult to classify. Finding common emotional patterns from one individual to another is even more difficult. However, from extensive research, Frija has hypothesized that there are general rules that can be applied universally.

The researcher himself pointed out that as with all rules, there are exceptions. According to him, however, fixed patterns are more than just deviations. Although Frijda has established 12 laws of emotions, we can combine them into seven. Those are the following.

1. The First of the 7 Laws of Emotions: Situational Meaning

For Frijda, emotions are the result of specific situations. They do not arise spontaneously, without starting points, but are derived from specific scenarios. As much as such scenarios exist only in the imagination, they are always associated with real situations.

Therefore, two similar situations produce the same type of emotional response. A loss therefore leads to sadness and happiness. Moreover, no matter what kind of loss or gain, the emotional response is always the same.

2. Apparent Reality

This is one of the most interesting laws of emotions. It assumes that people react emotionally to what we consider real. Not for what is real, but for what we give that quality to.

It is the way of interpreting reality that gives rise to emotions, not reality itself. That is why, for example, we may cry while watching a movie or be afraid when we imagine a danger that is not there.

3. Change, habituation and a feeling of comparison

In this case, there are three laws of emotions: change, habituation, and a comparative feeling. The law of habit says that we always get used to our circumstances and see them as ‘normal’, even if they are not. Our emotional response to the usual is not intense.

4. Hedonic Asymmetry

This is one of the most mind-boggling emotions. Think how much harder it is to get used to negative situations. Our emotional response in this case is resistance and relative application of the law of habituation.

In positive situations, the opposite happens. We get used to it much easier. Therefore, and because we get used to it, positive emotions are usually less intense until they disappear.

5. Maintaining Emotional Momentum

Negative experiences tend to retain their emotional strength for a long time. The impact they produce can last for several years. Emotions are present, although the situation is already gone.

This will remain unchanged until a similar situation arises and can be re-evaluated in a positive manner. That is, you need to start living again and solve the problem properly so that the negative emotion disappears.

6. Closing and taking care of the consequences

The law of closure says that emotions tend to create an absolutist idea of ​​reality. When the intensity of an emotion is very high, we see everything in terms of white or black. Moreover, we only look at the problem from one side.

Another of the laws of emotions is concern for consequences. This indicates that people manage to modulate their emotions depending on the consequences they can cause. For example, you may feel a lot of anger, but not attack unless the consequences are not serious.

7. The lightest load and the greatest profit

The law of lighter taxation says that people can change their emotions if they interpret situations differently. A person tends to look for the interpretations that help them to distance themselves from negative emotions. For example, “If this bad situation happened to me, it’s because something good is coming.”

The law of greatest gain indicates that we want to reinterpret situations to gain an emotional advantage from this new point of view. For example, we feel a fear of heights and assume that those who play with heights are really irresponsible.

Frijda’s laws of emotions contribute to a long-term task of understanding human emotions. Though he presents them as laws, in reality not all schools of psychology have admitted that they are. However, this does not affect their conclusions.