emotional

Emotional is an adjective relating to emotion, the affective experiences that people have in response to events, thoughts, or memories. It can describe feelings themselves (emotional distress), processes (emotional regulation), or expressions (emotional facial expressions). In common usage, emotional sometimes contrasts with rational, though in psychology emotion and cognition interact.

In psychology, emotions are complex states that integrate appraisal of events, subjective feeling, physiological arousal, and action tendencies. They are typically shorter-lived than moods and can motivate behaviors. Emotion regulation refers to the ways individuals influence which emotions they have, when they have them, and how they experience and express them. Emotional intelligence denotes the ability to perceive, use, understand, and manage emotions in oneself and others.

Expression plays a central role in social communication. Facial expressions, voice, and body language convey emotional information, with some faces considered biologically universal. Cultures shape display rules and interpretation, meaning that expression and interpretation can vary across contexts.

Researchers study emotions with self-report scales, behavioral observation, and physiological measures such as heart rate and skin conductance, along with neuroimaging. Theories diverge on whether basic, discrete emotions exist or whether emotions are constructed from more fundamental affective dimensions.

In everyday use, emotional can describe both intensity and subjectivity and is sometimes used pejoratively to suggest irrationality; clinical and therapeutic contexts emphasize skills for emotional regulation as part of mental health care, including cognitive behavioral therapy and dialectical behavior therapy.