In psychology

Psychology

Psychology is the study of the mind and behavior. Its immediate goal is to understand individuals and groups by both establishing general principles and researching specific cases. For many, the ultimate goal of psychology is to benefit society...

, emotional expression is observable verbal and nonverbal behaviour

Nonverbal communication

Nonverbal communication is usually understood as the process of communication through sending and receiving wordless messages. Messages can be communicated through gestures and touch , by body language or posture, by facial expression and eye contact...

 that communicates emotion

Emotion

Emotion is a complex psychophysiological experience of an individual's state of mind as interacting with biochemical and environmental influences. In humans, emotion fundamentally involves "physiological arousal, expressive behaviors, and conscious experience." Emotion is associated with mood,...

. Emotional expression can occur with or without self-awareness. An individual can control such expression, to some extent, and may have deliberate intent in displaying it.

Emotional regulation

Various researchers have highlighted the importance for an individual of being able to successfully regulate emotions. Ways of doing this include cognitive reappraisal — interpreting a situation in positive terms, and expressive suppression — masking signs of inner emotional states.

Critiques

In Expressing Negative Emotions: Healthy Catharsis or Sign of Pathology?, Milton Spett refers to opponents of the ventilation hypothesis:

In the past year, a number of publications have argued convincingly for a paradigm shift in our view of expressing negative emotions. In "Expressing Emotion" (New York: the Guilford Press, 1999), Eileen Kennedy-Moore

Eileen Kennedy-Moore

Eileen Kennedy-Moore is a New Jersey-based clinical psychologist and the author or co-author of professional and lay books and articles on children's emotions such as Expressing Emotion: Myths, Realities and Therapeutic Strategies, ISBN 1572306947, The Unwritten Rules of Friendship: Simple...

 and Jeanne Watson carefully review the empirical research on the "ventilation hypothesis," the widely-accepted belief that expressing negative emotions, such as anger

Anger

Anger is an automatic response to ill treatment. It is the way a person indicates he or she will not tolerate certain types of behaviour. It is a feedback mechanism in which an unpleasant stimulus is met with an unpleasant response....

, sadness

Sadness

Sadness is emotional pain associated with, or characterized by feelings of disadvantage, loss, despair, helplessness, sorrow, and rage. When sad, people often become outspoken, less energetic, and emotional...

, or fear

Fear

Fear is a distressing negative sensation induced by a perceived threat. It is a basic survival mechanism occurring in response to a specific stimulus, such as pain or the threat of danger...

, is good for our mental health

Mental health

Mental health describes either a level of cognitive or emotional well-being or an absence of a mental disorder. From perspectives of the discipline of positive psychology or holism mental health may include an individual's ability to enjoy life and procure a balance between life activities and...

, our physical health, and our interpersonal relationships. The authors draw the surprising conclusion that expressing negative emotions tends to increase rather than decrease the emotions, and does not necessarily improve our mental or physical health.

The rest of the article includes these points:

• experiencing emotions rather than expressing emotions that can lead to cognitive reappraisal and improved mental and physical health
• the most effective therapeutic interventions should include both moderate emotional expression and cognitive reappraisal.

See also

• Affect display
  Affect display
  In psychology, affect display or affective display is a subject's externally displayed affect. The display can be by facial, vocal, or gestural means . When displayed affect is different from the subjective affect, it is incongruent affect...
  
  
• Coping (psychology)
  Coping (psychology)
  Coping has been defined in psychological terms by Susan Folkman and Richard Lazarus as "constantly changing cognitive and behavioral efforts to manage specific external and/or internal demands that are appraised as taxing" or "exceeding the resources of the person".Coping is thus expending...
  
  
• Emotions and culture
  Emotions and culture
  Emotions are universal phenomena; however, they are affected by culture. While some emotions are universal and are experienced in similar ways as a reaction to similar events across all cultures, other emotions show considerable cultural differences in their antecedent events, the way they are...
  
  
• Facial expression
  Facial expression
  A facial expression one or more motions or positions of the muscles in the skin. These movements convey the emotional state of the individual to observers. Facial expressions are a form of nonverbal communication. They are a primary means of conveying social information among humans, but also occur...
  
  
• Microexpression
  Microexpression
  A microexpression is a brief, involuntary facial expression shown on the face of humans according to emotions experienced. They usually occur in high-stakes situations, where people have something to lose or gain. Unlike regular facial expressions, it is difficult to fake microexpressions...
  
  
• Sex and emotion