What Is an Emotion?The literature on emotions is complex. To learn more, a good place to start is with a book edited by Paul Ekman and Richard Davidson called The Nature of Emotion: Fundamental Questions (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1994).To simplify the ideas in our book for practical use, we make no clear distinction between emotions and moods; yet there are differences (e.g., see page 410 of Fiske and Taylor’s social psychology classic, Social Cognition, 2nd ed., New York: McGraw-Hill, 1991). Compared to moods, emotions generally are seen to be of shorter duration, greater intensity, and complexity. Asphilosophers point out, emotions also have “intentionality”—they are directed toward a specific person or object, whereas the object of a mood usually is more diffuse. For example, you wake up on a Monday morning, find yourself in a grumpy mood, and are irritated at anyone who crosses your path.The quote illustrating the challenge of defining emotions comes from B.Fehr and J. Russell in their 1984 article, “Concept of Emotion Viewed from a Prototype Perspective,” in the Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, 113, 464–86.