A–Z Glossary

Catharsis

Catharsis is a feeling of emotional release that may follow expressing or processing difficult experiences.

← Back to A–Z Glossary

Search results for: Catharsis

Common myths about emotional experience

Common myths about emotional experience

Myth: Every emotion is a universal, hardwired category Popular language often treats emotions such as fear, anger, sadness, and joy as biologically fixed packages. The assumption is that each emotion has a distinctive facial expression, body response, brain pattern, and behavioral meaning that should be recognizable across people and cultures. Research reviewed in the psychological […]