Sadness

For other uses, see SAD.

For the video game, see Sadness (video game).

A child crying

Sadness is an emotion characterized by feelings of disadvantage, loss, and helplessness. When sad, people often become quiet, less energetic, and withdrawn.

Sad is the negation of happy. Its synonyms are sorrow, grief, misery, and melancholy. The philosopher Baruch Spinoza defined sadness as the transfer of a person from a large perfection to a smaller one.

Sadness can be viewed as a temporary lowering of mood, whereas depression is characterized by a persistent and intense lowered mood, as well as disruption to one's ability to function in day to day matters. When sad we often go through a process called crying where we shed tears.

Studies have shown that when someone says they are angry or filled with hate that they are actually deeply sad or disappointed. Hate and anger are often ways emotionally disturbed individuals express sadness or disappointment, due to an inability or refusal to express their true feelings of sadness and disappointment.

Pupil empathy

Facial expressions of sadness with small pupils are judged significantly more intensely sad with decreasing pupil size. A person's own pupil size also mirrors this with them being smaller when viewing sad faces with small pupils. No parallel effect exists when people look at neutral, happy or angry expressions. The greater degree to which a person's pupil's mirror another predicts a person's greater score on empathy.

See also

• Ennui
• Mood (psychology)
• Depression

Sources

• Tiedens LZ (2001). "Anger and advancement versus sadness and subjugation: the effect of negative emotion expressions on social status conferral". J Pers Soc Psychol. 80 (1): 86–94. doi:10.1037/0022-3514.80.1.86. PMID 11195894. {{cite journal}}: Unknown parameter |month= ignored (help)
• Ambady & Gray, 2002
• Forgas JP (1998). "On feeling good and getting your way: mood effects on negotiator cognition and bargaining strategies". J Pers Soc Psychol. 74 (3): 565–77. doi:10.1037/0022-3514.74.3.565. PMID 11407408. {{cite journal}}: Unknown parameter |month= ignored (help)
• Forgas JP (1998). "On being happy and mistaken: mood effects on the fundamental attribution error". J Pers Soc Psychol. 75 (2): 318–31. doi:10.1037/0022-3514.75.2.318. PMID 9731311. {{cite journal}}: Unknown parameter |month= ignored (help)
• Forgas JP (1994). "The role of emotion in social judgments: an introductory review and an Affect Infusion Model (AIM)". Eur J Soc Psychol. 24 (1): 1–24. doi:10.1002/ejsp.2420240102.
• Forgas JP, Bower GH (1987). "Mood effects on person-perception judgments". J Pers Soc Psychol. 53 (1): 53–60. doi:10.1037/0022-3514.53.1.53. PMID 3612493. {{cite journal}}: Unknown parameter |month= ignored (help)
• Isen AM, Daubman KA, Nowicki GP (1987). "Positive affect facilitates creative problem solving". J Pers Soc Psychol. 52 (6): 1122–31. doi:10.1037/0022-3514.52.6.1122. PMID 3598858. {{cite journal}}: Unknown parameter |month= ignored (help)CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
• Keltner et al., 1998

Further reading

• Keltner D, Ellsworth PC, Edwards K (1993). "Beyond simple pessimism: effects of sadness and anger on social perception". J Pers Soc Psychol. 64 (5): 740–52. doi:10.1037/0022-3514.64.5.740. PMID 8505705. {{cite journal}}: Unknown parameter |month= ignored (help)CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
• Raghunathan, MT Pham - Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, 1999