Sadness

For other uses, see SAD.

Sadness is an emotion characterized by feelings of disadvantage, loss, and helplessness. When sad, people often become quiet, less energetic, and withdrawn. Sadness is considered to be the opposite of happiness, and is similar to the emotions of 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 (colloquially called "feeling blue"), whereas clinical 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. Most people who are sad are usually also angry or mad at something.

The word 'sad' is also used as a derogatory slang term to refer to something that is considered pathetic.

Sources

• Anger and advancement versus sadness and subjugation: the effect of negative emotion expressions on social status conferral. Journal of Pers Soc Psychol. 2001 Jan;80(1):86-94. Tiedens, 2001
• Ambady & Gray, 2002
• Forgas, 1998
• Forgas, 1998
• Forgas, 1992, 1994
• Forgas & Bower, 1987
• Isen, 1987
• Keltner et al., 1998

Sadness is usually associated with depression.

Further reading

• Keltner, PC Ellsworth, K.Edwards - J Pers Soc Psychol, 1993
• Raghunathan, MT Pham - Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, 1999
• D Keltner, PC Ellsworth, K Edwards - J Pers Soc Psychol, 1993

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