Emotions, like fish, can be difficult to catch and so slippery as to be difficult to grasp. After all, some are rare — how often, for example, do you feel mortification? — while others are simply difficult to identify. Having studied the ungraspable, researchers at the University of Leuven in Belgium found that sadness may last up to 240 times longer than surprise, fear, irritation, or even boredom. Digging deeper, the researchers believe the reason for differences in duration is linked to lifetime importance. “Compared to short emotions, persistent emotions are typically elicited by events of high importance, and are associated with high levels of rumination,” noted the authors in the conclusion of their new study.
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