Duration of Emotions

In previous articles, we explored each of the basic emotions in detail—their criteria, causes, and how they are expressed on the face. However, we have barely touched on the question of how long these emotions last. To better understand this aspect, it’s important to recall the definition of emotions and introduce a few new concepts to make the picture more complete and clear:

• Basic emotions are emotions that are expressed similarly by people from different cultures and continents. All basic emotions have a structure, criteria, and a reason for arising.
• Emotions are chains of events with stabilizing feedback loops that maintain behavioral homeostasis. Events in the environment (stimuli) are cognitively evaluated, resulting in experiences (emotions) accompanied by physiological changes. In response, the body engages in behavior aimed at affecting the stimulus.
• Microexpressions are brief, involuntary facial expressions that appear when a person tries to hide or suppress an emotion.
• Affect is an explosive emotional process characterized by short duration and high intensity, accompanied by pronounced motor reactions and changes in internal organ function.
• Mood is a relatively long-lasting emotional process of low intensity, forming the emotional background for ongoing mental processes.

Now that we’ve defined these terms, we can discuss them more specifically and in detail.

Duration of Emotional Manifestations

The definitions themselves already imply approximately how long each of these manifestations lasts, but let’s look at each one in more detail so we can better distinguish between them.

Duration of Microexpressions

Microexpressions are unique because they cannot be consciously controlled. They appear when a person tries to hide their true emotion. It’s impossible to deliberately reproduce them, making them a reliable source of information about a person’s current emotional state. This is a key difference between microexpressions and emotions we can consciously display. Another difference is their duration. On average, a microexpression lasts about 0.5 seconds, but there are variations:

• The shortest microexpressions (about 1% of all) last less than 1/30 of a second and are the most fleeting—often hard to notice.
• About 30% of microexpressions last around 1/4 of a second.
• The rest last from 1/4 to 0.5 seconds.

Duration of Emotions

Emotions arise in response to stimuli from the external world. They can be positive, negative, or conditionally neutral (like surprise). Emotions also differ in intensity—the stronger the emotion, the more pronounced its physiological manifestations. Emotions like joy and anger prompt active behavior and mobilize energy, while others, like sadness, drain our resources. Our behavior changes depending on the emotion we experience.

The typical duration of a genuine, unrestrained emotion is from 0.5 to 4 seconds. The exception is the emotion of surprise, which is neutral and evaluative. When we experience surprise, we need to quickly classify what we’ve encountered and determine whether the stimulus is dangerous, pleasant, or unpleasant. Because the main goal of surprise is to assess a new stimulus as quickly as possible, genuine surprise is the shortest-lasting emotion—no more than one second. This is a crucial point: the duration of surprise is one of the main criteria for determining its authenticity. If you share new information with someone and they display strong surprise for several seconds, it’s likely they are only pretending to be surprised.

Duration of Affect

Affect is a more intense process than emotion, but still relatively short-lived, though longer than a typical emotion. The duration of affect depends on the emotion it’s based on, the intensity of the experience, and the strength of the individual’s nervous system. For example, a person with a strong nervous system has more internal resources to withstand tension, so their affect may last longer than someone with a weaker nervous system. For someone with fewer internal resources, it’s harder to remain in such a high-energy state for long. Therefore, to determine the duration of affect, consider the emotion, the intensity of the event, and the strength of the nervous system. Affect can last from a few seconds to several minutes.

Duration of Mood

Mood is a long-lasting process, but of low intensity. It reflects a person’s attitude toward their life situation. Unlike emotion or affect, mood may have almost no outward signs. The emotional tone of mood can be neutral, low, elevated, anxious, etc. Every mood has a cause, even if it’s not always recognized. Prolonged bad mood (lasting two weeks or more) can lead to depression. Mood has no strict boundaries and can last from several hours to several weeks. It’s also important to note that while in a certain mood, we unconsciously seek external confirmation of our state. For example, in a good mood, we focus more on positive aspects of life, which helps maintain that state. Conversely, in a bad mood, we tend to notice more flaws in the world around us.

Why Understanding the Duration of Emotional Processes Matters

By understanding how long emotional processes last, you can more accurately interpret the emotional state of others, understand their motives, and their attitude toward what’s happening. This allows you to communicate more effectively and present information in a way that’s most comfortable and understandable for them.

Don’t forget to analyze your own emotions! Often, we don’t pay attention to our own feelings, or even think about them, yet emotions greatly influence our behavior. By understanding what we’re experiencing and what state we’re in, we can better control ourselves.