Science discovers 15 new emotions


If you've heard the common wisdom that there are six human emotions — happy, sad, fearful, angry, surprised, and disgusted — think again. New research from the National Academy of Sciences has found that there are 15 more emotions of which humans are capable.
The journal PNAS identified the 15 new "compound emotions" as combinations of the originally recognized six. Some of the compound emotions include feelings such as "fearfully surprised" and "happily disgusted." According to CNN, the findings could impact research on psychiatric disorders such as schizophrenia and PTSD.
Aleix Martinez, the author of the study, told CNN that the findings will help scientists explore what happens inside the human brain when we experience emotions. Meanwhile, we're still trying to deal with all of these new feelings. --Meghan DeMaria
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Meghan DeMaria is a staff writer at TheWeek.com. She has previously worked for USA Today and Marie Claire.
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