50 Examples of Negative Emotions

John Spacey, August 29, 2021

Negative emotions are high level cognitive states that feel bad. As emotions color all thoughts, negative emotions can greatly influence thinking and behavior. As with all emotions, negative emotions can serve a purpose by shifting your thinking to deal with things that are difficult, sad, insulting or conflicting. For example, negative emotions can help you to reflect on life or may signal a problem in your thinking or behavior. This being said, dwelling in negative emotions as a habit or character trait is problematic. The following are common negative emotions.

Anger	Angst
Anomie	Anxiety
Apathy	Apprehension
Confusion	Dejection
Desolation	Despair
Disgust	Distrust
Dread	Embarrassment
Emptiness	Envy
Fear	Fright
Frustration	Guilt
Guilt	Hate
Helplessness	Hubris
Impatience	Indignation
Insecurity	Intolerance
Isolation	Jealousy
Loathing	Loneliness
Malice	Melancholy
Nervousness	Nostalgia
Outrage	Rage
Regret	Remorse
Resentment	Restlessness
Sadness	Schadenfreude
Shame	Sorrow
Stress	Tension
Vanity	Wistfulness

It is common to pathologize negative emotions with the assumption that they are a problem. This is portrayed in the Pixar animated film Inside Out whereby a character who represents sadness is assumed to be a problem until it is revealed that she plays a vital role in healthy thinking.

Negative emotions can leave you open to manipulation. For example, if you easily become angry, others can try to trigger this to cause your thinking and behavior to falter.

Some emotions are arguably negative but generate positive feelings. For example, schadenfreude is joy at the misfortune of others.

Some emotions generate negative feelings but are arguably positive. For example, nostalgia can be described as a gentle sadness for the past but is often described as a positive emotion.