Discover Your Dominant Human Emotion: Take the Free Quiz Now
Explore how you naturally respond to daily experiences. Complete this free emotion quiz to uncover which primary emotion most influences your behavior and feelings.
Which emotion shapes your perception of the world?
Emotions play a vital role in our everyday lives, shaping the essence of what it means to be human. Take this complimentary quiz to identify which core emotion guides your worldview and emotional expression.
The Emotion Identification Quiz
Who Should Take This Quiz?
This quiz is perfect for anyone eager to discover which emotion predominantly influences their experiences and self-expression.
About This Human Emotion Assessment
This assessment is designed to reveal which of the four fundamental human emotions primarily motivates you.
While emotions fluctuate over time, this quiz focuses on identifying your dominant emotional driver rather than your current mood. Each answer aligns with one of the four core emotions.
Understanding Human Emotions
Emotions influence our feelings, perceptions, decisions, and social interactions. The definition and categorization of emotions have long been subjects of research and debate among psychologists.
In the 1970s, psychologist Paul Ekman identified six universal emotions experienced by all humans: happiness, sadness, disgust, fear, surprise, and anger.
Robert Plutchik, a noted psychologist, developed the Wheel of Emotions, illustrating how basic emotions combine to form more complex feelings. For example, combining disgust and anger results in contempt.
A 2017 study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences recognized 27 distinct emotional categories.
More recently, a 2019 study in Frontiers in Psychology highlighted four primary emotions, with deeper layers branching into more nuanced feelings.
The Four Core Human Emotions
The four fundamental human emotions are happiness, sadness, fear, and anger. These serve as the foundation for the wide spectrum of emotional experiences, as represented in Plutchik’s Wheel of Emotions.
Happiness
Happiness is the most positive of the core emotions and is often what people strive to feel. It relates to joy and overall well-being.
Despite being a basic emotion, happiness varies greatly between individuals. What brings happiness to one person may differ for another, and sometimes anticipated sources of happiness don’t deliver as expected.
Research links happiness to improved health and possibly increased longevity. However, exclusively expressing happiness might mask other important emotions or issues.
Everyone seeks happiness in life! Remember, happiness is just one emotion among many and naturally fluctuates. It’s healthy to experience a range of feelings knowing happiness will return.
— AMY MARSCHALL, PSYD
Is Happiness a Choice?
Sadness
Sadness can be a fleeting feeling or a persistent state. Prolonged sadness is a key symptom of major depressive episodes and is associated with grief, hopelessness, and lack of interest.
Expressions of sadness vary depending on the individual and cause—ranging from crying after sudden events to depressive symptoms over longer periods.
People coping with sadness may withdraw socially or engage in substance use.
Feeling down or lonely is normal, but if sadness lingers or dominates your days, professional support from a therapist can be beneficial.
— AMY MARSCHALL, PSYD
Fear
Fear evolved as a survival mechanism, triggered by perceived threats. It activates our fight-or-flight response, prompting us to react quickly to danger—an essential trait for our ancestors.
Physical reactions to fear include muscle tension, increased heart rate, and rapid thoughts.
In modern times, fear is closely linked to anxiety. Fear responds to immediate threats, whereas anxiety relates to anticipation of future dangers.
While fear alerts us to real dangers, sometimes it responds to imagined threats. If fear is frequent or disproportionate, seeking therapy can help manage it effectively.
— AMY MARSCHALL, PSYD
Anger
Anger is a powerful emotion linked to frustration, hostility, and rage. It can stem from actual or perceived injuries or injustices.
While anger can manifest as aggressive behavior, it can also serve as a constructive force to remove harmful influences from our lives. However, uncontrolled anger may damage relationships and health.
Research connects anger to chronic health issues like heart disease and diabetes.
Anger signals when something is unacceptable. If managing anger is a challenge, anger management techniques can promote healthier emotional regulation.
— AMY MARSCHALL, PSYD
Explore more quizzes to deepen your understanding of emotions.
References
Cowen AS, Keltner D. Self-report captures 27 distinct categories of emotion bridged by continuous gradients. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA. 2017;114(38). doi:10.1073/pnas.1702247114
Gu S, Wang F, Patel NP, Bourgeois JA, Huang JH. A model for basic emotions using observations of behavior in drosophila. Front Psychol. 2019;10:445286. doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2019.00781
Lawrence EM, Rogers RG, Wadsworth T. Happiness and longevity in the United States. Social Science & Medicine. 2015;145:115-119. doi:10.1016/j.socscimed.2015.09.020
Kozlowska K, Walker P, Mclean L, Carrive P. Fear and the Defense Cascade: Clinical Implications and Management. Harv Rev Psychiatry. 2015;23(4):263-87. doi:10.1097/HRP.0000000000000065
Staicu M, Cuţov M. Anger and health risk behaviors. J Med Life. 2010;3(4):372-375.
Additional Resources
Anwar Y. Emoji fans take heart: Scientists pinpoint 27 states of emotion. Berkeley News. 2017.
Gu S, Wang F, Patel NP, Bourgeois JA, Huang JH (2019). A Model for Basic Emotions Using Observations of Behavior in Drosophila. Front Psychol 10:781. doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2019.00781
Lee MA, Kawachi I. The keys to happiness: Associations between personal values regarding core life domains and happiness in South Korea. PLoS One. 2019;14(1):e0209821. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0209821
Plutchik R. The Nature of Emotions: Human emotions have deep evolutionary roots, explaining their complexity and clinical relevance. American Scientist. 2001;89(4):344–350.
Sachs ME, Damasio A, Habibi A. The pleasures of sad music: a systematic review. Front Hum Neurosci. 2015;9:404. doi:10.3389/fnhum.2015.00404
Sutton TM, Altarriba J. Color associations to emotion and emotion-laden words: A collection of norms for stimulus construction and selection. Behav Res. 2016;48:686–728. doi:10.3758/s13428-015-0598-8
Written by Rena Goldman
Rena Goldman is an experienced health writer and editor with over ten years in the field. Her work has been featured in Medical News Today, Healthline, and other reputable outlets.
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