<p>I tried looking up an answer to this question, but all I got were links to depression hotlines. Gotta love Google :)</p>
<p>Why is sadness as a separate emotion beneficial? Sadness seems mostly to be associated with loss, or a severe change in one's future. Not getting a job, losing a loved one to death or breakup, regret for a decision made or event occurred that can't be undone. It seems in all of these cases that simple pain would suffice just as well, and yet there exists a dedicated emotion for it.</p>
<p>What is the benefit of feeling sadness as a distinct emotion from pain?</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2020-12-09T18:26:25.913Z
Which model of emotion are you referring to? Could you please link to it/cite it? If you don't have any in mind, maybe instead ask "Is sadness a separate emotion?", and hint at an interest in how emotions are modeled in research.
Steven Jeuris
CC BY-SA 4.0
2021-01-06T02:48:55.003Z
Are you looking for an evodevo argument for sadness? Those are probably more interesting than some categorization arg. See e.g. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2267800/ ; https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Evolutionary_approaches_to_depression
got trolled too much this week
CC BY-SA 4.0
2021-01-06T07:03:23.293Z
@Fozz I am! Got an answer in mind?
TheEnvironmentalist
<emotion>
Why does sadness exist as a separate emotion?
TheEnvironmentalist
# Why does sadness exist as a separate emotion?

(Asked by: username_0 on 2020-12-09)

I tried looking up an answer to this question, but all I got were links to depression hotlines. Gotta love Google :)

Why is sadness as a separate emotion beneficial? Sadness seems mostly to be associated with loss, or a severe change in one's future. Not getting a job, losing a loved one to death or breakup, regret for a decision made or event occurred that can't be undone. It seems in all of these cases that simple pain would suffice just as well, and yet there exists a dedicated emotion for it.

What is the benefit of feeling sadness as a distinct emotion from pain?

**Tags:** emotion

> **Comments:**
> **username_1**: Which model of emotion are you referring to? Could you please link to it/cite it? If you don't have any in mind, maybe instead ask "Is sadness a separate emotion?", and hint at an interest in how emotions are modeled in research.  
> **username_2**: Are you looking for an evodevo argument for sadness? Those are probably more interesting than some categorization arg. See e.g. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2267800/ ; https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Evolutionary_approaches_to_depression  
> **username_0**: @Fozz I am! Got an answer in mind?  

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## 0 answers

