A second myth about emotions that people typically submit themselves to is that there is a seemingly "right" or "wrong" way to feel in any given scenario. We often see our family, friends, and loved ones feel guilt for being angry at an uncontrollable situation. In other cases, we can often fall victim to a level of guilt for our own emotional responses or experiences if they do not fit the situation relative to social norms. We can feel guilty for being angry at our mother for lying to us, even when we know she is doing her best to protect us. We can feel guilty for being envious of the success of our friends even though we encouraged them to work towards that promotion. On the other hand, we can feel anger towards our children when we feel their emotional responses were unwarranted. In other words, we can often succumb to the societal implications of how we "ought" to feel, or how we "ought" to respond when emotions arise within us. In a study aimed to observe the diversity of emotional experiences, researchers studied the difference in emotions experienced by those who visited an art museum. Researchers observed some of the following emotions in various participants: happiness, sadness, interest, disgust, boredom, annoyance, and so forth ( Rodriguez et al., 2021). As human beings with varying perceptions of external stimuli, it is not surprising that different emotions can be elicited for different people in a situation. The moral of the story is this: if something as trivial as an art exhibit can elicit different emotions in various individuals, then can there really be a "right" or "wrong" way to feel in any given situation?

References:

Rodriguez, R. M., Fekete, A., Silvia, P. J., & Cotter, K. N. (2021). The art of feeling different: Exploring the diversity of emotions experienced during an art museum visit. Psychology of Aesthetics, Creativity, and the Arts. https://doi.org/10.1037/aca0000443