emotionalism
Overwrought displays of feeling
Emotionalism is the tendency to display or appeal to emotion excessively, often at the expense of reason or restraint.
The term usually carries a note of criticism—suggesting that feelings are being indulged or manipulated rather than genuinely felt: The speech descended into emotionalism, Critics dismissed the film's emotionalism.
In philosophy and religion, emotionalism describes doctrines that privilege emotional experience over rational inquiry.
Longing for the past
- tearjerkerEmotionally manipulative entertainment
- maudlinExcessively tearful sentiment
- schmaltzPoultry fat or sentimentality
- pathosPity-evoking quality
lachrymose · weepy · melodrama · sappy · wistful · bittersweet · heartstrings · overwrought
Excessive indulgence in emotion
- romanticismEmotional, imaginative worldview
- expressionismDistorting reality for emotion
- subjectivismBelief truth is personal
- aestheticismValuing beauty above ethics
Intense emotional intensity
- ardorIntense emotional warmth
- intensityStrength or force level
- zealIntense driving devotion
- enthusiasmIntense eager enjoyment
rapture · ecstasy · devotion · obsession · fire · burning · heat · eagerness
Sharing another's emotions
- compassionConcern for others' distress
- vulnerabilityOpenness to harm
- tendernessGentle, caring quality
- receptivityWillingness to accept ideas
attunement · perceptiveness · responsiveness · intuition · gentleness · sympathy · softheartedness · impressionability
nostalgia
Longing for the past
- tearjerkerEmotionally manipulative entertainment
- maudlinExcessively tearful sentiment
- schmaltzPoultry fat or sentimentality
pathos · lachrymose · weepy · melodrama · sappy · wistful · bittersweet · heartstrings · overwrought · sobfest
sentimentalism
Excessive indulgence in emotion
- romanticismEmotional, imaginative worldview
- expressionismDistorting reality for emotion
- subjectivismBelief truth is personal
fervor
Intense emotional intensity
enthusiasm · rapture · ecstasy · devotion · obsession · fire · burning · heat · eagerness · vehemence
empathy
Sharing another's emotions
- compassionConcern for others' distress
- vulnerabilityOpenness to harm
- tendernessGentle, caring quality
receptivity · attunement · perceptiveness · responsiveness · intuition · gentleness · sympathy · softheartedness · impressionability · thin-skinned
- RomanticismWilliam Blake, the sublime, J.M.W. Turner, Eugene Delacroix, sublime
- sentimentalitymawkish, schmaltzy, saccharine, treacly, cloying
- sentimentalismsensibility, sentiment, sentimentality, pathos, feeling
- theatricstheatrics, dramatics, melodrama, histrionics, theatricality
- unreasonirrationalism, irrationality, unreason, illogic, anti-rationalism
emotionalismrationalism
Reason as knowledge source
rationality · logic · reason · intellectualism · objectivity
emotionalismstoicism
Uncomplaining acceptance of difficulty
impassivity · equanimity · composure · dispassion · placidity
emotionalismrealism
Accepting things as they are
naturalism · objectivism · formalism · classicism · minimalism