counteremotion
nounEtymology From counter- + emotion.
1
An emotion which acts in contrast or opposition to another emotion.
- The counteremotion of anger is serenity, that of fear relaxation.1996, Dolf Zillmann, “Sequential Dependencies in Emotional Experience and Behavior”, in Emotion: Interdisciplinary Perspectives, page 265:
- He began to feel [...] the elation of money coming his way, the self-congratulation that followed – because the gain was all down to his inspired decisions — and then the almost equal counteremotion of sickening anxiety: a fear that there was some aspect of the trade he hadn't covered, some twist that even he had not foreseen.2009, Sebastian Faulks, A Week in December:
1 more example
- An aggressor experiences a revulsion to hurting his victim, but the discomfort cannot last forever, and eventually a reassuring, energizing counteremotion resets his equilibrium to neutral.2011, Steven Pinker, The Better Angels of Our Nature, Penguin, published 2012, page 670: