(9/30)

Confusion is not a normal emotion (like happy, sorrow, anger, and fear), but it is included among the "knowledge emotions" according to Paul Silvia, an author and psychology professor. These are "a family of emotional states that foster learning, exploring, and reflecting" and include surprise, intrigue, bewilderment, and awe. "As a group, the knowledge emotions motivate people to engage with new and puzzling things rather than avoid them," Silvia tells me. "Over time, interacting with new things, ideas, and people broadens one's experiences and develops competence. Knowledge emotions, unlike fear, anger, and happiness, do not prepare the body, but they do prepare the mind."