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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?

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    $\begingroup$ 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. $\endgroup$
    – Steven Jeuris ♦
    Dec 9 '20 at 18:26
  • $\begingroup$ Are you looking for an evodevo argument for sadness? Those are probably more interesting than some categorization arg. See e.g. ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2267800 ; en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Evolutionary_approaches_to_depression $\endgroup$
    – Fizz
    Jan 6 '21 at 2:48
  • $\begingroup$ @Fozz I am! Got an answer in mind? $\endgroup$
    – TheEnvironmentalist
    Jan 6 '21 at 7:03

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