70 Free Emotion Packed Images for Your Projects

What makes every human, human?

If there’s one thing that sets us apart from all other creatures on earth, it’s the fact that we have the ability to display emotions and make them the basis of some of our decisions in life. Without them, we’re no better than robots – going through the daily motions without much thought about how it affects us and the people around us.

There’s an entire list of human emotions that describe how a person feel depending on the situations they are presented. But did you know that a research made at Glasgow University says that only 4 emotions define human behavior?

Originally, Charles Darwin said that there were 6 basic emotions that prove to be universal among all humans – anger, disgust, fear, happiness, sadness and surprise. This was a theory he came up with by looking at facial expressions. He published his findings through The Expression of the Emotions in Man and Animals in 1872. Yes, he also believed that some animals are capable of the same emotions.

With more modern technology, newer research reduced this to 6. They used a software that was developed at the university itself, and saw a lot of similarities in some of the 6 emotions that Darwin listed. Apparently, fear and surprise showed the same wide-eyed expression, while both disgust and fear caused people to wrinkle their nose the same way.

All this helps in trying to understand danger signals. And with less emotions to consider, it is now somehow easier to try to understand what people are feeling even with the lack of verbal communication.

Thinking twice about all this research? Well, try to explore human emotions yourself. Have you ever tried people watching and thinking about what they were feeling at that precise moment? Try it out. It’s unbelievable how much you can learn about a person just by looking at their facial expressions.

Use the photos below to gain more insight about this. With these portraits, you can see the different emotions humans feel just by looking at their eyes. For the other, the way their faces are angled can give you a good perspective as well.

Of course, these portraits can also be great for any projects you might be working on. If there’s anything that can easily draw people into your website, blog, or social media account, it’s the smart use of emotions, probably through the amazing shots of the people featured below.