Sadness

Sadness (also called heavy-heartedness) is emotional pain associated with, or characterized by feelings of disadvantage, loss, despair, grief, helplessness, disappointment and sorrow. An individual experiencing sadness may become quiet or lethargic, and withdraw themselves from others. Crying is often an indication of sadness.

Sadness is one of the "six basic emotions" described by Paul Ekman, along with happiness, anger, surprise, fear and disgust.

In childhood

Sadness is a common experience in childhood. Acknowledging such emotions can make it much easier for families to address more serious emotional problems, although some families may have a (conscious or unconscious) rule that sadness is "not allowed".Robin Skynner has suggested that this may cause problems, because with sadness "screened-off" we are left a bit shallow and manic.

Sadness is part of the normal process of the child separating from an early symbiosis with the mother and becoming more independent. Every time a child separates just a tiny bit more, he or she will have to cope with a small loss. If the mother cannot allow the minor distress involved, the child may never learn how to deal with sadness by themselves. Pediatrician T. Berry Brazelton argues that too much cheering a child up devalues the emotion of sadness for them; and Selma Fraiberg suggests that it is important to respect a child's right to experience a loss fully and deeply.

Sadness (video game)

Sadness was a survival horror video game in development by Nibris for the Wii console and was one of the earliest titles announced for the system. While the game initially drew positive attention for its unique gameplay concepts, such as black-and-white graphics and emphasis on psychological horror over violence, Sadness became notorious when no evidence of a playable build was ever publicly released during the four years it spent in development. It was revealed that Sadness had entered development hell due to problems with deadlines and relationships with external developers, leading to its eventual cancellation by 2010, along with the permanent closure of the company.

Concept

Sadness was promoted as a unique and realistic survival horror game that would "surprise players," focusing on psychological horror rather than violence, containing "associations with narcolepsy, nyctophobia and paranoid schizophrenia." More notable was the announcement that the game would sport black-and-white visuals stylized as gothic horror.

Inside Out (2015 film)

Inside Out is a 2015 American 3D computer-animated comedy-drama adventure film produced by Pixar Animation Studios and released by Walt Disney Pictures. The film was directed and co-written by Pete Docter, co-directed and co-written by Ronnie del Carmen and produced by Jonas Rivera, with music composed by Michael Giacchino. The film is set in the mind of a young girl named Riley Andersen (Kaitlyn Dias), where five personified emotions—Joy (Amy Poehler), Sadness (Phyllis Smith), Fear (Bill Hader), Anger (Lewis Black), and Disgust (Mindy Kaling)—try to lead her through life as her parents (Diane Lane and Kyle MacLachlan) move the family from Minnesota to San Francisco and she has to adjust to her new life.

Docter first began developing Inside Out in 2009 after noticing changes in his daughter's personality as she grew older. The film's producers consulted numerous psychologists, including Dacher Keltner from the University of California, Berkeley, who helped revise the story by emphasizing the neuropsychological findings that human emotions affect interpersonal relationships and can be significantly moderated by them.