Emotionality is the observable
behavioral and
physiological component of
emotion, and is a measure of a person's emotional
reactivity to a
stimulus. Most of these responses can be observed by other people, while some emotional responses can only be observed by the person experiencing them. Observable responses to emotion (i.e., smiling) do not have a single meaning. A smile can be used to express happiness or anxiety, a frown can communicate sadness or anger, and so on. Emotionality is often used by
psychology researchers to
operationalize emotion in research studies.