The Emotional vs. the Unemotional

NEW YORK — Some people, psychologists observe, get overly emotional even in reacting to mundane events. Others, however, remain unperturbed even under the most trying of circumstances.

These levels of feeling characterize a person’s emotional life. People who live with deep emotional intensity seem to have a more complex sense of themselves and lead lives that are more complicated than do those whose emotions are less strong. People who have the deepest lows also have the loftiest highs.

At the other end of the spectrum are people who seem to have no emotions at all. Some of these may have “alexthymia,” a term applied to those who say they have no feelings at all.