Then again, this kind of consistency in a person's emotions and behavior can be fairly hard to observe, especially over a short time, especially without actually knowing that person well or communicating with her. In this case, one might also infer some information about that person's personality. Negative emotion tends to wear away at a person over time, especially when it's intense, unremitting, and therefore often self-reinforcing and somewhat irrational.
![feeling sad for no reason feeling sad for no reason](https://memecentral.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/when-youre-sad-for-no-reason-and-someine-asks-whats-wrong.jpg)
If a person tends to experience a lot of negative emotion over a wide range of circumstances, it might not be so unusual to be confused about why it won't go away.
![feeling sad for no reason feeling sad for no reason](https://www.uktherapyguide.com/Content/DynamicMedia/Blogs/DetailsPage/1232_Image.jpg)
They then (unconsciously) "guess" why through inference. Put another way, people in general sense physiological states (such as sadness) without knowing why. Successful attribution typically requires a plausible cause-and-effect relationship - that is, the most likely explanation is probably the correct one. So you search for possible reasons: Maybe a conversation you had recently didn't go well, maybe your bank account is low on funds, maybe you notice that you haven't spent time with friends lately. This may cause a negative effect on your mood - sadness. Imagine having a low level of serotonin in your brain.
![feeling sad for no reason feeling sad for no reason](https://pics.me.me/stop-being-sad-for-no-reason-my-goodness-what-an-59981826.png)
Similar research supports the idea that physiological inputs (eg, the effects of hormones in our system) are combined with a process of inference to produce emotion. Presumably the men on the suspension bridge were more aroused than the ones on the solid bridge, and misattributed their arousal to the attractiveness of the interviewer. Men surveyed on the suspension bridge were more likely to include sexual content in their answers, and more likely to call the interviewer later. Some of the men were on a "fear-arousing" suspension bridge, while other men were on a "non-fear-arousing" solid bridge. This is exemplified by a classic experiment in which men were surveyed by an attractive female interviewer while on a bridge.
![feeling sad for no reason feeling sad for no reason](https://i1.wp.com/letyourdreamsbegin.com/wp-content/uploads/bigstock-depression-18397460.jpg)
Modern theories of emotion suggest that like many aspects of self-knowledge, emotion is "inferred" rather than "introspected".