Full Idea
'Outer-directed' emotions (such as fear) are about particular situations, objects, or other people. …The 'inner-directed' emotions (such as vanity or regret) take one's Self as their focal point.
Gist of Idea
Some emotions are externally directed, others internally
Source
Robert C. Solomon (The Passions [1976], 7.1)
Book Reference
Solomon,Robert C.: 'The Passions (1993 ed)' [Hackett 1993], p.196
A Reaction
This is Solomon's own distinction. Some of the emotions he cites, such as vanity, seem to me more like long term virtues or vices, rather than emotions. He did say, though, that you can have emotions without feeling, such as long-term hate.