The role and nature of emotions
Emotions allow a person to evaluate everything that happens around and inside him. The "language of emotions" is the same for all living beings on our planet, a dog, not knowing the human language, perfectly understands what is happening to a person, simply by watching him, "reading" his emotions. A person from the other end of the earth, having a different upbringing, a different culture and worldview, is able to understand without words the state of a person “reading” his emotions. Some hypersensitive people are able to read emotions from a distance, even time is not a hindrance to them. The "reading technique" is given to all living beings from the moment of birth, a child who has not yet received "processing by society", having no life experience, is able to "read" emotions from the first days of life (however, even in the womb). It is impossible to thoroughly investigate how this process takes place, since much is not yet known to a person, there are no such instruments and concepts that can give clear answers.
Types of emotions
An emotion, like a rainbow, can be completely different and there is no limit to the “tonality” of its manifestation. But still, it is possible to distinguish the main types of emotions, each of them gives rise to sensations. The “language” of these sensations is used by the whole world to speak to each other without opening its mouth, dogs and cats, tigers and lions, Chinese and Europeans know this language, it is the same for everything. The most common types of emotions are joy and anger, sadness and fear are known to all living things in the world, all living things in the world have experienced a feeling of disgust and surprise. In fact, there are more types of emotions than sand on the seashore, it is how thin a substance that can create incredible combinations, the lines between which are so thin that sometimes they are almost imperceptible.
It is in this way that joy in an incredible way flows into anger, mercy into disfavor, and a person has the ability to simultaneously feel love and hate in relation to the same object at the same time. The main types of human emotions are determined by living beings, first of all, by facial expression and human behavior. It is almost impossible to determine exactly what kind of emotion he is experiencing from a person in all its subtleties, you can only “fall into the range” of the type of emotion. For example, it is possible to determine that a person is experiencing joy, but to what extent - it is not known, this joy is possible with a touch of hope or tenderness, or maybe there is an even more confusing cocktail.
Conditionally, emotions can be divided into positive, neutral and negative, let's try to list the main ones.
- Positive emotions include:
- pleasure,
- delight,
- joy,
- confidence,
- sympathy,
- Love,
- tenderness,
- bliss.
- gloat,
- revenge,
- grief,
- anxiety,
- yearning,
- fear,
- despair,
- anger.
- curiosity,
- amazement,
- indifference.
Studies by zoologists have shown that even animals can easily determine the types of emotions experienced by their fellow tribesmen and even humans. In addition, they are able to empathize, experiencing the same. Each type of emotion creates a kind of resonance, like a virus “infects” everything around it, forcing you to experience the same thing. There are also many studies proving that not only people and animals, but also plants and even objects of inanimate nature react to the main types of emotions.
Life without emotions is impossible! Everyone experiences the main types of emotions, but not everyone experiences their subtlest manifestations, they are felt only by beings of fine mental organization. Their "radar" is tuned to a more subtle perception, and the strength of their emotions has a higher energy manifestation. There are so-called "rude" people, they are less sensitive to emotions, they are not able to feel all the subtleties of their manifestation, they capture only the most common types of emotions (joy, fear, anger, admiration, etc.)
There is a special kind of emotion called "affect". This is a special state of a person, which is associated with the “switching off” of ordinary rational thinking, in this state a person acts “stereotypically”, it seems to turn on an “emergency program” laid down genetically or imposed by society. Most often, reactions such as flight, numbness, aggression occur.
Scientists express the opinion that the higher a creature is on the evolutionary ladder, the richer its gamut of emotional states. Life experience makes us agree with this statement only in part, some people, for example, are incredibly “deaf” to the experiences of others, while animals are more receptive. Unfortunately, this is an indisputable fact! Skeptics will object and say that even such a “deaf” person can still be “rocked” to a more subtle sensation and manifestation of their emotions. But life experience increasingly says otherwise ...
Emotions and why are they given so much attention? Most psychologists believe that this is the very first and immediate reaction to an incident, object or event. This is a transient phenomenon, which, however, is very important for the body.
The fact is that emotions serve as a kind of mirror for the world around us. Negative ones show that the person is not satisfied with the situation or does not like something.
Positive, on the contrary, prove the correctness of decisions and actions, serve as a kind of "carrot". At the same time, emotions are more and less strong. For example, fear can still be overcome, but horror - a much stronger emotion - is already much more difficult to control. At the same time, fear informs a person that he is faced with some kind of danger, and horror - that the danger is too great and it is better to run. Surprise tells that information or an event does not correspond to previous conclusions and assumptions.
Scientists have long argued about what emotions are and how they can be divided and described. Most often, they are divided into simple and basic (joy, sadness, interest, anger, fear, surprise and disgust), pleasure-suffering (this is especially easy to see in the example of newborn children) and many others. But fundamentally, they all arise from the correspondence and inconsistency of events and the surrounding reality with the needs and beliefs of a person.
True, there are more difficult options. These are, first of all, communicative emotions, that is, experiences associated with a thirst for communication, emotional intimacy. emotions of this type? It is they who make people seek friendship, sympathy and assistance. This category also includes altruistic emotions, thanks to which people help and patronize someone, as well as the thirst for fame, self-affirmation, recognition and honor. In addition to them, there are also romantic emotions, as well as pleasant sensations from the work done, achieving a goal or contemplating beauty. There are also hedonistic emotions associated with the satisfaction of needs for comfort, bodily or mental, and the joy of acquisition or accumulation.
What are emotions for a person? These are the very first impulses that guide him and guide all activity, they are primary in relation to thinking and reason, and it is they who often guide behavior. And people are simply not able to live without them, because emotions affect hormonal metabolism, the tone of the whole organism and affect the feeling of happiness and fullness of life. That is why it is vital to know the methods and apply them successfully.
Some psychologists argue that it is harmful and unnecessary to suppress impulses. However, control over emotions is still necessary. After all, they can be dangerous to others and destructive to the individual himself. There are three ways to manage emotions. This is, first of all, an attempt to switch to something else, to choose another object for concentration. As a rule, this method works fine, you just need to make some effort. The second way is to change beliefs, because they greatly affect how a person perceives information from the environment. And the third way is to change the position of the body, even the tone of voice affects a person’s thoughts and emotions.
Thus, despite the primacy of emotions and the fact that their occurrence is not subject to reason, people, nevertheless, can control and subjugate them, gaining harmony and integrity. After all, unbridled, wild passions are harmful and destroy a person, and gaining power over them makes it possible to live a happy and fulfilling life.
Introduction
People live in a world where emotions accompany them everywhere, without them a person's life is not possible. How to learn to control them, in what they help, and in what they sometimes interfere. Within the framework of this work, the most important factor will be those emotions of a person, which, like no other, affect his professional and personal life.
For convenience, it is customary to combine emotions with similar characteristics into groups, that is, to single out the types of emotions. But as you know, typology, like most of the humanities, is a very complex and multifaceted science, since in nature there are no objects that have a certain set of properties in their pure form.
Relevance of this work lies in the fact that every person experiences emotions and feels their influence in one way or another on his life. For many, it is not difficult to control emotions, and someone suffers all his life because of their lack of control and faces the problem of nervous breakdowns, groundless experiences. Any emotion of a person is interconnected with the people around him, the prevailing pleasant or unpleasant situations, and so on. In this paper, we will talk about emotions and their meaning for a person in his aspects of life. The ability to control emotions, to be happy, not to feel sadness and disappointment, most likely, this is what everyone dreams of.
aim This work is an analysis of the significance of emotions in the professional and personal life of a person.
To achieve this goal, it is necessary to implement the following tasks:
1. Define the concept of emotion;
2. Study the classification of emotions;
3. Explore theories of emotions;
4. Consider the concept of personal and professional life;
5. Analyze the meaning of emotions in a person's professional and personal life.
object research in this paper favors emotions.
Subject studies are the psychological components of emotions in the professional and personal life of a person.
Theoretical significance: the sources used in writing this term paper are the works of well-known specialists in the field of psychology and pedagogy, such as Kant, James, Lang, Cannon, Bard, J. Holland and others.
Practical significance: This course work will be useful for those people who want to learn more about their emotions. For those who want to understand them and recognize what affects them. The work will help analyze the impact of various emotions on professional and personal life. In the course of work, based on the works of well-known experts, diagrams and tables were drawn up that allow presenting this information in a more visual form, which greatly facilitates the process of studying this topic.
Emotions
Definition of emotions
Emotions (lat. - shake, excite) - a mental reflection in the form of a direct experience of the life meaning of phenomena and situations, due to the relationship of their objective properties to the needs of the subject.
In addition, emotions are a mental process of behavior based on a sensory reflection of the needs of the significance of external influences, their favorableness or harmfulness for the life of an individual. Emotions arose, as Charles Darwin argued, in the process of evolution as a means by which living beings establish the significance of certain conditions in order to meet their urgent needs.
Emotional sensations are biologically fixed in the process of evolution as a kind of way to maintain the life process within its optimal boundaries and warn of the destructive nature of a lack or excess of any factors.
It is precisely thanks to emotions that the organism turns out to be extremely favorably adapted to environmental conditions, since even without determining the form, type, mechanism and other parameters of the impact, it can respond with saving speed to it with a certain emotional state, reducing it, so to speak, to a common biological denominator, those. to determine whether a given particular effect is beneficial or harmful to him.
Emotions arise in response to key features of objects to satisfy a specific need. Separate biologically significant properties of objects and situations cause an emotional tone of sensations. They signal the meeting of the body with the desired or dangerous property of objects. Emotions and feelings are a subjective attitude to objects and phenomena, arising from the reflection of their direct connection with actualized needs.
All emotions are objectively correlated and bivalent and are divided according to Fig. 1.
Rice. 1 Types of emotions
Negative emotions express an attempt or intention to "exclude". Strengthening one's own position at the expense of others. Stay away from bad things, destroy what is perceived as a threat. Negative emotions are fueled by a deep fear of the unknown, a fear of the actions of others, a need to control and hold others so as not to be harmed by them. Negative emotions are, for example: indifference, grief, fear, hatred, shame, guilt, regret, indignation, anger, hostility.
Positive emotions express an attempt or intention to "turn on". Consider something in its entirety. Work on learning new points of view, interact more with others, enjoy being better at something. Positive emotions are fueled by a deep desire for enjoyment and unity. Positive emotions are, for example: interest, enthusiasm, laughter, sympathy, action, curiosity.
On the basis of bodily experiences, Kant divided emotions as follows (Fig. 2):
Fig.2 The division of emotions according to Kant
Stenic emotions increase the vital activity of the body; asthenic emotions, on the contrary, depress and suppress all vital processes in the body.
An example sthenic emotion can be a feeling of joy. In a person experiencing joy, there is a significant expansion of small blood vessels, in connection with which the nutrition of all vital organs, especially the brain, improves and intensifies. Such a person does not feel tired, on the contrary, he feels a strong need for actions and movements. In a state of joy, a person usually gestures a lot, jumps, dances, beats his hands, makes joyful cries, laughs loudly, and makes other fast and energetic movements. Increased motor activity is associated with a feeling of strength, he feels light, cheerful. The flow of blood to the brain facilitates his mental and physical activity: he talks a lot and animatedly, thinks quickly, works productively, original thoughts and vivid images arise in his mind. Blood flow to the peripheral organs also increases - the skin turns red, becomes smooth and shiny, the body temperature rises, the eyes shine, the face becomes lively, radiant: at the same time, the activity of the external secretion organs increases - tears appear in the eyes, saliva secretion increases in the mouth. The activity of the organs of nutrition is significantly improved: a person who systematically experiences a feeling of joy becomes fatter, becomes well-fed, acquires an energetic, young, flourishing appearance.
An example of an asthenic emotion can be a feeling of sadness opposite to joy. In a state of sadness, due to the activity of the vasomotor apparatus, the blood vessels contract and a well-known anemia of the skin, internal organs and, most importantly, the brain occurs. The face becomes pale, lengthens, stretches, loses its fullness, acquires pronounced pointed features, skin temperature decreases, a feeling of cold and even chills appears. Due to the slowing of blood circulation, shortness of breath, shortness of breath occurs. Reduced nutrition of the brain causes a decrease in the activity of the voluntary motor apparatus: movements become slow, lethargic, are performed with difficulty and reluctantly, as a result of which the productivity of work decreases; the gait becomes slow, the person does not walk, but, as it were, “weaves”. Muscle tone sharply decreases: a person feels lethargic, relaxed, his back is bent, his head and arms are lowered, the lower jaw sometimes sags; the voice becomes weak, soundless; there is a feeling of severe fatigue, the inability to stay on one's feet, the desire to lean on something. Anemia of the brain leads to a decrease in mental performance, thinking becomes lethargic, inhibited (“immovable”), a person experiences a strong dislike for mental activity. A prolonged, systematic feeling of sadness leads to a decrease in all vital processes in the body, to malnutrition of the internal organs and skin: a person loses weight, his skin wrinkles, his hair quickly turns gray, he looks prematurely aged beyond his age.
Long lasting emotions are called moods. There are people who are always cheerful, in high spirits, others are prone to depression, longing or always irritated. Mood is a complex complex, which is partly associated with external experiences, partly based on the general disposition of the body to certain emotional states, partly dependent on sensations emanating from the organs of the body.
The mental side of feelings takes place not only in the experience of the emotion itself. Anger, falling in love, etc., have an impact on intellectual processes: representations, ideas, orientation of interest, as well as on will, deeds, deeds, on all behavior.
With strong affects (fear, great joy, anger, fear), the usual course of associations is disrupted, consciousness is captured by one idea, which is associated with emotion, all others disappear, the emergence of new ideas that are not associated with emotion is inhibited. The further course of the processes is not the same. With joy, after the initial "fading", there comes an influx of many ideas that are in connection with the circumstance that caused the affect. With fear, grief, anger, the ideas that arose at the beginning remain in the mind for a long time. The affect may be resolved in violent actions and in such strong changes in the circulation and respiration that it sometimes led to fainting; there have even been cases of instant death. A person with sufficiently developed inhibition processes, despite the violation of the flow of ideas during emotions, is able to correctly assess the environment and control his actions. Such affective reactions, characteristic of a healthy person, are called physiological affects.
Explosive affective reactions associated with loss of self-control are called primitive reactions.
We are angry with our colleagues for taking off from work and putting additional tasks on us... We experience great joy when we see a clear sky and a bright sun... We are proud of our children, love our parents, and are sad for school years.. All these experiences are emotions and feelings. In psychology, they are always considered as two halves of one whole, as they are interconnected and often complement each other.
Essence of emotions
The definition of this concept is given by practical psychology. Emotions of a person are his internal experiences in relation to a particular person, object, phenomenon or action. They can be colored in positive or negative tones. Usually closely related to the internal needs of the individual, therefore, a psychological state called emotions arises in a person depending on how well or poorly his needs are met, his interests are observed. For example, we may feel angry if we are offended, that is, our “I” is infringed upon, they go against our desires, because we are always waiting for praise.
It is not possible to briefly explain what emotions and feelings are in psychology. Since they cover a very wide range of life, activities, human relations. Only the emotions themselves can be hundreds, and each of them is painted in new shades, which means that they are always characterized in a different way. For example, pleasure. This feeling is always different: if we get it from work, then it is mixed with a sense of pride; if from a hobby, then there is a touch of relaxation and lightness; from communication with a friend - intimacy and trust. In a word, each emotion always looks in a new way depending on the specific situation.
Feelings: How are they different from emotions?
Often these two phenomena are confused. And this is not surprising: they are very similar, often even identical. Despite this, differences still exist. What is the difference between human emotions and feelings? Psychology characterizes the first as a temporary state that arose in the form of a response to events occurring at the moment. Emotions are situational: if we want to eat, we feel hungry. But as soon as we have a snack, the need and the emotion associated with it disappear. It all depends on the specific circumstances, time, place and even the company of people.
Feelings, on the other hand, are secondary. They are based on emotions, only the duration of their action is longer. For example, you experience temporary sympathy when meeting a young man. This is emotion. After some time, it transforms and reincarnates into love, which is already a feeling. It no longer depends on a change in the situation and will accompany us all our lives (or some segment of our life path). Emotions and feelings in psychology are separated by a thin line, often for a long time we cannot understand what exactly we are experiencing and feeling.
Demonstration of emotions and feelings
So, we have dealt with the characteristics of these two phenomena. Now let's define how emotions and feelings are manifested. In psychology, the former are always conscious, but they can also be latent. For example, we get angry at our spouse because she did not have time to cook dinner. We clearly understand that we are angry, but nevertheless we hide our emotion: we don’t want to spoil our nerves after a hard day at work, we avoid spreading negativity in the presence of children, or we ourselves were guilty for some reason. Adults are used to masking their true feelings so as not to offend, disappoint other people, lose their trust, and so on. As for the manifestation of emotions, we usually do this by screaming, crying, laughing, gesticulating or moving. If they are latent, then we give ourselves away by facial expressions or intonation of the voice.
If an individual can easily explain why he experiences a particular emotion, then feelings cannot be described in words. Often we ourselves do not understand why we love this or that person. We do not always know how to hide feelings, since they are deep in the heart: we do not influence them, but they influence us. We demonstrate with the help of actions, facial expressions, verbal signs.
Main types
To make it easier to understand the difference between these two concepts, you need to classify them. According to general psychology, emotions and feelings can be positive, negative and neutral. A person manifests them depending on the life situation. For example, joy, pleasure, delight, bliss can be attributed to positive emotions, fear, sadness, sadness, grief, despair, anxiety to negative ones, surprise, indifference, curiosity to neutral ones. As for feelings, love, happiness, responsibility are positive, hatred, alienation are negative. It is difficult to single out neutral ones, since a person usually takes one side or another, with only one indifference serving as a narrow bridge between them.
In addition, feelings are
- Ethical or moral. They arise as a relationship between social rules and human behavior. They have a social character, they are positive and negative: patriotism, friendship, contempt, disrespect.
- Intelligent. Based on cognitive activity. For example, self-satisfaction, disappointment.
- Aesthetic. The ability to create or perceive beauty.
Each feeling and emotion easily moves from one category to another, as they are able to transform and completely change their "color".
What creates feelings and emotions
The starting point of human reactions is difficult to determine. Therefore, the reasons why emotions and feelings arose often remain a mystery. In psychology, pictures shown to different people during an experiment provoke different behaviors. For example, when showing experimental participants a photograph of a fire, scientists see a completely different reaction: for some, the flame causes irritation, for others - fear, for others - a feeling of warmth. Life experience, acquired knowledge form our attitude to this or that phenomenon. It is clear that if we survived a fire or received a severe burn, then the contemplation of fire cannot be associated with anything joyful.
Since feelings and emotions are a social phenomenon, they arise in the process of life. We acquire them by communicating with parents, friends, colleagues, reading literature, watching movies. Already in early childhood, we are taught what is good and what is bad. And if you do not have tender feelings for this or that subject, you are considered strange or selfish. For example, even at school, we are driven into our heads with a sense of duty and love for the Motherland. But if a person does not accept violence and refuses to go to war in order to protect the country from the enemy, he is immediately called not a patriot, a miserable coward and a traitor.
Innate feelings and emotions
Not all of our sensations are formed under the influence of society, we absorb some with mother's milk. Innate emotions and feelings in psychology are those that arise in an infant immediately after it is born. There are very few of them, and the border between them and acquired ones is quite blurry. Many psychologists argue that interest, excitement, joy, surprise, fear, anger, disgust are already in the genes. The rest of a person's feelings were taught by his kind. But here you can argue. Consider, for example, fear. It cannot be said that the baby is afraid of everything at once. Most likely, he acquires this feeling depending on life situations: thunder, barking dogs, absence of a mother. On the other hand, perhaps the baby is already at birth inclined to be afraid, just a certain case activates this emotion.
Emotions and feelings fill our life with meaning, paint gray everyday life in bright colors. Of course, I would like to experience only positive feelings. But, you must admit that we also cannot do without the bad ones. After all, only when we feel grief and disappointment, we are able to appreciate love, eagerly drawing pleasure and happiness from it.
Emotions are understood as either the inner feelings of a person, or the manifestations of these feelings. Often the strongest, but short-term emotions are called affect, and the deepest and most stable ones are called feelings. Emotion is a mental process of impulsive regulation of behavior, based on a sensory reflection of the needful significance of external influences, their favorable or harmful effect on the life of an individual.
Emotions arose as a result of evolution for better adaptation of the body. Emotions are always divalent(have two poles). They are positive or negative. Separate vital properties of objects and situations, causing emotions, tune the body to the appropriate behavior. This is a mechanism for direct assessment of the level of well-being of the organism's interaction with the environment.
Emotions, like sensations, are basic phenomena of the psyche. If the sensations reflect the materiality of being, then the emotions reflect the subjective attitude to various aspects of this being.
Emotions are associated with the activity of the cerebral cortex, primarily with the function of the right hemisphere. Impulses from external influences enter the brain in two streams. One of them is sent to the corresponding areas of the cerebral cortex, where the meaning and significance of these impulses are realized and they are deciphered in the form of sensations and perceptions. Another stream comes to the subcortical formations (hypothalamus, etc.), where the direct relation of these influences to the basic needs of the organism, subjectively experienced in the form of emotions, is established. It was found that in the region of the subcortex (in the hypothalamus) there are special nervous structures that are centers of suffering, pleasure, aggression, calm.
Being directly related to the endocrine nervous system, emotions can turn on the energy mechanisms of behavior. Thus, the emotion of fear, arising in a situation dangerous for the body, provides a reaction aimed at overcoming the danger - the orienting reflex is activated, the activity of all currently secondary systems is inhibited: the muscles necessary for the fight are tensed, breathing quickens, the heartbeat increases, the composition of the blood changes and so on.
Emotions are directly related to instincts. So, in a state of anger, a person has a grin of teeth, narrowing of the eyelids, clenching of fists, a rush of blood to the face, assuming threatening postures, etc. All basic emotions are innate. Proof of this is the fact that all peoples, regardless of their cultural development, have the same facial expressions when expressing certain emotions. Even in higher animals - primates, dogs, cats and others, we can observe the same facial expressions as in humans. However, not all external manifestations of emotions are innate; some are acquired as a result of training and education (for example, special gestures as a sign of a particular emotion.
Any manifestations of human activity are accompanied by emotional experiences. Thanks to them, a person can feel the state of another person, empathize with him. Even other higher animals can assess each other's emotional states.
The more complex a living being is organized, the richer the gamut of experienced emotional states. But some smoothing of manifestations of emotions in a socialized person is observed as a result of an increase in the role of volitional regulation.
All living organisms initially strive for that which corresponds to their needs and for that through which these needs can be satisfied. A person acts only when his actions make sense. Emotions are innate, spontaneous signalers of these meanings. Cognitive processes form a mental image, representations, and emotional processes provide selectivity of behavior.
Basic emotions
The main emotions common to humans and higher mammals include:
- Satisfaction
- neglect
According to K. Izard, 10 main (basic) emotions are distinguished:
The main emotional states that a person experiences are divided into emotions and feelings proper. In addition, there are such states as affect, stress, passion (passion is considered the highest manifestation of feelings), mood (which is also called a “chronic” emotional state). In socio-historical development, specific human higher emotions - feelings - were formed. They are connected with the social essence of a person, with social norms and attitudes.
List of emotions and feelings
A more comprehensive list of emotions and feelings includes: excitement, security, anxiety, gratitude, well-being, fear, disgust, anger, guilt, greatness, power, admiration, arrogance, hunger, pride, sadness, trust, duty, dignity, thirst. pity, care, envy, malevolence, anger, interest, beauty, laziness, love, revenge, hope, arrogance, indignation, tenderness, hatred, hostility, uncertainty, dissatisfaction, resentment, adoration, loneliness, caution, responsibility, disgust, disgust, patriotism, sadness, anticipation, contempt, neglect, devotion, lust, joy, disappointment, irritation, remorse, confusion, jealousy, boredom, sexuality, ludicrousness, compassion, property, doubt, calmness, justice, fear, shame, anxiety, despondency, humiliation, persuasion, respect, surprise, satisfaction, weariness, sense of loss, ambition, humor, rage, despair
There are 75 titles in total. Some of the names are borderline states rather than emotions, while others contain several synonyms. Therefore, this list is rather arbitrary. When compiling a list of emotions, one should try not to include in it mental phenomena that are obviously not emotions. For example, in the previous list, hunger and thirst are subjective sensations that accompany the lack of food and water in the body. These sensations result from signals from receptors in the stomach, larynx, and the like. They are not related to the cognitive assessment of the situation and are not emotions. In this regard, it may make sense to list not only emotions, but also non-emotions. Let's write out the words from the previous list that are not related to the cognitive assessment of the situation, and therefore are not emotions: hunger, thirst, lust, sexuality, fatigue.
When compiling a list of emotions, it makes sense to immediately break them into pairs opposite in sign. For example, in A. Ortony, G.L. Clore, and A. Collins, The Cognitive Structure of Emotions, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, UK, 1988, 11 pairs of words were written out claiming opposite emotions. gratification - remorse, gratitude - anger, pride - shame, admiration - reproach, joy - distress, happy-for - resentment, gloating - pity, hope - fear, satisfaction - disappointment, relief - fears-confirmed, love- hate.
Formal models of emotions
Formal emotion models in artificial intelligence research aim to define emotions in a form applicable to the construction of robots. The main approaches currently are KARO, EMA, CogAff, Affective Computing and the Fominykh-Leontiev model.
Emotions and feelings
Emotions and feelings are personal formations. There may be, for example, emotion of joy And feeling of joy. If the emotions themselves are actualized in the presence of a need and end after its satisfaction, then feelings are more objective in nature. The emotion of joy is associated with the general satisfaction of needs (satisfying hunger, thirst, etc.), and the feeling of joy is associated with a certain, irreplaceable object (not just want to eat, but only want fried potatoes, semolina is not happy). Thus, feelings are associated with the idea of a particular object. For example, a person cannot experience a feeling of love if he does not have an object of affection.
Feelings, unlike emotions, develop, educate, improve. They form a series of levels, starting with immediate practical feelings (a sense of ownership, a sense of satisfaction from a particular activity, etc.) up to higher feelings related to spiritual values and ideals.
Feelings are historical in nature, their external expression in relation to the same phenomenon may differ among different peoples and in different historical eras. For the same phenomenon, different peoples can develop different culturally conditioned, sometimes, opposite feelings. For example, some peoples have a custom not to use cutlery. For representatives of these peoples, if a guest takes pilaf from a common plate with his hands, this causes a feeling of satisfaction in the host, while for a representative of another culture, such behavior would cause a feeling of indignation.
In practical activity, practical feelings of a person were formed (feelings associated with direct activity), theoretical activity formed intellectual feelings (feelings associated with cognitive activity - a sense of interest, a sense of curiosity, etc.) As a result of figurative-selective activity, aesthetic feelings appeared ( sense of beauty when perceiving art, natural phenomena, etc.).
Allocate moral (moral) feelings (a sense of duty, conscience, a sense of solidarity, a sense of justice, etc.). If something happens that disturbs these feelings, then it can cause feelings of indignation, resentment, hatred, etc.). Moral feelings reflect a person's experience of his attitude towards other people.
As a result of spiritual searches, spiritual feelings appeared (a sense of the sacredness of what is happening, reverence, a sense of enlightenment, a sense of mystery, mysticism, etc.)
The mosaic of feelings of a particular individual reflects the structure of his needs, the structure of his personality, his system of values.
In relation to the surrounding world, a person seeks to act in such a way as to reinforce and strengthen his positive feelings. Feelings, unlike emotions proper, are always connected with the work of consciousness and can be arbitrarily regulated.
The manifestation of a strong and stable positive feeling for some kind of activity, for something or for someone, which appeared on the basis of an insufficiently satisfied one or another organic need, is called passion. Passion is an emotional state that occurs only in humans. It is difficult to volitionally control. Not everyone can handle their passion when needed.
All emotional states (actually emotions and feelings) differ depending on their quality (positive and negative), depth, intensity and duration of influence on activity.
Depending on how significant the reality reflected in emotions and feelings is, deep and shallow emotions and feelings are distinguished.
Aesthetic and intellectual emotions
Sthenic and asthenic emotions
Depending on the influence on the activity of activity, emotions and feelings are divided into sthenic and asthenic. Sthenic feelings encourage active activity, mobilize the strength of a person (feelings of joy, inspiration, interest, etc.). Asthenic feelings relax and paralyze forces (a feeling of depression, a feeling of humiliation, etc.).
The emotional tone of sensation is our attitude to the quality of sensation (we like the smell of flowers, the sound of the sea, the color of the sky during sunset, but the sharp smell of acetic acid, the screech of brakes, etc.) are unpleasant. Painful aversion arises to individual stimuli - idiosyncrasy (for example, to sounds resulting from the movement of a metal object on glass, for someone - to the smell of gasoline, etc.)
Emotional response - an operative emotional reaction to current changes in the subject environment (saw a beautiful landscape - admired). Emotional response is determined by the emotional excitability of a person. Syntony is one of the types of emotional response. Synthonia - the ability to harmoniously respond to the state of other people and the phenomena of the surrounding world in general (to be in harmony with nature, with oneself, to “feel” another person). This is an emotional consonance.
Mood
Mood is the longest emotional state that colors human behavior. Mood determines the general tone of a person's life. The mood depends on those influences that affect the personal aspects of the subject, his core values. The reason for this or that mood is not always realized, but it is always there. Mood, like all other emotional states, can be positive and negative, have a certain intensity, severity, tension, stability. The highest level of mental activity is called enthusiasm, the lowest - apathy. A slight disorganization of mental activity caused by negative influences leads to a state of frustration.
If a person knows the techniques of self-regulation, then he can block a bad mood, consciously make it better. A low mood can be caused even by the simplest biochemical processes in our body, adverse atmospheric phenomena, etc.
The emotional stability of a person in various situations is manifested in the stability of his behavior. Resistance to difficulties, tolerance for the behavior of other people is called tolerance. Depending on the predominance of positive or negative emotions in a person's experience, the corresponding mood becomes stable, characteristic of him. Good mood can be cultivated.
Emotion and motivation
Emotions and affects
Emotions are one of the main regulators of activity. The basic form of emotions is the emotional tone of sensations, which is a genetically determined experience of a hedonic sign that accompanies vital impressions, such as taste, temperature, pain.
Another form of emotions are affects, which represent very strong emotional experiences associated with active behavior to resolve an extreme situation. In contrast to affects, emotions themselves have a pronounced binding to rather local situations, which was formed in vivo. Their emergence can occur even without the action of the actual situation of their formation; in this aspect, they act as guidelines for activity.
Conflict emotional states (affect, stress, frustration)
An affect is an excessive mental overexcitation that suddenly arises in an acute conflict situation, manifesting itself in a temporary disorganization of consciousness (narrowing of consciousness) and extreme activation of impulse reactions.
Affects, as a rule, interfere with the normal organization of behavior. In the case of affect, it is regulated not by a premeditated goal, but by that feeling that completely captures the personality and causes impulsive actions. Sometimes a person is so unconscious at the moment of affect that he cannot later recall his actions.
Affects arise in critical conditions, with the inability of the subject to find a quick and reasonable way out of a dangerous situation. This is a way of "emergency" resolution of the situation. The state of affect can manifest itself in the form of a panic flight from the situation, in the form of a stupor (stupor), in the form of uncontrolled aggression.
Emotional tension accumulated as a result of affective situations (situations that contribute to the emergence of affect) can be summed up, and if it is not given an outlet, it can lead to violent emotional discharge. The general direction of chaotic actions during affect is the desire to eliminate the traumatic stimulus.
The development of affect obeys the following law: the stronger the initial motivational stimulus of behavior, the more effort had to be expended to implement it, the smaller the result obtained as a result of all this, the stronger the affect that arises.
Experienced states of affect leave strong stable traces in long-term memory. Unlike affects, the work of emotions and feelings is associated mainly with short-term and short-term memory.
The experience of affect is associated with a rapid, uncontrolled loss of a large amount of energy (violent emotions, active uncontrolled movements, etc.). As a result, the final stage of affect, as a rule, proceeds against the background of a sharp decline in strength, apathy. Perhaps even a semi-conscious state.
In all the diverse manifestations of affect (horror, anger, despair, an outbreak of jealousy, a burst of passion, etc.), three stages can be distinguished:
- All mental activity is sharply disorganized, orientation in reality is disturbed.
- Overexcitation is accompanied by sharp, poorly controlled actions.
- Nervous tension subsides, motor activity decreases, a state of depression and weakness occurs.
At the initial stage, the will is not yet completely suppressed and it is possible to consciously prevent the development of affect. At the same time, it is important to focus on the extremely negative consequences of affective behavior. The methods of overcoming affect also include: an arbitrary delay in motor reactions, a change in the situation, switching to another activity. A very important role in the possibility of overcoming affects is played by the qualities of the personality, its upbringing. The tendency to affective behavior can be overcome by self-education.
Affective states can manifest themselves in different forms. Let's consider some of them.
Fear is an unconditioned reflex emotional reaction. Fear emerged as a biological defense mechanism. Many of the innate fears remain in people, although they are greatly changed in the conditions of civilization. In many people, fear is associated with asthenic emotion, causing a decrease in muscle tone. In this case, the face takes the form of a frozen mask. In many cases, fear causes a strong sympathetic discharge: a scream. Escape, grimaces. A characteristic symptom of fear is trembling of the muscles of the body, dry mouth, a sharp increase in heart rate, etc.
Socially determined causes of fear - the threat of public censure, the loss of the results of long work, humiliation, etc. - cause the same physiological symptoms as the biological sources of fear.
The highest degree of fear turning into affect is horror. In a state of horror, a person can exaggerate the danger of an attack and his defense can be excessive, incommensurable with the real danger.
Unbalanced individuals with a weak type of nervous system may have obsessive, hypertrophied ideas about a certain type of danger - phobias (fear of heights, fear of the dark, sharp objects, etc.)
Fear is a passive defensive reaction to danger, often coming from a stronger person. If the threat of danger comes from a weaker person, then the reaction can acquire an aggressive, offensive character - anger.
Anger is accompanied by threatening facial expressions, an attack posture, and often a cry.
Fear and anger can reach the degree of affect, but, at times, they are expressed in a lesser degree of emotional tension.
Frustration is a conflicting negative emotional state that arises in connection with the collapse of hopes, unexpectedly arising, seemingly insurmountable obstacles on the way to achieving highly significant goals. If it is impossible to eliminate the causes of frustration (an irretrievable loss), a deep depressive state may occur. The consequence of this may be a weakening of memory, the ability to think logically, etc. Often in a state of frustration, due to the inability to overcome the true causes of this state, a person is looking for some compensating ways out of the situation. For example, he goes into the world of dreams, the work of the defense mechanisms of the Ego (according to Freud) may intensify. Most often of the known defenses, the regression mechanism is activated.
Stress is a neuropsychic overstrain caused by too strong an impact, an adequate response to which is not sufficiently formed. In the process of experiencing stress, there is a total (universal) mobilization of the body's forces (physical and mental) to find a way out of a dangerous situation that threatens the integrity of the individual, to adapt to new difficult conditions.
Emotions and stress
Too strong stimuli (objects or certain events) are called stressors.
In response to a super-difficult situation, the body reacts with a complex of protective reactions. Stressful conditions arise in all cases of threat to the life of the subject. Stagnant, prolonged stressful conditions can be caused by a long stay in a life-threatening environment.
The stress syndrome often occurs in situations that are dangerous for the prestige of a person, when he is afraid of disgracing himself in someone else's or in his own eyes. A state similar to stress can be generated by systematic life failures.
The concept of stress was introduced by the Canadian scientist Hans Selye. He defined stress as a set of adaptive-protective reactions of the body to influences that cause physical and mental trauma.
Selye identified three stages in the development of a stressful state:
- The stage of increasing anxiety - when a stressor appears, a person, even not always clearly aware of it, begins to experience an increase in anxiety. He feels more and more uncomfortable and frantically looks for ways to cope with this discomfort. It takes a lot of effort. A person spends more energy than he is used to and unconsciously looks for sources of its replenishment. For example, he starts to eat too much, or sleep, etc.
- Stage of resistance (stabilization). A person adapts to the action of the stressor and externally manages to maintain a relatively normal state, but maintaining a satisfactory state now requires much more energy than before the stressful situation arose.
- stage of exhaustion. If at the second stage the action of the stressor does not stop, then in the end, the "strategic reserves" of the body's energy are exhausted and then a sharp loss of ability to work may occur. A person can become seriously ill, nervous exhaustion can occur. Sometimes this state of affairs can lead to the death of the body.
The nature of a stressful situation depends not only on the assessment of the harmfulness of the stressor by this person, but also on the ability to respond to it in a certain way. A person is able to learn adequate behavior in various stressful situations.
In overcoming stress, two behavioral personality types are manifested:
- Internals- people who rely only on their own strength.
- Externals- people who rely on the help of other people in a difficult situation.
These characteristics are, in fact, two poles of the same scale (externals ... internals). Basically, people show a mixed type of response. In some situations, they expect support, and in some, on the contrary, they rely only on their own strength. However, some type of behavior may predominate in different people.
The external type of behavior is characteristic of immature, insecure individuals. An extremely internal type of behavior is inherent in people who are not inclined to communicate, these are closed, self-sufficient individuals. Sometimes such excessive closeness makes it difficult to resort to the help of other people and most effectively solve the problem.
Stress poses some threat to life, but it is necessary for it.
Allocate the so-called austress ("good" stress). Austress contributes to the development of adaptive mechanisms of the individual, mobilizes his forces. Another type of stress - distress - has a depressing effect on the human body. For example, the birth of a child and its further stay in the family is a stress for most young parents, but for some this event can be perceived as distress.
Components of emotion
- Subjective set of emotions.
- Features of the biological response, especially the autonomic nervous system.
- Individual knowledge about the manifestation of emotions and related states.
- Mimic emotional reaction.
- Reaction to the manifestation of emotions.
- Features for active response.
None of these components is an emotion, but the combination of them forms an emotion.
Physiology of emotions
The quality of an emotion is determined by the triune action of temperament, situation, hormonal status, and neurotransmitter levels in the individual at the time of the event.
Arousal and emotions
Most of the physiological changes in emotion relate to the activation of the sympathetic autonomic nervous system.
- Increased blood pressure and increased heart rate
- Increased breathing.
- Pupil dilation.
- Increased sweating with decreased secretion of saliva and mucus.
- An increase in blood glucose levels.
- Acceleration of blood clotting.
- Redistribution of blood from the abdomen and intestines to the brain.
- Skin hair elevation - "Goose bumps".
The sympathetic reaction prepares the body for the "Energy Release". After the emotion is resolved, the parasympathetic (energy-saving) system returns the body to its original state.
As a result of such emotions as "Fear" and "Anger", the body prepares for fight or flight. Some of these manifestations are observed in "Pleasure" and "Sexual Arousal". Emotions such as "Sorrow" or "Longing" can, however, be expressed in depression and slow reactions.
Qualities of emotions
Emotion intensity
The intensity of emotions depends on the usefulness and functional integrity of the central and autonomic nervous system. So in patients with spinal cord injury at different levels, the maximum decrease in the intensity of emotions is observed in patients with damage to the cervical segments of the spinal cord.
Differentiation of emotions
The James-Lange theory (James-Lange, 1884) assumes the presence of a certain Pattern (Image) of activity of the autonomic nervous system for each individual emotion. This statement was confirmed by the work of Ekman and Friesen (Ekman and Friesen, 1990)
Cognitive Assessment
It consists in analyzing the situation that leads to the manifestation of emotions. This assessment is subject to both the intensity and quality of emotions. If a person is in a state of vague emotion, cognitive assessment allows him to assess the situation. There are, however, situations where the emotional state cannot be assessed either consciously or intentionally. These conditions include "children's fears." In these cases, the development of the emotional state occurs along specialized neuronal pathways in the brain.
Mimic manifestations of emotions
A universal way of expressing emotions among people, regardless of race and social affiliation. The emotion recognition center is located in the right hemisphere of the brain and has a different localization from the facial recognition center.
Communication and emotions
The well-known role of emotions in communication between humans and animals is complemented, however, by the possibility of intentionally intensifying the emotional response by deliberately intensifying facial expressions (the facial feedback hypothesis).
Mood as an emotional state
Behavior and emotions
A typical activity trend is determined by a certain emotion. Aggressiveness is a typical tendency in response to anger. Aggressive response in animals is regulated by certain neuronal structures of the brain (hypothalamus). In humans, this activity is regulated by the cerebral cortex and may be part of the acquired experience. According to social-learning theory, aggressive behavior can be acquired by children as a result of imitation of behavior in scenes of violence shown on television.
Interdependencies of emotions
In addition, basic emotions can cooperate with the response to complex social tasks, acquiring the character of cognitive emotions. So “a feeling of disgust” can arise in you when observing bowel movements - this is the main emotion, but a feeling of disgust can also arise in you in response to immoral behavior in society, and then this emotion manifests itself as a high, cognitive emotion.
Properties of emotions and feelings
- Transferability, generalization. Feelings developed for one object are transferred to a certain extent to the entire class of similar objects.
- Dullness. Under the influence of long-acting stimuli, feelings cease to be vivid (any song gets boring if you constantly hear it, a frequently repeated joke no longer causes laughter). Blunting affects both positive and negative feelings. Dulling negative feelings is dangerous because negative feelings signal an unfavorable environment, prompting a person to change.
- Interaction. Different feelings that arise when exposed to various stimuli affect each other. For example, the feeling of frustration at the unethical act of one person is enhanced if it is opposed to the noble act of another person in the same situation. There is a contrast of feelings.
- Summation. Feelings systematically evoked by this or that object are accumulated and summed up. So, as a result of summation, love, respect for a person or, conversely, hatred can be strengthened, which can lead to affect.
- Substitution. Failure in one area can be offset by success in another.
- switchability. Emotions that are not satisfied in relation to one object can be transferred to other objects.
