Experiencing both positive and negative emotions creates interesting dynamics and food for thought.
Professional and academic research on positive and negative emotions shows that experiencing positive and negative feelings in a 3 to 1 ratio leads people to tipping point, after which they become more resistant to adverse factors and easily achieve what they can only imagine.
With a positive attitude, we learn to see new opportunities, bounce back from setbacks more easily, communicate with others, and become more perfect.
We constantly experience emotions in our Everyday life related to people, life experiences or events. We allow ourselves to be drawn into positive and negative emotions, which means it is necessary to consider these emotions in the aspect that is really important to us.
Balance of the senses
All Muslims know that it is necessary to exercise moderation in everything, strive for balance and peace with ourselves and with what Allah has given us for a short time of life.
We must avoid extremes in all things, including emotions: any excessive emotion can be destructive, be it positive or negative.
Positive emotions are positive feelings such as love, hope, enthusiasm, determination, gratitude, optimism, glee, and confidence. Negative emotions are irritation, boredom, embarrassment, sadness, fear, discontent, depression.
Prophet Muhammad, peace and blessings be upon him, said the words that were narrated in an authentic hadith narrated by Bukhari:
"None of you truly believe until you love your brother as much as you love yourself."
So you are in positive attitude experience positive emotions when you look at the blessings you receive in life. Remember that you have much more than many other people. Therefore, take a few minutes and pray for your brothers and sisters all over the world who do not have what you have. Do this while you are in a positive state of mind.
When we thank someone, we appreciate the person's contribution to us, and the greater the degree of our gratitude, the more positive we will see in others and ourselves.
The more we notice how Allah has blessed us, see His presence in our lives, the more our heart will be at rest.
“The Lord announced:“ If you give thanks, I will multiply for you ... ”Koran (Sura Ibpaxim 14:07).
Take a short break while you are busy and thank Allah. You will never be able to thank Allah for everything He has given you, but you will truly appreciate the presence of Allah in your life.
Now, let's take a quick look at the negative emotions we may feel: we may be frustrated because we haven’t realized our potential, or we may feel anxious, depressed, or jealous. Only we know when we feel these emotions, but what really matters is how we handle these emotions.
Since the month of Ramadan has left us, we sometimes feel guilty for not being able to get enough done this month, but let this not stop us on the path of further improvement. Even if we have made a mistake, someday we will admit it immediately before Allah or those whom we have offended.
Let's never be arrogant, for arrogance caused the fall of Shaitan.
The Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) said:
"Every action is based on its intention" (Bukhari)
and in another hadith it is narrated:
"The best actions are those that are small and consistent" (Bukhari and Muslim).
Let's decide what consistent positive changes can become part of our lives forever. It can help you to accept any worries and negative thoughts and use them as motivation to help manifest positive changes in our actions and actions in this life and in the life to come.
Finally, let us try not to feel overwhelmed and never give up hope. When we seek happiness in this life, we have needs in many areas: beautiful clothes, tasty food, a wonderful home, a great wife or husband, etc. However, if a person expresses gratitude to Allah, he will receive what he really needs - true happiness!
It is difficult for me to understand my feelings - a phrase that each of us has encountered: in books, in movies, in life (someone's or my own). But it is very important to be able to understand your feelings.
The Wheel of Emotions by Robert Plutchik
Some believe - and perhaps they are right - that the meaning of life is in feelings. Indeed, at the end of life, only our feelings, real or in memories, remain with us. Yes, and the measure of what is happening can also be our experiences: the richer, more diverse, brighter they are, the more fully we feel life.
What are feelings? The simplest definition: feelings are what we feel. This is our attitude to certain things (objects). There is also a more scientific definition: feelings (higher emotions) are special mental states that are manifested by socially conditioned experiences, which express a long-term and stable emotional relationship of a person to things.
How Feelings Are Different from Emotions
Sensations are our experiences that we experience through the senses, and we have five of them. Sensations are visual, auditory, tactile, taste and smell (our sense of smell). With sensations, everything is simple: stimulus - receptor - sensation.
Our consciousness interferes with emotions and feelings - our thoughts, attitudes, our thinking. Emotions are influenced by our thoughts. Conversely, emotions affect our thoughts. We will definitely talk about these relationships in more detail a little later. But now let's recall once again one of the criteria of psychological health, namely point 10: we are responsible for our feelings, it depends on us what they will be. It is important.
Fundamental emotions
All human emotions can be distinguished by the quality of the experience. This aspect of a person's emotional life is most clearly presented in the theory of differential emotions of the American psychologist K. Izard. He identified ten qualitatively different "fundamental" emotions: interest-excitement, joy, surprise, sorrow-suffering, anger-rage, disgust-disgust, contempt-neglect, fear-horror, shame-shyness, guilt-remorse. K. Izard refers the first three emotions to positive, the remaining seven - to negative. Each of the fundamental emotions underlies a whole spectrum of states, differing in their severity. For example, within the framework of such a single-modal emotion as joy, one can distinguish joy-satisfaction, joy-delight, joy-glee, joy-ecstasy, and others. All other, more complex, complex emotional states arise from the combination of fundamental emotions. For example, anxiety can combine fear, anger, guilt, and interest.
1. Interest is a positive emotional state that promotes the development of skills and abilities, the acquisition of knowledge. Interest-excitement is a feeling of being captured, curious.
2. Joy is a positive emotion associated with the ability to fully satisfy an urgent need, the likelihood of which was previously low or uncertain. Joy is accompanied by self-satisfaction and satisfaction with the surrounding world. The obstacles to self-realization are also obstacles to the emergence of joy.
3. Surprise - not having a clearly expressed positive or negative sign emotional reaction to sudden circumstances. Surprise inhibits all previous emotions, directing attention to a new object and can turn into interest.
4. Suffering (grief) is the most common negative emotional state associated with obtaining reliable (or seemingly such) information about the impossibility of satisfying the most important needs, the achievement of which seemed more or less likely before. Suffering has the character of asthenic emotion and often takes the form of emotional stress. The most severe form of suffering is grief associated with irreparable loss.
5. Anger is a strong negative emotional state, which occurs more often in the form of affect; arises in response to an obstacle in the achievement of passionately desired goals. Anger has the character of sthenic emotion.
6. Disgust - a negative emotional state caused by objects (objects, people, circumstances), contact with which (physical or communicative) comes into sharp conflict with the aesthetic, moral or ideological principles and attitudes of the subject. Disgust, if combined with anger, may interpersonal relationships motivate aggressive behavior... Disgust, like anger, can be self-directed, reducing self-esteem and causing self-condemnation.
7. Contempt is a negative emotional state that arises in interpersonal relationships and is generated by the mismatch of life positions, views and behavior of the subject with those of the object of feeling. The latter appear to the subject as vile, not corresponding to the accepted moral norms and ethical criteria. A person is hostile to someone he despises.
8. Fear is a negative emotional state that appears when the subject receives information about possible damage to his life well-being, about real or imagined danger. Unlike suffering caused by direct blocking of essential needs, a person experiencing the emotion of fear has only a probabilistic forecast of possible trouble and acts on the basis of this forecast (often insufficiently reliable or exaggerated). The emotion of fear can be both sthenic and asthenic in nature and proceed either in the form of stressful conditions, or in the form of a stable mood of depression and anxiety, or in the form of affect (horror).
9. Shame is a negative emotional state, expressed in the awareness of the discrepancy between one's own thoughts, actions and appearance, not only to the expectations of others, but also to one's own ideas about appropriate behavior and appearance.
10. Guilt - a negative emotional state, expressed in the awareness of the improperness of one's own deed, thoughts or feelings and expressed in regret and repentance.
Table of feelings and emotions of a person
And I also want to show you a collection of feelings, emotions, states that a person experiences during his life - a generalized table that does not pretend to be scientific, but will help you better understand yourself. The table is taken from the site "Community of Dependents and Codependents", author - Mikhail.
All feelings and emotions of a person can be divided into four types. These are fear, anger, sadness and joy. You can find out what type this or that feeling belongs to from the table.
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And for those who have read the article to the end. The purpose of this article is to help you understand your feelings, in what they are. Our feelings depend a lot on our thoughts. Irrational thinking is often at the root of negative emotions. By correcting these mistakes (by working on thinking), we can be happier and achieve more in life. There is an interesting, but persistent and painstaking work on oneself. You are ready?
It will be interesting for you:
P.S. And remember, just by changing our consumption - together we are changing the world! © econet
Why are emotions needed? In short, emotions perform very important functions - they simplify life and give it a taste.
Emotions simplify life in a rather original way - instead of a long, multifaceted analysis of interaction with a person, we feel: "I hate him" or "I am delighted with him." If we are afraid of something, fear keeps us from being stupid. Sadness makes it difficult to repeat the mistake. Joy confirms the correctness of the solution to a complex problem.
Emotions are a kind of feedback mechanism for a “conscious person” from his own soul. Emotions are a signaling system. They are born in order to inform a person either joyful or unpleasant news. Namely: positive emotions inform a person that he is moving in the right direction and satisfying his needs. Negative emotions indicate that a person's needs are not met.
Our emotions guide us when we find ourselves in a quandary and are faced with tasks too important to be left to the intellect alone - in the face of danger, painful loss, persistent progress towards the goal despite disappointments, forging a relationship with a partner, creating a family. Each emotion presupposes a characteristic readiness for action, each one points us to a direction that has already proven itself well in solving repetitive complex tasks that life puts before a person. In the process of repeating these eternal situations throughout the history of our evolutionary development, the value of our emotional repertoire for survival in them was confirmed by its fixation in the nervous system in the form of innate automatic tendencies of the human heart.
Everyone knows that emotions give life a taste (motivate). For example, we strive for joy and avoid grief. This is so obvious that no explanation is needed. Less well known is that this taste or motivation is only created when one person has both positive and negative emotions. Just as an electrical network needs two poles to turn on a light bulb, so in emotional life two poles are needed - the experience of experiencing positive and negative emotions. This is where the electricity analogy ends - there shouldn't be as many negative emotions as positive ones. There can be much more positive emotions. You just shouldn't try to do without negative emotions altogether. Perfectly healthy and happy children get together and tell each other scary stories. At a more mature age, people, as a rule, have the experience of experiencing negative emotions, but have a desire to engage in so-called extreme sports - those where there is a real danger of serious injury or even death. As you know, risk causes fear - a strong negative emotion. It turns out that in extreme sports people are looking for negative emotions. But if there are many negative emotions in everyday life, then they are not additionally looked for. Then the fashion for extreme sports as a whole reflects the well-being in the society, and the well-being in the society is not so bad.
Emotions (from the French word emotion - excitement, comes from the Latin emoveo - shock, excite) are the reactions of humans and animals to external and internal stimuli, which have a pronounced subjective coloring and cover all types of sensitivity and experiences. Associated with satisfaction (positive emotions) or dissatisfaction (negative emotions) of various needs of the body. Differentiated and stable emotions that arise on the basis of the highest social needs of a person are usually called feelings (intellectual, aesthetic, moral).
In another way, we can say that emotions are a special class of subjective psychological states, reflecting in the form of direct experiences, sensations, pleasant or unpleasant, a person's attitude to the world and people, the process and the results of his practical activity. The class of emotions includes moods, feelings, affects, passions, stress. These are the so-called "pure" emotions. They are included in all mental processes and human states. Any manifestations of his activity are accompanied by emotional experiences.
Thanks to emotions, we understand each other better, we can judge each other's states and better tune in to joint activities and communication. Remarkable, for example, is the fact that people belonging to different cultures are able to accurately perceive and evaluate each other's emotional states such as joy, anger, sadness, fear, disgust, surprise. This, in particular, applies to those peoples who have never been in contact with each other at all.
Expression of emotions. By what signs can you determine that a person is experiencing some emotion? There are five levels of expression of emotions.
- Subjective plan for the manifestation of emotions.
- Manifestation of emotions in behavior.
- Expression of emotions in speech.
- Vegetative level of expression of emotions.
- The manifestation of emotions at the biochemical level.
Let us consider how objectively it is possible to judge that a person experiences certain emotions, based on their manifestation at each of the indicated levels.
1. The subjective plan for the manifestation of emotions. Here, the reflection of emotions occurs in internal experiences that are closely related to personal experience individual and based on it.
2. Manifestation of emotions in behavior. Emotions are not only psychological events, and their functional purpose is not limited to versatile influences at the level of subjective reflection. As R. Descartes asserted, "the main action of all human passions is that they induce and set up a person's soul to desire what these passions prepare his body for." Thus, since emotions signal the significance of what is happening, preparation in the emotional state of the body for better perception and possible actions is so expedient that it would be surprising if it had not become entrenched in evolution and became one of the characteristic features of emotional processes.
Charles Darwin notes that the free expression of emotions through external signs intensifies these emotions. On the other hand, suppressing the external manifestation of our emotions, as far as possible, leads to their softening. Anyone who gives vent to violent body movements increases his rage. Anyone who does not restrain the manifestation of fear will experience it to an increased degree. He who, overwhelmed by grief, remains passive, misses The best way restore peace of mind... Darwin emphasizes that all these conclusions follow, on the one hand, from the fact that there is a close connection between all emotions and their external manifestations, on the other hand, from the fact of the direct influence of our efforts on the heart, and, consequently, on the brain.
The manifestation of emotions, of course, can be observed in facial expressions, gestures, movements of people.
3. Manifestation of emotions in speech. One of the features of affects is that they arise in response to a situation that has actually come about, and in connection with this, a specific experience is formed - affective traces. Their meaning is that a person, mentally returning to the event that caused the state of passion, experiences similar emotions.
Such affective traces ("affective complexes") "exhibit a tendency toward obsession and a tendency toward inhibition." The action of these opposite tendencies is clearly revealed in the associative experiment. The associative experiment method is used in the developed by K.G. Jung's method of diagnosing the past state of passion. Psychologists of the Jungian school found that affect, first of all, disrupts the normal course of associations, and with a strong affect, associations are usually sharply delayed.
This phenomenon was used to identify the involvement of a suspect in a crime. A crime is always associated with a strong affect, which in persons who have committed it (especially for the first time) takes on a very acute character. As rightly noted by A.R. Luria, “it is difficult to suppose that from this affect of the crime in the psyche of the person who committed it, no traces remained. On the contrary, much convinces us that the mental traces after each crime remain in a very noticeable form. "
The tasks of experimental diagnostics of involvement in a crime are reduced to being able to evoke the desired affective traces and, on the other hand, to be able to objectively trace and fix them. Both of these tasks were carried out in the associative experiment method. This method consists in the fact that the subject is presented with a word, to which he must answer with the first word that comes to his head. In ordinary cases, the subject easily responds with his own word to what is presented to him. This response word always turns out to correspond to special associative laws and is usually not randomly selected.
The matter changes dramatically when the subject is presented with a word that arouses in him this or that affective memory, this or that affective complex. In this case, the associative process is sharply inhibited. The subject either comes to mind at once a lot of response words that confuse his usual course of associations, or nothing comes to mind, and for a long time he cannot give the associative reaction required of him. If he nevertheless gives this reaction, then you can immediately notice its peculiar violation: it passes with hesitation, verbosity, and its very form is often more primitive than usual.
A.R. Luria explains this by the fact that “a verbal stimulus can provoke affective states associated with it, and these affective moments distort the further course of associations. If we have before us a criminal whose affective traces we want to reveal with the help of this method, we proceed as follows. Having studied the crime situation in the most detailed way based on the investigation materials, we select from it those details that, in our opinion, are closely related to it and at the same time awaken affective traces only in those involved in the crime, while remaining completely indifferent words for the uninvolved. "
Speaking about the manifestation of other emotions in speech, it should be noted that in a state of emotional excitement, the strength of the voice usually increases, and its pitch and timbre also change significantly.
Considering the question of the relationship between innate and acquired in the expression of emotions by voice, J. Reikovsky says that such manifestations as a change in the strength of the voice (with a change in emotional arousal) or trembling of the voice (under the influence of excitement) are caused by innate mechanisms. “With an increase in emotional arousal, the number of functional units that are actualized for action increases, which has an effect on increasing the activation of muscles involved in vocal reactions.”
4. Vegetative level of expression of emotions. The methods used to identify emotions at this level allow tracking the background emotional state of the subject. The reactions of the autonomic nervous system (ANS) to the emotions experienced are more difficult for a person to control than his speech and behavior. As correlates of emotions at the vegetative level, changes in the pulse, increased heart rate, respiration, changes in the diameter of the pupil, electrical resistance of the skin (galvanic skin reaction) are used.
The emotions experienced by a person cause the activation of the nervous system and, first of all, the vegetative part, which in turn leads to numerous changes in the state of internal organs and the body as a whole. The nature of these changes shows that emotional states cause either the mobilization of the organs of action, energy resources and protective processes of the body, or, in favorable situations, its demobilization, attunement to internal processes and the accumulation of energy. This explains the change in the indicators listed above.
Charles Darwin, when analyzing the expression of emotions in a person, notes that “if movements (or changes) of any kind invariably accompany any state of mind, we immediately see expressive movements in them. These may include<...>hair standing on end, perspiration protruding, changes in capillary circulation, difficulty breathing, and vocal or other sounds. In humans, the respiratory organs are especially important as a means of not only direct, but even more indirect expression of emotions. " Darwin also stresses that "of all expressions, blushing with shame appears to be the most specific human characteristic, and it is common to all or nearly all human races, whether noticeable or imperceptible to their skin discoloration."
In modern science, in determining emotions, it is precisely the methods based on the ANS response that are used to a greater extent. The most striking example is the use of a "lie detector", which is used not only in special services, but also in some commercial organizations. The detector registers changes in the depth and rate of breathing, measures pressure and registers changes in sweating.
Having registered the changes in these indicators, we can conclude that the person experiences some emotions, but we do not have sufficient data to indicate what kind of emotion the subject is experiencing.
Thus, the study of emotions at the vegetative level also does not provide objectivity.
5. Manifestation of emotions at the biochemical level. The biochemical method for determining emotions is also indirect. It is associated with the hormonal activity of the body, which ensures the physiological reactions of a person to experienced emotions. The method is based on the analysis of physiological fluids (blood, urine) taken from the subject. According to the content of the corresponding hormones in them, they determine how strong emotions the subject was exposed to. From what has been said, it can be seen that, given the exact quantitative measurements, this method is quite reliable. Its disadvantages include the fact that it does not allow tracking the changes in the subject's body related to emotions in the background. Some discreteness in measurements is required.
It should also be noted that this method does not allow determining what kind of emotion the subject is experiencing.
Comparing the considered methods of studying the manifestations of emotions, it can be noted that the most convincing and functional methods seem to be based on the allocation of behavioral (including mimic) and speech (including voice) signs of experienced emotions. The method for determining emotions based on the ANS response looks even more convincing.
About the origin of emotions. Emotions and feelings have arisen and developed in the process of evolution. What was their adaptive meaning?
The life of animals is characterized by uneven loads. Human ancestors were no exception here. Periods of extreme tension alternate with periods of rest and relaxation. During the hunt and pursuit of prey, in a fight with a strong, life-threatening predator, or at the moment of flight from danger from the animal, stress and the return of all forces are required. It is necessary to develop maximum power at the critical moment, even if this will be achieved with the help of energetically unfavorable metabolic processes. The physiological activity of the animal switches to "emergency mode". This switching is the first adaptive function of emotions. Therefore, natural selection has fixed this important psychophysiological property in the animal kingdom.
Why, in the course of evolution, did not appear organisms constantly operating at "increased" capacities? The need for a mechanism of emotions for putting on alert would disappear: they would always be in a state of "alertness", But the state of alert is associated with very high energy costs, with uneconomical expenditure nutrients and wear and tear of the body; huge amounts of food would be needed, and most of it would be wasted. This is not beneficial for an animal organism: it is better to have a lower metabolic rate and moderate strength, but at the same time have reserve mechanisms that, at the right time, mobilize the body to function in a more intensive mode, and allow it to develop high power when there is an urgent need for it.
Another function of emotions is signaling. Hunger forces an animal to seek food long before the body's supply of nutrients is depleted; thirst drives in search of water when the reserves of liquid have not yet been exhausted, but have already become scarce; pain is a signal that the tissues are damaged and are in danger of death. A feeling of fatigue and even exhaustion appears much earlier than the energy reserves in the muscles come to an end. And if fatigue is removed by powerful emotions of fear or rage, the animal's body is then able to do a tremendous amount of work.
Finally, the third adaptive function of emotions is their participation in the process of learning and accumulation of experience. The positive emotions arising as a result of the interaction of the organism with the environment contribute to the consolidation of useful skills and actions, while the negative ones force one to avoid harmful factors.
As you can see, the role of emotions in the life of animals is very great. Therefore, they talk about the biological expediency of emotions as a mechanism of adaptation to changing conditions. external environment... The mechanism of emotion turned out to be beneficial for the animal, and natural selection, acting with irresistible force for many generations, has consolidated this property.
In some situations, emotions can be harmful, coming into conflict with the vital interests of the animal. The emotion of rage helps the predator in pursuit of prey, increasing its strength tenfold. But the same rage deprives him of caution and discretion and thus can lead to death. Here the regularity inherent in any biological mechanism of adaptation is realized: in general, this mechanism contributes to the survival of the species, but in particular manifestations it is not always useful, and sometimes even harmful.
In the process of evolution, in parallel with the development of the nervous system, the assessment of situations by the brain becomes more and more subtle. If at first the assessment is of a general nature of the type "useful - harmful", "dangerous - safe", "pleasant - unpleasant", then the assessments become more specific, more accurate, more "fractional".
Assessments of the first type are carried out by changing the state of a large number of nerve elements and the connections between them. This is the processing of information on emotional programs. But in addition to such a roughly approximate processing, there are more differentiated programs, with a small "bandwidth", but more accurate. These are thought programs that evolved later than emotional programs.
In humans, information processing begins with emotional programs. They give the most overall assessment situations and thus "narrow the space" for processing by logic programs... But this scheme is not rigid. Intermediate results of information processing have an inverse effect on the flow of emotions and feelings.
Mismatch of these programs may occur. It is possible that the separation of thinking from feelings is the basis of some mental disorders.
The interaction of feelings and thinking is specifically manifested in the fact that feelings affect the mechanisms of memory, selectively reviving only some information from past experience and inhibiting others. In this way, feelings to a certain extent predetermine the nature of the association, the content of the associative process.
Man inherited the mechanism of emotions from his animal ancestors. Therefore, part of human emotions coincides with the emotions of animals: rage, hunger, thirst, fear. But these are the simplest emotions associated with the satisfaction of organic needs. With the development of reason and higher human needs, more complex human feelings were formed on the basis of the apparatus of emotions.
Thus, we distinguish emotion from feeling. Emotion in the course of evolution arose before feeling, it is inherent not only in humans, but also in animals, and expresses an attitude towards the satisfaction of physiological needs. Feelings developed on the basis of emotions when interacting with the mind, in the course of the formation of social relations and are inherent only in humans.
As for the term "emotional states", it is equally referred to feelings and emotions. The line between emotion and feeling is not always easy to draw. In terms of higher physiology nervous activity their difference is determined by the degree of participation of cortical and especially second-signal processes.
Feeling is one of the forms of reflection of reality, expressing the subjective attitude of a person to the satisfaction of his needs, to the correspondence or inconsistency of something with his ideas.
A significant part of human needs is formed by upbringing, inculcated by society (for example, hygienic and cultural needs). Many senses are so attached to mental activity that they do not exist outside of this activity.
If a person is not aware of the danger, the feeling of fear does not come. But much later, when the past danger is realized, a person can be overwhelmed by fear, and he literally grows cold at the thought of what threat he was exposed to.
Sometimes the insulting hint does not immediately reach, and then, with a delay, a feeling of anger sets in. It happens that a distant memory revives old feelings: a person smiles happily, remembering a pleasant event that happened in the past.
In the story of L.N. Tolstoy "Hadji Murad" the protagonist, telling the story of his life, did not hide how once in his youth, during a hot fight that broke out, he got scared and fled. His interlocutor Loris-Melikov, knowing the tried and tested courage of Hadji Murad, was surprised. Then Hadji Murad explained that since then he had always recalled this shame, and when he recalled it, he was no longer afraid of anything.
Shame turned out to be stronger than fear due to the property of memory to revive old feelings. This helped to suppress fear, and subsequently, apparently, led to a partial "fear atrophy."
In general, the feeling of shame plays a huge role in the formation of the moral and ethical qualities of an individual. JB Shaw put it aphoristically: "There is no courage - there is shame."
Below is a list of the most famous feelings. We will stipulate that no listing can exhaust the variety of emotional states. A comparison with the colors of the solar spectrum is appropriate here: there are seven basic tones, but how many more intermediate colors and how many shades can be obtained by mixing them!
In addition, depending on the chosen criterion, feelings are grouped in different ways. For example, they are divided into positive and negative on the basis of the pleasure or displeasure delivered. Feelings directed at other people and feelings directed at oneself can be distinguished. The first include love, gratitude, envy, contempt. To the second - complacency, shame, remorse. There are feelings associated with assessing the events of the surrounding world - grief, disappointment, joy. A whole group of feelings is associated with the instinct of self-preservation - fear, anxiety, fear. There are "intermediate" feelings that can be attributed to several groups: for example, anger and frustration can be directed at others and at oneself. Such "transitional units" are inherent in any classification.
Ignoring emotions and feelings can lead to disturbances in the emotional sphere, various psychological problems, reduce the body's resistance and cause disease. Emotions and feelings are given to a person as a guide to maintaining their psychological integrity. If a person does not listen to them and does not make correct conclusions about what they want to say to him, a conflict arises in his inner world, which, if this situation is not corrected, only gets worse over time. Difficulties in the form - problems of lack of motivation (desire) and the need to motivate oneself with something, misunderstanding of one's place in life, as well as conflicts in the form - I want and I can not; I can and do not want to; it is necessary, but I do not want; I want, but do not need; I don't know what I want; I need or want 2 conflicting goals at once, etc. - are generated from the very beginning by just such a conflict. This conflict usually begins in childhood, when the emotional needs of the child are ignored by the parents or even deliberately broken down (some believe that this will make the child stronger). So the child is disoriented in understanding his feelings, correct (adequate) attitude to them, forms destructive beliefs for the future. People use various techniques self-motivation, work with emotions, beliefs, etc., but they are needed only as long as there is a given internal conflict in a person.
Functions and role of emotions
Speaking about why humans and animals need emotions, one should distinguish between their functions and roles. The function of emotions is a narrow natural purpose, the work done by emotions in the body. Their role (generalized meaning) is the nature and degree of participation of emotions in something, determined by their functions, or their influence on something other than their natural purpose, i.e. secondary product of their functioning. The role of emotions for animals and humans can be positive and negative. The function of emotions, proceeding from their expediency, is predetermined by nature to be only positive, otherwise, why would they have appeared and fixed? It can be argued that emotions can have a destructive effect on the body. But this is due to the excessively expressed accompanying emotions physiological changes in the body, associated not with the quality of regulation (emotional), but with its intensity. This is the role of emotions, not their function. Vitamins and salt are good for the body, but excessive intake of them can lead to illness or poisoning. So it is with emotions. While carrying out their biological functions, emotions "do not ask" a person whether it is useful or harmful to him from his point of view. The role of emotions is assessed precisely from a personal standpoint: the emerging emotion or its absence interferes with the achievement of the goal, it violates the health of a person or not.
It was about the role of emotions, and not about their function, that the Stoics and Epicureans argued about, discussing the question of their usefulness or harmfulness. This dispute continues in our time, since there is evidence both for and against each point of view.
The differences between function and role can be clearly illustrated by the motor apparatus, the function of which is the movement of humans and animals in space, and the role of this movement is determined by cognition of the environment, approaching the power source and mastering it, etc. the fact that a person or an animal acquires in the process of performing its function by the motor apparatus.
The Role of "Positive" and "Negative" Emotions
"Negative" emotions play a more important biological role than "positive" emotions. It is no coincidence that the mechanism of "negative" emotions functions in a child from the first days of his birth, and "positive" emotions appear much later. "Negative" emotion is an alarm signal, danger to the body. "Positive" emotion is a signal of returned well-being. It is clear that the last signal does not need to sound for a long time, so emotional adaptation to good things comes quickly. On the other hand, the alarm should be given until the danger is eliminated. As a result, only “negative” emotions can be stagnant. Under these conditions, human health really suffers. "Negative" emotions are harmful only in excess, as everything that exceeds the norm is harmful. Fear, anger, rage increase the intensity of metabolic processes, lead to better nutrition of the brain, increase the body's resistance to overload, infections, etc.
It is important for the organism not to preserve monotonously positive emotional states, but to their constant dynamism within the framework of a certain intensity optimal for a given individual. At the same time, there is evidence that the level of intelligence development is higher in preschoolers with a predominance of "positive" emotions and lower - with a predominance of "negative" ones.
From the point of view of P.V. Simonov, the nervous mechanisms of positive emotional reactions are more complex and subtle than negative ones. He believes that “positive” emotions have an independent adaptive meaning, that is, the role of “positive” emotions is different from the role of “negative” emotions: “positive” emotions induce living systems to actively disrupt the achieved “equilibrium” with the environment: “The most important role positive emotions - active disturbance of peace, comfort, the famous "balancing the body with the external environment."
“Negative emotions,” writes Simonov, “as a rule, ensure the preservation of what has already been achieved by evolution or individual development subject. Positive emotions revolutionize behavior, prompting to seek new, not yet satisfied needs, without which pleasure is unthinkable.
This does not indicate the absolute value of positive emotions. They can be caused by primitive, selfish, socially unacceptable needs. In such cases, we will undoubtedly give preference to such negative emotions as anxiety for the fate of another person, compassion for those in trouble, indignation at injustice. The social value of emotions is always determined by the motive that brought it to life. "
Without "positive" emotions, Simonov notes, it is difficult to imagine those forms of mastering reality that are not dictated by a direct utilitarian effect: play, artistic creation and perception of works of art, theoretical knowledge. He believes that in these areas of human activity, the stimulating influence of "negative" emotions is negligible, if any.
It seems that this statement is too categorical. It is contradicted by the manifestation of frustration as the desire to prove to oneself and others the accidental creative failure. Do people perceive works of art only for the sake of positive experiences? Why, then, do the audience cry at the performances in the cinema?
Speaking about the role of emotions in a person's life, it is inappropriate to pose the question for what, for what purpose someone experiences emotions. Such questions are legitimate in relation to deliberately set goals. Emotions most often arise involuntarily. Therefore, in relation to them, one can only pose the question: what benefit or harm can a person be from the emergence of this or that emotion (based on the functions intended for him by nature)?
In answering this question, it should be borne in mind that the positive role of emotions is not directly associated with “positive” emotions, and the negative role with “negative” ones. The latter can serve as a stimulus for human self-improvement, while the former can be a reason for complacency. Much depends on the purposefulness of a person and the conditions of his upbringing. Scientists differ on the meaning of emotions and the functions they perform. However, there is no doubt main function emotions - their participation in the management of the behavior of humans and animals.
The role and function of emotions in the management of behavior and activities
Reflective-evaluative role of emotions
Even Charles Darwin wrote that emotions arose in the process of evolution as a means by which living beings establish the significance of certain conditions for satisfying their needs. This role of emotions is manifested due to the subjective component of emotional response (experience) and mainly to initial stage arbitrary control (when a need arises and the motivation process is deployed on its basis) and at the final stage (when assessing the achieved result: satisfying a need, implementing an intention).
The reflective function of emotions is not recognized by all scientists. VK Vilyunas (1979) believes that "emotions perform the function of not reflecting objective phenomena, but expressing subjective attitudes towards them." And he is probably right. To reflect reality, animals and humans have analyzers and thinking. They act as a mirror that reflects what is. Whether a person likes what he sees in the mirror or not, this does not depend on the mirror, it does not assess the reflected. Evaluation (attitude) depends on the subjective perception of the visible, which is compared with the standards, desires, tastes of a person.
It should be noted that there are different opinions among scientists about the relationship between experience and assessment (which is primary and which is secondary). Some believe that experience precedes evaluation; others, on the contrary, believe that the assessment precedes the emergence of emotion, and still others write that emotion can replace the assessment or accompany it.
This discrepancy is due to the fact that the authors have in mind different classes of emotional phenomena. With an emotional tone of sensations, first there is an experience of pleasant or unpleasant, and then its assessment as useful or harmful. Obviously, the same is the case with unconditioned reflex emotions (for example, fright). In the case of the emergence of emotions, the situation is first assessed, and then an experience (emotion) may appear. For example, when a person walks to the window of his apartment, located on the third floor or higher, and looks down, thinking: “What if I jump down?”, Then he has an assessment of this situation as dangerous, but without fear. But then there was a fire and now he has to jump out of the window. In this case, the assessment of the situation will clearly be the cause of the fear that has arisen in this person.
The evaluative role of emotional response has changed and improved along with the development of the nervous system and psyche of living beings. If at the first stages it was limited to a message to the body about pleasant or unpleasant, then the next stage of development was, obviously, signaling about useful and harmful, and then about non-dangerous and dangerous and, finally, more broadly, about significant and insignificant. If the first and partly the second stage could be provided only by such a mechanism of emotional response as the emotional tone of sensations, then the third stage required a different mechanism - emotions, and the fourth - feelings (emotional attitudes). In addition, if the emotional tone of sensations is capable of giving only a rough differentiation of stimuli and associated sensations (pleasant - unpleasant), then emotion provides a more subtle, and most importantly, psychological differentiation of situations, events, phenomena, showing their significance for the body and the person as a person. ... It was also important that the emotion arises conditionally and reflexively and thereby enables the animal and the person to react in advance to distant stimuli, to the emerging situation. Rage already at the sight of the enemy, from afar, at the sounds, smell of the enemy allows the animal to engage in combat with the enemy with the maximum use of all power resources, and fear - to flee.
It is obvious that the process of conscious comparison of what is obtained with what should be, can proceed in a person without the participation of emotions. They are not needed as a matching mechanism. Another thing is the assessment of what happened. It can really be not only rational, but also emotional if the result of the activity or the expected situation are deeply significant for the subject. At the same time, one should not forget that emotion is a reaction to some event, and any reaction is a response after the fact, i.e. on what is already affecting or has already passed, is over, including the completed comparison of information. Of course, emotional assessment can be connected to the process of rational (verbal-logical) comparison of information, coloring one or another paradigm in positive or negative tones and thereby giving them more or less weight.
However, for this, emotions must have another function: to force the body to urgently mobilize its capabilities, energy, which the emotional tone of sensations cannot do.
The motivational role of emotions
Emotions play a noticeable role at all stages of the motivational process: when assessing the significance of an external stimulus, when signaling an arisen need and assessing its significance, when predicting the possibility of satisfying a need, when choosing a goal.
Emotions as an assessment of the significance of an external stimulus. At the first (motivational) stage, the main purpose of emotions is to signal the benefit or harm to the body of a particular stimulus, phenomena that are marked with a certain sign (positive or negative) even before they are subjected to a conscious, logical assessment. On this occasion, PK Anokhin wrote: “By making an almost instantaneous integration of all body functions, emotions in themselves and in the first place can be an absolute signal of a beneficial or harmful effect on the body, often even earlier than the localization of impacts and a specific mechanism of response reactions of the body "(" Psychology of Emotions ", 1984).
Emotions reflect not only the biological, but also the personal significance of external stimuli, situations, events for a person, i.e. what worries him. Emotion is a form of reflective mental activity, where the attitude to the surrounding information comes to the fore. Emotions precede a person's awareness of the situation, signaling a possible pleasant or unpleasant outcome, and in this regard, they speak of the anticipatory function of emotions. Fulfilling this reflective-evaluative role, determining what is significant for a person and what is not, emotions thereby contribute to the orientation of a person in various situations, i.e. perform an indicative function.
Emotions as a signal of an emerging need. The reflective-evaluative role of emotions is also manifested in their connection with needs, which act as internal stimuli. The close connection of emotions with needs is obvious, and it is not surprising that P.V. Simonov developed a theory of emotions, largely based on the conditioning of emotions by needs and the likelihood of satisfying the latter, and B.I.Dodonov created a classification of emotions based on types of needs.
The subjective reflection of needs must necessarily be carried out by special mental phenomena that are fundamentally different from those that reflect the objective properties of reality. Although the actualization of the need is also an objective event, it should be reflected in the psyche differently from other events, since for the subject it should become not one of many, but a central, all-consuming event that attracts attention, mobilizes adaptive resources, etc.
Emotions as a way to mark meaningful goals. It is not only a matter of the need for an accentuated reflection of needs. To satisfy them, the subject must act not with the needs themselves, but with those objects that meet them. This means that the need should be reflected not only by itself, along with other reflected objects (for example, in the form of the experience of hunger, thirst, etc.), but also projected into the image of reality and highlighting in it the necessary conditions and objects that are in as a result of this selection they become targets.
The goal cannot be reflected only by cognitive processes. As a reflected object, the goal is one of many elements of the environment, acting, like others, on analyzers, causing the corresponding delayed motor reactions and, therefore, perceived in the image. In this respect, the goal does not stand out in any way either among other objects of reality, or in the image reflecting it. The objective properties of a thing, reflected by the subject in the form of possible actions with it, do not contain signs indicating its need for the body at a given moment. Therefore, in the structure of the image there should be something that, reflecting the state of the organism's needs, would join the individual reflective elements of the environment, thereby distinguishing them from others precisely as goals and prompting the individual to achieve them. In other words, in order for the mental image, as a field of potential actions, to serve as the basis for the construction and regulation of activity, it must be "equipped" with a special mechanism that would disturb the balance between equally possible actions and would direct the individual to the choice and preference of some of them.
This role of highlighting need-significant phenomena in the image and motivating a person to them is also performed by numerous varieties of biased, emotional experience.
Emotions as a decision-making mechanism. Emotions, pointing to objects and actions with them, which are capable of leading to the satisfaction of a need, thereby contributing to decision-making. Very often, however, the achievement of the desired is not provided with the information necessary for making a decision. Then the compensatory function of emotions manifests itself, which consists in replacing information that is missing for making a decision or making a judgment about something. The emotion arising from a collision with an unfamiliar object gives this object the appropriate color (like it or not, good or bad), in particular, due to its similarity with previously encountered objects. Although, with the help of emotion, a person makes a generalized and not always justified assessment of an object and a situation, it still helps him to get out of the impasse when he does not know what to do in a given situation.
Emotions by no means add information about the real signs of a threat and the possibilities for its elimination. The elimination of the information deficit occurs in the process of search actions and training. The role of emotions is to urgently replace, compensate for the knowledge that is missing at the moment. All this applies to cases associated with a lack of information and, consequently, negative emotions.
The compensatory and stimulating function is also inherent in positive emotions. In this case, the function is manifested not at the moment the emotion arises, but at longer periods of adaptive behavior. Even a small and partial success can inspire people to overcome difficulties, i.e. positive emotion intensifies the need to achieve the goal.
Being involved in the process of probabilistic forecasting, emotions help to assess future events (anticipation of pleasure when a person goes to the theater, or expectation of unpleasant experiences after an exam, when a student has not had time to properly prepare for it), i.e. perform a prognostic function. Emotions make it easier to find the right way out of the situation, in connection with which they talk about their heuristic function. Consequently, emotions are involved not only at the first stage of the motivational process, when the significance of this or that external or internal stimulus is determined, but also at the stage of decision-making.
A person's decision-making is also associated with the sanctioning (including switching the direction and intensity of activity) function of emotions (whether to make contact with an object or not, to maximize one's efforts or to interrupt a state that has arisen). The "switching" function of emotions is found both in the sphere of congenital forms of behavior and in the implementation of conditioned reflex activity, including its most complex manifestations. This function of emotions is most clearly manifested in the competition of motives, in the allocation of a dominant need, which becomes a vector of purposeful behavior. Needs clad in the "armor" of emotions are fighting. Emotions help this struggle, as they indicate the importance of a particular need at the moment.
The dependence of emotions on the likelihood of satisfying a need extremely complicates the competition of the corresponding motives, as a result of which behavior often turns out to be reoriented towards a less important but easily achievable goal: "a bird in hand" wins a "pie in the sky."
The exercise of the authorizing function by emotions can be based on the protective function of the emotion of fear. It warns a person about a real (or imaginary) danger, thereby contributing to better thinking through the situation that has arisen, a more thorough determination of the likelihood of success or failure. Thus, fear protects a person from unpleasant consequences for him, and possibly from death.
The incentive role of emotions. Emotion in itself contains attraction, desire, striving directed to an object or from it, just as attraction, desire, striving is always more or less emotional. In general, the question of where the charge of energy comes from in the impulse is rather complicated. It is impossible to exclude the presence of the energy of emotions in the inducement to action, but it is also hardly possible to assume that emotions in themselves cause an impulse to action.
The role of emotions in assessing the results achieved. The peculiarity of emotions is that they directly reflect the relationship between motives and the implementation of activities corresponding to these motives. Evaluating the course and result of activity, emotions give a subjective coloring to what is happening around us and in ourselves. This means that different people can emotionally react differently to the same event. For example, for the fans, the loss of their favorite team will cause disappointment, upset, for the fans of the opposing team - joy. People also perceive works of art differently. It is not for nothing that the people say that there is no comrade in taste and color, and that there is no dispute about tastes.
Emotion as a value and need
Although emotions in themselves are not motives (which are considered as a complex formation that includes a need, an ideal (imagined) goal and motivators, i.e. factors that influenced decision-making and the formation of intention), they can not act in the motivational process. only as an “advisor” or as an energetic amplifier of impulses arising in the process of motivation, but also as a stimulus itself, however, not actions to satisfy a need, but a motivational process. This happens when a person has a need for emotional sensations and experiences and when a person realizes them as a value.
Understanding emotion as a value leads to the idea that a person has a need for "emotional saturation", i.e. in emotional experiences. Indeed, even the famous mathematician B. Pascal said that we think that we are looking for peace, but in fact we are looking for excitement. This means that emotional hunger can directly condition the motivational process.
The need for emotional saturation is physiological, despite the fact that the emotions themselves carry a psychological content. He justifies this by the fact that every organ must function, otherwise its involution and degradation will occur. Consequently, the centers of emotions need to function, i.e. in the manifestation of emotions in order to maintain their reactivity.
E. Fromm writes about a person's need for positive emotions. Indeed, a person does many things for the sake of receiving pleasure, pleasure: he listens to music, reads a book he likes and has already read more than once, rides a roller coaster to experience "thrills", etc. Therefore, emotion acts as a goal (a person does something to get the desired experience). A perceived goal is a value for a person, or a motive for behavior.
The completeness of satisfaction of emotional needs depends on the quality of the subject of satisfaction. So, listening to music while playing it on high-quality equipment from a record evokes emotions of greater intensity and in more than from a third class cassette recorder. By analogy, we can say that the depth and intensity of emotional experience when listening to music on a stereo player will be greater than on a monophonic one, and being present at a concert will bring more emotional pleasure than listening to the same piece of music at home. Likewise, a visit to an art gallery will have a greater emotional impact than viewing albums, slides, and postcards at home.
The activating and energetic role of emotions
The influence of emotions on the physical capabilities of humans and animals has been known for a long time. Even B. Spinoza wrote that emotions increase or decrease "the body's ability to act."
The activation-energetic role of emotional response is manifested mainly due to its physiological component: changes in autonomic functions and the level of excitation of the cortical regions of the brain. According to the influence on human behavior and activity, the German philosopher I. Kant (1964) divided emotional reactions (emotions) into sthenic ("wall" in Greek - force), which enhance the vital activity of the organism, and asthenic - weakening it. Stenic fear can contribute to the mobilization of a person's reserves by releasing an additional amount of adrenaline into the blood, for example, in its active-defensive form (escape from danger). Promotes the mobilization of the body's forces and inspiration, joy ("inspired by success", they say in such cases).
Acceleration and intensification of reactions that support the individual and species existence of living systems is one of the most striking features of emotional response. It consists in the fact that when emotions arise, the activation of nerve centers occurs, carried out by nonspecific structures of the brain stem and transmitted by nonspecific pathways of excitation. According to "activation" theories, emotions provide an optimal level of excitation of the central nervous system and its individual substructures. Activation of the nervous system and, above all, its vegetative division leads to changes in internal organs and the organism as a whole, leading either to the mobilization of energy resources, or to their demobilization. Hence, we can talk about the mobilization function of emotions.
PK Anokhin spoke about "motivational tone", thanks to which all life processes are maintained at an optimal level.
As an active state of the system of specialized brain structures, emotions affect other cerebral systems that regulate behavior, the processes of perceiving external signals and extracting engrams of these signals from memory, and the autonomic functions of the body. When there is emotional stress the volume of autonomic shifts (increased heart rate, rise in blood pressure, release of hormones into the bloodstream, etc.), as a rule, exceeds the real needs of the body. The process of natural selection appears to have reinforced the desirability of this excess resource mobilization. In a situation of pragmatic uncertainty (namely, it is so characteristic of the emergence of emotions), when it is not known how much and what will be required in the next few minutes, it is better to go for unnecessary energy expenditures than in the midst of intense activity - fight or flight - to be left without sufficient oxygen and metabolic "Raw material".
The tension of excess emotional response as an energy response results in a huge excess of energy, and therefore there are many unnecessary side effects. But they are inevitable in the interests of a large task - the concentration of the whole organism on reactions of a certain kind.
Physical performance in persons with severe nervous system more with the emotion of joy than with the emotion of suffering, and in persons with a weak nervous system - with the emotion of suffering than with the emotion of joy (however, at the level of reliability only in terms of the power of work).
The destructive role of emotions
Emotions can play not only a positive, but also a negative (destructive) role in a person's life. They can lead to disorganization of human behavior and activities.
The uselessness and even harmfulness of emotions is known to everyone. Imagine, for example, a person who has to cross a street; if he is afraid of cars, he will lose his cool and run. Sadness, joy, anger, weakening attention and common sense, often force us to commit unwanted actions... In short, an individual who finds himself in the grip of emotions "loses his head."
Emotion causes impaired memory, skills, leads to the replacement of difficult actions with simpler ones. The negative influence of the experiences associated with the previous failure on the speed and quality of the intellectual educational activity of adolescents was revealed.
In many cases, the disorganizing role of emotions is obviously associated not so much with their modality as with the strength of emotional arousal. Here IP Pavlov's "law of force" is manifested (with very strong stimuli, excitation turns into transcendent inhibition) or, what is the same, the Yerkes-Dodeon law. Weak and medium intensity of emotional excitement contribute to an increase in the effectiveness of perceptual, intellectual and motor activity, and strong and super-strong - reduce it.
However, the modality of emotion also matters. Fear, for example, can disturb a person's behavior associated with the achievement of a goal, causing him to have a passive-defensive reaction (stupor with strong fear, refusal to complete a task). This leads either to a rejection of the activity, or to a slowdown in the rate of mastery of any activity that seems dangerous to a person, for example, when learning to swim. The disorganizing role of emotions is also seen with anger, when a person seeks to achieve the goal at all costs, repeating the same actions that do not lead to success. With strong excitement, it can be difficult for a person to concentrate on a task, he may forget what he needs to do. One cadet of the flight school, during the first independent flight, forgot how to land the plane, and was able to do this only under the dictation from the ground of his commander. In another case, due to intense excitement, the gymnast - the champion of the country - forgot, coming out to the apparatus, the beginning of the exercise and received a zero mark.
However, with the study of the role of emotions, attitudes towards them began to change, and at present the disorganizing role of emotions is being questioned. So, V.K.Vilyunas (1984) believes that the disorganizing role of emotions can be accepted only with reservations. He believes that the disorganization of activity is associated with the fact that emotions organize other activities that divert forces and attention from the main activity that occurs at the same moment. Emotion itself does not have a disorganizing function. “Even such a gross biological reaction as affect,” writes Vilyunas, “usually disorganizing human activity, under certain conditions can be useful, for example, when he has to save himself from a serious danger, relying solely on physical strength and endurance. This means that disruption of activity is not a direct, but a side manifestation of emotions, in other words, there is as much truth in the statement about the disorganizing function of emotions as, for example, in the statement that a festive demonstration serves as a delay in vehicles. "
One can agree with this. Emotions really do not have such a function, programmed by nature. It would be strange if emotions appeared in the evolutionary development of living things in order to disorganize the management of behavior. But emotions, apart from their "will", can play a disorganizing role, as mentioned above. The point of dividing the role and function of emotions is precisely not to confuse what is predetermined by nature as a sign of progressive development, with what is obtained as a side effect, contrary to the predetermined function.
The Applied Role of Emotions
The communicative role of emotions
Emotions, due to their expressive component (mainly facial expression), take part in establishing contact with other people in the process of communicating with them, in influencing them. The importance of this role of emotions is evident from the fact that in the West, many managers recruit employees by intelligence quotient (IQ), and promoted by emotional quotient (EQ), which characterizes a person's ability to communicate emotionally.
The role of emotional response in the communication process is manifold. This is the creation of the first impression about a person, which often turns out to be correct precisely because of the presence of "emotional inclusions" in him. This is also the provision of a certain influence on who is the subject of the perception of emotions, which is associated with the signaling function of emotions. The role of this function of emotions is clearly visible to parents whose children suffer from Down's disease. Parents are depressed by the fact that children cannot communicate their experiences to them through facial expressions and other methods of emotional communication.
The regulating function of emotions in the process of communication is to coordinate the sequence of statements. Often in this case, a combined manifestation of various functions of emotions is observed. For example, the signaling function of emotions is often combined with its protective function: a frightening appearance in a moment of danger contributes to intimidation of another person or animal.
Emotion, as a rule, has an external expression (expression), with the help of which a person or an animal communicates to another about his condition, what they like and what they don’t, etc. This helps mutual understanding when communicating, preventing aggression from another person or animal , recognition of the needs and states that are currently available in another subject.
Using emotions as a means of manipulating other people. Within the communicative role, emotions can be used to manipulate other people. Often, we consciously or habitually demonstrate certain emotional manifestations, not because they have arisen in us naturally, but because they have a desirable effect on other people. A. Schopenhauer wrote on this occasion: “Just as paper money goes instead of silver and gold, so instead of true respect and true friendship, their external evidence and the most natural possible forged facial expressions and body movements are circulated in the light ... In any case, I rely more on to wag the tail of an honest dog, than a hundred such displays of respect and friendship. "
The baby already knows about this function of emotions, and he uses it to achieve his goals: after all, crying, screaming, suffering facial expressions of a child evoke sympathy in parents and adults. Thus, emotions help a person to achieve the satisfaction of his needs through changes in the right side of the behavior of other people.
As a means of manipulation, a smile, laughter, threat, screaming, crying, ostentatious indifference, ostentatious suffering, etc. are used. When manipulating, an "emotional blank" is reproduced - an engram. Memory captures situations in which the "emotional preparation" gives the desired effect, and subsequently a person uses them in similar situations. Engrams constitute a person's manipulative experience. They can be positive and negative when viewed from the point of view of influencing other people. The first are designed to evoke a positive attitude towards themselves (trust, recognition, love). In this case, such mimic means as a smile, laughter, vocal intonations of the lyrical and peaceful spectrum, gestures symbolizing greeting, acceptance of a partner, the joy of communicating with him, head movements expressing agreement, body movements indicating trust in a partner are used. etc. The latter are filled with symbols of aggression, enmity, anger, alienation, distancing, threat, displeasure. For example, a parent makes a threatening expression, raises his voice, and uses swear words at the child. But this does not mean that at this moment he hates the child, he only achieves the desired behavior from him.
E. Shostrom (1994) described the role of emotions in the manipulation of other people by the so-called “manipulators”. However, their tactics may be different. In one case, "manipulators", such as hysterical women, unleash a mishmash of feelings on those around them, driving them to complete confusion. Feelings fly off from hysterical women like sparks, but none of them linger long enough to fully form and express. As soon as they arise, they burst, as bubble... In another case, "manipulators" reserve their emotions in reserve in order to use them at a convenient moment. “I took offense at you last week,” the manipulator might say. Why didn't he say that last week? - asks Shostrom. Because then it was not profitable for him to declare his grievance, but now he can bargain for something.
The "manipulator" can experience many feelings quite sincerely, but he will certainly try to use them "for something useful." That is, as Shostrom writes, a certain manipulative goal is given as a load of sincere tears.
The role of emotions in cognitive processes and creativity
The presence of emotional phenomena in the process of cognition was also noted ancient Greek philosophers(Plato, Aristotle).
However, the discussion of the role of emotions in the cognitive process was initiated by P. Janet and T. Ribot. According to P. Janet, emotions, being "secondary actions", the subject's reaction to his own action, regulate "primary actions", including intellectual ones. T. Ribot, on the contrary, believed that there should be no "emotional impurity" in intellectual thinking, since it is the affective nature of a person that is most often the cause of illogicality. He shared intellectual and emotional thinking. Connections of thinking with affects great importance attached by L. S. Vygotsky. He wrote: “Whoever tore thinking from the very beginning from affect, he forever closed his way to explaining the reasons for thinking itself, because the deterministic analysis of thinking necessarily presupposes the disclosure of the driving motives of thought, needs and interests, motives and tendencies that direct the movement of thought in that direction. or the other side. "
S. L. Rubinshtein also noted the need to link thinking with the affective sphere of a person. “Mental processes, taken in their concrete integrity, are not only cognitive processes, but also“ affective ”, emotional-volitional ones. They express not only knowledge about the phenomena, but also the attitude towards them. " In another work, he sharpens this question even more: “The point is not only that emotion is in unity and interconnection with intellect or thinking with emotion, but that thinking itself as a real mental process is itself a unity of the intellectual and emotional , and emotion - the unity of the emotional and the intellectual "(" Problems general psychology", 1973.
Currently, most psychologists studying intellectual activity recognize the role of emotions in thinking. Moreover, it has been argued that emotions do not just influence thinking, but are an indispensable component of it, or that most human emotions are intellectually determined. Even intellectual emotions that are different from the basic ones are highlighted.
True, the authors' opinions on the specific role of emotions in the management of thinking do not coincide. From the point of view of OK Tikhomirov, emotions are a catalyst for the intellectual process; they improve or impair mental activity, speed up or slow it down. In another work (Tikhomirov, Klochko, 1980), he goes even further, considering emotions as the coordinator of mental activity, ensuring its flexibility, restructuring, correction, avoiding stereotypes, and changing actual attitudes. In the opinion of P.V. Simonov, emotions are only a triggering mechanism for thinking. L.V. Putlyaeva considers both of these points of view hyperbolized and identifies, in turn, three functions of emotions in the thought process:
1) emotions like component cognitive needs, which are the source of mental activity;
2) emotions as a regulator of the cognitive process itself at certain stages;
3) emotions as a component of the assessment of the achieved result, i.e. as a feedback.
The role of emotions in the intellectual creative process is manifold. This is the torment of creativity and the joy of discovery. “The ardent desire for knowledge,” wrote K. Bernard, “is the only motive force that attracts and supports the researcher in his efforts, and this knowledge, so to speak, constantly eluding his hands, is his only happiness and torment. He who did not know the torment of the unknown will not understand the pleasures of discovery, which, of course, are stronger than all that a person can feel. "
But here's what is characteristic: this inspiration, the joy of creative success is not long-term. K. Bernard wrote about this: “By some whim of our nature, this pleasure, which we so eagerly sought, passes as soon as the discovery is made. It is like lightning that has lit up a distant horizon for us, to which our insatiable curiosity rushes with even greater fervor. For this reason, in science itself, the known loses its attractiveness, and the unknown is always full of delights. "
When discussing the connection between thinking and emotion, some psychologists go to extremes. Thus, A. Ellis (Ellis, 1958) argues that thinking and emotions are so closely related to each other that they usually accompany each other, acting in the cycle of relationships "cause and effect", and in some (though almost all) relationships are essentially the same, so that thinking becomes emotion and emotion becomes thought. Thought and emotions, according to this author, tend to take the form of self-talk or internal sentences; sentences that people say to themselves are or become their thoughts and emotions.
As for the transformation of thought into emotion and vice versa, this is a rather controversial statement. Another thing is that, as Ellis writes, thought and emotion can hardly be distinguished and isolated in their pure form. Here you can agree with the author. Special role belongs to emotions in different types art. KS Stanislavsky (1953) said that of all three mental spheres of man - mind, will and feelings - the latter is the most "difficult to educate child." The expansion and development of the mind is much more easily amenable to the will of the actor than the development and expansion of the emotional sphere. Feeling, Stanislavsky noted, can be cultivated, subordinated to the will, cleverly used, but it grows very slowly. The alternative "is or not" is most relevant to him. Therefore, it is the most precious thing for an actor. Students with mobile emotions, the ability to deeply experience - this is the golden fund of the theater school. Their development is progressing rapidly. At the same time, Stanislavsky lamented that there were too many rational actors and stage works coming from the mind.
In this article, you will learn about feelings and emotions.
We fall in love, rejoice, get angry, indignant, hate, love - and all this is called emotions and feelings. Let's talk about them in this article.
What is, and what are the feelings and emotions: definition, names
Expression of emotions and feelingsEmotions- an instant reaction of a person to what is happening around him. Emotions are manifested in humans at the animal level, appear and disappear. The manifestation of emotions can be:
- Chagrin
- Sadness
- Joy
- Despondency
- Indifference
- Anger
The senses- these are also emotions, but on an ongoing basis, they last a long time. Feelings arise in the process of long thoughts, experiences, based on life experience. Feelings are:
- The greatest and most constant feeling is love, but most likely, not men and women, but mother and child, and vice versa.
- A sense of duty to parents, family.
- Feelings of loyalty to your spouse.
- A sense of responsibility for family and children.
- Some people are familiar with the feeling of inspiration in an interesting job.
List of positive and negative feelings and emotions: table with decoding
Negative and positive emotions Positive emotions and feelings:
- Joy
- Delight
- Pleasure
- Pride
- Glee
- Confidence
- Sympathy
- Confidence
- Delight
- Attachment
- Gratitude
- Respect
- Tenderness
- Affection
- Bliss
- Anticipation
- Clear conscience
- A sense of security
Negative emotions and feelings:
- Gloat
- Dissatisfaction with something
- Sadness
- Anxiety
- Sorrow
- Yearning
- Chagrin
- Fear
- Despair
- Resentment
- The fright
- A pity
- Fear
- Sympathy
- Regret
- Dislike
- Annoyance
- Hatred
- Disturbance
- Despondency
- Jealousy
- Envy
- Boredom
- Malice
- Uncertainty
- Mistrust
- Rage
- Confusion
- Disgust
- Contempt
- Disappointment
- Repentance
- Bitterness
- Intolerance
These are not all emotions and feelings manifested by a person. All manifestations of emotions cannot be counted, they are like two or three colors put together, from which a third, completely new color appears.
Emotions and feelings are called positive, because when they are manifested, they give pleasure to a person, and negative ones - discontent. From the list of emotions, we see that there are much more negative emotions than positive ones.
Types, classification of feelings and emotions
Basic feelings and emotions, and derivatives from them Emotions are momentary manifestations of our reaction to external actions. With such emotions as discontent, surprise, joy, fear and anger, we are born. If a small child is uncomfortable - he cries, fed, swaddled - he rejoices.
But not all emotions are innate, some can be acquired in certain life situations. Even kids understand this, throwing a tantrum if they want to achieve something.
There are 5 main manifestations of emotions and feelings, and from them are derivatives:
- Joy, and from it went: delight, fun, surprise, tenderness, gratitude, inspiration, passion, peace.
- Love and beyond: falling in love, trust, tenderness, bliss.
- Sadness, and let's go: disappointment, sadness, regret, despair, loneliness, depression, bitterness.
- Anger, and went on: rage, irritation, anger, hatred, revenge, indignation, resentment, envy.
- Fear, and its derivatives: anxiety, excitement, anxiety, fear, shame, guilt, horror, revenge.
All emotions, except for those with which we are born, are acquired on our life path.
Why are there more emotions than feelings?
Expression of emotions and feelings Emotions are temporary states, and they can change in dozens even within one hour. In order for emotion to turn into feeling, you need to wait a long time, sometimes years. And if a feeling has appeared in us, it can persist for decades, while an emotion lasts a couple of seconds, respectively, there are much more emotions than feelings.
How does a person's feelings differ from his emotions: comparison, psychology, a brief description of characteristics and properties
How do you know what is feeling and what is emotion?
- We control our feelings, but emotions are very difficult to control, more often than not impossible.
- Feelings are manifested on the basis of constant simple emotions, and emotions are momentary.
- Feelings are formed in the process of life experience, and with emotions we are born.
- Feeling is impossible to realize, but we are fully aware of emotions, more often in the past tense.
- Feelings are durable, and emotions arise for a short time in response to some action from the outside. We express our emotions by screaming, laughing, crying, hysterics.
- Feelings arise from emotions, and it takes time for emotions to turn into feelings.
The line between feelings and emotions is very difficult to define.... Sometimes we cannot understand for a long time what state we actually have - emotions or feelings. An example of this is falling in love and love.
Functions and role of emotions and feelings in psychology, human life, connection of emotions and feelings with the body: description, external manifestations
Anger driven to passion Emotions are not only words, but actions can also be. Everyone knows how the smile of another affects one person. If a smiling person is sincere, he can infect others with his smile. Emotions make us understand each other better.
Feelings and emotions are manifested in 4 types:
- The very feeling
- Manifestation of mood
- Passion
- Affect
Feeling- negative or positive manifestation of human properties.
Mood- the background for the actions of the human psyche.
Passion- the feeling is strong and rather long-lasting.
Affect- a very strong feeling lasting a short time.
Following this classification:
- Surprise is a feeling, and amazement, bliss is the same feeling, but driven to passion
- Anger is a feeling, rage is a feeling driven to passion
- Joy is a feeling, delight is a feeling driven to passion
Words expressing feelings and emotions: a list
Expression of emotion on your face We are born with some emotions. Emotions show up well on our face. Small child, who cannot speak, already shows his emotions perfectly.
Expression of the simplest emotions and feelings:
- Apathy is complete indifference.
- Hopelessness is the loss of all hope.
- Anxiety is a manifestation of anxiety, excitement, apprehension.
- Fun - I want to laugh.
- Indignation - dissatisfaction with everyone.
- Arrogance is a contemptuous attitude towards other people.
- Sadness is a state when it seems that everything around is in gray tones.
- Pity is a feeling of compassion for others.
- Envy is a test of bitterness at what others do and you don’t.
- Anger is resentment, and a desire to do something unpleasant to another object.
- Fright is a reaction to sudden danger.
- Pleasure is a feeling associated with the satisfaction of one's interests.
- Hatred is intense anger towards another object.
- Loneliness is a state when there is no one to talk to heart to heart.
- Sadness is a state of longing for the past or the present.
- Shame - worrying about an unworthy deed.
- Happiness is a state of inner satisfaction with something.
- Anxiety is a condition caused by internal stress.
- Surprise is a quick reaction to a sudden event seen.
- Horror - intense fear when faced with a threatening object.
- Rage is an aggressive form of anger.
Luule Viilma - A woman lives with emotions, a man with feelings: what does this mean?
Depending on the prevailing emotions, each person has their own diseases. Luule Viilma- an Estonian gynecologist and a great connoisseur of the human soul, the author of 8 books. In her articles, she tried to convey to people that our health is associated with a state of mind, our emotions are associated with diseases, and only we, by adjusting our emotions, are able to cure ourselves.
The fact that a woman lives with emotions, and a man with feelings can be learned from the book by Luule Viilma "Male and Female Beginning". If anyone is interested, you can.
Is it possible and how to manage emotions and feelings: education of emotions and feelings
Emotions can be directed in the right direction from childhood. Thanks to emotions and feelings, our life becomes interesting, but at the same time, excessive emotions affect our health and psyche, so you need to learn how to manage our emotions.
How do you manage emotions?
- First, you need to admit to yourself that not all emotions that manifest in you are positive.
- Deal with every manifestation of negative emotions.
- Don't take all negative emotions personally. If your boss yelled at you, this does not mean that you are a bad employee, maybe he was in a bad mood.
- Control your negative emotions and prevent them from showing up next time.
- Learn to control your explosive nature and the manifestation of violent emotions, for example, with the help simple ways meditation, special trainings.
- Now there are tons of books and films with which you can learn to control your emotions.
So, we learned a little more and got to know our feelings and emotions.
Video: Disney cartoon for children Puzzle, our emotions