Each of us knows perfectly well what emotions are, because they arise spontaneously and accompany us from birth. But if you put a direct question about what it is, and ask you to describe a particular emotion, then usually people experience great difficulties. Even more difficult is the situation with feelings. Their definition for most people is an almost impossible task: it is impossible to find the right words to describe and name the reason for their occurrence. Those sensations and experiences that accompany the feelings of a person almost defy the usual description.
Back in 1928, the Swiss psychologist E. Claparede called the emotional sphere of the human psyche the most confusing and difficult to study. The most controversial issue in psychology has always been the definition and division of the concept of emotions and feelings. Different points of view on the origin and precise definition emotional phenomena have given rise to a lot of controversy in psychology about how feelings differ from emotions and whether there is a close relationship between these concepts.
Emotions and feelings are closely related parts of the complex. However, the correlation of these concepts in psychology is still open question to which there are many different answers. In general, ideas about these concepts can be divided into four groups, based on the scientific views of different psychologists:
- identification of feelings and emotions, the same definition of these concepts;
- definition of feelings as a type of emotions, feeling is one of many emotional phenomena;
- definition of feelings as a generic concept, where emotions are a form of experiencing feelings;
- separating them as concepts between which there is no direct correspondence.
feel the difference
IN modern psychology the most accurate definition, which "sheds light" on the essence of the emotional and sensory spheres, makes it possible to see specific differences between them, was given by the Russian psychologist A. N. Leontiev. He argued that emotion is situational in nature, which means that it arises as an assessment of a particular situation or one's behavior in this situation. Feelings are persistent emotional attitude to a specific object. To better understand their definition, analyze the following quotes from fiction.
“In the room with the curtains drawn, I hated spring. I hated everything that spring brought me, hated the dull pain it caused in my body. I have never hated anything so much."
H. Murakami "Norwegian Forest"
“She was very nice and he knew he loved her. She was not as beautiful as a statue or a painting; she was beautiful, like a meadow blown by the wind. Life throbbed in her, the very life that, accidentally colliding two cells in her mother's womb, created her just like that.
E. M. Remarque "Arc de Triomphe"
As you probably already understood, in the first case we are talking about emotions: in a specific situation, a person felt hatred that is not “tied” to a specific person or object. In the second case, a person explains the depth of his feelings - love for a woman. Based on each specific situation, the same concept can be both an emotion and a feeling. For example, a person may experience fear in a situation where his own life is threatened, but also fear may accompany a person in relation to a specific person or activity. In the first case, it is an emotion, and in the second, a stable feeling.
How do they arise?
You already know what feelings are and how emotions are manifested, you have analyzed their definition. But important issue is their origin, the process of formation. Emotional response is directly related to meeting our needs and maintaining vital functions. All of them appear situationally and spontaneously, and many are inherent in every person from birth. For example, you feel a feeling of hunger, the stomach sends a signal to the brain. But it so happened that you cannot satisfy this need right now, so a negative emotional reaction arises, you feel hungry. But when you eat, your negative emotional reaction will disappear, and another one will take its place.
Sense experiences are of a completely different nature, their origin is connected with life experience man and the influence of the surrounding reality. They arise on the basis of already formed concepts and are expressed with the help of emotions. For example, in order for love for the Motherland to arise, one must master the essence of this concept itself, as well as know those experiences that are generally associated with this concept. It is obvious that the comprehension of feelings is associated with a deep analysis and assessment of what is happening. In this regard, they are also often called higher or secondary emotions, which is explained by their formation on the basis of simpler emotional reactions.
Understanding emotions is quite simple, a person can almost always explain why he is experiencing a particular emotion. But if you ask why he loves someone, then at best you can hear only inaccurate and confusing explanations without specifics. Feelings are stable, and some of them can even accompany a person all his life. At the same time, the emotions that accompany this feeling can constantly change. For example, a mother loves her child, despite his bad behavior in some situations when she experiences sadness, resentment, resentment and other polar emotions. This example clearly shows that there is no direct correspondence between these concepts: each emotion can express different feelings, in turn, each feeling can be manifested by different emotions.
How to recognize them?
Emotions are quite easy to recognize, they are expressed in gestures, facial expressions, intonation and tone of voice, as well as in the manner of speaking. Feelings are usually easier to express with the usual phrases: "I love him", "I'm afraid of this." A person may consciously not show an emotional response, thus hiding his feelings from other people. But not every one of us knows how to control emotions that find their manifestation through non-verbal "channels" and become noticeable to others.
During social development humanity, non-verbal manifestations have been generalized and can comprehensively express specific sensory sensations. Having learned to recognize non-verbal signals in communication, each person is able to determine not only the specific emotions of the interlocutor, but often complex feelings. But we should not forget that each person's feelings can be expressed through various emotions, often very contradictory.
Summing up
You have learned a lot of new information about the complex and contradictory human emotional world. In order for new knowledge to be assimilated better, take its place in your experience and help you develop further, we will draw specific conclusions about the main differences between the emotional world and human sensory perception:
| EMOTIONS | FEELINGS |
|---|---|
| They appear in a specific situation, reflecting his attitude to it, to his behavior or to the behavior of other people. They are not tied to a specific person or object. | Arise on the basis of more simple emotions, which is why they are often referred to as superior. |
| They are congenital, manifest as a spontaneous reaction to a stimulus | Formed in the process of socialization and the acquisition of personal life experience |
| The reason for the emergence of emotions is recognized | It is difficult to verbally explain the origin of feeling and its fullness |
| Quite short-lived, one is quickly replaced by another | Relevant over a long, often indefinite, period of time |
| The same emotion can illustrate different feelings, and they, in turn, can be manifested in each individual person with the help of different emotions. | Do not change depending on the context of the situation, and emotions are always tied to specific circumstances |
IN what is the difference between emotion and feeling , a discussion that is born from two terms that are often confused with each other, both in everyday speech of people and in scientific language, since their definitions cause quite a confusion when distinguishing between one or the other.
Already in 1991, psychologist Richard Lazarus proposed a theory that included the concept of feeling within emotion.
In this theory, Lazarus considered two interrelated concepts so that emotions encompass feeling in their definition. Thus, feeling is a cognitive or subjective component of emotions, subjective experience.
In this article, I will first explain to you what an emotion is and, briefly, the different primary emotions that exist, and then I will continue to explain the concept of feeling and the differences between them.
What are feelings and emotions
Definition and classification of emotions
Emotions are effects created by a multi-dimensional process that takes place on a level:
- Psychophysiological: changes in physiological activity.
- Behavioral: preparation for action or behavior mobilization.
- Cognitive: analysis of situations and their subjective interpretation as a function of the personal history of the individual.
Emotional states are the result of the release of hormones and neurotransmitters, which then turn those emotions into feelings. Responses to stimuli come from both innate brain mechanisms (primary emotions) and behavioral repertoires learned throughout a person's life (secondary emotions).
The most important neurotransmitters involved in the formation of emotions are: dopamine, norepinephrine, cortisol and oxytocin. The brain is responsible for turning hormones and neurotransmitters into feelings.
It is important to be crystal clear that emotion is never good or bad per se. All have an evolutionary origin, so it is the body's response to various stimuli for the survival of the individual.
Emotion also appears ubiquitously in non-verbal communication. Facial expressions are universal and confirm the emotions you feel in that moment.
Functions of emotions
- Adaptive function: to prepare a person for action. This function was first demonstrated by Darwin, who treated emotions with the function of facilitating the behavior appropriate to each particular situation.
- Social: report on our state of mind.
- Motivation: promote motivated behavior.
The main characteristics of emotions
The main characteristics of emotions are those that every person has ever experienced in life. This:
- Surprise: surprise - as an adaptive function of the study. This facilitates attention, focuses on it and promotes search behavior and curiosity about a new situation. In addition, cognitive processes and resources are activated towards an unexpected situation.
- Disgust: This emotion has an adaptive rejection function. Through this emotion, avoidance or avoidance responses turn out to be unpleasant or potentially harmful to our health. In addition, healthy and hygiene habits improve.
- Joy: its adaptive function is membership. This emotion causes us to increase our ability to enjoy, generates a positive attitude towards ourselves and others. On a cognitive level, it also contributes to the processes of memory and learning.
- Fear: Adaptive protection function. This emotion helps us avoid responses to dangerous situations for us. It focuses primarily on the dangerous stimulus, allowing for quick response. Finally, it also mobilizes a lot of energy, which will allow us to perform much faster and more intense responses about how we would do it in a situation that did not create fear.
- Anger: Its adaptive function is self-protection. Anger increases the mobilization of energy needed to respond in self-defense to something dangerous to us. Removing the obstacles that breed frustration and hinder the achievement of our goals or objectives.
- sadness: This emotion has an adaptive function reintegration. With that emotion, it would seem hard to imagine the benefits of doing so. However, this emotion helps us increase our unity with other people, especially those who are in the same emotional state as we are. In a state of sadness, our normal rhythm of general activity decreases, allowing us to pay more attention to other aspects of life that in a normal state of activity we would not stop thinking about them.
It also helps us to seek help from other people. This stimulates the emergence of empathy and altruism, both in the person who feels the emotion and in those who receive a demand for help.
Definition of feeling
Feeling is the subjective experience of emotion. As mentioned by Carlson and Hatfield in 1992, feeling is the evaluation, moment by moment, that the subject performs each time he or she is confronted with a situation. That is, this feeling would be the sum of an instinctive and momentary emotion, together with the thought that we are getting a rational form of that emotion.
The passage of reasoning, consciousness and its filters thus creates feeling. In addition, this thought can nourish or support the feeling, making it more durable.
Thought, just as it has the ability to feed every feeling, can exert force to control those feelings and avoid the accumulation of emotions if it is negative.
This is a process that requires learning, because managing feelings, especially to stop them, is not something that is easy to learn, it is something that entails a long learning process.
Childhood is a stage that is of great importance for the development of feelings.
In relationships with parents, a person learns the basics of desire and knowledge, how to behave socially. If the emotional bonds between parents and children progress positively, in the adult stage these children will arrive with a sense of security on their own.
Family ties built right from the start early age, will cultivate and generate a personality capable of loving, respecting and harmoniously coexisting in the teenage and adult stages.
When we do not express our feelings or do not adequately, our problems increase, they can be affected. important way even our health.
Duration of feelings
The duration of feelings depends on various factors such as cognitive and physiological. It has its physiological origin in the neocortex (rational brain), located in the frontal part of the brain.
While feelings improve willingness to act, they are not behavior per se. That is, the person may feel angry or upset and not have aggressive behavior.
Some examples of feelings are love, jealousy, suffering or pain. As we have already said, and you can provide these examples, indeed, feelings have a rather long period.
Developing empathy allows people to understand the feelings of others.
In connection with the difference between feelings and emotions, the Portuguese neurologist Antonio Damasio made a definition of how a person moves from emotions to feelings in which the most characteristic difference Both are reflected quite clearly:
When you experience an emotion, such as the emotion of fear, there is a stimulus that can trigger an automatic response. And this reaction, of course, starts in the brain, but then continues to reflect itself in the body, either in the real body or in our internal simulation of the body. And then we have the opportunity to project this particular reaction with several ideas that are associated with these reactions and with the object that caused the reaction. When we perceive everything that is, when we have a feeling.
Emotions operate from the very beginning of a person's life at birth as a warning system. Thus, the baby shows crying when he is hungry, wants affection or requires other care.
Already in adult life emotions begin to form and improve thinking, drawing our attention to important changes.
Through this thought, when we ask ourselves, how does this person feel? This allows us to have a real-time approach to human sensations and characteristics.
In addition, it can help us advance feelings towards a future situation by creating an emotional stage of the mind and thus be able to more correctly determine our behavior by anticipating the feelings that arise from these situations.
Main differences
Here are some of the differences between emotions and feelings:
- Emotions are very intense, but at the same time very short. The fact that emotion has short term, does not mean that your emotional experience (i.e. feeling) is as brief. Feeling is the result of emotions, subjective emotional mood is usually a long-term consequence of emotions. The latter will continue for as long as our conscious mind takes time to think about it.
- So feeling is the intelligent response we give to every emotion, the subjective interpretation we generate before all emotions have our past experiences as a fundamental factor. That is, the same emotions can cause different feelings depending on each person and subjective meaning.
- Emotions, as I explained above, are psychophysiological reactions that occur in front of various stimuli. While feelings are a conscious reaction of emotions.
- Another significant difference between emotions and feelings is that emotions can be created unconsciously, while there is always a conscious process in feeling. This feeling can be regulated by our thoughts. Emotions that are not perceived as feelings remain in the unconscious, although, however, they can influence our behavior.
- A person who is aware of a feeling has access to his mood, as I mentioned, to increase it, maintain it or extinguish it. This does not happen with emotions, which are unconscious.
- Feelings differ from emotions in that they are more intellectual and rational elements. There is already some elaboration in the feeling with the intention to understand and understand, the reflection.
- A feeling can be caused by a complex mixture of emotions. That is, you can feel anger and love for one person at a time.
Understand emotions and feelings
To try to understand our emotions and feelings, both positive and negative, it is very helpful to use our thoughts. To do this, it is effective to express our feelings in order to explain to another person, and who can be put in our place in the most intimidating and objective way.
If you are trying to talk to someone about your feelings, it is advisable to be as specific as possible about how we feel in addition to the degree of that feeling.
Also, we need to be as specific as possible when identifying an action or event that makes us feel like it's a way to show the best possible objectivity, rather than making the other person feel like they're being blamed directly.
In conclusion, I will give an example of the process by which an instinctive and momentary emotion becomes, through reasoning, a sensation.
This is a case of love. It may start with emotions of surprise and joy that someone pays attention to us for a while.
When this stimulus fades, that's when our limbic system will signal the absence of the stimulus, and consciousness will realize that this is no longer the case. This is when you move into romantic love, a feeling that lasts longer in the long run.
Feelings and emotions are very close concepts, so they are often confused. However, the processes of their formation are different, and it often happens that a person feels one thing, and his emotions speak of another. What is the difference between feelings and emotions - in this article.
Comparative characteristics of emotions and feelings
Analyzing both, one can see that:
- Emotions are situational, but feelings are more permanent. You can love spring with all your heart as a season, but get annoyed when bad weather spoils all plans. That is, there is an emotional reaction to any particular situation.
- The difference is manifested in the essence, course, speed and duration of the processes. Emotions are short-lived and pass quickly, while feelings are much more permanent, although they can also change. This can even be traced by the facial expression of a person: the difference between emotions and lies in the fact that the former change facial expression for a short period of time, for example, when a person experiences fear at the sight of angry dog. If his face returns to its original position slowly or does not return at all, it can be assumed that he does not like these animals at all and will recover for a long time after meeting this evil representative.
- Emotions are small particles of feelings, like splashes of water from the general flow. Feelings are the basis of flashing.
The difference between feelings and emotions
Emotions - they always lie on the surface, and feelings are hidden in the depths. Of course, unless a person deliberately hides them. For example, he may feel annoyed because his girlfriend did not call him, but not show it. The meaning of a particular emotion is determined by the feeling that evokes it. But it often happens that emotions fail a person and distort his perception by other people. For example, in moments of danger or great grief, a person laughs, that is, according to other people, he behaves inappropriately.
A person sometimes does not realize what drives his emotions. The heart experiences one feeling, the face expresses completely different emotions, the tone of voice can have a third color, and the meaning of words can have a fourth. They say that the face of an elderly person can be "read" his whole life. Pursed lips and lowered corners indicate that a person’s life was not sugar, but there are faces that time did not seem to have touched and they exude joy and light. The differences between emotions and feelings are that the first is a manifestation of the second, and the feelings themselves are the result of the perception of the world.
In life, concepts such as emotions and feelings are often confused, but these phenomena are different and reflect different meanings.
Emotions are not always recognized
Sometimes a person cannot clearly articulate what emotions he is experiencing, for example, people say “everything boils in me”, what does this mean? What emotions? Anger? Fear? Despair? Anxiety? Annoyance? It is not always possible for a person to determine a momentary emotion, but a person is almost always aware of a feeling: friendship, love, envy, hostility, happiness, pride.
Experts make a distinction between emotion"and concepts" feeling», « affect», « mood" And " experience».
Unlike feelings, emotions do not have an object attachment: they arise not in relation to someone or something, but in relation to the situation as a whole. " I'm scared" is an emotion, and " I'm afraid of this person" - this feeling.
The feelings and emotions listed here do not exhaust the whole palette, the whole variety of human emotional states. A comparison with the colors of the solar spectrum is appropriate here. There are 7 main tones, but how many more intermediate colors do we know and how many shades can be obtained by mixing them!
|
Positive
1. Pleasure Neutral 25. Curiosity. |
Negative
30. Displeasure. |
It is difficult to say how many different emotional states there can be - but, in any case, there are immeasurably more than 70. Emotional states are highly specific, even if they have the same name with modern rough methods of evaluation. There are apparently many shades of anger, joy, sadness, and other feelings.
Love for an older brother and love for a younger sister are similar, but far from the same feelings. The first is colored with admiration, pride, sometimes envy; the second is a sense of superiority, a desire to provide patronage, sometimes pity and tenderness. A completely different feeling is love for parents, love for children. But for the designation of all these feelings, we use one name.
The division of feelings into positive and negative is by no means done on ethical grounds, but solely on the basis of the pleasure or displeasure delivered. Therefore, gloating turned out to be in the column of positive feelings, and sympathy - negative feelings. The negatives seem to outnumber the positives. Why? Several explanations can be offered.
The argument is sometimes made that there are simply many more words expressing unpleasant feelings in the language, because in good mood a person is generally less prone to introspection. We find this explanation unsatisfactory.
The initial biological role of emotions is signaling, according to the type "pleasant - unpleasant", "safe - dangerous". Apparently, the “dangerous” and “unpleasant” signaling is more essential for an animal, it is vitally important, more relevant, because it directs its behavior in critical situations.
It is clear that such information in the process of evolution should receive priority over information that signals "comfort".
But what has historically developed can change historically. When a person masters the laws of social development, this will also change his emotional life, shifting the center of gravity towards positive, pleasant feelings.
Let's go back to the list of feelings. If you carefully read all 70 items, you will notice that some of the listed feelings coincide in content and differ only in intensity. For example, surprise and amazement differ only in strength, that is, in degree of expression. The same anger and rage, pleasure and bliss, etc. Therefore, some clarifications need to be made to the list.
Feelings usually come in five main forms:
The definition of feeling is given by us above.
Affect- this is a very strong short-term feeling associated with a motor reaction (or with complete immobility - numbness. But numbness is also a motor reaction).
Passion called a strong and lasting feeling.
Mood- the resultant of many feelings. This state is distinguished by a certain duration, stability and serves as a background against which all other elements flow. mental activity.
Under experiences they usually understand the exclusively subjective-psychic side of emotional processes, not including physiological components.
Thus, if we consider surprise to be a feeling, then amazement is the same feeling in content, but brought to the degree of affect (recall the final silent scene of The Inspector General).
Likewise, we call anger when it has become an affect, bliss is the affect of pleasure, delight is the affect of joy, despair is the affect of grief, horror is the affect of fear, adoration is love, which in duration and strength has become passion, etc.
Manifestations of emotions
Emotional reactions are associated with nervous processes, they are also manifested in external movements, called `` expressive movements. Expressive movements are an important component of emotions, the external form of their existence. Expressions of emotions are universal, similar for all people, sets of expressive signs that reflect certain emotional states.
To expressive forms of emotions include the following:
Gestures (hand movements),
Facial expressions (movements of facial muscles),
Pantomime (movements of the whole body) - see,
Emotional components of speech (strength and timbre, voice intonation),
Vegetative changes (redness, blanching, sweating).
Read more about how emotions are expressed.
The face of a person has the greatest ability to express various emotional shades (see). And, of course, the eyes are often the mirror of emotions (see)
Emotions and feelings are peculiar states of the psyche that leave an imprint on the life, activities, actions and behavior of a person. If emotional states mainly determine the external side of behavior and mental activity, then feelings affect the content and inner essence of experiences due to the spiritual needs of a person.
Sourced from openemo.com
One of the most interesting and mysterious areas of our psyche is the world of emotions. Studied for thousands of years by scientists from different fields of knowledge, it still keeps many of its secrets and mysteries. Emotions permeate our entire life, making it bright, rich, sometimes quivering and tender, sometimes filled with unbearable burning pain. Yes, they are this life itself, because where feelings disappear, human existence ends.
It is psychology that most fully reveals the essence of this area of the human psyche - the only science that has managed to organically link together the physiological basis and manifestations of emotional states.
In psychology, the concept of "emotions" is used both in a broad sense, as emotional states, and in a narrow one, as one of the types of these states, along with feelings, moods, affects, etc. Emotional states are a special class of mental phenomena that reflect the attitude person to the world.
Emotions and needs
Interacting with the outside world and with other people, a person is constantly faced with situations that cause him different attitude: joy or indignation, sadness or hatred, surprise or sympathy. That is, a person reflects the world and stores information in memory not only in images and concepts, but also in the form of sensory experiences - emotions.
Emotions are closely related to. Those life circumstances, situations or people that contribute to the satisfaction of needs, cause us to positive emotions, and those that hinder, impede - negative. It's so simple and so complicated at the same time.
- Firstly, we are not always aware of our needs, but we always experience the emotions associated with them. Therefore, often we cannot even explain to ourselves why we do not like this or that person, or because of what the mood suddenly deteriorated.
- Secondly, a person lives a complex and multifaceted life, and often his needs come into contact not only with the needs of other people, but also with his own desires. Therefore, it is extremely difficult even for an experienced psychologist to understand this confusing and chaotic whirlpool of emotions. You probably know that you can love and hate the same person at the same time, or be afraid and look forward to some event at the same time.
You can deal with your experiences only by realizing and bringing your confused desires and needs into at least relative order. Experienced psychotherapists can help with this. After all, only by understanding and accepting your needs or consciously abandoning them, you can reduce the severity of negative experiences.
Psychophysiology of emotional states
Emotions are ancient species mental states, they are in animals and are associated with the satisfaction of natural, and in higher animals and social, needs.
- The antiquity of this type of mental states is confirmed by the fact that they are born in the old, from the point of view of evolution, subcortical part of the brain - in the limbic system. By the way, the name is very telling. Limbo is a purgatory, a place between heaven and hell, and even deeper lurk animal instincts and hidden, often dark desires and needs. They sometimes break through from the subconscious level, awakening strange emotions in us, frightening even ourselves.
- But the manifestation of emotions is controlled and controlled by the "youngest" and rational part of the brain - the neocortex ("new cortex"). And when the rational part of the brain is turned off, for example, when heavily intoxicated or in a state of passion, then emotions get out of our control, and instincts, not reason, begin to control behavior.
Any external influence causes a focus of excitation in the cerebral cortex. If the irritation is weak, then the focus quickly fades, but the stronger the impact, the larger and more stable this focus. Penetrating into the subcortical zone, it activates the centers of emotions.
Emotions, in turn, cause a variety of changes in physiological systems organism, because emotions are a signal about the nature of the impact of the stimulus. And if they are negative, then our body is rebuilt, preparing to repel the danger or run away from it. Moreover, for our brain, it turns out, it doesn’t matter whether it is a real enemy or an imaginary one - the signal to restructure the body’s work still comes, and we experience various, often unpleasant sensations. Thus, the emergence of a feeling of fear is accompanied by the following processes:
- adrenaline is released into the blood, which should increase the supply of oxygen to the muscles and activate the work of the sympathetic nervous system;
- blood and nutritional resources are directed to support the muscular system; this reduces the supply of other body systems, so a person feels a feeling of cold, chills, his face turns pale, due to lack of blood supply, dizziness and even loss of consciousness may occur;
- to cope with the increased need for blood supply, the heart begins to beat faster, breathing quickens to supply oxygen to the blood and, as a result, there are difficulties with speech;
- rational control over behavior is reduced, as the functions of the cerebral cortex are somewhat suppressed, and the person literally becomes stupid, thinks rationally poorly.
Work changes different systems body under the influence of emotions are reflex in nature, therefore, we cannot consciously control them, but we can control emotions, at least at the initial stage of their occurrence. Our brain is quite capable of "persuading" the body not to succumb to feelings of fear or anger. And in psychotherapy there are special techniques and trainings that allow a person to learn even in the most critical situations.
Managing emotions is necessary not only to regulate behavior, but also to maintain physical health. The fact is that negative feelings (and they are experienced by a person more strongly than positive ones) have a very backfire. Their systematic experience can lead to the development, first of all, of the cardiovascular and digestive systems. It is these systems that are more affected by the release of adrenaline and other physiological changes. That is, the saying: “All diseases are from the nerves” has a rational basis.
Types of emotions
The most ancient and primitive type of emotional states are the states of pleasure and displeasure, which are referred to as the simplest organic sensitivity. These experiences are connected with the satisfaction (or dissatisfaction) of natural needs and a person is felt even more physiologically than psychologically. For example, when, after a long and tiring day spent on your feet, you sit down in a soft comfortable chair.
But most of our emotional states are "humanized", that is, they are conscious in nature and are associated with activities, social relations.
Moods
This is the most generalized type of emotional states. Moods, on the one hand, are weakly expressed, and on the other hand, they create the background of all our activities, as if coloring our life at one stage or another.
The mood is quite stable. Changing it depends not only on the situation, but also on personal characteristics. In people with a mobile nervous system, moods are less stable and often change.
The most important characteristic moods are non-objective character. This emotional state creates a background, but is not associated with a specific subject. Although a person may well be aware of the circumstance that spoiled his mood, the emotion itself extends not only to this circumstance, but also affects activity (everything falls out of hand, I want to quit everything, etc.) and interpersonal relationships. Often we tear our Bad mood on those who have nothing to do with this, or share our joyful well-being with the whole world.
Emotions
Actually, emotions (in the narrow sense) and feelings are quite close and similar, and psychologists are still arguing which of these emotional states can be attributed to more high level, and which one is more primitive. But this is important for science, but does not play a role in everyday life.
Actually, emotions are more short-lived than moods, but they are also more clearly expressed. The strength of the manifestation of emotions is also much higher than that of mood. Emotions are more conscious of a person, and he clearly differentiates them: joy and anger, fear and hatred, pleasure and hostility.
But the main difference between emotions and moods is that they are objective and directed at a specific object or situation. These emotional states are social in nature, that is, they are part of the communication process, a person transmits his emotions (through facial expressions, pantomime, intonation, gestures) to other people and he himself is able to perceive them, empathize, sympathize with others.
Emotions have another unique feature- we are able to experience them in relation not only to a real situation, but also to an imaginary one. Memories and adventures of the heroes of books and films can also evoke emotions.
Feelings
This kind of emotional states, like emotions, is associated with certain objects. We love or hate completely specific people, phenomena and situations. It is impossible to love, to feel feelings of respect or hostility at all. But feelings are longer, more stable than emotions, deeper and more diverse than them. And it can also be said that feelings are more socialized and depend on the interaction of a person with other people. Therefore, feelings are diverse, and there are several types of them:
- objective feelings - the largest variety of feelings associated with various aspects of human existence; these include, for example, admiration and disgust, feelings of the sublime and a sense of humor (comic);
- moral feelings are associated with relations in society (love, hatred, sense of duty, friendship, envy, etc.);
- intellectual feelings are associated with cognitive needs (curiosity, inquisitiveness, a sense of mystery, doubt, confidence, etc.);
- aesthetic feelings arise in response to the perception of the beautiful or the ugly in nature and art, in general they can be characterized as the experience of pleasure or displeasure, pleasure or disgust, etc.
This classification, of course, is not entirely accurate and complete, since any feeling, in fact, is objective. But it reflects quite well the diverse and colorful palette of human feelings.
Affect and stress
Affect is a very strong and vivid emotional response to a sudden situation that threatens the health and life of a person. Affects are short-term, but they are expressed in a sharp activation of all the protective functions of the body. It can be said that all the forces and hidden reserves of a person are directed to getting rid of the cause of such strong negative emotions.
Cases are described when, in a state of passion, people jumped over four-meter fences, climbed tall trees. There was even a case when a woman, saving a child from under the wheels of a car, was able to turn it into a ditch with a blow of her hands on the side of a small truck.
The peculiarity of affect is that it is accompanied not only by a powerful release of physical and emotional energy, but also by a state of altered consciousness. It manifests itself in the loss by a person of rational control over his actions. The subject, as it were, falls out of reality, and then cannot remember what he did in a state of passion. In forensics, murders committed in this state are classified as special types of crimes, since a person is not aware of his actions and does not control them.
After the affect comes a “rollback” - having used up all his strength, even internal reserves, a person feels weak, his hands tremble, his legs become “cottoned”, and sometimes he even loses consciousness.
Stress is similar to a state of affect in that it occurs as a response to or a threatening situation. But it is less strong and longer lasting. What is important is that stress is not accompanied by a change in consciousness and the disconnection of rational control. Although a person, immersed in the cycle of his problems, may not realize that he lives in a state of stress.
Stress also activates the forces of the body, not only physical, but also intellectual. But at the initial stages, this is felt as an increased tone and a kind of stimulation of activity, and internal reserves are not used up. Only too prolonged stress is harmful to a person, which leads to an overload of the nervous system, chronic fatigue syndrome, and even depression.
Functions of emotions
Emotional states bring us many minutes of pleasure, but often seem superfluous. We would like to get rid of negative experiences, not to worry about loved ones, not to experience feelings of anger or fear. But emotions, even the most unpleasant, perform very important functions in our lives.
- Control or regulation function. Emotions, as negative or positive experiences, control our behavior, form motives and are the strongest stimulus. After all, any living being strives for what brings pleasure, and tries to avoid unpleasant sensations.
- Evaluation function. Emotions help you understand complex world to put things in order in our relations. They evaluate everything that happens to us: both good and bad. This assessment allows us to divide people into friends and enemies, and events into pleasant and unpleasant.
- Protective-mobilizing function. Emotions warn us of danger, and they also turn on the defense mechanisms of our body, mobilize forces to solve the problem.
- Signal or expressive. Emotions play a huge role in communication, conveying to other people information about our condition and attitude. Expressive movements that accompany emotions are an important part of non-verbal communication.
- synthesizing function. Emotions are a kind of cement mortar”, connecting events, images, phenomena in memory. It is emotions that create in memory single blocks-complexes of events connected by experiences.
But along with positive and, undoubtedly, important and desired functions, emotional states can also play a disorganizing role, that is, interfere with the normal actions of a person. The feeling of fear can develop into panic, which prevents you from properly comprehending the situation and accepting correct solution. Excitement does not allow you to focus on activities, for example, solve a problem on a test. And love, too, happens to be so dizzy that a person can no longer think about anything and does not evaluate his actions sensibly.
However, there is a way out. A person may well learn to control emotions and subordinate them to the control of the mind.