1.3 The role of “positive” and “negative” emotions
“Negative” emotions play a more important biological role compared to “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. A “negative” emotion is an alarm signal, a danger to the body. A “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 the good comes quickly. The alarm must be sounded until the danger has been eliminated. As a result, only “negative” emotions can become stagnant. “Negative” emotions are harmful only in excess, just as anything that exceeds the norm is harmful. Fear, anger, rage increase the intensity of metabolic processes, lead to better nutrition of the brain, strengthen the body's resistance to overload, infections, etc.
The neural mechanisms of positive emotional reactions are more complex and subtle than negative ones. “Positive” emotions have an independent adaptive meaning, that is, the role of “positive” emotions is different from the role of “negative” emotions: “positive” emotions encourage living systems to actively disrupt the achieved “balance” with the environment: “The most important role of positive emotions is active disruption of peace, comfort, and the famous “balancing of the body with the external environment.” “Negative emotions, as a rule, ensure the preservation of what has already been achieved by evolution or the individual development of the subject. Positive emotions revolutionize behavior, prompting us to look for 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, and indignation at injustice. The social value of emotions is always determined by the motive that brought it to life.”
1.4 Types of emotional states
Depending on the depth, intensity, duration and degree of differentiation, the following types of emotional states can be distinguished: sensory tone, actual emotions, affect, passion, mood.
The simplest form of emotions is the emotional tone of sensations - innate hedonic experiences (from the Greek hedone - pleasure), accompanying certain vital influences (for example, taste, temperature, pain). Already at this level, emotions are differentiated into 2 polar classes. Positive emotions caused by useful influences encourage the subject to achieve and maintain them; Negative emotions stimulate activity aimed at avoiding harmful influences.
1. Sensual or emotional tone is the simplest form of emotion, an elementary manifestation of organic sensitivity that accompanies individual vital influences and encourages the subject to eliminate or preserve them. Often such experiences, due to their weak differentiation, cannot be expressed verbally. Sensory tone is recognized as an emotional coloring, a unique qualitative shade of the mental process, as a property of a perceived object, phenomenon, action, etc.
2. Emotions themselves are a mental reflection in the form of a direct biased experience of the life meaning of phenomena and situations, conditioned by the relationship of their objective properties to the needs of the subject. These are subject-specific mental processes and states that arise in a specific environment and are narrowly focused. Emotions arise when there is excessive motivation in relation to the real adaptive capabilities of the individual. Emotions arise due to the fact that the subject cannot or does not know how to give an adequate response to stimulation (situations characterized by novelty, unusualness or suddenness).
It is traditional to divide emotions into positive and negative. However, emotions such as anger, fear, shame cannot be unconditionally categorized as negative. Anger is sometimes directly correlated with adaptive behavior and even more often with defense and affirmation of personal integrity. Fear is also associated with survival and, along with shame, contributes to the regulation of permissive aggressiveness and the establishment of social order.
A popular classification of emotions in relation to activity and, accordingly, their division into sthenic (inducing action, causing tension) and asthenic (inhibiting action, depressing). Classifications of emotions are also known: by origin from groups of needs - biological, social and ideal emotions; by the nature of the actions on which the probability of satisfying the need depends - contact and distance.
3. Affect is a rapidly and violently occurring emotional process of an explosive nature, which can provide a release in action that is not subject to conscious volitional control. The main thing in affect is an unexpected shock, sharply experienced by a person, characterized by a change in consciousness, a violation of volitional control over actions. In affect, the parameters of attention change sharply: its switchability decreases, concentration and memory are impaired, up to partial or
complete amnesia. Affect has a disorganizing effect on activity, consistency and quality of performance, with maximum disintegration - stupor or chaotic, unfocused motor reactions. There are normal and pathological affects.
The main signs of pathological affect: altered consciousness (disorientation in time and space); inadequacy of the intensity of the response to the intensity of the stimulus that caused the reaction; the presence of post-affective amnesia.
4. Passion is an intense, generalized and prolonged experience that dominates other human impulses and leads to concentration on the object of passion. The reasons that cause passion can be different - from bodily inclinations to conscious ideological beliefs. Passion can be accepted and sanctioned by the individual, or it can be experienced as something unwanted and intrusive. The characteristic features of passion are the strength of feeling, expressed in the appropriate direction of all thoughts of the individual, stability, unity of emotional and volitional moments, a peculiar combination of activity and passivity.
5. Mood - a relatively long-lasting, stable mental state of moderate or weak intensity. The reasons that cause mood are numerous - from organic well-being (vital tone) to the nuances of relationships with others. Mood has a subjective orientation; in comparison with a sensory tone, it is perceived not as a property of an object, but as a property of the subject. Individual personal characteristics play a certain role.
The variety of manifestations of human emotional life confronts psychology with the need to differentiate them more clearly. According to the tradition of Russian psychology, it is customary to distinguish feelings as a special subclass of emotional processes. A feeling is experienced and revealed in specific emotions. However, in contrast to the actual emotions and affects associated with specific situations, feelings highlight phenomena in the surrounding reality that have a stable need-motivational significance. The content of a person’s dominant feelings expresses his attitudes, ideals, interests, etc. So, feelings are stable emotional relationships, acting as a kind of “attachment” to a certain range of phenomena of reality, as a persistent focus on them, as a certain “capture” by them. In the process of regulating behavior, feelings are assigned the role of leading emotional and semantic formations of the individual.
Emotional reactions (anger, joy, melancholy, fear) are divided into emotional response, emotional outburst and emotional explosion (affect). The emotional response is, according to the authors, the most dynamic and constant phenomenon of a person’s emotional life, reflecting rapid and shallow switches in a person’s relationship systems to routine changes in situations of everyday life. The intensity and duration of the emotional response are small, and it is not capable of significantly changing a person’s emotional state. A more pronounced intensity, tension and duration of experience is characterized by an emotional outburst, which can change the emotional state, but is not associated with a loss of self-control. An emotional explosion is characterized by a rapidly developing emotional reaction of great intensity with a weakening of volitional control over behavior and an easier transition into action. This is a short-term phenomenon, after which a loss of strength or even complete indifference and drowsiness sets in.
We can talk about emotional experiences of various durations: fleeting, unstable, long-lasting, lasting several minutes, hours and even days) and chronic. At the same time, one must understand the conventions of such a division. These three groups of emotional reactions can be called differently: operational (appearing with a single exposure), current and permanent (lasting weeks and months). However, an emotional reaction (anxiety, fear, frustration, monotony, etc.) under certain conditions can be operational (fleeting), current (long-term), and permanent (chronic). Therefore, the use of this characteristic when identifying a class of emotional reactions is very relative.
What are emotions? As practice shows, not everyone can answer this question. That is, we all, to one degree or another, understand what this concept includes, but for some reason it’s impossible to come up with a definition in most cases. What's the matter? Psychologists say that it is generally difficult for a person to explain intangible concepts, and here the term is far from simple.
This article will try to reveal the very essence of emotions. The reader will find out exactly how they arise, why and what their role is in our mental state. Separately, such an important point as the development of emotions will be touched upon. In general, everyone interested will receive answers to all their questions.
What are emotions? General definition of the concept
Experts in the field of psychology argue that any emotion is an information process that reflects a subjective evaluative attitude towards situations that actually exist or are possible.
Both positive and negative emotions are, of course, distinct from affects, feelings, and moods. But, unfortunately, today it has been studied very poorly, so this definition cannot be considered quite accurate, and it is quite easy to challenge it.
The role and nature of their occurrence
It has been established that a person needs emotions to evaluate the events taking place around and within him. It is interesting that such a “language” is the same for all living beings. For example, a dog perfectly understands what is happening to people, simply by observing and “reading” their facial expressions and gestures.
Likewise, a child without special knowledge or vast life experience is capable of not only understanding, but often also adopting both negative and positive emotions of his parents, brothers and sisters, grandparents. Moreover, this trend is observed in all corners of the globe.
True, to date it has not yet been clarified exactly how this process occurs, because it is impossible to fully study it.
Types of emotions
These states are completely different and, as a rule, have no limit to the so-called tonality of manifestation. However, based on the question of what emotions are, experts identify their main types. It turns out that the most common are joy and anger. They can be experienced by all living beings on our planet.
Major species are identified primarily by the facial expression or behavior of a person or animal. But to what extent the emotion is experienced is unknown; for example, joy may be tinged with hope or tenderness, etc.
Neutral, positive, negative emotions. What are they?
Conventionally, these states are divided into positive, neutral and negative. The first include joy, love, delight, tenderness, confidence and pleasure. The second category includes anger, anxiety, grief, fear, schadenfreude, revenge, sadness, fear and despair. And finally, the last ones can be called indifference, curiosity and amazement.
There is also a special type of emotion called affect. It is associated with the so-called shutdown of rational thinking. In this state, a kind of “emergency program” is activated in a person, and reactions such as numbness, aggression, and flight occur.
Scientists believe that the higher a creature is on the evolutionary ladder, the richer its range of emotional experiences.
External expression
All, both negative and positive emotions, are characterized by vivid bodily expressions specific to them, manifested in vascular reactions, changes in breathing and blood circulation (this, in turn, makes the face pale or red), in peculiar facial expressions, gestures, intonations, etc.
A person has quite complex facial muscles, which mainly perform only the function of facial movements, which are fully consistent with the nature of the emotional states experienced. With the help of coordinated movements of the eyebrows, lips, cheeks, and eyes, a person expresses different types of mood.
By the way, not everyone knows that, for example, Charles Darwin believed that these expressive movements helped our ancestors in the struggle for existence. For example, baring teeth and growling significantly intimidated the enemy.
However, facial movements associated with moral and intellectual emotions cannot be considered innate. They are acquired by each individual through imitation in the process of communicating with other people.
What is joy?
Joy is a positive emotional state. It is directly related to the ability to fully satisfy any currently relevant need.
In addition, according to experts, joy is characterized by a feeling of special significance, love and confidence both personally in oneself and in one’s future. All this gives a person the feeling of being able to overcome any difficulties and truly enjoy every day, living, as they say, to the fullest.
In addition, joy is accompanied by satisfaction in relation to the environment and the world as a whole. Of course, due to external circumstances, people cannot constantly remain in this state.
Today, scientists have decided to divide joy into two types, namely active and passive. Their difference lies in the levels of intensity of experiencing a given emotion. Although in fact, joy is never completely passive or completely active. In any case, this is a state of nervous excitement.
It actively interacts with other emotions, as well as with human perception and knowledge of the surrounding reality. In addition, joy cannot but contribute to intuition and creativity.
Let's talk about depression
Depression is a condition when a person experiences a complex set of emotions, including suffering, various combinations of anger, disgust, guilt, neglect, hostility, fear, shyness. In general, quite negative emotions.
However, at the same time, it must be taken into account that depression can be caused by neurophysiological and even biochemical factors. In fact, there is still no unity in the interpretation of the term “depression” in scientific circles.
Some scientists believe that the systematic influence of pain or threat leads to depression, fear and suffering. Some supporters of behaviorism believe that people in this state lose absolutely all types of adaptive behavior, which means that their life turns into an absolute nightmare, which they are unable to resist.
Psychoanalysts indicate that possible causes of depression may be decreased self-esteem, dignity, self-confidence and increased fatigue.
The key emotion in this state is suffering.
How emotions affect a person
We have already more or less figured out what emotions are. But what role do they play in our lives?
Experts are confident that the same emotion can be experienced completely differently by different people or even by the same individual in each individual situation.
Emotions primarily influence the perception of the world, namely, life will develop in a pessimistic or optimistic direction. Memory, thinking and imagination also depend on them.
Complexes associated with emotions affect the study, play and work of every person. For example, when an individual feels disgust towards an object, he tries to avoid it in any way.
Psychologists are also confident that special states of consciousness that arise due to interest or joy strongly influence a person’s intuitive and non-verbal knowledge of the surrounding reality.
Emotion is an outward source. This is a way of self-expression in life. This is a characteristic of a person’s attitude towards life.
The emotions people express can be divided into two broad categories. We can think of them as opposites to each other, or we can simply say that there is a dividing line where emotions of one type turn into emotions of another type.
We can call these two types of emotions “negative” and “positive.” This is not so much a value judgment, but rather a description of the basic action of each group. Ratings as "good" or "bad" are not particularly helpful.
Negative emotions express an attempt or intention to “exclude.” Strengthening your own position at the expense of others. Stay away from bad things, destroy what is perceived as a threat. Negative emotions are fueled by a deep-seated fear of the unknown, fear of the actions of others, and the need to control and contain others so as not to be harmed by them.
Positive emotions express an attempt or intention to “turn on.” Consider something in its entirety. Work on learning new points of view, interact more with others, enjoy getting better at something. Positive emotions are fueled by a deep desire for pleasure and unity.
Negative emotions are, for example: indifference, grief, fear, hatred, shame, guilt, regret, indignation, anger, hostility.
Positive emotions are, for example: interest, enthusiasm, boredom, laughter, sympathy, action, curiosity.
Within each category there is a range of different emotions. It can be said that some are more positive or more negative than others. But they do not have to be placed on a linear scale for convenience, since each of them is a mixture of several elements.
Some emotions are disguised as positive or negative, but are actually something completely different. There is a kind of pity that seems to be a genuine concern for others, but which is more likely to be a consolation from the fact that someone else has it worse. There is an underlying hostility that masquerades as friendliness that may be difficult to recognize at first. Likewise, some types of anger or tears may appear negative, but may actually be an expression of concern and concern for the whole. It is not the superficial outward appearance that matters, but the underlying mechanism and motivation.
It may seem like you just need to get rid of negative emotions. But it's not that simple. They have an important purpose. In essence, they show that there is something that a person does not know and cannot cope with. If negative emotions become a stimulus to learn something and deal with it, they are very useful. If a person is always joyful, he may not notice what is wrong.
Positive and negative emotions are opposites. It is impossible to get rid of one and leave only the other. Ultimately they need to be combined into one.
A client's negative emotion usually directs us to areas that need to be addressed. It shows us that there is something here that the personality cannot cope with. We help her deal with it and transform it into something more rewarding and joyful.
Negative emotions are useful as an incentive to get away from the unwanted. Positive emotions are useful as an incentive to move towards what you want.
Trouble occurs when parts of this system get stuck. Especially when the functions of emotions are reversed and the person begins to move towards what she does not want. Therefore, stuck negative emotions are the primary target for processing.
People can express all sorts of combinations of these emotions. Some people remain stuck in a negative emotion, such as grief, almost all the time. Others remain stuck in positive emotions, such as contentment, and do not know how to experience negative emotions, even when they need to.
Some people react according to certain emotional patterns in stressful situations. For example, a person may have hidden grief or fear that is triggered by certain circumstances. An offhand remark can press a button that releases pent-up anger.
The goal of processing is to make people more flexible in emotions, able to use any most appropriate emotion, and able to use their full range when necessary. A flexible and active person will most likely prefer to live in a positive frame of mind. But in fact, the goal is to unite into one whole, to go beyond the positive/negative idea altogether.
Why are emotions needed? In short, emotions perform very important functions - they simplify life and give it taste.
Emotions simplify life in a rather original way - instead of a long multilateral 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 doing stupid things. Sadness prevents you from repeating a mistake. Joy confirms that you have solved a difficult problem correctly.
Emotions are a kind of feedback mechanism to a “conscious person” from his own soul. Emotions are a signaling system. They are born in order to tell a person either joyful or unpleasant news. Namely: positive emotions tell a person that he is moving in the right direction and meeting his needs. Negative emotions indicate that a person's needs are not met.
Our emotions guide us when we find ourselves in difficult situations and faced with problems too important to be left to the intellect alone - when faced with danger, painful loss, persistent progress towards a goal despite disappointments, starting a relationship with a partner, creating a family. Each emotion presupposes a characteristic readiness for action, each shows us a direction that has already proven itself well in solving the repeated complex tasks that life poses to a person. As these eternal situations recur throughout our evolutionary history, the value of our emotional repertoire for survival in them has been confirmed by its anchoring in the nervous system as the innate automatic drives of the human heart.
Everyone knows that emotions add flavor to life (motivate). For example, we strive for joy and avoid grief. This is so obvious that no explanation is required. What is less known is that this taste or motivation is created only when one person has both positive and negative emotions. Just as in an electrical network you need two poles to turn on a light bulb, so in emotional life you need two poles - the experience of experiencing positive and negative emotions. This is where the analogy with electricity ends - there need not 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 completely. Completely healthy and happy children gather and tell each other scary stories. At a more mature age, people, as a rule, have experience of negative emotions, but feel the 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 a lot of negative emotions in everyday life, then they are not looked for additionally. Then the fashion for extreme sports in general reflects the well-being in society, and the well-being in society is not so bad.
Emotions (from the French word emotion - excitement, comes from the Latin emoveo - shock, excite) are reactions of humans and animals to the influence of external and internal stimuli, having a pronounced subjective coloring and covering 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 other words, we can say that emotions are a special class of subjective psychological states that reflect, in the form of direct experiences, feelings of pleasant or unpleasant, a person’s relationship to the world and people, the process and results of his practical activity. The class of emotions includes moods, feelings, affects, passions, and 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 prepare for 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, and surprise. This, in particular, applies to those peoples who have never been in contact with each other.
Showing emotions. What signs can be used to 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.
- Manifestation of emotions in speech.
- Vegetative level of expression of emotions.
- Manifestation of emotions at the biochemical level.
Let's consider how objectively one can judge that a person experiences certain emotions based on their manifestation at each of the specified levels.
1. Subjective plan for the manifestation of emotions. Here, the reflection of emotions occurs in internal experiences that are closely related to and based on the individual’s personal experience.
2. Manifestation of emotions in behavior. Emotions are not only a psychological event, and their functional purpose is not limited to diverse influences at the level of subjective reflection. As R. Descartes argued, “the main effect of all human passions is that they motivate and tune the human 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 were not fixed in evolution and did not become one of the characteristic features of emotional processes.
C. Darwin notes that the free expression of emotions through external signs makes these emotions more intense. On the other hand, suppressing the external manifestation of our emotions, as far as possible, leads to their softening. The one who gives free rein to violent movements intensifies his rage. Anyone who does not restrain the manifestation of fear will experience it to an increased degree. Anyone who, overwhelmed by grief, remains passive, misses the best way to restore peace of mind. Darwin emphasizes that all these conclusions stem, on the one hand, from the fact of the existence of 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 can certainly be observed in facial expressions, gestures, and 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 already actually occurred, 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”) “reveal a tendency to obsession and a tendency to inhibition.” The effect of these opposing tendencies is clearly revealed in the associative experiment. The method of associative experiment is used in the method developed by K.G. Jung's method of diagnosing a past state of affect. Psychologists of the Jung school found that affect, first of all, disrupts the normal course of associations, and with strong affect, associations are usually sharply delayed.
This phenomenon was used to identify a suspect's involvement in a crime. A crime is always associated with a strong emotion, which in those who commit it (especially for the first time) takes on a very acute character. As rightly noted by A.R. Luria, “it is difficult to imagine that this emotion of the crime left no traces in the psyche of the person who committed it. On the contrary, many things convince us that psychic traces after each crime remain in a very noticeable form.”
The tasks of experimental diagnostics of involvement in a crime come down to being able to evoke the desired affective traces and, on the other hand, being able to objectively trace and record them. Both of these tasks were carried out using the method of associative experiment. This method consists of presenting the subject with a word to which he must respond with the first word that comes to his mind. 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 situation 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 many 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 does give this reaction, then you can immediately notice its peculiar disturbance: it occurs with hesitations, verbosity, and its very form is often more primitive than usual.
A.R. Luria explains this by saying 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 using this method, we proceed as follows. Having studied in the most detail the situation of the crime based on the investigation materials, we select from it those details that, in our opinion, are quite closely connected with it and at the same time awaken affective traces only in those involved in the crime, while remaining completely indifferent words for those not involved.”
Speaking about the manifestation of other emotions in speech, it should be noted that in a state of emotional arousal, 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 in the voice, J. Reikovsky says that innate mechanisms determine such manifestations as changes in the strength of the voice (with a change in emotional arousal) or trembling of the voice (under the influence of excitement). “With increasing emotional arousal, the number of functional units actualized for action increases, which has the effect of increasing the activation of the muscles involved in vocal reactions.”
4. Vegetative level of manifestation of emotions. The methods used to determine emotions at this level allow us to track the background emotional state of the subject. The reactions of the autonomic nervous system (ANS) to experienced emotions are more difficult for a person to control than their speech and behavior. Changes in pulse, increased heart rate, breathing, changes in pupil diameter, and electrical resistance of the skin (galvanic skin response) are used as correlates of emotions at the vegetative level.
The emotions experienced by a person cause activation of the nervous system and, above all, the autonomic department, which in turn leads to numerous changes in the state of the 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, adjustment to internal processes and 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 mental states, we immediately perceive expressive movements in them. These may include<...>hair standing on end, sweating, changes in capillary circulation, difficulty breathing and vocal or other sounds. In humans, the respiratory organs are of particular importance as a means of not only direct, but even more so indirect expression of emotions.” Darwin also emphasizes that “of all expressions, blushing with shame seems to be the most peculiar characteristic of man, and, moreover, it is common to all or almost all human races, whether the change in the color of their skin is noticeable or imperceptible.”
In modern science, when determining emotions, methods based on the reaction of the ANS are used to a greater extent. The most striking example is the use of a “lie detector”, which is used not only by intelligence services, but also in some commercial organizations. The detector records changes in the depth and rate of breathing, measures pressure and records changes in sweating.
By recording changes in these indicators, we can conclude that the person is experiencing some emotions, but we do not have sufficient data to indicate what specific 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 a person’s physiological reactions to experienced emotions. The method is based on the analysis of physiological fluids taken from the subject (blood, urine). The content of the corresponding hormones in them determines how strong emotions the subject was exposed to. From the above it is clear that, taking into account accurate quantitative measurements, this method is quite reliable. Its disadvantages include the fact that it does not allow tracking changes occurring in the subject’s body associated with emotions in the background. Some discreteness in measurements is required.
It should also be noted that this method does not allow one to determine exactly what emotion the subject is experiencing.
Having compared the considered methods for studying the manifestations of emotions, it can be noted that the most convincing and functional are the methods based on the identification of behavioral (including facial expressions) and speech (including voice) signs of experienced emotions. The method of determining emotions by the reaction of the ANS looks even more convincing.
On the origin of emotions. Emotions and feelings arose and developed in the process of evolution. What was their adaptive significance?
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 hunting and pursuit of prey, in a fight with a strong predator that threatens life, or at the moment of escaping from danger, the animal requires tension and dedication of all its strength. It is necessary to develop maximum power at a critical moment, even if this is achieved through 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 consolidated this important psychophysiological property in the animal kingdom.
Why didn’t organisms appear in the course of evolution that constantly work at “increased” capacities? There would be no need for a mechanism of emotions to put them on alert: they would always be in a state of “alertness.” But the state of alertness is associated with very high energy costs, wasteful consumption of nutrients and wear and tear on the body; huge quantities of food would be needed, and much of it would be wasted. This is unprofitable 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 appropriate moment, mobilize the body to function in a more intensive mode, allowing it to develop high power when there is an urgent need for it.
Another function of emotions is signaling. Hunger forces an animal to look for food long before the body's nutrient reserves are depleted; thirst drives you in search of water when the liquid reserves have not yet been exhausted, but have already become scarce; pain is a signal that tissues are damaged and are in danger of death. The feeling of fatigue and even exhaustion appears much earlier than the energy reserves in the muscles come to an end. And if fatigue is relieved 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. Positive emotions arising as a result of the body’s interaction with the environment contribute to the consolidation of useful skills and actions, while negative ones force one to evade harmful factors.
As you can see, the role of emotions in the lives of animals is very great. That is why they talk about the biological expediency of emotions as a mechanism of adaptation to changing environmental conditions. The mechanism of emotions turned out to be beneficial for the animal, and natural selection, acting with irresistible force over many generations, 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 prudence and thus can lead to death. Here a pattern is realized that is inherent in any biological adaptation mechanism: 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 brain's assessment of situations becomes more and more subtle. If at first the assessment is of a general nature, like “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 neural elements and connections between them. This is the processing of information according to emotional programs. But besides such roughly approximate processing, there are more differentiated programs, with a small “bandwidth”, but more accurate. These are thought programs that arose in the course of evolution later than emotional programs.
In humans, information processing begins with emotional programs. They give the most general assessment of the situation and thus “narrow the space” for processing using logical programs. But such a scheme is not rigid. Intermediate results of information processing have a reverse effect on the flow of emotions and feelings.
A mismatch between these programs may occur. It is possible that the separation of thinking from feelings underlies some mental disorders.
The interaction of feelings and thinking is specifically manifested in the fact that feelings influence memory mechanisms, selectively reviving only some information from past experience and inhibiting others. In this way, feelings to a certain extent predetermine the nature of association, the content of the associative process.
Man has inherited the mechanism of emotions from his animal ancestors. Therefore, some of the human emotions coincide 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.
In this way, we distinguish an emotion from a 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 during interaction with the mind, during the formation of social relations, and are unique to humans.
As for the term “emotional states,” it refers equally to feelings and emotions. The line between emotion and feeling is not always easy to draw. In terms of the physiology of higher nervous activity, their difference is determined by the degree of participation of cortical and especially second-signal processes.
A feeling is one of the forms of reflection of reality, expressing a person’s subjective attitude to the satisfaction of his needs, to the compliance or non-compliance of something with his ideas.
A significant part of human needs is formed by upbringing and instilled by society (for example, hygienic and cultural needs). Many feelings are so united with 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 occur. But much later, when the danger has passed, a person may be overcome by fear, and he literally becomes cold at the thought of the threat he was exposed to.
Sometimes an offensive hint is not immediately received, and then with a delay a feeling of anger sets in. It happens that a distant memory resurrects previous feelings: a person smiles joyfully, remembering a pleasant event that happened in the past.
In the story by L.N. In Tolstoy’s “Hadji Murat,” the main character, 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 ran away. His interlocutor Loris-Melikov, knowing the proven courage of Hadji Murad, was surprised. Then Hadji Murat explained that from then on he always remembered this shame and when he remembered, he was no longer afraid of anything.
Shame turned out to be stronger than fear due to the ability of memory to resurrect previous feelings. This helped suppress fear, and subsequently, apparently, led to a partial “atrophy of fear.”
In general, the feeling of shame plays a huge role in the formation of the moral and ethical qualities of an individual. J.B. Shaw expressed it aphoristically: “There is no courage, there is shame.”
Below we provide a list of the most famous feelings. Let us stipulate that no enumeration 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 differently. For example, they are divided into positive and negative based on the pleasure or displeasure they deliver. You can distinguish between feelings directed at other people and feelings directed at oneself. The first include love, gratitude, envy, contempt. The second is complacency, shame, repentance. 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, fright. There are “intermediate” feelings that can be classified into several groups: for example, anger and frustration can be directed both 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 diseases. Emotions and feelings are given to a person as a guide to maintaining his psychological integrity. If a person does not listen to them and does not draw the right conclusions about what they want to tell him, a conflict arises in his inner world, which, if this situation is not corrected, only gets worse over time. Difficulties in the form of problems of lack of motivation (desire) and the need to motivate oneself with something, lack of understanding of one’s place in life, as well as conflicts in the form of “I want and I cannot”; I can and I don’t want to; I need it, but I don’t want it; I want, but I don’t need it; I don't know what I want; I need or want 2 conflicting goals at once, etc. - initially generated by just such a conflict. This conflict usually begins in childhood, when the child’s emotional needs are ignored by the parents or even deliberately broken (some believe that this will make the child stronger). Thus, the child becomes disoriented in understanding his feelings, the correct (adequate) attitude towards them, and forms destructive beliefs for the future. People use various techniques for self-motivation, working with emotions, beliefs, etc., but they are needed only as long as a person has this internal conflict.
Functions and role of emotions
When talking about why humans and animals need emotions, we should distinguish between their functions and roles. The function of emotions is a narrow natural purpose, the work performed 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. a secondary product of their functioning. The role of emotions for animals and humans can be positive and negative. The function of emotions, based on their expediency, is predetermined by nature to be only positive, otherwise, why would they appear and take hold? It can be argued that emotions can also have a destructive effect on the body. But this is due to excessively expressed physiological changes in the body that accompany emotions, related not to the quality of regulation (emotional), but to its intensity. This is the role of emotions, not their function. Vitamins and salt are good for the body, but taking them in excess can lead to illness or poisoning. So it is with emotions. Carrying out their biological functions, emotions “do not ask” a person whether it is useful for him or harmful from his point of view. The role of emotions is assessed precisely from a personal point of view: whether an emotion arises or its absence interferes with the achievement of a goal, whether or not it violates a person’s health.
It was the role of emotions, and not their function, that the Stoics and Epicureans argued about, discussing the question of their usefulness or harmfulness. This debate 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 locomotor system, the function of which is to move humans and animals in space, and the role of this movement is determined by knowledge of the environment, approaching and mastering a food source, etc., i.e. what a person or 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 compared to “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. A “negative” emotion is an alarm signal, a danger to the body. A “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 the good comes quickly. The alarm must be sounded until the danger has been eliminated. As a result, only “negative” emotions can become stagnant. Under these conditions, human health really suffers. “Negative” emotions are harmful only in excess, just as anything that exceeds the norm is harmful. Fear, anger, rage increase the intensity of metabolic processes, lead to better nutrition of the brain, strengthen the body's resistance to overload, infections, etc.
What is important for the body is not the preservation of uniformly positive emotional states, but their constant dynamism within a certain intensity that is 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 significance, that is, the role of “positive” emotions is different from the role of “negative” emotions: “positive” emotions encourage living systems to actively disrupt the achieved “balance” with the environment: “The most important role positive emotions – an active disturbance of peace, comfort, the famous “balancing of 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 the individual development of the subject. Positive emotions revolutionize behavior, prompting us to look for 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, and 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 an immediate utilitarian effect: play, artistic creativity and perception of works of art, theoretical knowledge. He believes that in these areas of human activity the motivating influence of “negative” emotions is negligible, if any.
I think this statement is too categorical. It is contradicted by the manifestation of frustration as a desire to prove to oneself and others the accident of creative failure. Do people perceive works of art only for the sake of positive experiences? Why then do audiences cry at movie performances?
When talking about the role of emotions in a person’s life, it is wrong to ask why, for what purpose someone experiences emotions. Such questions are legitimate in relation to consciously 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 receive from the occurrence of this or that emotion (based on the functions intended for them by nature)?
When answering this question, it should be taken into account 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 an incentive for human self-improvement, and the former can be a reason for complacency. Much depends on the person’s determination and the conditions of his upbringing. Scientists have different opinions about the meaning of emotions and the functions they perform. However, the main function of emotions is undoubtedly their participation in controlling the behavior of humans and animals.
The role and functions of emotions in controlling behavior and activity
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 to satisfy their needs. This role of emotions manifests itself due to the subjective component of emotional response (experience) and mainly at the initial stage of voluntary control (when a need arises and the motivational process unfolds on its basis) and at the final stage (when assessing the achieved result: satisfying a need, realizing an intention).
The reflective function of emotions is not recognized by all scientists. V. K. Vilyunas (1979) believes that “emotions perform the function not of reflecting objective phenomena, but of expressing subjective attitudes towards them.” And he's 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 does not depend on the mirror; it does not evaluate what is reflected. Evaluation (attitude) depends on the subjective perception of the visible, which is compared with the standards, desires, and tastes of a person.
It should be noted that there are different opinions among scientists regarding the relationship between experience and evaluation (what is primary and what is secondary). Some believe that experience precedes evaluation; others, on the contrary, believe that assessment precedes the emergence of emotion, and still others write that emotion can replace assessment or accompany it.
This discrepancy is caused by the fact that the authors have different classes of emotional phenomena in mind. With the emotional tone of sensations, the experience of pleasant or unpleasant first appears, and then its assessment as useful or harmful. Obviously, the same occurs with unconditioned reflex emotions (for example, fear). If emotions arise, the situation is first assessed, and then an experience (emotion) may appear. For example, when a person approaches the window of his apartment, located on the third floor or higher, and looks down, thinking: “What if I jump down?”, then he begins to assess this situation as dangerous, but without experiencing 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, together with the development of the nervous system and psyche of living beings, has been modified and improved. If at the first stages it was limited to signaling to the body about pleasant or unpleasant, then the next stage of development was, obviously, signaling about useful and harmful, and then - about harmless and dangerous, and, finally, more broadly - about significant and insignificant. If the first and partly the second stage could only be provided by such a mechanism of emotional response as the emotional tone of sensations, then the third stage required another mechanism - emotions, and the fourth - feelings (emotional attitudes). In addition, if the emotional tone of sensations can only provide 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 a person as an individual . It also turned out to be important that the emotion arises conditionally and reflexively and thereby makes it possible for animals and humans to react in advance to distant stimuli and to the developing situation. Fury even at the sight of an enemy, from a distance, at the sounds, smell of the enemy, allows the animal to enter into battle with the enemy with the maximum use of all power resources, and fear - to escape.
It is obvious that the process of conscious comparison of what is obtained with what should be can occur in a person without the participation of emotions. They are not needed as a matching mechanism. Another thing is evaluating what happened. It can indeed be not only rational, but also emotional, if the result of an activity or the expected situation is deeply significant for the subject. At the same time, we must not forget that an emotion is a reaction to some event, and any reaction is a response after the fact, i.e. on what is already influencing or has already passed, has ended, including the completed comparison of information. Of course, emotional assessment can be connected to the process of rational (verbal-logical) comparison of information, painting one or another paradigm in positive or negative tones and thereby giving them more or less weight
However, for this, emotions must have one more function: force the body to urgently mobilize its capabilities and energy, which the emotional tone of sensations cannot do.
The motivational role of emotions
Emotions play a significant role at all stages of the motivational process: when assessing the significance of an external stimulus, when signaling a need that has arisen 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, P.K. Anokhin wrote: “Producing an almost instantaneous integration of all functions of the body, emotions themselves and first of all can be an absolute signal of a beneficial or harmful effect on the body, often even before the localization of the effects and the specific response mechanism are determined.” body reactions" ("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 towards surrounding information comes to the fore. Emotions precede a person’s awareness of a situation, signaling a possible pleasant or unpleasant outcome, and in this regard they talk about the anticipatory function of emotions. By fulfilling this reflective-evaluative role, determining what is significant for a person and what is not, emotions thereby contribute to a person’s orientation in various situations, i.e. perform an orientation function.
Emotions as a signal of an emerging need. The reflective-evaluative role of emotions is also manifested in their connection with needs, acting 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, fundamentally different from those that reflect the objective properties of reality. Although the actualization of a need is also an objective event, it should be reflected in the psyche differently than other events, since for the subject it should become not one of many, but a central, all-consuming event, attracting attention, mobilizing adaptive resources, etc.
Emotions as a way of marking significant goals. The point is not only 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 must be reflected not only in 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 As a result of such selection, they become targets.
The goal cannot be reflected only by cognitive processes. As a reflected object, the target is one of many elements of the environment, acting, like others, on analyzers, causing corresponding delayed motor reactions and, therefore, being perceived in an image. In this regard, 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 organism at a given moment. Therefore, in the structure of the image there must be something that, reflecting the state of the body’s needs, would be attached to individual reflective elements of the environment, thereby highlighting them among others precisely as goals and encouraging the individual to achieve them. In other words, in order for a 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 upset the balance between equally possible actions and direct the individual to the choice and preference of certain of them.
This role of highlighting in the image of need-significant phenomena and inducing a person to them is performed by numerous varieties of biased, emotional experience.
Emotions as a mechanism that helps decision making. Emotions, pointing to objects and actions with them that can lead to the satisfaction of a need, thereby contribute to decision making. Very often, however, achieving what you want is not provided by the information necessary to make a decision. Then the compensatory function of emotions appears, which consists of replacing information that is missing to make a decision or make a judgment about something. Arising when confronted with an unfamiliar object, emotion gives this object a corresponding coloring (like it or not, bad or good), in particular, due to its similarity to previously encountered objects. Although with the help of emotion a person makes a generalized and not always justified assessment of an object and situation, it still helps him get out of a dead end when he does not know what to do in a given situation.
Emotions by no means contribute to information regarding the real signs of a threat and the possibilities of eliminating it. Elimination of information deficit occurs in the process of search activities and learning. The role of emotions is emergency replacement, compensation for currently missing knowledge. All this applies to cases associated with a lack of information and, consequently, negative emotions.
Compensatory and stimulating functions are also inherent in positive emotions. In this case, the function does not manifest itself at the moment the emotion arises, but over longer periods of adaptive behavior. Even small and private success can inspire people to overcome difficulties, i.e. positive emotion increases the need to achieve a goal.
By being involved in the process of probabilistic forecasting, emotions help evaluate future events (anticipation of pleasure when a person goes to the theater, or anticipation of unpleasant experiences after an exam when the student did not have time to properly prepare for it), i.e. perform a prognostic function. Emotions make it easier to find the right way out of a situation, and therefore they speak of their heuristic function. Consequently, emotions are involved not only at the first stage of the motivational process, when the significance of a particular external or internal stimulus is determined, but also at the decision-making stage.
A person’s decision-making is also associated with the sanctioning (including switching the direction and intensity of activity) function of emotions (to make contact with an object or not, to maximize one’s efforts or to interrupt the existing state). The “switching” function of emotions is found both in the sphere of innate forms of behavior and in the implementation of conditioned reflex activity, including its most complex manifestations. This function of emotions manifests itself most clearly in the competition of motives, in the identification of a dominant need, which becomes a vector of purposeful behavior. Needs, dressed in the “armor” of emotions, struggle. Emotions help this struggle, as they indicate the significance of a particular need at a given moment.
The dependence of emotions on the likelihood of satisfying a need extremely complicates the competition of corresponding motives, as a result of which behavior is often reoriented towards a less important but easily achievable goal: the “bird in the hand” defeats the “pie in the sky.”
The exercise of the sanctioning function by emotions can be based on the protective function of the emotion of fear. It warns a person about real (or imaginary) danger, thereby facilitating better thinking through the situation that has arisen and 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 motivating role of emotions. Emotion itself contains an attraction, desire, desire, directed towards or away from an object, just as attraction, desire, desire is always more or less emotional. In general, the question of where the charge of energy comes from in motivation is quite complex. It is impossible to exclude the presence of the energy of emotions in the urge to action, but it is also hardly possible to consider that emotions themselves cause an urge to action.
The role of emotions in assessing achieved results. The peculiarity of emotions is that they directly reflect the relationship between motives and the implementation of activities that correspond to these motives. Evaluating the progress and results of activities, emotions give a subjective color to what is happening around us and in ourselves. This means that different people can react differently emotionally to the same event. For example, for fans, the loss of their favorite team will cause disappointment and grief, while for fans of the opposing team it will cause joy. People perceive works of art differently. It’s not for nothing that people say that there is no friend according to taste and that there is no arguing about tastes.
Emotion as a value and need
Although emotions 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 intentions), they can act in the motivational process without only as an “adviser” or an energy amplifier of impulses arising in the process of motivation, but also as the motivator itself, although not of actions to satisfy a need, but of the motivational process. This happens when a person has a need for emotional sensations and experiences and when a person recognizes them as valuable.
Understanding emotion as a value leads to the idea that a person has a need for “emotional saturation,” i.e. in emotional experiences. Indeed, the famous mathematician B. Pascal said that we think we are looking for peace, but in fact we are looking for excitement. This means that emotional hunger can directly determine the motivational process.
The need for emotional saturation is physiological, despite the fact that emotions themselves carry psychological content. He justifies this by the fact that every organ must function, otherwise its involution and degradation will occur. Consequently, emotion centers need to function, i.e. in the manifestation of emotions in order to maintain their reactivity.
E. Fromm writes about the human need for positive emotions. Indeed, a person does many things for the sake of obtaining pleasure, enjoyment: 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 experience he wants). The perceived goal is a value for a person, or a motive for behavior.
The complete satisfaction of an emotional need depends on the quality of the object of satisfaction. Thus, listening to music when played on top-quality equipment from a record evokes emotions of greater intensity and in greater quantity than from a third-class cassette recorder. By analogy, we can say that the depth and intensity of the emotional experience when listening to music on a stereo player will be greater than on a mono player, and being present at a concert will provide greater emotional pleasure than listening to the same piece of music at home. In the same way, visiting an art gallery will have a greater emotional impact than looking through albums, slides and postcards at home.
Activation-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 the emotional response is manifested mainly due to its physiological component: changes in autonomic functions and the level of excitation of the cortical parts of the brain. Based on their influence on human behavior and activity, the German philosopher I. Kant (1964) divided emotional reactions (emotions) into sthenic ones (“wall” in Greek means strength), which enhance the vital activity of the body, and asthenic ones, which weaken it. Stenic fear can help mobilize a person’s reserves due to the release of additional amounts of adrenaline into the blood, for example, in its active-defensive form (flight from danger). Promotes the mobilization of the body's strength and encouragement, joy (“inspired by success,” they say in such cases).
The 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, activation of nerve centers occurs, carried out by nonspecific structures of the brain stem and transmitted by nonspecific excitation pathways. According to “activation” theories, emotions provide an optimal level of arousal of the central nervous system and its individual substructures. Activation of the nervous system and, above all, its autonomic department leads to changes in the internal organs and the body as a whole, leading to either the mobilization of energy resources or their demobilization. From here we can talk about the mobilization function of emotions.
P.K. Anokhin spoke about “motivational tone”, thanks to which all life processes are maintained at an optimal level.
Being an active state of a system of specialized brain structures, emotions influence other cerebral systems that regulate behavior, the processes of perceiving external signals and retrieving engrams of these signals from memory, and the autonomic functions of the body. When emotional stress occurs, the volume of vegetative changes (increased heart rate, rise in blood pressure, release of hormones into the bloodstream, etc.), as a rule, exceeds the real needs of the body. Apparently, the process of natural selection has consolidated the expediency of this excessive mobilization of resources. 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 needed in the coming minutes, it is better to spend unnecessary energy than in the midst of intense activity - fight or flight - to be left without sufficient oxygen and metabolic supplies. "raw materials".
The tension of the redundancy of the emotional response as an energetic reaction results in a huge excess of energy, and therefore many unnecessary side effects are obtained. But they are inevitable in the interests of the big task - concentrating the entire organism on a reaction of a certain kind.
Physical performance in persons with a strong nervous system is greater 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 (though at the level of reliability only in terms of the work power indicator).
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 activity.
The uselessness and even harmfulness of emotions is known to everyone. Let us imagine, for example, a person who must cross the 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 perform unwanted actions. In short, an individual who finds himself in the grip of emotions “loses his head.”
Emotion causes disturbances in memory and skills, and leads to the replacement of difficult actions with simpler ones. A negative influence of experiences associated with previous failure on the speed and quality of intellectual learning 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 I. P. Pavlov’s “law of force” is manifested (with very strong stimuli, excitation turns into extreme inhibition) or what is the same – the Yerkes-Dodeon law. Weak and medium intensity of emotional arousal helps to increase the efficiency of perceptual, intellectual and motor activity, while strong and super-strong intensity reduces it.
However, the modality of emotion also matters. Fear, for example, can disrupt a person’s behavior associated with achieving a goal, causing him to have a passive defensive reaction (stupor with strong fear, refusal to complete a task). This leads either to a refusal of activity or to a slowdown in the pace of mastering any activity that seems dangerous to a person, for example, when learning to swim. The disorganizing role of emotions is also visible in anger, when a person strives to achieve a goal at all costs, repeating the same actions that do not lead to success. When a person is very nervous, it can be difficult to concentrate on a task, and he may forget what he needs to do. One flight school cadet, during his first independent flight, forgot how to land the plane, and was able to do it only under dictation from the ground from his commander. In another case, due to strong excitement, the national champion gymnast forgot the beginning of the exercise when he went to the apparatus and received a zero score.
However, as the role of emotions was studied, attitudes towards them began to change, and now the disorganizing role of emotions is being questioned. Thus, 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 due to the fact that emotions organize other activities, which distract strength and attention from the main activity taking place at the same moment. Emotion itself does not have a disorganizing function. “Even such a crude biological reaction as affect,” writes Viliunas, “usually disorganizing human activity, can be useful under certain conditions, for example, when he has to escape from 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, that there is as much truth in the statement about the disorganizing function of emotions as, for example, in the statement that a festive demonstration functions as a delay for vehicles.”
We 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 beings in order to disorganize the control of behavior. But emotions, in addition to their “will,” can play a disorganizing role, as discussed above. The point of separating the role and function of emotions is precisely to not confuse what is intended by nature as a sign of progressive development with what happens as a side effect, contrary to the intended function.
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 hire employees based on their intelligence quotient (IQ), and promote them based on their emotional quotient (EQ), which characterizes a person’s ability to communicate emotionally.
The role of emotional response in the communication process is diverse. This is also the creation of a first impression of a person, which often turns out to be correct precisely because of the presence of “emotional inclusions” in it. This also has 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 syndrome. Parents are depressed by the fact that children cannot communicate their experiences to them through facial expressions and other methods of emotional communication.
The regulatory function of emotions in the process of communication is to coordinate the order of statements. Often, 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 helps to intimidate another person or animal.
An emotion, as a rule, has an external expression (expression), with the help of which a person or animal communicates to another about their condition, what they like and what they don’t, etc. This helps mutual understanding during communication, preventing aggression on the part of another person or animal , recognition of the needs and conditions currently present in another subject.
Using emotions as a means of manipulating other people. As part of the communicative role, emotions can be used to manipulate other people. Often we consciously or habitually demonstrate certain emotional manifestations, not because they arose naturally in us, but because they have a desirable effect on other people. A. Schopenhauer wrote about this: “Just as paper money is used instead of silver and gold, so instead of true respect and true friendship in the world, their external evidence and as natural as possible fake facial grimaces and body movements are used... In any case, I rely more on to the wagging of an honest dog’s tail, than to a hundred such manifestations of respect and friendship.”
The baby already knows about this function of emotions and uses it to achieve his goals: after all, crying, screaming, and the child’s suffering facial expressions evoke sympathy among parents and adults. Thus, emotions help a person achieve satisfaction of his needs through changes in the desired direction of the behavior of other people.
Smile, laughter, threat, screaming, crying, ostentatious indifference, ostentatious suffering, etc. are used as means of manipulation. When manipulated, an “emotional template” is reproduced - an engram. Memory captures situations in which “emotional preparation” gives the desired effect, and subsequently the person uses them in similar situations. Engrams constitute a person's manipulative experience. They can be positive and negative, if we consider them from the point of view of their influence on other people. The former are designed to evoke a positive attitude towards themselves (trust, recognition, love). In this case, facial expressions such as smiling, laughter, vocal intonations of the lyrical and peace-loving spectrum, gestures symbolizing greeting, acceptance of a partner, joy from communicating with him are used, head movements expressing agreement, body movements indicating trust in the partner etc. The latter are filled with symbolism of aggression, hostility, anger, alienation, distance, threat, displeasure. For example, a parent makes a menacing expression on his face, raises his voice, and uses swear words towards 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 jumble of feelings on those around them, leading them to complete confusion. From hysterical women, feelings fly off like sparks, but none of them linger long enough to be fully formed and expressed. As soon as they arise, they burst like soap bubbles. In another case, “manipulators” save their emotions in reserve in order to use them at a convenient moment. “I was offended by you last week,” the manipulator might say. Why didn't he say this last week? – asks Sjostrom. Because then it was unprofitable for him to declare his grievance, but now he can bargain for something.
The “manipulator” may 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 added to sincere tears.
The role of emotions in cognitive processes and creativity
The presence of emotional phenomena in the process of cognition was noted by ancient Greek philosophers (Plato, Aristotle).
However, the discussion of the role of emotions in the cognitive process began with 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 admixture” in intellectual thinking, since it is the affective nature of a person that is most often the cause of illogicality. He separated intellectual thinking and emotional thinking. L. S. Vygotsky attached great importance to the connection between thinking and affects. He wrote: “Whoever separated thinking from the very beginning from affect has forever closed the way to explaining the causes of thinking itself, because a deterministic analysis of thinking necessarily involves revealing the driving motives of thought, needs and interests, motivations and tendencies that direct the movement of thought in that direction.” or the other side."
S. L. Rubinstein also noted the need to connect thinking with the affective sphere of a person. “Mental processes, taken in their specific integrity, are not only cognitive processes, but also “affective”, emotional-volitional ones. They express not only knowledge about phenomena, but also attitude towards them.” In another work, he sharpens this issue even more: “The point is not only that emotion is in unity and interrelation with the 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 is the unity of the emotional and intellectual” (“Problems of general psychology”, 1973.
Currently, most psychologists involved in the study of intellectual activity recognize the role of emotions in thinking. Moreover, it is argued that emotions do not simply influence thinking, but are an essential component of it, or that most human emotions are intellectually determined. There are even intellectual emotions that differ from the basic ones.
True, the authors’ opinions on the specific role of emotions in controlling thinking do not coincide. From the point of view of O.K. Tikhomirov, emotions are a catalyst for the intellectual process; they improve or worsen mental activity, speed it up or slow it down. In another work (Tikhomirov, Klochko, 1980) he goes even further, considering emotions to be the coordinator of mental activity, ensuring its flexibility, restructuring, correction, avoidance of stereotypes, and change of current attitudes. According to P.V. Simonov, emotions are only a trigger for thinking. L.V. Putlyaeva considers both of these points of view exaggerated and identifies, in turn, three functions of emotions in the thought process:
1) emotions as an integral part of 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 assessing the achieved result, i.e. as feedback.
The role of emotions in the intellectual creative process is diverse. This is both the pangs of creativity and the joy of discovery. “The ardent desire for knowledge,” wrote C. Bernard, “is the only engine that attracts and supports the researcher in his efforts, and this knowledge, so to speak, constantly slipping out of his hands, constitutes his only happiness and torment. Whoever has not known the torment of the unknown will not understand the pleasures of discovery, which, of course, are stronger than anything that a person can feel.”
But here’s what’s typical: this inspiration, the joy about creative success, is not long-lasting. C. Bernard wrote on this occasion: “By some whim of our nature, this pleasure, which we so greedily sought, passes away as soon as the discovery is made. It is like lightning illuminating the distant horizon for us, towards 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 charms.”
When discussing the connection between thinking and emotions, 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 a cycle of “cause and effect” relationships, and in some (although almost all) relationships are essentially one and the same, so that thinking turns into emotion, and emotion becomes thought. Thinking and emotion, according to this author, tend to take the form of self-talk or internal sentences; the 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 are hardly possible to differentiate and isolate in their pure form. Here we can agree with the author. Emotions play a special role in various types of art. K. S. Stanislavsky (1953) said that of all three mental spheres of a person - mind, will and feelings - the latter is the most “difficult child to educate.” 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, used intelligently, but it grows very slowly. The alternative “is it or is it not” applies most of all to it. Therefore, it is the most expensive for an actor. Students with dynamic emotions and the ability to feel deeply are the golden fund of a theater school. Their development is fast. At the same time, Stanislavsky complained that there were too many rational actors and stage works that came from the mind.