The concept of feelings and emotions, forms of experiencing feelings
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.
- A sensual or emotional tone is the simplest form of emotion, an elementary manifestation of organic sensitivity that accompanies certain vital influences and encourages the subject to eliminate or preserve them. Often, such experiences, due to their weak differentiation, cannot be expressed verbally (for example, “you feel something wrong here”). Sensory tone is perceived as an emotional coloring, a unique qualitative shade of the mental process, as a property of a perceived object, phenomenon, action, etc. (for example, “a pleasant conversationalist,” “a boring book”).
- 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 classified as negative or negative. Anger is sometimes directly correlated with adaptive behavior and even more often with defense and assertion 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.
Popular are the 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 distant.
- 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 sharply change: 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 of the stimulus that caused the reaction; the presence of post-affective amnesia.
- Passion is an intense, generalized and long-lasting experience that dominates other human impulses and leads to concentration on the object of passion. The reasons that cause passion can be different - ranging 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 corresponding direction of all thoughts of the individual, stability, unity of emotional and volitional moments, a peculiar combination of activity and passivity.
- Mood is 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 sensual tone, it is recognized not as a property of an object, but as a property of the subject (for example, regarding a piece of music, emotional accompaniment in the form of a sensual background will sound like “beautiful music”, and in the form of a mood - “I have great mood" (from music)). Individual personality characteristics play a certain role (for example, hyperthymia is a tendency to be in a high mood, dysthymia is a tendency to be in a low mood). The variety of manifestations of human emotional life confronts psychology with the need to differentiate them more clearly. Are there qualitative differences between emotions and feelings? 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, unlike 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.
Functions of the senses
Feelings in psychology are an integral part of every person’s life.
They help you form your own understanding of the world, evaluate priorities, and effectively communicate with other people.
Motivational
The motivational function of feelings plays a fundamental role in stimulating a person to action and maintaining his activity.
Mobilizing all experiences and goals, the feeling of desire is an important motivating factor for any action:
- concentration on the task;
- planning;
- formation of the necessary psycho-emotional mood;
- rapid recovery from stress or anxiety.
Signal
The signaling function is a person’s ability to respond to various signals from the environment and his own internal state.
Thanks to this function, a person perceives any information (emotions, feelings, non-verbal communication), and his brain can identify and give significance to certain signals, on the basis of which a value judgment and response is formed.
Estimated
The main task of a person’s evaluative function is to understand what is happening around, to interpret any perception of information (verbal and non-verbal) from a subjective point of view as a desirable or harmful effect on one’s own state.
The evaluative function is formed on the basis of life experience and unconsciously attaches some significance to an object or situation in a positive or negative way.
A function that synthesizes the basics of an image
Feelings in psychology are many different sensory stimuli that perceive information in different ways.
Therefore, the goal of the synthesizing function is to create a holistic and understandable picture of perception from different pieces of information (for example, a holistic perception of a cake with its shape, smell, taste and aesthetics). This function creates the possibility of the harmonious existence of thoughts, feelings and emotions.
Expressive function
The expressive function of feelings is an important part of every person’s communication. It helps not only to perceive non-verbal information while communicating with others, but also provides one's own synchronous expression of feelings and thoughts in order to create a more complete picture of expression.
Theory F.E. Vasilyuk
Vasilyuk views the process not as contemplation, but as activity. Sustained emotional experiences arise as a result of a critical situation. During this situation, a person can realize his motives and values.
According to Vasilyuk, experiencing is not a mental function, but an independent process, activity. It leads to the restoration of psychological possibility. There are four types of critical situations:
- Frustration;
- Stress;
- Conflict;
- A crisis.
Positive events increase a person’s ability; they realize one vital need, but disrupt the implementation of others.
So, the topic under consideration in psychology still requires additional research and study. Life is filled with meaning through feeling emotions; this mental process affects the formation of personal qualities.
A little about affect
This is the most powerful destructive force, a violent outburst of feelings. Often a person describes this state as an avalanche beyond his control.
During the affect, control over actions is lost, actions and actions are often forgotten. You can be very ashamed of your words and actions. In addition, sometimes actions cause irreparable harm to surrounding people and objects.
After the affect, one feels overwhelmed, tired, indifferent to everything, and sometimes drowsy.
Where does this condition come from? It arises in situations that a person cannot resolve; they are very painful for him. In this case, he runs away into passion.
Affects can accumulate and then a breakdown occurs. Yes, affect helps to get rid of resentment and irritation. But the consequences are very dire.
The theme of feelings in existential psychology
Existential psychology examines the uniqueness of every person, their experiences and history. Important attention is paid to issues of life and death, freedom, responsibility of choice, communication, the problem of love and loneliness, as well as the search for meaning.
Existential experiences can be negative and positive. The negative ones include:
- Horror. Lack of understanding of what awaits him.
- Boredom. Devaluation of what exists for oneself.
- Despair. A person has nothing to rely on; he seeks support only in himself.
- Loneliness. A person can understand that he is loved, he has people who support him. He feels completely alone, no one understands him completely.
- Death. It either devalues Existence or initiates a revaluation of what is happening.
Positive inner experiences fill the life world with meaning. These include love, catharsis and creativity.
How is it considered in psychology?
In the psychological literature there are different interpretations and views on the feelings of experience. There are two views on emotional experiences as a psychological phenomenon:
- Study of feeling based on the emotional sphere.
- Experience allows a person to overcome various situations during which the inner world changes.
For some authors, feeling is closely related to emotions. Any emotional experience is associated with life events and has a vivid psychological overtones.
Other authors distinguish between emotions and experiences; for them, the second state is a separate process associated with the reflexive part of a person. The most famous work on this topic was presented by F. E. Vasilyuk in his book “Psychology of Experiences.”
Let's consider different aspects of this complex mental phenomenon.
Types of Emotional Experiences
- They classify asthenic experiences and sthenic ones. Asthenic experiences suppress the vital processes of the body. Stenic emotions, on the contrary, increase vital activity. Asthenic experiences are described as a state of timidity, passivity, a person is dominated by a feeling of despondency and shame. Stenic emotions are characterized by high energy and motivate a person to activity.
- Emotions are also divided into simple and complex manifestations. Simple emotions are associated with the satisfaction of primary needs. Such feelings are divided into pleasant and unpleasant. Complex emotions are associated with understanding various objects and the structure of life. The subjective experience of emotion is a personal internal feeling.
Research
According to the research of some psychologists, experiences and emotions belong to different classes of mental phenomena. How can one imagine the process in question without including emotions? Experiments show that feeling often occurs without the emotional sphere, which is associated with the actions of psychological defenses.
For example, you can come across cases where a person is having fun at a holiday, smiling, and in the depths of his soul anti-vital experiences (reflections about the meaninglessness of his own life) flow. People are very surprised when they learn about such a person attempting suicide the next day. Avoidance of painful emotions occurs with the use of psychological defenses; they lead to withdrawal from reality. It should be noted that anti-vital experiences are not always suicidal; they are often reflections on the meaninglessness of life.
The removal of psychological defenses leads to strong changes in the individual; they are accompanied by emotional, bodily, and cognitive processes. The practice of psychotherapy is based on this scheme. To develop the client, he is freed from the oppression of defense mechanisms, due to which his personal growth occurs. Video: 10 facts about emotional experiences
