Pleasant emotions and sensations. Types of human emotions. Be kinder and wiser

Hello dear reader. In order to show the relevance of our conversation today, I want you to stop reading the article for a few moments and answer the question: “What emotions are you feeling? this moment are you experiencing?
Have you thought about it? Did you answer?

Now let's see what problems often arise when answering this question.

• Many people answer this question in the following way: “Yes, I don’t feel any particular emotions right now, everything is fine.” Does this mean that there really are no emotions? Or does this simply mean that the person is poorly aware of his emotional state? The fact is that a person always experiences emotions, every moment of his life. Sometimes they reach high intensity, and sometimes their intensity is low. Many people pay attention only to strong emotional experiences, and do not attach any importance to low-intensity emotions and even do not notice them at all. However, if emotions are not very strong, this does not mean that they are absent.
• Another possible answer to the question posed is: “Somehow I feel unpleasant. I feel uncomfortable." We see that the person is aware that there are unpleasant emotions inside, but he cannot name which ones. Maybe it's irritation, or maybe disappointment or guilt, or maybe something else.
• Often our question is answered like this: “I feel like it’s time for me to get up from my computer and get to work” or “I feel like this article could be useful to me.” Many people confuse their emotions with thoughts and desire to do something. Trying to describe their emotional state, they describe everything except emotions.

Meditation exercise for understanding emotions

When working with clients, I often use a meditation exercise to help them better understand their own emotions. It is so effective that I decided to make an audio recording so that anyone could use this technique. The mechanism of action of the exercise is based on the connection between emotions and bodily reactions. Any, even the most insignificant, emotion is reflected in the body (read more about this). By learning to listen to your own bodily reactions, you can become more familiar with your emotions.

You can do the exercise right now. Here's the entry:

Once you have learned what emotions are like and have easily learned to describe your inner state, you may be interested in exploring yourself more deeply. For example, you may want to figure out what positive meaning emotions can carry that, at first glance, are absolutely meaningless and even harmful. Read about this in the next

In life, concepts such as emotions and feelings are often confused, but these phenomena are different and reflect different meanings.

Emotions are not always realized

Sometimes a person cannot quite clearly formulate what emotions he is experiencing, for example, people say “everything is boiling inside me,” what does this mean? What emotions? Anger? Fear? Despair? Anxiety? Annoyance?. A person cannot always identify a momentary emotion, but a person is almost always aware of a feeling: friendship, love, envy, hostility, happiness, pride.

Experts make a distinction between the concept of “ emotion" and the concepts " feeling», « affect», « mood" And " experience».

Unlike feelings, emotions do not have an object connection: they arise not in relation to someone or something, but in relation to the situation as a whole. " I'm scared"is an emotion, and " I'm afraid of this man" - this feeling.

The feelings and emotions listed here do not exhaust the entire palette, the entire variety of human emotional states. A comparison with the colors of the solar spectrum is appropriate here. There are 7 basic tones, but how many more intermediate colors do we know and how many shades can be obtained by mixing them!

It is difficult to say how many different emotional states there may be - but, in any case, there are immeasurably more than 70. Emotional states are highly specific, even if, with modern crude assessment methods, they have the same name. There seem to be many shades of anger, joy, sadness and other feelings.

Love for an older brother and love for a younger sister are similar, but far from identical feelings. The first is colored with admiration, pride, and sometimes envy; the second is a sense of self-superiority, a desire to provide patronage, sometimes pity and tenderness. A completely different feeling is love for parents, love for children. But to designate all these feelings we use one name.

The division of feelings into positive and negative is not done on ethical grounds, but solely on the basis of the pleasure or displeasure delivered. Therefore, gloating ended up in the column of positive feelings, and sympathy - in the negative feelings. There are, as you can see, much more negative ones than positive ones. Why? Several explanations can be offered.

Sometimes the idea is expressed that there are simply many more words in the language that express unpleasant feelings, because in a good mood a person is generally less inclined to introspection. This explanation seems unsatisfactory to us.

Initial biological role emotions - signal, like “pleasant - unpleasant”, “safe - dangerous”. Apparently, the signaling “dangerous” and “unpleasant” is more significant for the animal; it is vitally important, more relevant, because it directs its behavior in critical situations.

It is clear that such information in the process of evolution should receive priority over information signaling “comfort”.

But what has developed historically can change historically. When a person masters the laws social development, then this will change his emotional life, moving the center of gravity towards positive, pleasant feelings.

Let's return to the list of feelings. If you carefully read all 70 names, you will notice that some of the listed feelings coincide in content and differ only in intensity. For example, surprise and amazement differ only in strength, that is, in degree of expression. The same is anger and rage, pleasure and bliss, etc. Therefore, some clarifications need to be made to the list.

Typically, feelings come in five main forms:

The definition of feeling was given above.

Affect- this is a very strong short-term feeling associated with a motor reaction (or with complete immobility - numbness. But numbness is also a motor reaction).

Passion called a strong and lasting feeling.

Mood- the resultant of many feelings. This state is distinguished by a certain duration, stability and serves as the background against which all other elements of mental activity take place.

Under experiences however, they usually understand exclusively the subjective mental side of emotional processes, without including physiological components.

Thus, if we consider surprise a feeling, then amazement is the same feeling in content, but brought to the level of affect (remember the final silent scene of “The Inspector General”).

Similarly, we call anger brought to the level of passion by rage, bliss is the affect of pleasure, delight is the affect of joy, despair is the affect of grief, horror is the affect of fear, adoration is love that has become passion in duration and strength, etc.

Displays of emotions

Emotional reactions are associated with nervous processes; they also manifest themselves in external movements, called `` expressive movements." Expressive movements are an important component of emotions, external form their existence. Expressions of emotions are universal, similar for all people, sets of expressive signs that reflect certain emotional states.

Towards expressive forms of emotions include the following:

Gestures (hand movements),

Facial expressions (movements of facial muscles),

Pantomime (movements of the whole body) - see,

Emotional components of speech (strength and timbre, voice intonation),

Autonomic changes (redness, paleness, sweating).

You can read more about how emotions are expressed

The human face has the greatest ability to express various emotional shades (see). And, of course, the mirror of emotions is often the eyes (see)

Emotions and feelings are unique mental states that leave an imprint on a person’s life, activities, actions and behavior. If emotional states mainly determine the external side of behavior and mental activity, then feelings influence the content and internal essence of experiences caused by a person’s spiritual needs.
Based on materials from openemo.com

Feelings and emotions are closely related to our internal qualities, they are simply a reflection of what is happening inside us. We are often afraid and deny our own emotions, confuse emotions with feelings, feelings with states.

After talking with people, attending many trainings and conducting more than one consultation, we became convinced that people are not at all aware of their emotions. Oh no, they are not insensitive idiots, they continue to experience a whole range of emotions, without any understanding of what emotion they are experiencing at the moment. The simplest and most common question in all trainings and psychological consultations: "What are you feeling now?" - confuses people.

It is absolutely impossible to deal with your problems if you cannot even determine how you feel about this or that person or situation, or about this or that event.

What causes feelings and emotions

Not only are our feelings and emotions not recognized in themselves, but their causes remain a mystery to many.

There are a huge number of emotions and feelings and there is no definitive list of them either in psychology or physiology. The reason for this is that many emotions and feelings are purely social phenomena. The emergence of new emotions or their acquisition of a different meaning is due to the development of society. We do not feel many emotions and feelings at birth, but we learn them from our parents, relatives, friends, acquaintances, and even from the TV and film industry. All of them taken together from early childhood show and tell us what we should feel, how and in what situations. If you do not experience a certain range of feelings and sensations on some specific occasion, you are considered strange, not of this world, or even better - insensitive and selfish.

Innate human emotions

In addition to socially determined emotions, there are also innate ones. These are the emotions that a baby has from birth. Some experts classify as innate emotions those that appear in a baby shortly after birth, where the social factor and parental training apparently play a minimal role. The list of these emotions is very small and neither scientists nor psychologists have come to unanimous opinion, what emotions should be included in it. Many agree that joy - contentment, interest - excitement, surprise - fear, anger - anger, disgust, fear - these are the emotions that are innate, the rest were taught to us.

We think it’s time to “take our head out of the sand” and figure out what we really feel, what caused this emotion in us and who “taught” us to feel this way and not otherwise.

Read and be surprised :-)

A

Excitement- an emotional state that is distinguished by a very strong interest in what is happening and a persistent desire to continue.

Types of excitement:

• Resource passion - in this state the effectiveness of actions is very high.

The excitement of doing something you love; the passion of an entrepreneur; excitement in mastering new knowledge.

• Gambling is destructive - in it, self-control, as a rule, is lost.

Gambler's excitement in a casino.

Apathy - a state of complete indifference, disinterest, lack of emotions and feelings. A person with apathetic manifestations experiences neither pleasure nor displeasure. Apathy is often seen as a result of severe and prolonged severe stress. It is a product of a defensive struggle against unbearable feelings of despair and loneliness or the threat of death. Outwardly, manifestations of apathy have the character of alienation - “refusal” from the objective world, but analysis often reveals preserved unconscious attachments, denied or disavowed by the defense.

B

Serenity - an imperturbably calm state.

Hopelessness - complete despair, lack of any hope.

Safety - This is a calm and confident state of mind in a person who considers himself protected from threat or danger.

Indifference - a state of complete indifference, disinterest.

Anxiety - an emotional state characterized by the experience of excitement, anxiety, discomfort, and an unpleasant premonition of evil. It arises under the influence of little understood and unknown factors of the external environment or the internal state of the person himself.

Helplessness - a negative state caused by unfavorable situations that cannot be prevented or overcome.

Powerlessness - confusion and severe annoyance at the realization of the impossibility of improving the difficult state of affairs, getting out of a dangerous or difficult situation.

Rabies - state of extreme irritation.

Gratitude - a feeling of obligation, respect and love for another person (in particular, expressed in appropriate actions) for a benefit done to him.

Bliss - a state of complete and undisturbed happiness, pleasure, a state of supreme satisfaction, supersensual unearthly happiness.

Cheerfulness - a state of high energy, excess strength and desire to do something.

Pain - a painful sensation reflecting the psychophysiological state of a person, which occurs under the influence of super-strong or destructive stimuli. Mental pain is a specific mental experience that is not associated with organic or functional disorders. Often accompanied by depression and mental illness. More often long-lasting and associated with loss loved one.

Disgust - exactingness, fastidiousness regarding cleanliness, compliance with hygiene rules (regarding food, clothing, etc.).

IN

Inspiration - a state of lightness, the ability to create, a feeling of “everything is possible, everything works out!”, doing with enthusiasm and pleasure. A state of spiritual renewal, new birth, the will to creativity, elation, inner insight and passion.

Fun - a carefree and joyful mood, characterized by a desire to laugh and have fun.

Guilt - an affective state characterized by the manifestation of fear, remorse and self-reproach, a feeling of one’s own insignificance, suffering and the need for repentance.

Falling in love - a strong, positively colored feeling (or complex of feelings), the object of which is another person, accompanied by a narrowing of consciousness, which may result in a distorted assessment of the object of love. Acute emotional experience, attraction to the object of sexual choice. V. can quickly fade away or turn into a stable feeling of love.

Lust - passionate desire, strong sensual attraction, sexual attraction.

Outrage - extreme dissatisfaction, indignation, anger.

Mental excitement - same as physiological affect, a condition that reduces a person’s ability to understand the meaning of his or her actions or to direct them.

Inspiration- increased desire to do something. Inspiration is a pre-stage of inspiration, a slightly less emotionally vibrant state. Inspiration arises and develops from inspiration.

Delight - overflowing joy. What will this overflow of energy result in? The next question is...

Delight - a joyful state of admiration, radiance from beauty and gratitude for beauty.

Hostility - strong dislike for someone, including hatred, ill will.

Arrogance - to look at someone from the height of your greatness is contemptuous arrogance. Negative moral quality, characterizing a disrespectful, contemptuous, arrogant attitude towards other people (towards individuals, certain social strata or people in general), associated with an exaggeration of one’s own merits and selfishness.

G

Anger- targeted aggression through open direct pressure on a partner. The world is hostile. Anger is usually expressed by an energetic, powerful scream.

Pride- a feeling of strength, freedom and height of position. Respect for a person, oneself for one’s own or someone else’s achievements that seem significant.

Pride- this is crooked pride. A person's confidence that he himself is the only reason for his success. “I know for everyone what’s best for everyone.”

Sadness- emotional state when the world seems gray, alien, hard and uncomfortable, painted in beautiful transparent grays and minor tones. Often, when you feel sad, you want to cry, you want to be alone. In sadness, the world is not yet hostile, but it is no longer friendly: it is only ordinary, inconvenient and alien, caustic. Usually the cause of sadness is a difficult event in life: separation from a loved one, loss of a loved one. Sadness is not an innate emotion, but an acquired one.

D

Duality- a feeling of duality, as a result of opposing internal urges to do something.

U

Respect- the position of one person in relation to another, recognition of the merits of the individual. A position that prescribes not to harm another: neither physically - through violence, nor morally - through judgment.

Confidence- a person’s mental state in which he considers some information to be true. Confidence is psychological characteristics faith and belief of a person. Confidence can be both the result of an individual’s own experience and the result of external influence. For example, confidence can appear in a person in addition to (and sometimes against) his will and consciousness under the influence of suggestion. A person can also induce a feeling of confidence through self-hypnosis (for example, autogenic training).

Hobby (extra valuable)- a one-sided and intense hobby that occupies an inappropriate place in a person’s life, having a disproportionate impact on him great importance, special meaning. The ability to become very passionate about something or someone is associated with a system of personal values ​​and ideals. This, for example, is sports fanaticism, which may hide a feeling of inferiority, or too much attention paid to one's appearance, which may hide self-doubt.

Astonishment- this is a short-term, quickly passing reaction to a sudden, unexpected event; a mental state when something seems strange, unusual, unexpected. Surprise occurs when there is dissonance between a person’s imaginary picture of the world and what is actually happening. The greater the dissonance, the greater the surprise.

Satisfaction- a feeling of contentment and joy about the fulfillment of one’s desires and needs, about successfully developed conditions, through one’s actions, etc. Satisfaction usually comes when a goal is achieved. For young children, satisfaction can still be brought by the work itself, the process, and not the results of its implementation. Due to socialization, it is becoming increasingly difficult for adults to receive satisfaction from the process.

Pleasure- a feeling, experience that accompanies the satisfaction of a need or interest (the same as pleasure). Pleasure accompanies the decrease internal tension(physical and mental), helps restore the vital functions of the body. Behind pleasure there is always a desire, which, ultimately, as an individual desire, society seeks to take control of. However, in the process of socialization, the natural attitude towards pleasure is limited. Expanding functional contacts with others require a person to control his desire for pleasure, delay receiving pleasure, tolerate displeasure, etc. The pleasure principle manifests itself in opposition social demands and rules and acts as the basis of personal independence: in pleasure a person belongs to himself, is freed from obligations and in this regard is sovereign.

Dejection– a depressed, painful, languid state (from poverty, illness, other unfavorable circumstances, due to serious failures).

Horror– sudden and strong fear, internal trembling, highest degree fear, permeated with despair and hopelessness when faced with something threatening, unknowable and alien; dizziness from the premonition of a total fiasco. Horror for a person is always forced, imposed from the outside - and in the case when we're talking about about psychic obsession.

Tenderness- a feeling of calm, sweet pity, humility, contrition, spiritual, welcoming participation, goodwill.

Pacification- a state of complete peace and satisfaction.

Humiliation– individual or group actions aimed at lowering a person’s status, usually in some way that embarrasses or offends the person. Some common actions considered humiliating are offensive words, gestures, body movements, slapping, spitting in his direction, etc. Some experts believe that key point is that humiliation is determined by the consciousness of the humiliated himself. In order to be humiliated, a person must consider the action humiliating. For some people, humiliation is a pleasure and a source of arousal (for example, in sexual role playing games), but for the vast majority - a difficult test that they do not want to undergo. Humiliation is accompanied by extremely painful emotional shock and affects the most sensitive parts of human self-esteem. If you hit it too hard, even a modest person can respond with aggression.

Dejection– hopeless sadness, loss of spirit, loss of hope for achieving what is desired or essential.

Rapture- a state of delight, pleasure, “admiration, delight, moral, spiritual intoxication.”

Fatigue- a physical and mental state of fatigue, characterized by weakened reactions, lethargy, drowsiness, and inattention. Fatigue arises from overload, from strong tension, from experiencing difficulties, grief, conflicts, from long periods of tedious work, routine work. This condition is the result of either poor work organization or poor health, but the cause of fatigue is a large number of unresolved interpersonal and internal conflicts, which, as a rule, are not realized.

F

Frustration- a state that arises as a result of anxiety about the impossibility of achieving goals and satisfying drives, the collapse of plans and hopes.

Sh

Shock (emotional)- a strong emotion accompanied by physiological shocks. Shock occurs as a result of the appearance of a new element in life to which the subject is not able to immediately adapt.

Psychologists distinguish:

• weak and fleeting shock, at the level of pleasant and unpleasant;
• shock causing more or less long-term maladjustment (strong emotion, loss of a dear being);
• shock, causing long-term maladjustment and thereby even leading to madness.

E

Euphoria- a mental state of joyful excitement and enthusiasm, accompanied by high spirits, excitement, and jubilation.

Exaltation- an emotional state of elevated liveliness with a tinge of unnatural enthusiasm, which seems to have no reason. It manifests itself either in the form of a dreamy mood or inexplicable inspiration.

Your psychologist is the most cunning psychologist on Instagram!...

"To write good book“You just need to take a pen, dip it in ink and put your soul on paper.”
K. Berne

Very often, beginning Authors pay insufficient attention to such moments in their works as the description of the character, his feelings, the nature of his emotions, the environment. Perhaps this is due to the fact that the author himself wants to get to the point, the immediate action, and the main thing in the story - the plot. But it is the quality of the descriptions, the quality of the hero’s emotions that give life to one plot, while giving nothing to another, and then readers note great idea story, but they write that the topic is not disclosed, the hero is incomprehensible. That is, the reader is emotional level he didn’t feel your work, he didn’t see it before his eyes, he didn’t feel what the hero feels. In this article I would like to raise precisely this complex topic of emotions, the character’s feelings in relation to both the world and his environment, and to himself. Let's imagine that you have already created your character, thought through him and his type of activity, noticed personal characteristics, identified habits and little quirks. This character has lived in your head, you have seen it, and now you need to show it to the reader.

Often, authors start from this very moment: literally just starting to tell their story, they immediately strive to show their character by describing his appearance, and sometimes we come across descriptions like this.

Example:

I headed to school, there was a Golden autumn, and the sun was still shining. On such a beautiful day, I absolutely don’t want to sit at a desk in a stuffy classroom, but, unfortunately, summer is over, and hard school days await me. Oh, yes, I forgot to introduce myself, my name is Semyon, I’m sixteen years old, my height is 1.70, I have light green eyes, and blond, shoulder-length hair. My physique, of course, has let me down, I’m very thin, and no matter how hard I try to build up muscles, it’s all in vain. I haven’t liked school since Vadim appeared there, and that was in the seventh grade, almost everyone hated me, no one knows why. Vadim is a tall guy, about 1.90, he is dark-haired, with long bangs falling over his eyes, his blue eyes always laugh at me as soon as our glances intersect. No matter how much I tried to understand why his negativity towards me suddenly came from, which was later adopted by the whole class, I could not understand.

In such cases of description, the author does not leave readers any room for imagination; readers, in fact, do not see this hero. The main mistake: everything is too simple, the criteria for measuring the hero are too obvious, only the exact weight is not enough, although individuals describe this too. What is written here should remain in your notebook or blank about the hero, but should not go into the descriptions. Let the reader see the hero gradually, it’s okay if only on the tenth page a clear image of him appears, which, importantly, the reader will form himself from the grains that you gave him.

Directly regarding the description: pay attention to the little things, they are the ones that show your character; if you write from a third person, then the possibilities in this regard are not limited. Notice the character's gait, for example, with a tilt to one side. Pay attention to dirty nails if you are describing a negative and unpleasant character. Notice the tilt of the imaginary person's head when he is listening particularly carefully. Remember how, perhaps, a friend sometimes wrings his fingers until they crunch, at what moments does he do this? Perhaps out of boredom, or when nervous. All these features show your hero from the side that is close to your readers. Readers will always be close to what is close to them: what is found in their own character or the character of people close to him, and, even if the hero is an alien, he, too, may have those feelings and habits by which only he can be recognized. Now about the emotional component of the characters.

Your hero is alive, which means he experiences a kaleidoscope of emotions every minute: his mood changes depending on the situation, and his behavior can be different each time, as well as his reaction to various external and internal stimuli.
So, a person has six basic emotions: fear, anger, joy, sadness, surprise, disgust. It is not difficult to find out what these emotions look like in any book on psychology; there is also a lot of information and pictures on the Internet about these main types of emotions, so I will not describe the mechanism of the facial muscles when experiencing different emotions. However, this information is useful for the author, so I recommend that you read it. We don't care external manifestation, and internally, what does a person feel at a moment of fear? His heart skips a beat, he breaks out in a cold sweat, and his hair stands on end.

Example:

A lonely lamp burned in the room, illuminating a piece of space around it with yellow light. Alain, swallowing and wet his dry mouth, took a step forward. A crunch sounded under his foot, and his heart skipped a beat for a second. He immediately looked down and saw only a crushed plastic rose that Grandma Tina had once kept in a crystal vase in the kitchen. Involuntarily shrugging his shoulders, the young man moved on.

It is not openly written anywhere that the hero is scared; no, the reader will understand this from minor details.

Alain’s eyes widened at what he saw, he didn’t have time to think, didn’t have time to comprehend. Invisible blinders* fell over his eyes, narrowing the world to the monster standing opposite. It looked the same as a person: wide and open. The monster stood, breathing heavily, spitting saliva. His long crooked fingers clenched into a fist, slowly, barely restraining the tension that was tearing every muscle, it moved towards Alain.

IN in this case, in addition to fear, there is surprise and the monster’s desire to tear Alen apart. Again, these moments are not shown directly. Fear - widened eyes - outwardly, slightly open mouth. An internal cold sweat, like a frozen heart for a second. When fear is not a surprise, but has been present for some time, the person’s heart beats much faster, adrenaline is produced, but the face does not become red. Blood flows from the head to the legs - this is an ancient reaction inherent in nature. The person must have time to escape. This knowledge is important when describing a hero; if the author, taking into account the physiological characteristics of an emotion, describes it, then this will always make the reader feel the work more strongly and be fully imbued with it.

Anger is external: the wings of the nostrils widen, the lips are pursed into a thin thread, the chin is slightly raised. Internally, the heart also beats faster than usual, and the same adrenaline is produced. A person may begin to shake from anger; sometimes at such moments emotions cloud the mind.
Anger and fear are physiologically very close.

Sadness and joy are emotions of a different nature, and both emotions are the result of a very strong experience. Sadness is frustration, disappointment. You should pay attention to it in the description. At this moment, something breaks inside, a person may grab his hair, and may fall into deep depression because of this, if the emotion is prolonged. But, as a rule, in one day in life we ​​experience almost all of the listed emotions, but they do not manifest themselves as acutely as in the description here. However, in the literature it is worth paying attention Special attention and changes in these emotions. Let me remind you again: everyone has the same emotions, even if you are describing a thick-skinned person who seems to have the emotional spectrum of a bus stop. Remember that a person is not able to completely not experience these emotions - he can learn to show them much more restrained than others, he can very quickly be able to switch from one emotion to another and thus simplify his life. His emotions can - due to temperament/experience, etc. - be less acute, but remember: emotions will be there in any case.

Gender factor:

In fact, I would not take it into account in this case at all, for one simple reason: the manifestation of emotions depends on temperament, but not on gender. The expression of feelings depends on gender. And about them a little lower.

Age.

It is no secret that a child, unable to restrain his emotions, is always very open and frank with people. A teenager, as a rule, experiences a lot of stress associated with the formation of the inner self, environment, and search for life path. It follows that it is difficult for him to cope with his emotions, plus a growing body and an unstable nervous system due to physiological neoplasms. Bottom line: changes in emotions occur very often; controlling the manifestations of emotions is incredibly difficult for all types of temperament. An adult shows emotions in accordance with his type of temperament. An old person is restrained in showing emotions due to his experience.

Temperament:

I think it’s no secret to anyone what it is, and it’s unlikely to be a discovery that temperament appears at the moment of birth and is completely independent of upbringing, just like a person’s inclinations (talents). From this we can conclude that a character, even if both parents are calm and balanced, can have an explosive temperament, and vice versa.
Here, perhaps, it is worth separately noting the hero’s upbringing: if your hero is initially melancholic, then you need to take into account the environment in which he grew up. For example, with an authoritarian upbringing, a melancholic person is able to refuse school, any choice, etc. - These are often mama's boys.
The authoritarian style of raising a choleric person, on the contrary, is useful and instills in him discipline and determination.
Why do you need to know all this? In order for this not to happen: a quiet family raised a maniac-pervert.

These examples apply in specific situations and actions. What about feelings?

Feelings are different from emotions: a feeling is long-lasting, while an emotion is instantaneous. Feelings come gradually, they are deep and live in every person: sadness, envy, love, etc. Each of them has a basis. The type of emotions is somewhat different in this regard: the emotions of all people are the same and pass in the same way as everyone else, everyone’s feelings manifest themselves differently and directly depend on the character’s character and on the society in which he is located. For example, if we take a future world in which love is prohibited, then the manifestation of this feeling will be completely different. And the emotion experienced by the character - for example, the same fear - cannot be otherwise, that is, the person will always feel his heart sinking into his heels, no matter what world you put him in.

The feeling has the color of character, although there is a concept of how love is manifested in healthy individuals, but it is the character of a person that determines the manifestation of this feeling. In an authoritarian person, the manifestation of love will be different from the manifestation of the same feeling in a democratic person. With different temperaments, we also have different manifestations: in a choleric person this feeling in behavior is always clearly expressed in relation to his soul mate, in a phlegmatic person it is carefully hidden, both from the object of sighing and from himself. I think these simple truths were already known and clear to you, but I decided to remind you of them for the reason that it is in works that authors forget about the manifestations of these character traits when describing their feelings.

A writer is always an actor and director rolled into one. Having created the world, written down the idea and plot, invented the characters, live them, take on their guise, and, believe me, you will begin to feel what your hero feels; you can see the world through his eyes. Even if the character is completely opposite to you, “enter” him and let him in, and that’s when the reader will see it, and perhaps even the negative character will be able to develop feelings for him, understand his nature of emotions, especially if he can recognize himself in these emotions.

Human emotions– this is the evaluative attitude of the individual to emerging phenomena. Human emotions have not been studied well enough, so there are often different definitions of this phenomenon from different authors. But we can express a general statement according to which emotions are regulators of activity that reflect the meaning of an existing or possible situation in the life of an individual. Based on this, a person’s emotions give rise to experiences of joy, fear, pleasure and other feelings. Human emotions, by themselves, may not give rise to experience, but they the main task- This is the internal regulation of activity.

Emotions have undergone a long evolution; they have developed from simple innate instinctive processes (organic and motor changes) into more complex processes that have lost their instinctive basis, but are tied to a specific situation. That is, complex emotional processes began to express an individual evaluative attitude towards circumstances and their direct participation in them.

They determine vital primary emotions that ensure a person’s survival. These include pain, rage, and others similar.

Emotions in a person’s life have an indescribable meaning. So, thanks to interest, surprise, sadness, joy, fear, people transmit information. Their expression is accompanied by bodily manifestations - gestures, facial expressions, changes in skin color (redness, paleness).

Emotions in human life are regulators social activity and its guides. A person without emotions becomes empty and uninteresting. He stops seeing the meaning in everything he does, so he becomes apathetic and detached. Sometimes such an apathetic state takes over a person, but over time a good mood returns, which moves him forward.

Emotions in a person’s life act as signals. With their help, the current state of the body is displayed. If positive emotions are observed, it means that he is happy with everything, negative ones indicate dissatisfaction of some needs.

Emotions protect the body from overload and preserve internal energy. Every emotional state signals something. So, when experiencing stress, a person’s activity decreases, thereby leaving energy for doing something more important.

The influence of emotions on a person is very diverse. They affect. A person experiencing positive emotions, such as joy, views the world from an optimistic point of view. Those who experience suffering or see evil intentions and negativity in everything.

Emotions have an impact on mental processes. Thus, a person under stress cannot remember events appearance people, he mixes up all the facts and does not understand what is true and what he could have made up.

The influence of emotions on a person is reflected in his studies and work. If he gets to work with interest, then he will act quickly and without getting tired.

The emotional state influences. A person's strong emotions make him uncontrollable; he may not even understand what he is doing. For example, in a state (of an extremely strong emotional state) a person is capable of murder, he can do something completely unusual for him.

Types of human emotions

The role of any emotion in a person’s life cannot be overestimated. People may be from different cultures, brought up differently, live in different parts of the world, differ in appearance, speak different languages, but they all have the same emotions and express the same person’s attitude towards a certain situation or object. Even animals understand some human emotions. For example, when a person is happy and laughs, the dog also begins to show his joy by dancing around the person and wagging his tail. If a person is sad, the dog calmly lies down next to him. These processes have not been properly studied, but it is a fact.

There are many types of human emotions and they can change each other very quickly. For example, a person is in one state and suddenly a certain stimulus acts on him, and he critically changes his attitude to the situation. A person can instantly, being in a cheerful mood, switch to a gloomy one, or, conversely, under the influence of an event, switch from a sad state to a joyful one.

A person is capable of experiencing opposing feelings regarding one individual, and at the same time. The emotions that excite a person are instantly reflected on his face, so it is very difficult to hide them. People may try to hide their true feelings, their facial expressions, but there are other factors through which one can determine what a person is experiencing - this is posture, facial expressions, gait, gestures and others.

All emotions are divided into positive emotions of people, neutral and negative emotions person.

Positive emotions of people are joy, delight, confidence, satisfaction, tenderness, trust, admiration, sympathy, love, gratitude, tenderness, relief, bliss.

Negative human emotions are sadness, despair, anxiety, displeasure, melancholy, grief, resentment, fear, annoyance, regret, indignation, hostility, anger, insult, uncertainty, distrust, rage, disgust, contempt, disappointment, impatience.

Neutral ones include indifference, amazement, and curiosity.

Each human emotion creates a certain resonance, and everything that is around the individual begins to absorb this state. To a greater extent, this refers to people, but thanks to some research, it has become known that animals and plants are also able to respond to different types emotional states.

All people can experience basic emotions, but not everyone can experience a wider range of them. Such people are called “thick-skinned” in everyday life. They are not very sensitive and cannot fully appreciate their feelings, they find it difficult to identify them.

There is a separate type of emotion called affect. Affect is a strong emotional state during which rational thinking is switched off and at that moment a person begins to act stereotypically. It is expressed in numbness, flight.

Emotions prepare a person for certain actions. For example, when a person finds himself in critically stressful circumstances, he develops certain emotional and physiological reactions. Thus, in a state of fear, a person’s body may become numb, but it may also prepare to flee.

If a person is sad, then he has a sluggish gait, drooping shoulders and corners of his mouth. In a state of aggression, a person takes a defensive position, the body becomes a shield, the back straightens, the whole body tenses. In an extreme situation, when there is a threat to life, the blood in the body thickens and in case of injury, severe blood loss can be avoided. When a person experiences joy, he produces hormones that can protect the body and strengthen overall tone.

Various emotional states affect the cardiovascular system. Long-term stress can disrupt normal work heart, and lead to hypertension. Blood circulation also depends on the general condition.

People's positive emotions affect blood flow to the skin and breathing rhythm. If a person experiences prolonged stress, he may experience breathing problems.

A person’s negative emotions have a very negative effect on him and provoke various diseases.

People's positive emotions have a positive effect on deep sleep, improving general state. An optimistic lifestyle has a positive effect on health, so you need to think positively in any case.

Another group of emotional states is represented by affects. Affects are strong human emotions, accompanied by active actions to resolve an acute, extreme, conflict or stressful situation. Affect occurs suddenly and is expressed in temporary disorganization (narrowing) of consciousness and acute activation of impulse reactions. They can appear in various forms.

Fear is a form of affect, it is a reflex reaction that serves as a biological defense mechanism psyche. The main manifestations of fear are running, screaming, grimacing, decreased or strongly increased muscle tone, body trembling, increased heart rate, increased blood pressure, dry mouth, intestinal disorders, etc.

A person's anger can also lead to a state of passion. Anger is manifested in a raised tone of voice, reaching the point of screaming, an attacking posture and threatening facial expressions.

The state of disappointment is less emotionally charged to lead to affect, but sometimes it does happen.

Human feelings and emotions

Human feelings and emotions are strongly connected with internal personal qualities. They reflect everything that a person lives by, what happens inside him. A person is often afraid to express his own emotions or denies them, and may confuse them with feelings. Some are not aware of them at all; it is difficult for them to say something in response to the question of what they are experiencing. But this does not mean that these people are insensitive. This means that we need to figure out what is the reason for this state, why a person is not able to determine how he feels about a person, how he feels about a certain event or phenomenon. A person who cannot identify his emotions and feelings is not capable of solving life's problems.

For many people, what they are experiencing or feeling remains unknown, but they are more concerned about the reasons for their feelings. The causes of many conditions and feelings are social. Due to the active development of society, new emotions appear or are given new meaning. For example, a person is not able to feel some feelings after birth, but can learn later from his immediate environment. From early childhood, parents and friends teach the child to express their emotions, encourage them to show their feelings, tell them what emotions and in what situations can be expressed, and when it is better to restrain oneself. When a person is unable, for some reason, to experience the range of feelings that capture everyone except him, then he is considered selfish and insensitive.

Emotions and feelings can express the same thing, for example, a person can feel an emotion and a feeling of joy. Emotions appear when a need arises and end immediately after this need is satisfied; feelings are objective in nature. Satisfying thirst, hunger and other needs is associated with the emotion of joy. The feeling of satisfaction is directly related to one irreplaceable object, for example, a person wants to drink coffee, but there is only tea, but it will not replace coffee, it will not provide the satisfaction that a person expects from coffee. Feelings manifest themselves exclusively towards some object; if it is absent, then they do not arise.

Feelings can be nurtured and developed. There are levels of human feelings - from practical ones, such as satisfaction or property, to sublime feelings that stand out along with spiritual ideals and values.

Feelings developed historically, and in different eras one phenomenon could evoke different attitudes in people. Also, feelings are influenced by culture and religion. Therefore, to the same object in people different nations opposite feelings arise. For example, in European countries a woman can walk quite freely in shorts, a short skirt and a T-shirt; this is considered the norm. If a woman in this form walks near Muslim believers, this will cause indignation and contempt in them, since their religion and culture do not allow a woman’s body to be open.

In a person’s life, practical feelings are formed that are directly related to his activities. In theoretical activity, intellectual feelings are formed that are associated with cognitive activity(curiosity, interest, surprise). In relation to the development of figurative-selective activity, aesthetic ones arose, such as a sense of harmony and beauty, admiration.

Moral feelings include conscience, the experience of guilt, duty, solidarity, justice, nobility. Thanks to moral feelings, a person expresses his feelings and attitude towards others. They also distinguish spiritual feelings, which include feelings of holiness, enlightenment, reverence, and mysticism.

The diversity of an individual’s feelings reflects his system of values, needs and the essence of personality. Regarding the outside world, a person wants to act in such a way as to be positively disposed towards it. Therefore, feelings, unlike emotions, can be independently regulated.

When a person experiences a strong, stable, positive feeling for something that arises from an insufficiently satisfied need, he feels passion. Passion is strong emotional state, which is poorly controlled by a person, and not every person can cope with it.

Emotional states vary in their sign (positive or negative), intensity, depth, duration of influence and significance of the reflection in reality (deep and shallow).

Feelings and emotions can be sthenic or asthenic, depending on the impact on activity. Stenic ones activate a person, encourage activity, mobilize resources and strength, these include joy, interest, and inspiration. Asthenic relaxes and fetters forces, for example, a person’s negative emotions, humiliation, guilt, and depression.

The emotional tone of a sensation shows a person’s attitude to the quality of feelings. That is, a certain phenomenon or stimulus is responsible for a person’s condition. For example, the sound of the sea, the sound of a log cracking in a fire, the sight of a sunset, and the like. Some irritants can cause idiosyncrasy in a person - a painful aversion to certain individually intolerable sounds, smells, tastes.

Emotional response is a quick reaction to changes in external environment. For example, a person saw beautiful flower- I was amazed, I heard loud thunder - I was scared. An emotional response expresses a person's emotional excitability. There is a type of emotional response known as syntony; it manifests itself in a person’s ability to be responsive to other people and respond to phenomena and changes in phenomena in the world around them. Syntony is expressed through a state of harmony between a person and nature, in the ability to understand and accept the experiences and feelings of others.

Emotional stability is manifested in the stability of a person’s behavior in a variety of situations, in resistance to various life difficulties, and in the manifestation of tolerance towards other people. The predominance of positive or negative emotions in human experience, forms a corresponding stable mood in a person.

There is also a connection between emotions, feelings and... Emotions can cause certain behavioral acts, like motivation, and accompany the motivation itself, while experiencing certain feelings. For example, food is not only motivation, but also a source of satisfaction, and the very process in which a person eats is accompanied by the emotion of joy. Motivation is “turned on” with the help of internal processes of the body and is focused on suppressing internal imbalance. Unlike motivation, emotion is a response to external processes and is directed to the source of information from the outside.

In nature there is such a phenomenon as. A person with alexithymia is said to be a person without emotions. Such people cross out both emotions and feelings from their lives. Instead, they engage in reflection. Alexithymics believe that it is important to understand, and not live it, wasting time on unnecessary experiences. They never feel anything, or at least they say so, it is difficult for them to understand themselves and identify their sensations.

If a person is healthy, then he experiences feelings and experiences emotions. Because the external world affects a person, which means he must respond to these influences in some way, therefore all a person’s actions and thoughts have an emotional connotation, which is a sign of a mentally healthy person.

Alexithymia is formed mainly in childhood, when adults, in the process of raising their children, themselves act in ways that cause this disorder. They interfere with the full formation of emotions and feelings in children, since they themselves have problems expressing them. While other parents encourage their children to express their feelings, alexithymics are unable to teach this to their own children, as they themselves have difficulty recognizing and expressing their feelings. In most cases, alexithymia occurs in men. Since they are taught from childhood that they are not obliged to cry or reveal their true feelings, but to keep everything to themselves or not even allow themselves any feelings.

Alexithymia can develop not only in childhood, but also in adulthood. This occurs due to stressful experiences accompanied by strong emotions. If a person is unable to realize and experience his emotions, a certain barrier appears to them; he does not allow them to reach his consciousness, blocks and ignores them. It turns out that a person guards himself from internal experiences due to the inability to share them with someone or properly work through them.

There are people who quite consciously turn off their emotions. They explain this by saying that it is easier and much more profitable to live this way. So, for example, these people can freely “go over their heads”, despite the fact that this makes other people feel bad. They do not feel pity for people if they have hurt them, they simply insensitively use them for personal gain. They organize their lives to the fullest, do what is important to them first and foremost. But over time, a certain understanding comes that it was necessary to live differently. This happens when a person realizes all the pain that he caused to others, when his loved ones leave him, and he cannot do anything about it. It is very important to understand all this in time and stop being an insensitive person.