What are emotions? List of emotions. 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 has been functioning in a child from the first days of his birth, while "positive" emotions appear much later. A “negative” emotion is an alarm signal, a danger to the body. "Positive" emotion is a signal of returned well-being. It is clear that the last signal does not need to sound for a long time, so emotional adaptation to the good comes quickly. The alarm signal must be given until the danger is eliminated. As a result, only “negative” emotions can become stagnant. "Negative" emotions are harmful only in excess, just as everything that exceeds the norm is harmful. Fear, anger, rage increase the intensity of metabolic processes, lead to better nutrition of the brain, increase the body's resistance to overload, infections, etc.

The neural mechanisms of positive emotional reactions are more complex and subtle than those of negative ones. "Positive" emotions have an independent adaptive meaning, i.e. the role of "positive" emotions is different from the role of "negative" emotions: "positive" emotions induce living systems to actively violate the achieved "balance" with environment: « Critical role positive emotions - an active violation of peace, comfort, the famous "balancing of the body with external environment"". "Negative emotions, as a rule, ensure the preservation of what has already been achieved by the evolution or individual development of the subject. Positive emotions revolutionize behavior, prompting the search for new, not yet satisfied needs, without which pleasure is unthinkable. This does not indicate the absolute value of positive emotions "They may be due to primitive, selfish, socially unacceptable needs. In such cases, we will undoubtedly give preference to such negative emotions as anxiety for the fate of another person, compassion for those in trouble, indignation at injustice. The social value of emotions is always determined by the motive that caused it to life."

Types of emotional states

Depending on the depth, intensity, duration and degree of differentiation, the following types of emotional states can be distinguished: sensual tone, emotions proper, affect, passion, mood.

The simplest form of emotions is the emotional tone of sensations - innate hedonic experiences (from the Greek hedone - pleasure) that accompany certain vital influences (eg, taste, temperature, pain). Already at this level, emotions are differentiated into 2 polar classes. Positive emotions caused by beneficial effects 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 emotions, an elementary manifestation of organic sensitivity, which accompanies certain vital influences and prompts the subject to eliminate or preserve them. Often, such experiences, due to their weak differentiation, cannot be expressed verbally. Sensual tone is perceived as an emotional coloring, a kind of qualitative shade of the mental process, as a property of the perceived object, phenomenon, action, etc.

2. Emotions proper are a psychic reflection in the form of a direct biased experience of the vital meaning of phenomena and situations, conditioned by the relation of their objective properties to the needs of the subject. These are subject specific mental processes and conditions that arise in a specific situation and have a narrowly focused character. Emotions arise with 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 that are novel, unusual or sudden).

The division of emotions into positive and negative is traditionally considered. However, such emotions as anger, fear, shame cannot be unconditionally classified as negative, negative. Anger is sometimes directly correlated with adaptive behavior and even more often - with the protection 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 is the classification of emotions in relation to activity and, accordingly, their division into sthenic (inciting 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; according to the nature of the actions on which the probability of satisfying the need depends - contact and distant.

3. Affect is a rapidly and violently flowing emotional process of an explosive nature, which can give a discharge in action that is not subject to conscious volitional control. The main thing in affect is an unexpectedly coming, sharply experienced by a person shock, characterized by a change in consciousness, a violation of volitional control over actions. In affect, the parameters of attention change dramatically: its switchability decreases, concentration and memory are disturbed, up to partial or

complete amnesia. Affect has a disorganizing effect on activity, sequence and quality of performance, with maximum disintegration - stupor or chaotic non-purposeful motor reactions. Distinguish between normal and pathological effects.

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; presence of post-affective amnesia.

4. Passion is an intense, generalized and prolonged experience that dominates other human motives and leads to concentration on the subject of passion. The reasons that cause passion can be different - ranging from bodily desires to conscious ideological convictions. Passion can be accepted, sanctioned by a person, or it can be experienced as something undesirable, obsessive. characteristic features passions are the power of feeling, expressed in the appropriate direction of all the thoughts of the individual, stability, the unity of emotional and volitional moments, a kind of combination of activity and passivity.

5. Mood - a relatively long, stable mental state of moderate or low intensity. The reasons that cause mood are numerous - from organic well-being (the tone of life) to the nuances of relationships with others. The mood has a subjective orientation, in comparison with the sensual tone, it is realized not as a property of the object, but as a property of the subject. A certain role is played by individual personality traits.

The variety of manifestations of a person's emotional life puts psychology before the need for their clearer differentiation. According to the tradition of Russian psychology, it is customary to single out feelings as a special subclass of emotional processes. Feeling is experienced and found in specific emotions. However, in contrast to the actual emotions and affects associated with specific situations, feelings distinguish 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 relations, 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 the leading emotional and semantic formations of the personality.

Emotional reactions (anger, joy, melancholy, fear) are subdivided by them into an emotional response, an emotional outburst and an emotional outburst (affect). The emotional response is, according to the authors, the most dynamic and constant phenomenon of a person's emotional life, reflecting quick and shallow switching in the systems of a person's attitudes to routine changes in situations of everyday life. The intensity and duration of the emotional response are small, and it is not able to significantly change emotional condition person. A more pronounced intensity, intensity and duration of the experience is characterized by an emotional outburst that can change the emotional state, but is not associated with a loss of self-control. An emotional outburst is characterized by a rapidly developing emotional reaction of great intensity with a weakening of volitional control over behavior and a facilitated transition to action. This is a short-term phenomenon, after which there is a breakdown or even complete indifference, drowsiness.

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 conditionality of such a division. These three groups of emotional reactions can also 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 both operational (momentary), current (long-term), and permanent (chronic). Therefore, the use of this characteristic in singling out a class of emotional reactions is very relative.

Man is not a robot, which means that he experiences something to everything that happens around him. One makes him sad and the other makes him happy. Thanks to spiritual experiences, our life is filled with meaning, we become able to distinguish good from bad, and also choose what we really need. These spiritual experiences are called They are similar in many ways, however, they have some differences from each other. Chief among these differences is that emotions are temporary, while feelings are permanent. In other words, we can say that feeling is a stable emotion. There are different types of emotions and feelings. However, it should be immediately noted that all of them are somehow connected with individual mental characteristics man, as well as with his very personality.

Types of emotions in psychology

First of all, it is worth noting that they are:

positive;

neutral;

Negative.

The types of emotions are different and numerous. Here are the main ones:

1) Joy. We feel it when something good happens, our dreams come true, the efforts invested in any business pay off, or we just get what we have long wanted. Joy is something that is so lacking among gray everyday life. It has long been proven by scientists that a person who is constantly happy about something lives longer, and his health is much better than that of those people who are constantly depressed.

No other emotion can so nourish a person as joy. Without it, a person languishes and loses the will to live.

2) Surprise. It makes our life not so boring and insipid. A person who is capable of wonder always experiences a little more joy than other people. This emotion is directly related to the expectation, anticipation of something. It appears when the veil of secrecy falls, and a person finds out what was hidden. There is an opinion that a person ceases to be surprised over time. It's bad, but such is our life.

3) Interest. Much that humanity has today would not be achieved if man were not capable of experiencing interest. Interest makes people develop, gain new knowledge, and also make grandiose and great discoveries. In fact, interest is an emotional attitude to something, a desire to get acquainted with this something and understand it. The opposite of interest is boredom. The objects of the surrounding world, which cause boredom in a certain person, remain without his attention, that is, unknown to him.

4) Sympathy. It can arise not only to another person, but also to any object, phenomenon and object of the surrounding world. She says that her object caused a certain emotional response in us, and we definitely need to get closer to him.

5) There are also negative types of emotions. First of all, anger should be attributed to them. This emotion is very strong and often a person gets into various unpleasant situations because of it. Anger is a kind of reaction to external stimuli that a person does not like. Such negative types of emotions as suffering, resentment, bitterness and others, as a rule, lurk inside a person, but anger always comes to the surface. Often it is caused by the fact that a person tries to hide the feelings listed above for a long time. In some cases, anger can be completely out of control.

Other types of emotions and feelings

Positive:

Confidence;

Pride;

Delight;

tenderness;

Tenderness;

Gratitude and others.

Neutral:

Indifference;

Amazement;

curiosity and others.

Negative:

Envy;

Disgust;

Jealousy;

Indifference;

Dislike and others.

You can’t become a prisoner of any emotions and feelings (we’re not just talking about negative ones), as this can prevent you from moving along the path of life correctly.

Hello dear reader. In order to show the relevance of our today's conversation, I want you to stop reading the article for a few moments and answer the question: “What emotions do you this moment are you experiencing?"
Thought? Answered?

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

• Many people answer such a question as follows: “Yes, I don’t feel any particular emotions now, everything is fine.” Does this mean that there really are no emotions? Or does it just mean that a person is poorly aware of his emotional state? The fact is that a person always experiences emotions, every moment of his life. Sometime they reach a high intensity, and sometime 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 uncomfortable. I feel uncomfortable." We see that a 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 in a similar way: "I feel like it's time for me to get up from the computer and get down to business" or "I feel that this article can be useful to me." Many people confuse their emotions with thoughts and desire to do something. When trying to describe their emotional state, they describe anything but emotions.

Meditation exercise for understanding emotions

In my work with clients, I often use a meditation exercise to help me better understand my own emotions. It is so effective that I decided to make an audio recording so that anyone can use this technique. The mechanism of action of the exercise is based on the connection of emotions and bodily reactions. Any, even the most insignificant, emotion has its reflection 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 is the entry:

Once you have learned what emotions are and how to easily describe your internal state You may be interested in a deeper exploration of yourself. For example, you may want to figure out what positive meaning can carry emotions that, at first glance, are absolutely meaningless and even harmful. Read about it in the next