Analysis and Evaluation of the Types of Emotion Essay

We are exposed to various emotions everyday, whether it is at work, at school, on the street, or even at home. An emotion could be described as an individual’s reaction to an event, in which that individual is aware of his/her own feeling. There are two types of emotions, positive and negative. Positive emotions could include feelings such as love, joy, and bliss. Negative emotions could include feelings like fear, anger, and anxiety. Social psychologists are under the impression that negative emotions are stronger than positive emotions. Emotions have physiological as well as mental components. This means that there is some form of arousal and thinking involved. Now that we know a little about emotions, one might ask, what are the basic

Children are very complex, unique and varied individuals whose genetics, connections and backgrounds all perform significant roles in their emotional development (Wilson, 2003). The genetic blueprint a child inherits from its parents may plot a course for development but the environment and the influences within can affect how the child is shaped, how they connect with and are perceived by others and how their emotions are or are not expressed. Wilson (2003) points out emotions as an experience that is linked to cognitive interpretation, context, subjective feeling, physical reaction and behavioural expression. Campos, Campos, and Barrett (1989) suggest emotions are processes of establishing, maintaining, or disrupting the relations between the person and the internal or external environment, when such relations are significant to the individual.

In class we discussed the three main theories of emotion: the James Lange, Cannon Bard, and the Two Factor. The James Lange theory believes people's emotions follow, rather than cause, behavioral reactions to situations. The Cannon-Bard theory suspects emotions accompany the bodily responses that are aroused by an external stimulus. Similarly, the Two Factor theory believes an emotion is

Attempts to define “emotion” have proved to be rather difficult. Instead of searching for a comprehensive definition, Gross (2011) describes the three core features of emotions. First, emotions occur when an individual decides that a situation is relevant to his or her goals. Second, emotions are multi-faceted, and involve both subjective and physiological experiences, as well as behaviors. The third feature involves the authoritative nature of emotions. They have the powerful ability to interrupt ongoing processes, assert their priority over other activities, and force their way into awareness. For example, some traditions describe emotions as “disorganized interruptions of mental activity” (Salovey & Mayer, 1989). Emotions are such an

Christakis and Fowler state that emotions themselves contain several elements. Emotions contain a conscious element, meaning people are aware of what they’re feeling. They have a physical aspect; emotions are tied to an individuals’ health. They also have a neurological affect; altering activity and blood flow levels in the brain. Finally, emotions contain a visual aspect; they can be expressed in facial expressions and body language.

Our parents raise us hoping for us to develop certain character traits, but there comes to a point when we start to become our own person based on the experiences we go through, any situation, good or bad, can influence our personality mentally and emotionally. Emotion is what makes us human, it's how we cope and how we manage our crazy lives’. When our feelings get damaged or even nourished, it will change how we react

Emotions are used in everyday life, whether it be just a simple smile that makes happiness disperse in your brain, or a death of a loved one that causes sadness. The basic emotions are joy, interest, surprise, sadness, anger, disgust, contempt, fear, shame, and guilt. The way we see emotion in ourselves and others can be very complex because we sometimes assume they feel a certain way just based on their actions or even facial expressions. When emotion is discussed in psychological terms, it is not based on one thing, instead it’s a mix of bodily arousal, expressive behaviors, conscious experience. Many theories try to explain how emotion works.

People are shaped into individuals through many defining attributes – from the way we communicate and the way we express ourselves to a person’s morals and ethics. Coincidentally, these are all linked through one major omniscient trait – emotions. Emotions contain a wide spectrum of subcategories, but these can basically be broken down into the two elementary divisions: happiness and sadness. These ups and downs are crucial for people to be themselves; to have their own stories and experiences to tell.

Emotion is essential in order for individuals to respond to arousing stimuli. In part, managing the emotion is through a complex process called emotion regulation, which involves being aware of the relationship between emotion, cognition, and behavior (Shiota & Kalat, 2012). In addition, it involves modulating various factors such as the intensity, duration, and type of emotion, in order to assess one’s goals (Thompson, 1994). During development, one acquires the

In chapter 8 of Handbook of Emotions, The Evolutionary Psychology of the Emotions and Their Relationship to Internal Regulatory Variables, Tooby & Cosmides (2008) thoroughly discuss the theories of how emotions came to be. The overall conclusion is that emotions did not inadvertently occur, but instead were specifically designed and evolved to solve distinct issues that would affect the probability of fitness. Emotions evolved to utilize physical responses based on environmental cues in order to promote the individual’s overall success.

It’s different than “feelings”, “A state, elicited by a strongly motivational (i.e. “reinforcing”) event or by anticipation of such an event, that produces a coordinated set of adaptive responses.

The perception of emotions is an important topic to study because the ability to discern emotions plays a critical role in an individual 's cognitive growth, their reasoning, behavior idiosyncrasies and the essential key of survival. Perception is the a central element to emotions, meaning that countless emotions that an individual faces occur directly upon the perception of intensely expressive to a certain stimuli. We are aware that our mood affects how we perceive the emotions of those in our surroundings and the environments we are in, but also age has a big impact as well.

When we are emotionally triggered our individual “conditioned responses” can vary widely from from person to person and depending on the situation we are dealing with.

We all have innate knowledge; because when we are a newborn baby, we automatically learn something in our own way. Without any help or any teach about our family. Emotion is the one of our innate knowledge. Because when we are only a newborn baby, we automatically know how to express an emotion. An emotion that we apply until the end of our lives. And an emotion that we cannot control if we feel something. Another innate knowledge that we do after our mother giving birth to us is to digest milk and food. For me emotion and digesting food are one of the innate knowledge that we learn automatically. At first we cannot live longer if we did not know how to digest milk/food. And we cannot show to other people if we are happy or sad when we did not show an emotion.

When talking about emotion it seems a fairly simple topic and immediately "feeling" words come to mind; sad, happy, and confused. These are basic emotions and easy to understand. What isn't so simple about emotions is their process and how they form and work. Emotions are reactions to sensory information like sight, smell, taste, touch and sound (Tracing Emotion’s Pathways 94). However, it is not that simple; an emotional reaction or response is made aware of and understood by a part of the brain called the sensory cortex. These emotional responses or reactions to sensory stimuli are processed by a part of the brain called the amygdala (What’s An Emotion). The amygdala is a huge asset to the cognitive factors of emotions because in processing emotions you become able to understand, recognize, and control them. So then how do emotions evoke a physiological reaction such as tearing up when one feels sad, laughing with joy, and trembling with fear? These physiological reactions that one may experience come from the autonomic nervous system. The autonomic nervous system is, “a collection of fibers that extend throughout