Think, Feel, Act : The Story Of Emotion

The ability to identify emotion and carry it out into one’s daily life is what defines an individual as human; if one lacks emotion, then the individual will become a robot of society. Emotion is defined as a natural instinctive state of mind deriving from one’s circumstances, mood, or relationships with others

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

Throughout the course of the first semester we as a Psychology class learned a whole variety of different and varying concepts of Psychology. Chapter one we went over all the different ways psychologists study behaviors and mental processes. Included were the contemporary perspectives, such as behavioral, which focuses on behavior that is observed. Psychodynamic focuses on our fantasies and our hidden motives. Humanistic is all about our free will and conscious choices. Physiological is the relationships between biological processes and behavior. Cognitive perspective is our acquired knowledge, and last but not least is sociocultural, which places great value on the role of cultural and social influences on our behavior.

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.

In contrast,emotion is a strong feeling which is shown and connects to other factors such as a person’s circumstances, mood or relationships with others. However, individuals who interact with people and things as part of their daily lives, play a part in anybody’s emotional state, making them feel positively or negatively about that experience.

The complexity of human emotions has been an unsolvable conundrum that has plagued the minds of philosophers for hundreds of years. In fact, to this day, philosophers still feverishly debate the various components of emotions. Whether it is the origins of emotions or the effect on the human body that emotions have, actual facts and proven theories about emotions are impossible to one hundred percent be verified. One emotion that is particularly complex and powerful is the emotion of fear. For example, there are times when an individual is totally paralyzed and unable to move purely because of the fact that the individual

Psychology is a scientific study of the mind and behavior of a person or animals action according to, Psychology (fourth edition 2015). I've always believed that Psychology was not a science. There is no explanation on how emotions can be measured (love, hate, sadness). For example, my children both love their dad and when deployment comes one of them cries, and the other might just show a facial expression of sadness. Both children are sad, but one is showing it more than the other. That doesn't mean that one loves their father more than the other one. I believe emotions can not be seen as science since science is about facts according to Psychology, (fourth edition, pg. 20).

According to Seth J. Gillihan, a professor of psychology at University of Pennsylvania states that it’s a good idea to stop and examine them and try to put the feelings into words, even if it does not change the emotion it makes it easier to choose our response. Lisa Feldman Barrett, a psychology professor at Northeastern University says ‘I think that an emotion is your brain categorizing sensations, making them meaningful so you kow what they are and what you should do about them.’ The attempts to pinpoint an emotion centers within the brain have been greatly unsuccessful, with complex systems of chemical and electrical interactions within and between

However, instead of using vital survival arguments to explain how emotions are elicited, it uses a expansive notion of possible benefits or harms. Only limited by the central role given to cognition in the process of emotion, analysts in this field find it more difficult to distinguish emotions from non-emotions, (e.g. ideas, attitudes or

Sophocles designs his plays to instruct his audience members to behave morally correct. People’s actions are ruled by their emotions (jealousy, suspicion, anger, pride, and love) and it leads to negative effects for them. But when acting in a sage demeanor, it gives evidence to a person’s character. Sophocles writes his characters to be ruled by their emotions and to teach people to behave in a prudent demeanor. Sophocles designs his plays to have the people of authority act in an immorally correct fashion.

The first concept that applies psychology is the Anxiety disorder. Some may wonder how do we rule the psychological concept as a disorder? Many psychologists agree that an emotion is the most diverse concept in psychology because they don’t generally last as long. The psychological concept states that an emotion can be subjective or can have inner experience. According to Charles Darwin, the evolutionary perspective seeks to understand the

Chapter 1 explains the work of a Harvard psychologist named William James. William published the article “What is an Emotion?” in a philosophical journal entitled Mind in 1884. His paper is an argument for the primacy and necessity of bodily systems in producing emotional feelings. James-Lange theory states that physiological arousal instigates the experience of emotion. A Harvard physiologist, Walter Cannon, roundly criticized James’ theory, claiming that, according to the Cannon Bard theory, physiological changes follow emotional expression.

Psychology is a study of mind and behavior. Psychological research is mostly focused on the relationship between thought, behavior and emotion; how one influences the other and what are the consequences of such interaction. Put simply, psychology is a field associated with the drive to understand the way human mind works. The topic is slightly enigmatic, but at the same time very challenging and complicated. Where representatives of the exact sciences depend on data, facts and figures, psychologists tend to rely on behavior. Seeing that the majority of work done by psychologists is

For many people, they live their lives based on emotions. Emotions of happiness, love, success, and many more, could possibly be the most satisfying feelings. Except we commonly experience unpleasant emotions. There are emotions of anger, hatred, sadness, and disgrace. A very important question in the understanding of the human mind and highly related to cognitive science, is how do these emotions affect human cognition and the impact on our abilities to be rational? To tackle this question, we need to understand what emotions are, but not solely in the manner we are all familiar with, we need to understand them from a cognitive nature involving our physiology, psychology, and environment. Cognition, according to the Oxford definition

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