Understanding The Dynamics Of Emotion, Compassion, Cognition,

Emotions are interesting because everyone feels them, most people do not know how emotions take their curse and arguably no one really knows how emotions function. There are many theories aimed precisely at defining emotions and how they work but there is a lot of work to be done. An article posted in the New York Time’s website about a week ago explains a wonderful aspect about emotions and how people can utilize emotions to benefit their lives.

When defining the possible limitations of the “Empathy and (Film) Fiction”, it is in high priority to consider the experimental set in the research and the film examples Neill provides in the essay. The set of examples the author uses in the essay does correspond only to the award-winning or highly-rated films that are assumed to be “good” in evoking the empathetic or any other emotional response. This excludes possible alternative response to “bad” or “not-so-good” films. In addition, Neill does not cover many other cases of the empathetic response to the fictional character; thus he ignores the complex set of emotions the audience usually expresses (e.g. the antagonist as the main character, disgusting scenes etc). As a result, deficiency of the elaborate experimental set generates more questions in the issue. At the same time, however, the strength of

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 suggest that emotions most likely began in early human evolutionary stages to promote the bonding of mother and child; later expanding to other family members, then non family members. The ability to read moods and pass them onto each other could have aided early humans in their everyday activities, due to the lack of fully developed verbal communication. It is also stated, emotions travel faster than words. It is faster to read an individual’s face to understand their emotions than it is to wait for the verbal communication that comes along with it; which leads into what the authors call Emotional

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.

One common characteristic of characters in literature, art, and music is the common, but misunderstood and even complex emotion of fear. From the first stories of Gilgamesh and his struggles to Harper Lee’s newly discovered Go Set a Watchman, every character in these novels with some form of fear that helps to push and struggle against their current conditions. Whether it be a struggle against nature, oneself, divine entities, or other people, the struggle that character face is often very similar in structure and emotions. One reason that these struggles are so necessary in literature is the fact that they are often the same difficulties that people have to face in reality. From wars to poverty, humans face the same struggle as literary characters do and they often have similar emotions and characteristics. One of the driving emotions in both reality and in literature is the emotion of fear. Fear drives humans to struggle with their situation. It propels literary characters to go on journeys and discover themselves. Fear drives people to survive, and live their lives. Fear and the human struggle is the linking connection between stories and reality that acts as both a motivator and an inhibitor.

This helps to allocate their thought process of how they think and feel. This then guides the way it makes them feel also the thought process behind it. Emotion leads to behavior; which influences how we think and feel.

When there have been trying tribulations, more people will understand what it is like for emotions to take a toll mentally. When there is the constant hum of worry in their head, some will understand what it is like to be overcome with anxiety. Emotions are high and you feel out of place. When there is the prickling of happiness, people will know how hard it is not to act impulsively. Emotions influence the decisions humans make. When there is anxiety, some may decide to drink water or take a nap. When there is excitement, some may make bad choices because of the adrenaline rush. These feelings let humans know what would be the best thing to do. When there is danger, emotions let people know to be on high alert and watch for

The emotions found within all of us have a deep relation towards perception and culture because people react to different emotional states, and often show emotion physically. However, emotions have always been the central point of an individual’s life because it is the cause that leads us to our personality. In many ways, our emotions define our existence without them, most of us would not feel truly alive.

Empathy and compassion might seem automatic when caring for those in need. The sad reality is that working in an environment in where death becomes casual and common such as other tragedies, we conform to ignore the little idiosyncrasies that accompany sorrow and mourning. This story provides hope and comfort in knowing that as providers we still have the power to feel and to give when is needed. The human element of empathy transcend skills and specialties that are focused in care.

Emotions are a fact of life, and when we get caught in a storm of emotion, often all we can say is “It’s hard to explain.”. This is why the world needs storytelling, stories dive into the depths of emotion, and no matter the medium used to tell the story, the audience receives a message away from a well-crafted story, messages that are otherwise buried in thought.

Psychologists have long debated the role physiological, cognitive and behavioural factors play in emotions. Originally believed to be a physiological experience, research now suggests that emotions are an interaction of both physiological and cognitive factors. Different theories debate the role and primacy of each.

Emotions are different psychological responses that every individual experiences when they face life situations. Our appraisal mechanisms is automatic, that lets us react automatically to life situations we encounter and not involve conscious reasoning. In the “What is Meant by Calling Emotions Basic,” focuses on how emotions are adaptations to our surroundings and how our emotions include facial, vocal, and behavior changes that occur in a few seconds, which are involuntary. The second article “Feelings: What Are They & How Does the Brain Make Them?,” focuses on human emotions as mental states which people react to situations effectively in order to increase their survival. For example, when seeing a snake we react fast and not think about

The cognitive approach to emotions explains how people’s emotions depend on their appraisal of an occurrence. Appraisal of a situation can determine the relevance of a situation. There are two types of appraisal, primary and secondary appraisal. They can help determine whether a situation is beneficial to someone and if so how they might benefit from the situation or if a situation is dangerous and if so how to cope. Appraisals are quick. The cognitive part of this is the emotion that occurs from the situation. For example, when you feel something, rather than just reacting quickly, reflecting on what appraisal you made leads you to that feeling. If you change the appraisal, you can change how you feel. The feeling attached to that appraisal determines

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