Emotions. Classification of emotions

After studying this chapter, the student should:

know

• classification of emotional phenomena;
• functions of emotions;

be able to

Determine the need for emotions for behavior;

own

Skills to analyze the causes of emotional reactions and experiences.

When the mind tries to replace feeling, it needs all its strength, all erudition - where one breath is enough for feeling.

What does not penetrate into the heart lies like a stone in the bosom.

F. Krivin

The concept of "emotions". Their classification

We begin new theme, the study of which differs from what we examined in previous chapters. Unlike the concepts of "personality", "need", "motive", "will", which were introduced into psychology as theoretical constructs, the concept of "emotions" was introduced as a designation of that subjective reality, in the existence of which and in its presence we have we cannot doubt. Every person in a normal state experiences a feeling of hunger and thirst, pain and fear, grief and joy. This class of subjective experiences is called "emotional processes", or "emotions", and for all of us this is such a reality, about which the modern author expressed himself, paraphrasing R. Descartes: "I feel, therefore I exist."

This state of affairs inspires great optimism in the study of emotions. But this optimism immediately disappears as soon as we ask someone to describe this subjective reality. When asked to describe his emotional state at the moment and his emotional experiences, the person reports that he is experiencing a feeling of joy or anxiety, a feeling of hunger or thirst, anger or resentment. But he is unable to describe the feeling of joy or anxiety he experiences. The answers sound something like this: "Joy is when it is joyful, fun, in general, good"; and fear "is when it's scary, scary." That is, when a person tries to describe his emotions, the same difficulty arises as when describing sensations: "red is when everything is red." Like any subjective experience, emotional experience is given to us as a fact that is difficult or even impossible to translate into another language and which has no analogue in our world. But emotions, like sensations, are inaccessible to external observation and, therefore, their direct measurement in any units. We are left with the possibility of judging the presence of emotions either by the subjective reports of a person, or guessing about their presence by the behavioral and physiological reactions of animals and humans.

Another difficulty in the study of emotions is the ethical problems in creating an experimental situation in which emotional experiences are evoked. You can't draw an emotion and you can't create it "for fun". You can pretend to be happy or sad, but there is no real emotional experience. And to create a real emotional experience in the subjects is more than bad - according to the laws of ethics, this is unacceptable.

The first ideas about the nature of emotions did not add optimism either. If the sensation was accepted as a reflection of the external conditions of the life of a living being, then emotions were firmly associated with the experience of the body's own states. Hunger, pain, fear are experienced by each person as belonging to him, as his own mental states.

Any researcher of emotions cannot fail to notice that emotional experience arises when the external or internal environment changes (for example, the appearance of a loved one leads to an experience of joy, the appearance of a dangerous object is accompanied by a feeling of fear, dehydration gives rise to thirst, etc.). But in the human mind, these emotions are perceived as experiences of one's state caused by external or internal causes.

This involuntarily pushes us to evaluate emotions in this way: external events are perceived only as the causes of changes in the state of the body, which we experience as emotions. And, apparently, it is no coincidence that two psychologists at once (the American W. James and the Dane K. G. Lange) independently proposed similar theories of emotions as experiences of their physiological states (according to the formula - "we grieve because we cry") . This understanding of emotions did not contribute to the development of theoretical and experimental research, but did not prevent empirical descriptions of emotional experiences.

Usually, the first task of studies of empirical reality is the task of describing and classifying observed phenomena. Let's start with the classification of emotional phenomena and we.

It is clear that all classifications are carried out on some basis, attribute, quality, property, characteristic, or on several grounds at once.

So, in the first, The most famous classification of emotional phenomena, highlighting "affects", "emotions", "feelings" and "moods", two bases are taken into account at once: duration of experience and the nature of its manifestation(stormy or calm).

affect called a violent, sudden reaction to a certain event, which does not last long and is accompanied by a sharp narrowing of consciousness with partial loss of memory for what happened to a person, strong motor excitement, often manifested in aggressive actions in relation to the source that caused this state. Suddenness for the subject of experiences, the strength of experiences and the narrowing of the operational field of the psyche to the object that caused such an experience - these are the characteristic signs of an affect that captures the subject and makes him a "slave" of experience.

Emotions, in narrow sense words, in contrast to affects, are experiences that proceed more calmly and for a longer time.

Under feelings usually understand stable long-term experiences as attitudes towards someone or something.

Mood is understood as an expression of the state of the subject, and this term is used most often in everyday understanding.

Note that such terminology is conditional, therefore, ordinary everyday consciousness refers to feelings and emotional sensations(feeling of pain), and presentation of needs (feelings of hunger, thirst, fear, etc.), and emotional relationships (feelings of friendship, love, hate). This discrepancy is also observed in the works of various researchers. So, I. P. Pavlov often used the concept " feeling"in its worldly content. In the scientific literature, more or less, the classification has been established: affect, emotions, feelings.

These differences in terminology have no scientific value, but the scientific language does not tolerate ambiguity and indefiniteness of concepts, and therefore there must be an agreement on a strict definition of concepts.

Second classification emotional phenomena is based on the sign of emotional experiences - positive(pleasure) or negative(displeasure) experiences. The first (otherwise called sthenic emotions) have a positive effect on the state of the body and current activities and manifest themselves as an experience of joy, happiness, pleasure, pride, self-confidence, etc. The second ones (denoted as asthenic emotions) hinder activity, negatively affect one's well-being and manifest themselves as fear, resentment, grief, suffering, anxiety, self-doubt, etc.

Third classification emotional experiences is associated with the form of their manifestation: emotional reactions, emotional states, emotional relationships. Emotional reactions arise involuntarily to certain events and manifest as an experience of fear, anger, surprise, alertness, aggression, etc., which are accompanied by a complex of physiological and behavioral changes: changes in vascular tone (narrowing or expansion), changes in the volume and tone of speech, changes in posture and facial expressions, changes in biochemical parameters of blood, etc.

Emotional states (they include both frustration and stress) are long-term experiences: anxiety, anxiety, resentment, disappointment, lethargy - cheerfulness, poor health, etc.

Emotional relationships are manifested as sympathy and antipathy for someone (something), interest, friendly feelings, etc.

This classification is not strict, since it is carried out according to several criteria at once, which partially intersect with each other. Therefore, some experiences are difficult to unequivocally attribute to any one group of three. So, for example, resentment arises as a reaction to someone, but can persist for a long time in a person as a state and attitude; joy can arise with the success of an important action for a person, but then hours and days can persist, not manifesting itself in behavior, passing into the category of states.

In addition to these classifications, it is also customary to distinguish emotional tone sensations of different modalities.

Note that all the above classifications are non-alternative, as well as all classifications carried out for various reasons.

The difficulty in applying these classifications is due to the fact that, firstly, they are often carried out on the basis of insignificant signs of various emotional experiences. Secondly, many emotional experiences turn out to be close in content, for example, the experience of anxiety, danger, fear, horror, or such experiences as "surprise", "interest", "curiosity", "curiosity". A lot of emotional experiences are paired with opposite signs: for example, "pleasure - displeasure", "calmness - anxiety", "joy - sorrow", "vigor - lethargy", "love - hate", etc.

Therefore, the question arises about the nature of emotions: if there are many experiences that are similar in content, then what does this mean? These are different names for the same experience, or they are varieties of experience of the same emotion; or maybe it is the strength (degree) of their manifestation, or are they different emotions that come from a single root (one primary emotion), and therefore they are similar to each other? And what does the presence of many pairs of oppositional emotions with opposite signs of experiences mean (as if two poles of one emotion)? Without answering these questions, it is not possible to build a consistent classification of emotions.

An important and serious issue in the study of emotions is the question of the need for the appearance of emotional experiences in the evolution of living beings. It is clear that emotions, like the entire psyche, appear in evolution to serve behavior. But if cognitive processes provide a figurative cognitive orientation of the subject of behavior in the objective conditions of his activity, then what tasks of behavior are poorly solved without emotional experiences and what reality is represented in them?

This question gives rise to the next question about the functions of emotional experiences in the activity of living beings. We remember that the psyche appears as a servant of an organism that has acquired behavior, but in a person it becomes the "master" of behavior and begins to solve problems that are not directly related to adaptive behavior. Therefore, we need to highlight the main and additional functions of emotional experiences in human life.

And of course, the question of the causes and causes (situations) of the appearance of emotional experiences is important, i.e. about what causes this or that emotional experience.

This does not exhaust the list of questions, but without answers to the questions posed, we will not be able to move on in an attempt to uncover the secrets of the emotional or, as it is sometimes said, affective sphere.

Emotions have been the subject of reflection in European culture since the era of ancient philosophy. In the works of many philosophers of that time, two emotional experiences were distinguished, opposite in sign: positive (pleasure) and negative (displeasure). These signs manifested themselves in emotional experiences of various modalities that make up the pairs of "joy - sorrow"; "fear is courage"; "love - hate", etc.

Among these numerous emotional experiences, a special experience stood out, called "desire" (attraction or lust). This experience was the desire of a living being for an object (an object of desire) that gave pleasure (pleasure), or, conversely, it manifested itself as an avoidance of something that led to suffering or displeasure. Later it came to be understood as the instinctive strivings of a living being. In the works of B. Spinoza, a position appears that the causes of pleasures and displeasures are marked by emotional experiences and are distinguished either as objects of attraction and disgust, or as pleasant or unpleasant, useful or harmful objects and events, and the emotional experiences themselves (pleasures and displeasures) reinforce experience of successful behaviour.

Along with subjective experiences, biologists began to distinguish various behavioral and physiological reactions that accompany emotions as manifestations or correlations of experiences: changes in the posture or facial expressions of animals, changes in skeletal muscle tone, voice reactions, changes in vascular tone and the release of various chemical compounds into the blood (adrenaline, glucose etc.), changes in the activity of various parts of the brain, etc.

This served as a basis for Charles Darwin to consider emotions as special adaptive reactions of animals in situations of danger and in interactions with other individuals of their own and other species. The fight with rivals for food, a female or territory, for status in the community, and so on, begins with a demonstration of threats against the opponent and with the creation of readiness of all body systems for a possible battle (postures, grins of teeth, sound signals, etc.). Caring for a female, raising one's cubs presupposes other relationships, which must also be represented in external behavioral reactions and in special emotional experiences.

• At the beginning of the XX century. in Russian transcription, his surname was used in this spelling. Later, you can find the spelling of W. James (see, for example, p. 310).

In science, attempts have been repeatedly made to create a classification of emotions, but today most experts consider the Izard list to be the most complete classification. It is about her that we will talk.

Izard's classification of emotions in psychology

The classifications of emotions and feelings are, of course, rather conditional, therefore, in scientific world there is still debate about whether anything can be added to or changed. Izard singled out fundamental and derivative emotions, the former are considered basic. The classification of fundamental emotions and their functions is as follows, it has 9 emotional states of a person, namely, interest, joy, surprise, suffering, anger, disgust, contempt, fear and shame. All these emotions are necessary for a person, since they are a kind of signals that notify us of what the current situation is for us, positive or negative. For example, if a person is disgusted, then he actually receives a signal that a certain situation is dangerous or destructive for him, not necessarily physically, perhaps the situation destroys him morally, and this is no less, and sometimes more important.

In addition to the classification of emotions in psychology, there is also a qualification of feelings. It includes three main groups of feelings, moral or moral, intellectual and aesthetic. The first group includes all the feelings that a person experiences when comparing real events with the values ​​that were brought up and taught to us by society. For example, if a person sees that someone is littering on the street, depending on the concepts instilled in him in childhood, he may experience shame, indignation, anger.

The second group of feelings is a kind of experience associated with the process of human cognitive activity. For example, a person may experience interest or irritation when studying a subject. These feelings can both help a person in the learning process and hinder him in this process, it has been scientifically proven that a person who is interested in the subject being studied remembers information much faster, his thinking productivity increases. That is why competent teachers always try to instill in children a love for their subject and arouse their interest.

The third group of feelings represents the emotional attitude of a person to all that beauty that he can see. In this case, a person may experience inspiration or delight.

Emotions allow us to interact with other people, better understand each other.

In this regard, the issue of emotional states and their classification is of particular importance.

How to get rid of unnecessary emotions? Learn about it from ours.

What is it: concept

Emotional condition- this is a mental state that occurs in the process of life and determines the direction of the individual's behavior.

Many aspects of life depend on this state, including health, performance, sociability.

At the same time, it has outside influence. For example, this may include the area where the individual lives or the atmosphere in the workplace.

It also revealed a direct music influence on the human condition. For example, depressive songs lead to despondency for no apparent reason, and active melodies evoke positive feelings.

Psycho-emotional states are understood as a special form, which is characterized by predominance emotional response to any event, action or situation (see photo).

Classification: main types

What can be emotions?

In his life, a person experiences a variety of emotions, some of which are even difficult to describe.

At the same time, various researchers have tried to structure them. There is still no single approach to this issue.

If we consider the simplest classification, then it can be represented as follows:

In addition to this list, in psychology, emotions are also divided into the following types:

The role that emotions play in various areas of our lives cannot be underestimated.

So, for example, based on psychological research in marketing was created emotion matrix. This is what brands use when creating their logo.

Its essence lies in the fact that the desire to the upper right corner seems more pleasant, inspires confidence. The concentration of the logo in the middle of the matrix is ​​also considered harmonious.

But if the orientation of the logo tends to the lower left corner, then such a brand creates a negative impression.

Forms and examples of emotional processes and states

Emotional states and processes can be classified as follows:

Differential emotions of Izard - table

K. Izard identified the following basic emotions person:

1. Interest. Since a person has a social way of life, interest is one of the most frequently experienced feelings for him. Thanks to him, the individual acquires new skills, abilities, knowledge. Interest helps him develop, both physically and intellectually. It is of particular importance, as it affects the development of both the individual and society as a whole.
2. Pleasure. In some sources, it is also called "joy". It is characterized by a positive background and arises as a result of the ability to satisfy an actual need for an individual or its direct satisfaction.

   It is of great importance for a person, it improves him, facilitates the process of interaction with others, helps to get rid of negativity and stress.

3. Astonishment. It does not have any color and manifests itself as a reaction to a sudden phenomenon or action. The main task of surprise is to prepare the individual for surprise, to focus his attention on this event.
4. Anger. A negative state that mainly arises from the impossibility of satisfying something significant for the individual or failure on the way to its satisfaction. It can also be caused by deceit or insult. Anger has an uncontrollable form - rage, which occurs when there is maximum dissatisfaction with the circumstances.



5. Disgust. The negative state of a person, which appears as a result of interaction with something or someone unpleasant. Disgust is characterized by a strong desire to get rid of the factors that directly provoke it.
6. Contempt. Appears due to disagreements between the existing beliefs and actions of one individual with the beliefs and actions of another. Its function is to make a person feel better than the one towards whom his contempt is directed.
7. . It arises as a result of a discrepancy between appearance or behavior with one's own beliefs and the opinion of society.

   On the basis of this state, a feeling of helplessness appears, which is very unpleasant for a person.

8. Guilt. Arises on the basis of condemnation by the individual of his own actions. Accompanied by self-doubt, as well as feelings of shame and remorse.
9. . Represents a negative state. It appears as a result of receiving information about the threat to human life, both real and imaginary. It is of great importance because it affects appearance, behavior and thinking of the individual.



10. Woe. It is a reaction to negative situations that have arisen in life, which can be permanent or temporary. Very often it acts as a moderate motivation for an individual, so that he begins to solve the problems that he has accumulated.

K. Izard also developed a scale of differential emotions. It is used to diagnose the dominant emotional state in a person. For this, a scale of the significance of emotions is used, which looks like this:

Participants are invited rate your health on a 4-point scale(that is, each column of the table above) at the moment, where:

1 - not suitable at all;

2 - rather true;

3 - true;

4 is absolutely correct.

After that, for each row in the table, the sum of points is calculated and the coefficient of well-being is calculated(CS), according to the following formula:

KS \u003d (C 1 + C 2 + C 3 + C 9 + C 10) / (C 4 + C 5 + C 6 + C 7 + C 8)

If the final value is greater than 1, then the state of health can be characterized as positive, if, on the contrary, it is less than 1, then the emotional state is negative, perhaps there is even a depressive state.

Response Scale

Emotional Response Scale- This is a technique in the form of a questionnaire that is used for human empathy, that is, the ability to empathize and emotional response.

The questionnaire contains 25 judgments, among which there are both direct and inverse.

In order to get through it Assess your level of agreement: always agree, rather agree (or often agree), rather disagree (or agree but rarely), and never agree.

Due to this scale, it becomes possible to see the attitude of the individual to various situations of interaction with other people.

At the end total scores are calculated and is checked against the following gradation of levels:

• less than 11 points - extremely low level of empathy;
• from 12 to 36 points - low level of empathy;
• from 37 to 62 points - normal level empathy;
• from 63 to 81 points - a high level of empathy;
• from 82 to 90 points - an extremely high level of empathy.

The ability to empathize is a valuable quality for an individual, but too much is not always useful. The most favorable is normal level(37-62 points) when a person shows empathy, but at the same time does not forget about his own interests.

An extremely high level of empathy is characterized by too much complaisance - such people are often used for their own purposes. In turn, individuals with extremely low level it is difficult to build relationships with others, they are difficult to make contact.

In our life there is a wide variety of emotions. They perform various functions and are of great importance to humans. In this regard, this topic is quite interesting and is actively studied by researchers to this day.

Definition and types of emotions:

Depending on the conditions and external circumstances, the properties of the influencing stimuli and many personality traits, she has a variety of emotions that are classified and described by different authors, in different terminology and for different reasons. In psychology, there is no (and it is hardly possible to have) a single and generally accepted classification of emotions (as well as many other higher psychological formations). Therefore, we only designate some well-known approaches and theoretical positions.

S. L. Rubinstein identified three main levels of manifestations and development of the emotional sphere of the individual:

• organic affective-emotional sensitivity (pointless physiological or organic feelings, emotional background, general coloring, sensual tone);
• objective feelings (intellectual, aesthetic, moral);
• generalized worldview feelings.

In addition, S. L. Rubinshtein additionally singled out affects, passions and moods.

According to the classification P. A. Rudika There are three emotions: mood, feeling and affect. They are characterized on four scales: intensity, duration, awareness, diffuseness.

P. M. Jacobson singled out such expressions of feelings: mood, emotions, affects, sensual tone and stress.

A fairly common basis for classifying and describing the quality of emotions is (as mentioned earlier) their modality, which usually boils down to three basic qualities: pleasure(or joy) fear(phobias) and fury(or anger, aggressiveness).

However, in real life, such modalities merge, intersect, and therefore often there is a simultaneous existence and interaction of experiences that are formally opposite in sign, for example, love and hate or joy and sadness. This manifests the ambivalence (polymodality) of real emotions as a result of a complex, multidimensional, changeable and, as a rule, ambiguous attitude of a person to an object or subject that causes experience.

example

With all the variety of experiences, in almost everyone there is a peculiar expression of one of the three classical emotions or their complex combination. Suppose the feeling of nostalgia is both bright and sad, anxious and calm, sharp and tender, etc. An author's, individual experience of the past, which cannot be expressed in words, arises, and such an emotion cannot be purely trace, i.e. repetition, reproduction of what has been experienced before. A person clearly remembers, for example, as a fact that he was happy or unhappy once and somewhere, he is aware of past events and objects of his past emotions, but he is unlikely to be able to deeply feel, re-experience his past state.

In Russian there is no synonym for the capacious word "love", but there is an abundance of adjectives to denote shades of this multifaceted feeling: unrequited, cordial, insidious, tender, unhappy, compassionate, etc. In such definitions, the most diverse combinations of the qualities of this polymodal feeling seek their expression.

Emotions are also characterized by strength, duration and awareness.

• The range of differences in strength internal experience and expressiveness of external manifestations is very large for emotions of any modality. Perhaps, for example, Yesenin's "violence of eyes and a flood of feelings", or perhaps a sluggish, unexpressed mood. Joy can manifest as a mild, mild emotion, such as when a person experiences a calm sense of satisfaction. Delight is an emotion of greater strength, brightness and expressiveness. Anger ranges from petty irritability and restrained indignation to fierce hatred and undisguised aggression and rage; fear - from mild anxiety and vague, poorly objectified anxiety to pronounced phobias, panic and an acute experience of horror.
• By duration The existence of emotions is divided into short-term, unexpected and, as a rule, acute (lasting a few seconds or minutes) and relatively long, or chronic (lasting many hours, days, and even years).
• Degree awareness emotions can also be different and changeable. Sometimes it is difficult for a person to understand what emotion he is experiencing and why it arises. It happens that special emotional questions and problems are actualized in our minds, which are not always easily or unambiguously solved by a person.

Basic forms or types of emotions. The qualities that characterize each specific emotion can be combined in various ways, which creates an incalculable variety of forms of their possible existence and expression. For convenience and brevity of presentation of this huge (and debatable) material, we use the general logic A. N. Leontieva, who subdivided all emotions into three major subclasses(according to the implemented functions and in the direction of development from simple and lower to higher and complex): affects, emotions proper, feelings.

1. affects as a subclass of emotional phenomena they belong to the most ancient (phylogenetically) experiences that are not subject to conscious control and are extremely strong in the sense of their inadequate, often destructive, impact on the general mental state and behavior of a person.

Affect- this is a sharp, explosive, stormy experience that occurs at the end of any emotional event and does not depend on the person's consciousness.

The evolutionist K. Buhler assumed that in the course of the development of the behavior and psyche of animals, the psychological phenomenon of pleasure moved from the end, from the completion of the action (at the level of innate instincts) to the process of action itself (the stage of skills or individually variable behavior) and further to the emotional anticipation of activity and its result (the stage of intellectual behavior of animals) (see Chap. 3).

Note that the term "affect" to this day has a wider meaning, when used as a synonym for any emotions, experiences in general, for example, in designating the affective sphere of a personality, in the name of affective speech, etc.

Affects arise in acute conflict situations, often associated with the dissatisfaction of a person's vital needs, although in today's tense society, affect can also have a purely sociogenic origin if the events affect something deeply significant for the individual, something socially important, urgently needed or unacceptable or even forbidden.

Unlike emotions and feelings, affect occurs only after the completion of a certain event. Therefore, it is necessary to distinguish, for example, the uncontrollable affect of fear (say, after a soldier leaves the battle) from the anticipatory emotion or feeling of fear of a possible affect (the upcoming battle). Affect is not amenable to direct control of consciousness. It can be "deceived", distracted from affect, soften affective expressions, but it cannot be completely subordinated to one's own consciousness or will. The presence of an accused person in a state of passion during the commission of a crime is a mitigating circumstance for judicial practice. Usually, affects have a destructive, disorganizing effect on the behavior, consciousness and activity of a person, although the individual sometimes cannot realize this or remember it afterwards. However, it is also possible positive influence affect, leading to overmobilization of the psyche and behavior of a person.

In experimental psychology, some laws of affect dynamics:

• fixation of an affective state on the situation that caused it, trace formation, which creates a certain affective barrier (complex) for the individual, leaves a strong emotional trace in the psyche, indirectly (not always consciously) warning a person from an affective situation for him. This is the psychological function of affect (regulating, protective, signaling and evaluative at the same time);
• the obsession of the affective trace, the tendency to restore it, emerge;
• inhibition as a process opposite to restoration, preventing a breakthrough, an immediate exit of affect;
• repression as a possibility of suppression, expulsion of affect from the memory and psyche by the type of its self-defense;
• "sewerage" of affect as the possibility of its discharge, exit, elimination;
• accumulation, i.e. accumulation, summation of affects, to which a person does not get used, and therefore a psychological outlet adequate to the affect is necessary as a discharge, fraught with negative consequences for the psyche and personality.

example

In an extensive experimental study by A. R. Luria (1931) it was established that against the background of an affective experience or its traces (from the past), objective, unremovable, unconscious motor and autonomic reactions of the body are observed, by the presence of which one can judge with high certainty the presence of a personal meaningful emotions even if the person hides them. The so-called lie detector (or polygraph) is built on this principle, which is widely used in the United States to diagnose the truthfulness or "reliability" of a person (judicial and managerial practice).

In recent years, this psychophysiological technique has become widespread in domestic psychodiagnostics.

2. Subclass proper emotions is the most extensive, widespread and diverse in the structure of the integral emotional sphere of the personality, as it includes an innumerable list of types, forms and shades of human experiences.

Sensual tone characterized by the fact that it has an unobjectified character and manifests itself in the fact that many mental images (sensations, perceptions, memories, imaginations, dreams, etc.) have not always a definite, but subjectively emphasized emotional coloring. This is a blurry, wide, background emotional state that has not taken shape in a clear and specific objective experience. We do not just feel any sound, smell or taste, but accept it, evaluate it as subjectively pleasant or unpleasant. Feeling hot or cold, we simultaneously experience some kind of pleasure or displeasure, and so on. The emotional background does not have a specific subject carrier, it surrounds, as it were, a distinguished "figure" (in the terminology of Gestalt psychology), which in this case is an emotion as an experience related to a more or less formed, discrete object, phenomenon or event.

Emotions are an extensive type (subclass) of human experiences that are directly related to everyday objects, situations, phenomena and circumstances of the life and being of a person. characteristic feature of our emotions is their indispensable sociality, i.e. the presence of not only (and not so much) physiological, but also social, cultural, traditional and personal conditioning.

example

People of different nationalities, religions, cultures experience the death of a loved one equally hard, but the objective manifestations, expressions, emotional nuances of such grief are quite different. Someone hires mourners for funerals, someone organizes orchestras, fireworks and banquets, someone sings a funeral service in a church, someone is proud of the departure of the deceased to another endless and bright world, etc. They also celebrate weddings, the birth of children, various holidays and anniversaries in different ways. It should be emphasized that the means of expressing emotions will certainly modify (strengthen or weaken) the experience itself.

The subclass of emotions also has the following peculiarities:

• experience is shifted to the course of the active process itself (phenomena, events) and to anticipation, foresight of its beginning (ideotor processes);
• emotions are capable of generalization, i.e. to the formation of a special emotional experience of the individual as one of its most important psychological features;
• emotions are signified, i.e. are expressed through specific objective signs, symbols, words, gestures, facial expressions and pantomimes, as a result of which there is an objective, readable language human emotions;
• experience can be transferred to other people and accepted by them, emotions are communicable: co-emotions, empathies are possible, on which all art is built and a lot in interpersonal communication and interaction of people;
• emotions are educable, i.e. are the result of the acceptance and assimilation of social experience, the result of ontogeny and continuous socialization of the individual;
• emotions are objective, but to some extent situational, i.e. related to certain, specific and current circumstances, and therefore changeable, mobile in accordance with changing situations (external and internal).

example

One and the same music, one's own clothes, appearance, room, picture or poem can cause very different experiences in an individual depending on the situation of listening or seeing, on the characteristics of the environment, on one's own physical or internal state. Let us suppose that a person is late for something, and therefore is excited, anxious, preoccupied, and everything around him seems to him to be obstacles to the necessary rapid movement. But here he got to the right place, not late. Tension and anxiety were gone, the person relaxed, and the world around him changed, becoming friendly and calm again.

The term "mood" is widely used in everyday colloquial practice and gives a certain qualitative assessment of the general emotional state of a person. The mood is not related to a separate object or object, but to a certain holistic, relatively long-term and well-established situation for a person. The mood is bad and good, heavy, normal, spoiled, upbeat, etc. The mood is relatively stable, but at the same time, it is necessarily changeable for each person, as it depends on many external and internal factors that form the situation. It is also possible that certain mood qualities predominate in the personality, a characteristic individual flow or "system" of moods is possible. Then the mood goes into the category of chronic emotions and important personality traits.

Mood- this is a generalized situational emotional state of a person that does not have a specific and definite subject.

The generalized nature of the mood is also manifested in the breadth of its influences on human behavior, on the entire current worldview. The mood provides emotional preparation and support for activities, creates a mood, a person’s emotional attitude to the perception of everything that happens.

example

If you are in a good mood, everything around you and life itself is perceived lightly and joyfully, the work ahead seems easy and pleasant. With a drooping, gloomy mood, everything seems to a person gloomy, unnecessary and sad, and the same work is perceived as heavy, forced and uninteresting. For example, such a daily mood dynamics is also possible: "A decent person becomes melancholic in the evening" (E. M. Remarque). "And in it nothing - neither close nor far - can satisfy the gnawing sadness" (Goethe).

A person's mood is made up of many diverse and often polar emotions. Not only other experiences take part in it, but the whole human psyche: needs and motives, temperament and character, intellect, activity, consciousness and self-consciousness. In this regard, the strength of expression and the duration of the mood can be very different both in different people and in the same person. Mood refers to a specific time, but carries projections of the past, present, and expected future. Therefore, it can be difficult for a person to understand the reasons for his own mood, which can be events or deeds large and small, yesterday or today, pleasant and unpleasant, conscious and unconscious. The main thing is that such events are in some way very significant for the subject, and therefore cause an underlined personal attitude and its experience.

In especially difficult, tense conditions, in conflict or extreme situations, emotions can take the form of stress.

Stress- this is a general non-specific (emotional and physiological) reaction of the body to an intense external emotional impact.

The understanding of stress as an inevitable adaptation syndrome in human life and its main stages - adaptation diseases - was first described by the Canadian physician and biologist Hans Selye (1907–1982). With the help of stress, the body mobilizes itself as much as possible to adapt to a situation that cannot be dealt with by conventional (specific) means. To live means to be in constant danger. Dangerous situations are becoming more and more typical, everyday for modern society: a way of life in a giant metropolis, intense social competition, life's troubles, natural and man-made disasters, terrorist attacks, military operations, social restructuring, revolutions, reforms and economic crises- all these phenomena act for our psyche as powerful and irremovable, sometimes even chronic, stressors. Modern man lives in a protracted, time-stretched "extreme", adequate adaptation (adaptation) to which is associated with significant psychological effort and overload.

Stages of development of stress

At the first stage of adaptation (optimal activation of the sympathetic nervous system), the changes that occur in the body have a generally positive, tonic effect on the psyche and behavior. This is manifested in the intensification of the work of internal organs, in an increase in the level of working capacity. A person is internally ready to overcome obstacles, he is characterized by faith in success. At the second stage (the stage of struggle), all body systems are mobilized and function at a limiting level that exceeds the usual capabilities. But such an overactivated struggle cannot last indefinitely, and if the effect of stress factors continues, the third stage sets in - exhaustion or distress, which leads to imbalance and disruption of all mental activity, to destructive personality changes, to frequent nervous and somatic diseases.

The state of stress can be associated not only with real, but also with supposed, mental circumstances. For example, a severe negative experience arises when there is a pronounced fear of losing a job, in anxious anticipation of a forced break in marital relations, on the eve of a serious exam, when imagining the possible tragic consequences of flying on an airliner, predicted global warming, the death of the planet, nuclear war, alien invasions, etc.

Emotions that arise in connection with the breakdown of a person’s plans, in connection with losses, deprivations, conflicts, with insurmountable difficulties, in the absence of opportunities or in the presence of a threat to the realization of personal plans, are also commonly called frustrations. Formally, they can be attributed to ideotor emotional phenomena that occur before the accomplishment, on the eve of real events, but in the real life of emotions, a clear separation of the past, present and future is extremely difficult.

Behavior in a stressful situation differs from affective behavior, since a person can control his emotions, analyze the situation, and make adequate decisions. However, if the problem is not resolved for too long, stress can seriously affect not only behavior, but also physical and mental health personality.

No one manages to live and work without experiencing stress. Severe life losses, failures, conflicts, increased stress when performing responsible work, etc. come to everyone from time to time. If a person copes with stress more easily and successfully than others, he is considered stress-resistant. This psychological quality is necessary for many professions, including teachers, leaders of all levels, teachers, doctors, military personnel, rescuers, athletes and many other specialties related to working with people, with complex equipment, with extreme incidents.

A person's behavior in a stressful situation can change in two directions (L.A. Kitaev-Smyk): passive-emotional (according to mud "wait", "endure") and active-emotional (the desire to overcome the situation, to remove the stressor). It is believed that the second way is psychologically preferable - overcoming the negative effects of stress. Although in this case it is also necessary to provide some combination of external (objective) and internal (subjective) that is optimal for each individual, the presence of harmony, a dynamic balance of her aspirations, ideals, values ​​and real opportunities (physical and psychological) to achieve them.

The state of stress can also be caused by the excessive development of positive personal experiences (marriage, childbirth, unexpected major success, etc.), which is another confirmation of the previously described Yerkes-Dodson law, according to which any emotion can become destructively super-strong .

An emotional state similar to stress (in its third destructive stage) is "emotional burnout". It occurs in a situation of prolonged mental or physical stress and the constant presence of strong emotions(not necessarily negative). A person gets bored with everything around (at work, in public and at home), he quickly gets tired of his usual work, which has become uninteresting and forced for him. The general emotional background is simplified, dulled, self-attitude, self-esteem and self-regulation are distorted, the level of empathy decreases, indifference and a sense of loneliness increase, manifestations of selfishness, aggressiveness, emptiness, depression, and sometimes cynicism of a person. Not only the emotional sphere is deformed, but also the whole psychology, the behavior of the individual. Emotional burnout is especially characteristic of people in creative and stressful professions, as well as everyone who constantly works with people. With a significant development of this emotional phenomenon, a person can become professionally unsuitable.

Passion- this is a strong, persistent, long-term experience that captures the entire personality and subordinates its behavior exclusively to the achievement of the desired goal.

The object of passion can be another person or a social group (status in it), material objects or actions (money, things, fishing, savings, hunting, football, computer, collecting, etc.), all kinds of ideal or ethical, moral or moral ideas and values ​​(revolution, victory, freedom, career, religion, independence, power, etc.).

The quality of the object (i.e., direction) of passion, the form of its manifestation, the measure of a person's subordination to it, the means used to satisfy it, depend on the integral mental make-up of the individual. Motivation and meaning formation, consciousness, will, character, intellect, morality are involved in the passion and passionate behavior of a person. Passion makes some people selfless, generous, inspired, capable of achieving great and humane goals, others destroys and blindly subjugates, prompts them to asocial, immoral, and sometimes even criminal actions.

example

Undoubtedly, the whole world is filled with passionate, although quite different feelings of love and hatred. fiction: "Othello", "Romeo and Juliet", "Ruslan n Lyudmila", "Cathedral Notre Dame of Paris"," Anna Karenina ", etc. But in real life, the presence and functioning of human passions does not require special proof. Passionate hobbies and desires are the cause of many discoveries, outstanding achievements in science, art, in any creative activity. Passionate people are obsessed with their goal ideas and do for their implementation what socially and emotionally moderate, calmly and pragmatically reasonable personalities will not do. Passion gives rise not to simple, generally accepted and routine actions, but to non-standard actions, decisions and life moves. We can assume that "the world is ruled by passions "The negative influence of passions on behavior and the general state of the individual is also widely known. Orthodoxy is a staunch opponent of (carnal) passions and a supporter of humble calmness. "It is not money that is to blame, but addiction to them," wrote the venerable Elder Joseph of Optina (1837–1911) In reality, everything depends on the object of a person’s passionate (powerful, all-encompassing) experience and on his psychological, especially moral, features. A developed personality can to a certain extent manage his passions (as opposed to affects), subject them to conscious analysis, measure his actions and deeds (especially in the field of interpersonal relations) with existing ones. social norms and rules.

3. The third subclass of emotions is feelings, which are the highest form of human experiences, when they are combined, generalized, psychologically merge, intersect with the orientation of the personality, with its ideals and values, with thinking and consciousness, with the entire psyche.

Feeling- this is the highest type of experience, the result of psychological generalization, fixation (crystallization) of situational emotions on a certain subject.

One and the same object (let's say it's a child), depending on specific circumstances, can evoke a variety of situational emotions in a person: joy, surprise, sadness, anger, bewilderment, admiration, etc. Over time, in the course of various interactions and communications between people, these situational experiences are generalized, transient, random "evaporates" from them and a complex, multidimensional feeling is formed. It is the result of settling, crystallization of changeable experiences ("emotional solution") on a specific subject, and therefore is more stable and stable than emotions. The degree and quality of the generalization of experiences contained in a feeling can vary considerably. In reality, the connections between feelings and emotions are not linear, but ring-shaped. The formed feeling changes situational emotions, but also changes itself from the generalization of new and new private experiences. Feelings are born, change, develop or disappear, perish.

According to experimental psychology, a person is able to confidently distinguish such experiences (emotional zones): joy, fear, tenderness, surprise, indifference, anger, sadness, contempt, respect, shame, resentment. In fact, the list of human feelings and their shades is truly inexhaustibly diverse, dynamic, rich and is the main subject of all art forms.

The classification of the types of feelings can be made on different (and dissimilar) grounds, therefore, we will give only the most famous, generalized and widespread.

Depending on the origin, on the connection with the needs, feelings are usually divided into higher and lower.

Higher feelings they name those that are associated with the so-called higher, i.e. socially conditioned (sociogenic) needs. Note that such a division of human needs is not entirely justified and correct, since all human needs are socialized to one degree or another (see Chapter 5). This fully applies to feelings, although the level of socialization of human experiences can (and should) vary significantly between people (and cultures). A personality is (by definition) a biosocial being (see Chapter 4), and therefore, in the entire human psyche, an organic unity exists and functions, an integral and indissoluble fusion of biological and social (see Chapter 1), bodily and spiritual. Numerous (sometimes subtly hidden) attempts to belittle, materialize human feelings, equating them with purely biological or physiological experiences of animals, have always existed not only in psychology. But such models and theoretical constructions are always erroneous and even flawed methodologically, since they do not at all prove the equality of the feelings of man and animals. They only illustrate the fact that feelings (and the entire human psyche) can be "dehumanized", deprived of a scientifically elusive soul and spirituality, if the subject is placed in abnormal, anti-human conditions of existence. Yes, and this "dehumanization" is not always possible and not for every person.

intellectual feelings have as their object knowledge about the world and arise in the process of human cognition, especially in the course of its highest form - thinking and creativity. In these feelings, the subject of thought (question, problem, unknown) and subjective experience merge, which is therefore capable of a special, emotional regulation of human thinking, consciousness and comprehension.

example

Plato believed that all knowledge begins with surprise, curiosity and inquisitiveness. Archimedes, according to legend, cried out: "Eureka!" at the discovery of his law, and the great Newton was probably angry with an apple that fell on his head, which contributed to the discovery of the law of universal gravitation.

Feelings and intellect are not opposed in our psyche, but exist and function only in a multidimensional unity. The joy of knowledge is known to every person and is especially expressive in childhood, when the world of emotions overwhelms, overwhelms the child's psyche. Never-ending children's "why?" and the joyful discoveries of the world are unceasing and emotionally contagious. And indeed, the human psyche itself begins in ontogeny with direct emotional communication, with the formation of an emotional connection and contacts of the child with the cognizable world (see Chapter 28).

Praxic feelings arise in connection with the activity of a person, with the course and effectiveness of his practical action and activity.

example

The self-exclamation of the great classic is well known: "Ah yes Pushkin! Aw yes son of a bitch!"

Children's play, in which the basic psychological characteristics (new formations) of a preschooler are formed, is motivated not by the result, but by the process itself (see Chapter 30). In the psychology of labor, it is recommended, when selecting people for work, to give preference to the applicant who is interested in the very content of the work, its subject and process. Depending on the motivation, content and results of the work done, the feeling of fatigue from it can be ordinary, even pleasant, or, on the contrary, heavy and hopeless.

aesthetic feelings are aimed at awareness, acceptance by the personality of the many-sided beauty of the world, the person himself, the entire universe.

example

Yesenin's sky is beautiful when "the blue sucks the eyes"; the sculptures of Rodin, the music of Verdi or Rachmaninoff, other beauties in abstract mathematical or chemical formulas, in theoretical scientific constructions, in ordinary pine cone, in the paintings of great artists, etc. A person who does not feel beauty, does not experience the presence of beauty, or has inadequate, false ideas about it, significantly impoverishes his psyche, life and being.

Moral(or moral) feelings are the subject of interpersonal relations of people, when moral (situational) and moral (universal) norms, values, ideals, categories and principles are not only accepted by the mind and externally observed, but deeply experienced personally.

example

The sense of honor that led A. S. Pushkin to a tragic duel seems inappropriate, relic, and even harmful in modern society. Moral categories of conscience, shame, etc. become more and more foreign to the multitude people XXI century, and therefore do not enter into their consciousness, life and emotional experience. The presence of conscience in a person means the presence of it as a personal experience, which, under any life circumstances, will not allow a person to act otherwise, "not according to conscience." "Yes, pitiful is the one in whom the conscience is not clear" (A. S. Pushkin). A person either has a conscience or they don't. There is no half conscience. For an honest person, deceit, hypocrisy, theft, betrayal, bribery, bribery and much more, "sinful" are psychologically unbearable. In the absence of a person's feelings of honor and conscience, everything becomes possible and permissible for him, all boundaries between good and evil are erased, when, for example, "the end justifies the means." The community of such people is doomed to moral degradation and degeneration.

Feeling of patriotism, i.e. a conscious experience by a person of his individual belonging to the country as the only Motherland or Fatherland includes all the distinguished components: intellectual, aesthetic, praxic, moral, etc. This feeling should be balanced in a person with the presence of tolerance as a calm, restrained tolerance for other states and nations, to other views and ideologies. The extreme, grotesque poles of this bundle - patriotism (as nationalism) and tolerance (as cosmopolitanism) - are equally unacceptable for a cultured individual and a civilized society. Here, as in the whole universe, dynamic stability (stability), optimal interaction of all functioning qualities and factors is necessary. Ovid also wrote: "You will pass through the middle unharmed."

A special position in the emotional sphere of personality is occupied by the feeling of love. The complexity and diversity of this feeling is truly amazing. A child, for example, "loves mom, dad and ice cream." Pedagogy often calls love for children the most important quality of a teacher. Christ calls from each icon: "Yes, love one another." Love for the Motherland has led and is leading warriors to exploits and heroic death. Possible love for nature, profession, adventure, etc. The role of love in interpersonal relationships, in the institution of the family, in the eternal emotional search by each person for his other half. Here, for example, are the reflections of S. A. Yesenin: "Do not call this ardor fate. A quick-tempered connection is frivolous." It is clear that the common and popular word "love" denotes very vivid, personally significant, deep and subtle, but very different experiences that have long deserved systematic psychological research.

S. L. Rubinshtein singled out worldview feelings, which can also be considered an integral part of moral ones, since broad worldview categories (human, world, good, evil, ideal, etc.) are included in the content of human morality, in the composition of one ideology or another.

example

The feeling of love for the Motherland, for example, refers not just to the geographical place of birth or growing up of a person, but to the experience of all complex relationships with fellow countrymen, with the moral, cultural and historical customs and traditions of both the country as a whole and numerous, closer and narrower social formations: relatives and friends, yard, neighbors, school, street, place of work, district, village or city, etc. Here all possible types and shades of feelings and experiences intersect in a single emotional formation (in different ways for every person): from the emotional background to the worldview.

In a living human psyche, all feelings and emotions exist, of course, not separately, but in the desired unity, in personal integrity. Intellectual, aesthetic and other experiences in reality are inseparable from one another, and their artificial division in scientific schemes is intended only to describe as fully as possible the motley, lively, dynamic and multi-level world of human emotions.

Thus, the development and complication of emotions and the emotional sphere of the personality is carried out in two main directions. On the one hand, there is an increasingly subtle objectification, differentiation of human experiences: from a diffuse emotional tone to feelings, generalized, crystallized on their subject. The quantity increases and changes, the quality of these subjects becomes more complicated, the scope of which includes social phenomena, abstract concepts, ethical categories, principles, values. On the other hand, there is an ever closer interaction (mediation, expansion of interfunctional connections) of experiences with all other psychological phenomena, with thinking, consciousness, self-awareness and the personality as a whole.

Introduction ................................................ ................................................. ....... 3

1. Definition, classification and functions of emotions .............................................. 5

2. Types of emotions............................................................... .............................................. eleven

3. Theory of emotions.................................................... ........................................... fourteen

Conclusion................................................. ................................................. nineteen

List of references .............................................................................. ........ 20

Introduction

A person in the process of life experiences many different states: pleasant, unpleasant, intense, barely noticeable, long, short. There are various mechanisms in the psyche that serve different purposes: the result of the action of the senses is the sensation of heat, pain, hunger, thirst, visual images, auditory, etc.

The result of the mechanism of attention is its concentration and higher sensitivity of perception of some objects compared to others. A higher concentration of attention is accompanied by states described by the words composure, concentration.

Lack of attention is described as distraction, relaxation, inattention. The degree of volitional concentration is described as tension or lack of will, etc. Fatigue, cheerfulness, drowsiness are physiological states of the body.

Among this variety it is necessary to single out emotional phenomena. They are also quite different. There are weak, easily changing experiences that can arise on the most insignificant occasions, these are moods. There are long-term, stable complex states that include many components: various kinds of knowledge, emotions, intentions. These are feelings such as love, friendship, jealousy, happiness. There are unconscious emotional states that arise as a result of a combination of certain external conditions and do not depend on a person's knowledge of these conditions. And there are actually emotions, conscious states that arise as a result of a person’s assessment of some event or phenomenon regarding the possibility of using this phenomenon for some of their goals or satisfying their needs.

The same emotional modality (kind of emotion) can be a mood, an unconscious emotion, or an emotion. Thus, fear may arise in a person at the sight of certain insects that have never harmed him, which he may never have seen in his life, and to which other people are completely indifferent.

Fear can arise from the sudden rapid movement of an object or a loud sound. This is an unconscious emotion, which is probably due to the specific reaction of some neurons to the appearance of an insect or to the movement of an object. This reaction is not realized by a person and occurs regardless of his experience and desire.

A weak form of fear can be a mood and expressed as inexplicable anxiety. And, finally, the emotion of fear can arise as a conscious reaction to danger. The origin of this state is different in different cases, although phenomenologically it can be felt by a person in the same way.

The purpose of the work: to classify and identify the types of emotions.

This goal is solved by disclosing the following main tasks:

1. define, classify and function emotions;

2. characterize the types of emotions.

1. Definition, classification and functions of emotions

Man is not only a primate, mammal, vertebrate, chordate and multicellular, but it is also the most evolved, civilized, social animal that every day communicates with its own kind and does something, experiencing different feelings and emotions such as anger, contempt, disgust, distress (grief-suffering), fear, guilt, interest, joy, shame, surprise (according to K. Izard's classification).

Emotions (French emotion - excitement, from Latin emoveo - shake, excite), the reactions of humans and animals to the impact of internal and external stimuli, which have a pronounced subjective coloring and cover all types of sensitivity and experiences. Associated with satisfaction (positive emotions) or dissatisfaction (negative emotions) of various needs of the body. Differentiated and stable emotions arising from higher social needs of a person are usually called feelings (intellectual, aesthetic, moral).

Emotions are a special kind of mental processes that express a person's experience of his attitude to the world around him and to himself. The peculiarity of emotions is that, depending on the needs of a person, they directly assess the significance of objects and situations acting on him. Emotions serve as a link between reality and needs. As a rule, emotions arise due to the primary activation of specialized (emotional) brain structures. Excitation of some structures (naturally or with the help of direct electrical stimulation) causes the appearance of a positive emotional state (positive emotions), which the body seeks to strengthen, prolong or repeat. Activation of other structures is accompanied by the appearance of a negative emotional state (negative emotions), which the body seeks to eliminate or weaken.

Emotions (from Latin emovere - to excite, excite) are states associated with the assessment of the significance for the individual of the factors acting on him and are expressed primarily in the form of direct experiences of satisfaction or dissatisfaction of his actual needs. They are one of the main regulators of activity. The basic form of emotions is the emotional tone of sensations, which is a genetically determined experience of a hedonic sign that accompanies vital impressions, for example, taste, temperature, pain. Another form of emotions are affects, which represent very strong emotional experiences associated with active behavior to resolve an extreme situation. In contrast to affects, emotions themselves have a pronounced binding to rather local situations, which was formed in vivo. Their emergence can occur even without the action of the actual situation of their formation; in this aspect, they act as guidelines for activity. The main feature of human emotions is that a special emotional language has been developed in socio-historical practice, which can be transmitted as some generally accepted description. On this basis, there is, in particular, an emotional response to works of art that have a fairly rigid link to a particular historical era.

According to the classification of emotional phenomena A.N. Leontiev distinguishes three types of emotional processes: affects, emotions proper and feelings. Affects are strong and relatively short-term emotional experiences, accompanied by pronounced motor and visceral manifestations. In a person, affects are caused not only by factors affecting his physical existence, but also by social factors, for example, the opinion of the leader, his negative assessment, the sanctions adopted. A distinctive feature of affects is that they arise in response to a situation that has actually occurred. Actually, emotions, unlike affects, are a longer current state, sometimes only weakly manifested in external behavior. They express an evaluative personal attitude to an emerging or possible situation, therefore, unlike affects, they are able to anticipate situations and events that have not actually occurred yet. Actually emotions arise on the basis of ideas about experienced or imagined situations. The third type of emotional processes are the so-called object feelings. They arise as a specific generalization of emotions and are associated with a representation or idea of ​​some object, concrete or abstract (for example, a feeling of love for a person, for the Motherland, a feeling of hatred for an enemy, etc.) Objective feelings express stable emotional relationships.

According to P.V. Simonov, feelings are emotions that arise on the basis of social and spiritual needs in the origin of emotions. Simonov considers anxiety as a reaction to a low probability of avoiding an undesirable impact. A special place among emotional phenomena is occupied by the so-called general sensations. So, P. Milner believes that, although it is customary to distinguish emotions (anger, fear, joy, etc.) from the so-called general sensations (hunger, thirst, etc.), nevertheless, many in common and their division is rather conditional. One of the reasons why they are distinguished is the different degree of connection between subjective experiences and the excitation of certain receptors (temperature, pain). On this basis, such states are usually referred to as sensations. The state of fear, anger is difficult to associate with the excitation of any receptor surfaces, therefore they are referred to as emotions. Another reason why emotions are contrasted with general sensations is because they occur irregularly. Emotions often arise spontaneously and depend on random external factors while hunger, thirst, sexual desire follow at regular intervals. Currently, the attention of researchers is attracted by another category of emotional phenomena - mood. Moods do not have a specific target like emotions do, and neither do any specific reactions. Therefore, it is less specific than emotion. In addition, subjective experiences associated with mood are less intense compared to emotions.

According to the definition of A. Isen, mood is a flow or flow of ideas, thoughts and images retrieved from memory. They are united by a common tone: positive or negative. Numerous experimental data suggest that mood is the result of both emotional and imaginary events or information retrieved from emotional memory. Clinical studies point to the key role of hormonal and biochemical factors in the genesis of mood. When a mood reaches a certain threshold, it becomes conscious and can be explained, including its causes. This can serve as an impetus for the transformation of mood into emotion. Mood affects a person's behavior. The same phenomenon can simultaneously cause both emotion and mood, which can coexist, influencing each other. If any emotional reaction develops rapidly in time, then the mood created by it can last for hours, days and weeks. Human actions are not impartial. Therefore, emotion, as a subjective experience, is present in every activity, every reflex. In the structure of behavior, as in a functional system, emotions play a key role. Allocate leading and situational emotions. They are associated with different phases of behavior. Leading emotions signal to a person about the dissatisfaction of his needs and encourage him to search for the target object, stimulating certain behavior. The emotional memory of successful actions in the past aimed at satisfying a similar need also has a motivating force. Situational emotions that arise as a result of assessments of individual stages or behavior as a whole prompt the subject to either act in the same direction or change behavior, its tactics, and ways to achieve the goal.

Researchers, answering the question of what role emotions play in the life of living beings, identify several regulatory functions of emotions: reflective (evaluative), motivating, reinforcing, switching, communicative. The reflective function of emotions is expressed in a generalized assessment of events.

An example is the behavior of a person who has received a limb injury. Focusing on pain, he immediately finds a position that reduces pain. Emotion, as a special internal state and subjective experience, performs the function of assessing the circumstances of the situation based on the need that has arisen and an intuitive idea of ​​the possibilities of satisfying it. Emotional evaluation is performed at a sensitive level. Example: we never estimate the true nutritional need for proteins, fats, carbohydrates, vitamins, salts, etc. The emergence of a feeling of hunger is already enough. The evaluative, or reflective, function of an emotion is directly related to its motivating function.

S.L. Rubitspein noted that emotion already in itself contains attraction, desire, aspiration directed towards or away from an object. Emotion performs a search zone where a solution to the problem, satisfaction of the need will be found.

Emotional experience contains the image of the object, the satisfaction of needs and its biased attitude towards it, which prompts a person to act. When faced with the situation again, these emotions allow you to anticipate, anticipate events and encourage you to act in a certain direction. There is also a reinforcing function of emotions. It is known that emotions are directly involved in the processes of learning and memory. Significant events that cause emotional reactions are quickly and permanently imprinted in memory.

The switching function of emotions is that they often induce a person to change his behavior. This function is most clearly revealed in extreme situations, when there is a struggle between the instinct of self-preservation, natural for a person, and the social need to follow a certain ethical norm (the struggle between fear and a sense of duty, fear and shame). The outcome depends on the strength of motives, on the personal attitudes of the subject.

An important function of emotions is the communicative function. Facial expressions, gestures, postures, expressive sighs, changes in intonation are the “language of human feelings” and allow a person to convey his experiences to other people, inform them about his attitude to phenomena, objects, etc.

2. Types of emotions

Emotions play a crucial role in self-awareness, in the formation and maintenance of a sense of self-identity. The theory of differential emotions considers emotion as the most fundamental way of organizing sensations. According to this theory, the following emotions can be distinguished: interest, joy, pleasure, surprise, sadness, grief, anger, disgust, fear and anxiety, embarrassment, shame, guilt, conscience, love, etc.

Let's look at some of these emotions.

The emotion of interest has played a very important role in human evolution, performing a variety of adaptive functions throughout the history of its existence. Interest in the unknown is the basis of research, cognitive activity and is important for the processes of attention, memory and learning. The emotion of interest plays an important role in motivating success. Interest is also necessary for the development of skills, it is he who motivates human activity aimed at improving innate abilities.

The theory of differential emotions distinguishes experience joy from satisfying a physiological need. The experience of joy is characterized by a sense of satisfaction and a sense of self-confidence, in joy a person feels loved and deserving of love. Smiling and laughing are expressions of joy. From an evolutionary point of view, the emotion of joy, together with the emotion of interest, ensures a person's position in society. Bradbury (1969) found that socially active people, whose emotional experience is more diverse, are more likely to experience positive emotions.

The psychological basis of sadness can be a variety of problematic situations that we encounter in everyday life, unmet primary needs, other emotions, as well as imagery and memory. The main and universal cause of sadness and grief is the feeling of loss that occurs as a result of the death of a loved one or separation from him. The experience of sadness is usually described as despondency, sadness, feelings of loneliness and isolation. Although the emotion of sadness can have a very detrimental effect on a person, it is characterized by a lower level of tension than other negative emotions. The emotion of sadness performs a number of psychological functions. Experiences unite people, strengthen friendships and family ties; sadness inhibits the mental and physical activity of a person, and thus gives him the opportunity to think about a difficult situation; sadness encourages a person to restore and strengthen ties with people.

Anger, disgust, and contempt are separate emotions, but they often interact with each other. Situations that activate anger often activate the emotions of disgust and contempt to some extent. In any combination, these three emotions can become the main component of hostility. In anger, a person feels much more confident than with any other negative emotion. Anger mobilizes the energy needed for self-defense. Self-confidence and a sense of one's own strength stimulate a person to defend their rights. Unlike manifestations of aggression, experiencing and expressing anger can have positive consequences, especially in cases where a person maintains control over himself.

The experience of fear is felt and perceived by people as a threat to personal safety. Fear encourages people to make efforts to avoid the threat, to eliminate the danger. Fear can be caused by both physical and psychological threats. The experience of fear is accompanied by a feeling of insecurity, insecurity, inability to control the situation. However, fear also has an adaptive function, forcing a person to look for ways to protect himself.

The experience of shame is accompanied by heightened self-awareness. This interferes with understanding the situation and increases the likelihood of inadequate reactions to it. The ability to shame means that the individual is inclined to take into account the opinions and feelings of the people around him, thus, shame contributes to greater mutual understanding between people and greater responsibility to society. In addition, shame encourages a person to acquire various skills. A person who is unable to resist the experience of shame is almost certainly doomed to sadness and even depression. Adequate response to the experience of shame can be considered a person's readiness for self-improvement.

Guilt plays a key role in the development of personal and social responsibility, in the process of becoming a person. The experience of guilt is the result of self-punishment. A person experiences guilt as a result of violation of some accepted ethical moral or religious standards. The experience of guilt is accompanied by a gnawing feeling of being wrong in relation to another person. The development of guilt and the formation of conscience are the most important stages in the psychological maturation of the individual.

Love is fundamental to human nature. The emotional bond between children and parents, between siblings, and between spouses is an integral part of our evolutionary heritage. Love encompasses social relationships, strong attachment, emotional connection. Love is characterized by interest and joy, and love relationships can evoke a whole range of emotions.

3. Theory of emotions

Ancient Chinese teachings about mental phenomena were built on the basis of organismic ideas that arose in a tribal society and continued to exist in one form or another in the traditional mentality. The human being was considered by the Chinese as part of the cosmos, as an organism within an organism. It was believed that the mental structure of the human body has the same number of structural levels as the holistic cosmos, internal states a person is determined by his relationship with the outside world, and certain mental phenomena resonate with what is happening on the corresponding planes of the universe.

The mental component of a person was expressed in ancient China in the concept blue- "a heart". However, the Chinese did not adhere to a strict heart-centric concept of the psyche. There was also an idea that the heart is one of the organs in the whole organism, which correspond to certain mental correlates. The heart is only the most important of them, in it, as in the “core” of the body, the resultant of mental interactions is concentrated, which determines their general direction and structure. Therefore, in Chinese, many hieroglyphs denoting psychological categories contain the hieroglyph “heart” in their composition.

V.M. Kryukov notes that this hieroglyph was not found in the Yin script, and the appearance of the concept blue in Western Zhou ritual texts “practically coincided with the emergence of the category de, which hieroglyphically represents the result of the fusion of the “heart” sign with the Yin graphic prototype de". In the context of a new type of worldview established in the Early Zhou and “delimiting the external and internal aspects of the ritual”, which opened up the “spiritual depth of the communicative act”, “the use of the sign blue in the role of a semantic determinant gave rise, along with de, a whole class of terms related to the psycho-mental sphere - babysitter("remember"), van("forget"), chi("afraid"), mao("admire"), mu(“strive”), etc.”

Having this semantic determinative is also a hieroglyph qing, which denotes the sensory-emotional sphere of a person. The extreme manifestation of emotions, affectivity is “passions, desires”, denoted by the hieroglyph yu, having a double spelling - with and without a “heart”.

These sensory-emotional concepts are often contrasted with the concept syn(“essence, nature, nature, character [of a person]”), also denoted by a hieroglyph, which includes the sign “heart”. The latter suggests that this opposition is not ontological and is carried out on a single basis. The opposition of "essence" (nature- syn) and “sensuality” (emotions- qing, desires -yu) - this is “what lies on the heart”, or rather, what happens in the mental organism, considered in the context of the structure-forming function of the heart.

On the specific relations of "nature" ( syn) of a person and “desires” ( yu) is said in Li ji (Notes on rituals) in the chapter Yue ji (Notes on music). By its origin, the “nature” of a person is unemotional, “pure” from all passions. They arise in a person when he comes into contact with objects of the external world in the process of their knowledge. Then the peace of “nature” is disturbed, it starts to move, and feelings of “love, attraction” arise ( hao) and “hatred, disgust” ( at). These feelings are so strong that under their influence a person can lose the original purity of his “nature” and follow the path of vice.

A person is born pure, this is the nature bestowed on him by heaven. Faced with the outside world, his nature sets in motion, and desires are born in it. When objects and phenomena are known, feelings of love and hatred towards them are formed. If love and hatred are not moderated from within, and the knowledge of the environment lures him into the world of things and he is not able to cope with himself, then the qualities bestowed on him by heaven perish. After all, the surrounding world affects a person endlessly, and the love and hatred of a person have no limit, and in this case the surrounding world approaches a person, and he changes under his influence. When a person changes under the influence of the surrounding world, the qualities bestowed on him by heaven perish in him, and he exhausts himself in desires. It is then that feelings of rebelliousness and rebellion, pretense and deceit are born, all sorts of obscene things are done and riots are arranged. Then the strong begin to threaten the weak, the populous kingdoms begin to rape the sparsely populated, the knowledgeable begin to deceive the foolish, the daring to inflict suffering on the timid, those suffering from epidemics and diseases do not receive care, the old and the young, orphans and widows have no shelter - all this is the path of great disorder. .

Despite the fact that “nature” is given to a person by Heaven, in relation to the outside world, when it comes to the perception of the surrounding reality, it acts as a passive, Yin principle. Being “corrupted” by the presence of pernicious passions, “nature” becomes an active, yang principle, the cause of “all kinds of obscene deeds”.

Similar relationships between the natural essence of a person and his sensual-emotional sphere are given in Xun Tzu. The main difference is that this text gives a more optimistic view of the meaning of sensory manifestations in human life. In the presence of "heart understanding" feelings allow you to navigate in the world around you and carry out proper activities.

The various names applied to people are as follows: that which has an innate, natural character is called natural properties; that which is [the result of] the correspondence of the natural properties of a person and things - when the spiritual [in a person] comes into contact with things, reacts [to their irritations], and this happens without outside interference, naturally - is called mental properties. Love and hate, peace and anger, sorrow and joy as [manifestations] of mental properties are called feelings. When the heart helps these natural senses to distinguish [truth from falsehood], this is called reflection. When a person thinks, and his abilities translate these thoughts into deeds, this is called human activity. When a person accumulates thoughts, gets used to applying his abilities, as a result of which he achieves success, this is called [fruitful] activity.

It is important to emphasize that in "Li chi" and "Xun-tzu" mental phenomena are considered as a product of the relations of "nature" ( syn) person and “things” ( at) of the outside world, i.e. as something mediating their interaction. This makes it possible to apply in the reconstruction of the ancient Chinese theory of emotions the scheme of subject-object relations, which was used in clarifying the meanings of trigrams and virtues. de. At the same time, it must be remembered that the “nature” of a person as a subject is not hypostasized by the ancient Chinese, but represents only a deeper state of the mental organism than emotionality.

This approach is intended to show that the structure of the sensory-emotional sphere in ancient Chinese theory is described by trigrams. The ideal option would be to find a list of emotions that correlate with the eight trigrams. But there is no such thing. However, even in the heterogeneous lists of emotions scattered over different texts, their initial systemic nature is visible, based on which it is possible to reconstruct a basic set of emotions that is not inferior in its harmony to modern European theories of emotions.

Attempts to define a set of "fundamental" or "basic" ("basal") emotions have a long tradition in Europe. Many psychologists have done this. In all cases, a different number of emotions were offered, and the most various ways their classifications. For example, a selection of lists of emotions from the article by A. Ortoni, J. Clore, A. Collins “Cognitive structure of emotions” is given.

Table 1

There have been attempts to classify emotions based on combinations of more primitive manifestations of the psyche. The most famous of these classifications is, perhaps, the classification of W. Wundt, who proposed to consider all emotions in the space of three dimensions, defined by the axes “pleasure-displeasure”, “excitation-calming” and “tension-resolution”. The classification, to which the following reconstruction of the emotional representations of the ancient Chinese will fit, is also based on the idea of ​​three primary psychological axes, but only their specific definition will be different.

Conclusion

The problem of emotions is great and multifaceted, far from all the issues related to it have been resolved today; much of what is known is debatable. Nevertheless, philosophers and psychologists, physiologists and doctors were able to largely dispel the fog of mystery and mysticism that prevented the knowledge of human emotions and feelings. A modern person in his actions often has to be guided mainly not by emotions, but by reason, but in many life situations the influence of emotions on human behavior is very great.

So, emotions are the psychological reactions inherent in each person to good and bad. These are our anxieties and joys, our despair and pleasure.

Emotions provide us with a craving for experience and empathy, maintain an interest in life in the world around us. And I, based on various theories and experiences of scientists, tried to talk about emotions and their need for a person. After all, without emotions, life would be poor and uninteresting!

List of used literature

1. Vartanyan G.A., Petrov E.S. Emotions and behavior. - L. Nauka, 1989.

2. Vasiliev I.A., Popluzhny V.L., Tikhomirov O.K. Emotions and thinking. - M., 1980.

3. Vasiliev I.A. Humanitarian and natural science paradigms in the study of emotions. //Psychological journal, 1992. - No. 6, v.13, p.80

4. Gozman L.Ya. Psychology of emotional relations. - M., Moscow State University, 1987.

5. Izard K.E. Psychology of emotions. - St. Petersburg: Peter, 2003. - 464 p.

6. Ilyin E.P. Emotions and feelings. - St. Petersburg, Peter, 2001.

Izard K.E. Psychology of emotions. - St. Petersburg: Peter, 2003. - p.12

Ilyin E.P. Emotions and feelings. - St. Petersburg, Peter, 2001. - p.31

Gozman L.Ya. Psychology of emotional relations. - M., Moscow State University, 1987. - p.58