Emotional response and its characteristics. The concept of emotional response
Every adult knows what emotions are, because. experienced them many times since early childhood. However, when asked to describe some emotion, to explain what it is, as a rule, a person experiences great difficulties. Experiences, sensations that accompany emotions are difficult to describe formally. A lot has been written about emotions both in fiction and in scientific literature; they are of interest to philosophers, physiologists, psychologists, and clinicians. Emotions were studied by such prominent scientists as R. Woodworth (1950), D. Lindsley (1960), P. Fress (1975), J. Reikovsky (1979), K. Izard (2000), domestic scientists M.P. Jacobson (1958), W.K. Vilyunas (1973), B.I. Dodonov (1987), P.V. Simonov (1962, 1975, 1981, 1987), L.I. Kulikov (1997).
However, the problem of emotions is still mysterious and largely unclear.
The role of emotions in managing human behavior is great, it is no coincidence that almost all authors writing about emotions note their motivating role, associate emotions with needs and their satisfaction. In the first half of the 20th century, they already spoke of affects as emotional reactions aimed at defusing the emotional excitement that has arisen.
Emotional response is characterized by:
1) a sign (positive or negative experiences);
2) influence on behavior and activity (stimulating or inhibitory);
3) intensity (the depth of experiences and the magnitude of physiological changes);
4) the duration of the course (short-term or long-term);
5) objectivity (the degree of awareness and connection with a specific object).
1. Sign of emotional response. According to what experiences a person has (positive - pleasure or negative - disgust), emotional response is marked with a "+" or "?" sign. (It should be noted that the division is largely conditional. For example, such an emotion as fear is classified as negative, but it also has a positive meaning for animals and humans, and, in addition, can give a person pleasure. K. Izard notes the positive role of such negative emotion like a shame. In addition, he notes that joy, manifested in the form of gloating, can bring the person experiencing it the same harm as anger.)
2. Intensity of emotional response. A high degree of positive emotional response is called bliss. Bliss is characterized by a pleasant sensation throughout the body. (For example, a person experiences bliss by warming himself by a fire after a long stay in the cold, or drinking a cold drink in hot weather.) The highest positive emotion of response is called ecstasy. Usually people experience ecstasy when they experience the height of happiness. (This may be religious ecstasy.) This state is characterized by the fact that it covers the entire consciousness of a person, becomes dominant, due to which the outside world disappears in subjective perception and the person is outside of time and space. In the motor sphere, either immobility or bodily lightness is observed, expressed in violent movements. Ecstatic states are observed in mental illness: in hysteria, epilepsy, schizophrenia. At the same time, hallucinations are often observed: heavenly aromas, visions of angels.
3. Duration of emotional response. Emotional response can be of different duration: from fleeting experiences to states lasting hours and days.
V.M. Smirnov and A.I. Trokhachev (1974) single out emotional reactions and emotional states. Emotional reactions: anger, joy, longing, fear. Reactions are subdivided by them into an emotional response, an emotional outburst and an emotional outburst (affect).
Emotional states, according to V.M. Smirnov and A.I. Trokhachev, are the emotional component of mental states. The emotional component is close to the emotional tone (mood).
4. Objectivity as a characteristic of emotional response. VK. Vilyunas (1986) writes that non-objective emotions usually also have an object (for example, the situation as a whole can cause anxiety: night, forest, hostile environment) or unconscious (when the mood is spoiled by failure, which a person cannot admit).
So, we are delighted or indignant, saddened or proud of someone or something. Pleasant or painful is something that we feel, perceive, think.
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general characteristics emotions. Functions of emotions.
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Life choice. Life values and ways to achieve them.
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life choice is a turning point in life path, which has its own structure and internal tendencies, indicating the orientation of the individual, the ways of its interaction with the world and the level of development. Life choice enters a person into a certain social context, contributing to the development of specific relationships and activities, the emergence of new functions and forms of activity, increasing initiative and social responsibility. Life choice allows you to “see” what a person lives for, what he aspires to, how he achieves his life goals. When choosing a place of residence, study or work, a life partner or boss, as well as deciding to have a child or divorce, etc., a person defends his life values(not those for which we pay, but those for which we live). Thus, life values (for example, interesting job, happy family life, health, etc.) act as a meaningful and semantic characteristic of a life choice. In addition, when making a choice, each of us makes a decision and then implements it. Both the originality of making a decision on a vital issue, and the implementation decision(there are many ways of such realization) – all these are components of life choice, its instrumental characteristics.
Emotions - a form of adaptation to reality so that one can act in it. Emotion is a mental representation, a reflection of the current state needs. Emotion properties: expresses the state of sat and its relation to the object; polarity (associated with antiquity); subjectivity; participation in stimulating activity. . Emotion is a mental representation or reflection meanings, generated by the motive. Emotion functions:Evaluation functions: trace-forming (accumulation of individual experience); anticipation; Evaluation criterion: motivational significance. Own states, objects of the external world are evaluated. Functions of motivation and organization: energy (activation and mobilization of the body); disorganizing - affect (in an emergency); regulatory = guiding = selective (we see what we want to see); heuristic (foresight); synthesizing (emotional synthesis according to the principle of associations - affective complexes). Expression functions: communication; signal (natural level); sign (social); symbolic (personal).
Characteristic various kinds emotional response. Emotional tone. It is associated with the experience of pleasure or displeasure in the process of sensation. response to individual properties of objects or phenomena is characteristic. The first function of the emotional tone of sensations is an orienting function, which consists in telling the body whether this or that effect is dangerous or not, whether it is desirable or should be eliminated. The second function of the emotional tone of sensations is to provide feedback, the task of which is to inform a person that his biological need satisfied or not satisfied. Emotion is a reaction to a situation, not to a single stimulus. Affect. An affect is nothing but a strongly expressed emotion. Any emotion can reach the level of affect if it is caused by a strong or especially significant stimulus for a person. Almost always affects arise in the form of a reaction in which tension is reacted. The affect is characterized by: rapid onset; very high intensity of experience; brevity; violent expression (expression); lack of accountability, i.e. loss of conscious control over their actions. In a state of passion, a person is not able to "control himself." With affect, the consequences of what is being done are little thought out. Affective manifestations of positive emotions are delight, enthusiasm, enthusiasm, bouts of unbridled fun, laughter; affective manifestations of negative emotions are rage, anger, horror, despair. Sometimes the affect is accompanied by a stupor. Mood(emotional tone in this moment.). A.G. Maklakov considers mood as “chronic” emotional condition coloring all human behavior. In everyday consciousness, it is often understood as a good or bad "disposition of the spirit", as the mood (presence or lack of desire) of a person at the moment to communicate, do something, agree or disagree, etc. In most psychology textbooks, mood is described as an independent emotional phenomenon, different from emotions. According to S.L. Rubinshtein, “Mood is not a special experience dedicated to some particular event, but a diffuse general state. The mood is somewhat more complex and, most importantly, more iridescently diverse and, for the most part, vague, richer in subtle shades than a clearly defined feeling. Mood is characterized by: low intensity; significant duration (mood can last for hours or even days); sometimes the ambiguity of its cause. Constantly present as an emotional background, the mood increases or decreases its activity in communication or work. The mood can be good (sthenic) and bad (asthenic). In the first case, with its stable manifestation, one speaks of hyperthymia, i.e. about high spirits. It is characterized by elation, cheerfulness, cheerfulness. hypothymia: low mood, a kind of emotional "minor", which, similar to a hyperthymic characterological warehouse, can become the basis for the formation of a hypothymic character. Feelings are a type of emotion. feelings are one of the main forms of a person's experience of his attitude to objects and phenomena of reality, which is characterized by relative stability. Feeling is a stable emotional attitude. The feeling is supra-situational. Feelings are lasting. The maximum degree of expression of feelings is passion. Passionately you can love and hate. Passion resembles an affect, but it is not an affect. Feelings are characterized by subjectivity, since the same phenomena for different people can have different meanings. A number of feelings are characterized by intimacy, i.e. deeply personal meaning of experiences, their secrecy. Feelings are expressed through certain emotions, depending on the situation in which the object to which the person feels is located. The most common classification of feelings is their division, depending on the sphere of manifestation, into three groups: moral, intellectual and aesthetic. Moral feelings are the feelings that a person experiences in connection with the realization of the conformity or inconsistency of his behavior with the requirements of public morality. They reflect a different degree of attachment to certain people, the need to communicate with them, attitudes towards them. Intellectual are feelings associated with cognitive activity person. Aesthetic feelings are called feelings associated with the experience of pleasure or displeasure, caused by the beauty or ugliness of perceived objects, whether they are natural phenomena, works of art or people, as well as their actions and actions. Stress. Stress is a physiological reaction of the body to the action of negative factors that pose a threat to it. Stress is expressed by a general adaptation syndrome, which manifests itself regardless of the quality of the pathogenic factor (chemical, thermal, physical), and has certain stages: an alarm reaction, during which the body's resistance first decreases ("shock phase"), and then protective mechanisms are activated ("phase antishock "); the stage of stability, when, due to the tension of functioning systems, the body's adaptation to new conditions is achieved; stage of exhaustion in which insolvency is revealed defense mechanisms and the violation of the coherence of vital functions is increasing. Frustration. The concept of "frustration" (from lat. frustratio - disorder (of plans), collapse (of plans, hopes)) is used in two meanings: 1) the act of blocking or interrupting behavior aimed at achieving a significant goal, i.e. frustration situation; 2) an emotional state that occurs after failure, dissatisfaction with any need, reproaches from outside. This condition is accompanied strong emotions: hostility, anger, guilt, anxiety, etc. The frustrator is an obstacle that is insurmountable for a person, blocking the achievement of his goal. According to S. Rosenzweig, the state of frustration can manifest itself in three forms of behavior (reactions): extrapunitive, intrapunitive and impunitive, which indicate the direction of reactions. The extrapunitive form of response is characterized by the outward orientation of the reaction. A person tends to blame circumstances, other people for what happened. The intrapunitive form of frustration is characterized by autoaggression: self-accusation, the appearance of guilt. The impulsive form of response is associated with the attitude to failure either as inevitable, fatal, or as an insignificant event, which over time “deregulates” by itself. In addition, certain types of frustration response are distinguished: Motor excitation - aimless and disordered reactions; Apathy (for example, a child in a situation of frustration lay down on the floor and looked at the ceiling); Aggression and destruction; Stereotype - the tendency to blindly repeat fixed behavior; Regression, manifested in the primitivization of behavior.
Types of emotional response
There are still great difficulties in isolating different types emotional response, which is largely facilitated by terminological confusion. According to V. K. Viliunas, this is evidence that “the phenomenological material, which the theory of emotions is intended to explain, does not have clearly distinguishable features that could provide some unified initial grouping and ordering” (1984, p. 5).
Vilyunas notes that two main approaches can be distinguished in the views on emotional response. In one case, it is not something specific and, accompanying any mental process, performs a universal role (Wundt, Grot, 1879-1880; Rubinshtein, 1999). In another case, emotional response is considered as an independent phenomenon, a particular mechanism of response and regulation, which means that some deviations have occurred in the normal course of the existence of an animal and a person (Sartre, 1984; Simonov, 1966). Close to this is the point of view of A. V. Valdman et al. (1976), who note that the internal signals of the body cause shifts in emotionality in a positive or negative direction if they go beyond the usual values. Thus, a violation of internal homeostasis leads to the appearance of an emotional response. And this testifies in favor of the fact that emotional response is an independent phenomenon.
Taking into account the above (section 1.2) characteristics of emotional reactions in domestic psychology Traditionally, the following classes are distinguished: emotional tone of sensations, emotions (including affects), moods.
True, there are other approaches. S. L. Rubinshtein (1957), for example, wrote that affective processes are divided into: 1) aspirations, drives, desires and 2) emotions, feelings. Thus, motivational formations also fell into the category of affective ones. The only justification for this can be that they also have an emotional component. But then there is a danger that any psychological education will be counted among the emotional processes.
V. M. Smirnov and A. I. Trokhachev (1974), who distinguish emotional reactions and emotional states, have a different and more productive, in my opinion, approach.
Emotional reactions(anger, joy, melancholy, fear) are subdivided by them into an emotional response, an emotional outburst and an emotional outburst (affect). Emotional response is, according to the authors, the most dynamic and constant phenomenon emotional life of a person, reflecting quick and shallow switching in the systems of a person’s attitudes to routine changes in situations everyday life. The intensity and duration of the emotional response are not great, and it is not able to significantly change the emotional state of a person. ■ The presence of such instantaneous reactions was recorded by E. Haggard and K. Isaacs (Haggard, Isaacs, 1966). They discovered the existence of "short-term
2. Emotional response and its characteristics
Emotion (from lat. emovere - excite, excite) is usually understood as an experience, emotional excitement. Back in the first half of the 20th century, they spoke of affects as emotional reactions aimed at defusing the resulting emotional excitement. For example, S. L. Rubinshtein (1957) used the terms “emotional” and “affective” as equivalent: “... the three-term division of mental phenomena into intellectual, emotional and volitional cannot be maintained. Primary, basic is the two-term division of mental processes into intellectual and affective ... ”(p. 269).
Characteristics of emotional response. Emotional response is characterized by sign (positive or negative experiences), influence on behavior and activity (stimulating or inhibitory), intensity (depth of experiences and magnitude of physiological changes), duration (short-term or long-term), objectivity (degree of awareness and connection with a specific object) .
E. D. Khomskaya (1987), along with the sign, intensity, duration and objectivity, identifies such characteristics as their reactivity (rapidity of occurrence or change), quality (connection with need), the degree of their arbitrary control. The first one is not objectionable. Although, speaking about the speed of occurrence of emotional reactions, it should be said about the speed of their disappearance. Two other characteristics are doubtful, especially the last one. Arbitrary control of emotions is the prerogative of the volitional sphere of the personality, and not the emotional one.
Sign of emotional response. According to what experiences a person has (positive - pleasure or negative - disgust), emotional response is marked with a "+" or "-" sign. However, it should be noted that this division is largely arbitrary and, at least, does not correspond to the positive or negative role of emotions for given to people specific situation. For example, such an emotion as fear is unconditionally classified as negative, but it certainly has a positive meaning for animals and humans, and in addition, it can give a person pleasure. K. Izard notes the positive role of such a negative emotion as shame. In addition, he notes that joy, manifested in the form of gloating, can bring the person experiencing it the same harm as anger.
Therefore, K. Izard believes that “instead of talking about negative and positive emotions, it would be more correct to consider that there are such emotions that contribute to an increase in psychological entropy, and emotions that, on the contrary, facilitate constructive behavior. Such an approach will allow us to attribute this or that emotion to the category of positive or negative, depending on what effect it has on intrapersonal processes and the processes of interaction of the individual with the immediate social environment, taking into account more general ethological and environmental factors” (2000, p. 34) .
It seems to me that labeling an emotional response with one sign or another as its permanent characteristic does not justify itself and only misleads people. Emotions are not positive or negative, but their influence on human behavior and activities, as well as the impression they make.
Intensity of emotional response. A high degree of positive emotional response is called bliss. For example, a person experiences bliss when warming himself by the fire after a long stay in the cold, or, conversely, consuming a cold drink in hot weather. It is characteristic of bliss that a pleasant sensation spreads throughout the body.
The highest degree of positive emotional response is called ecstasy, or an ecstatic state. It may be the religious ecstasy experienced by the mystics of the Middle Ages, and now observed in the members of certain religious sects; this state is also characteristic of shamans. Usually people experience ecstasy when they experience the height of happiness.
This state is characterized by the fact that it captures the entire consciousness of a person, becomes dominant, due to which the external world disappears in subjective perception, and the person is outside of time and space. At the same time, in the motor sphere, either immobility is observed - a person remains in the adopted position for a long time, or, conversely, a person experiences bodily lightness, shows joy reaching to frenzy, expressed in violent movements.
Ecstatic states are also observed in mental illnesses: in hysteria, epilepsy, schizophrenia. At the same time, hallucinations are often noted: heavenly aromas, visions of angels.
The duration of the emotional response. Emotional response can be of different duration: from fleeting experiences to states lasting hours and days. This characteristic served V. M. Smirnov and A. I. Trokhachev (1974) as the basis for distinguishing different types of emotional response.
Objectivity as a characteristic of emotional response. As V. K. Vilyunas (1986) writes, we are delighted or indignant, saddened or proud of someone or something. Pleasant or painful is something that we feel, perceive, think. The so-called non-objective emotions, he writes, usually also have an object, only less definite (for example, the situation as a whole can cause anxiety: night, forest, hostile environment) or unconscious (when the mood is spoiled by failure, which a person cannot admit). The last position is debatable. There is a bad mood that is difficult to explain. And if I can't do this, then I can't date it to a specific subject, object.
Emotional response as a psychophysiological state.
From the foregoing, it is clear that the emotional response of a person is
complex reaction involving different systems organism and personality. Therefore, emotional response can be understood as the emergence of a psychophysiological (emotional) state.
The fact that emotions should be considered as states was first emphasized by N. D. Levitov (1964). He wrote about this: “In no sphere of mental activity is the term “state” so applicable as in emotional life, since in emotions, or feelings, the tendency to specifically color the experiences and activities of a person is very clearly manifested, giving them a temporal orientation and creating what, figuratively speaking, can be called the timbre or qualitative originality of mental life.
The study of the problem of any human condition, including emotional ones, is experiencing serious difficulties due to the fact that there is still no generally accepted definition of the concept of "state" and the classification of human states that arise in the process of his activity and communication. Naturally, we are not talking about physiological states of excitation and inhibition, activation and deactivation, but about more complex states that affect the entire personality, and, consequently, its emotional and mental spheres (which is why I call them psychophysiological states).
Understanding emotional response as a state, from my point of view, is of fundamental importance, since it makes it possible to more accurately understand the essence of emotion, its functional significance for the body, to overcome a one-sided approach to it only as an experience of one’s attitude to someone or something. In this regard, I will dwell on the discussion of the question of what a state is, in order to make it easier, firstly, to understand why emotions are considered states and, secondly, to conclude whether it is advisable to consider emotional states as a part ( component) of mental states, or it should be considered that emotional states are certain kind mental states. At once I will make a reservation that I do not identify emotional and mental states; there are mental states that are not complicated by emotional experiences: vigilant alertness (“operational calm”, according to A. A. Ukhtomsky), determination in a safe situation, etc.
The ambiguity of the practical use of the concept of "state" is accompanied by
There is also the ambiguity of its scientific definitions. However, most of them have
and the same logical basis: the state is characterized as a set (sympto-
mocomplex) of some characteristics: processes (Marishchuk, 1974), functions and
qualities (Medvedev, 1974), components of the psyche (Sosnovikova, 1972), etc.,
pouring the efficiency of activity, working capacity, level of activity
systems, behavior, etc. The logical scheme of these definitions can be represented
So:
State (sum of characteristics) ----> Performance efficiency,
performance
If you are consistent in deciphering the concept of "state" using the above definitions, then you can easily establish their inconsistency, since they immediately take on a form that is likely to be rejected by the authors themselves who gave these definitions.
I will start with the first half of the above scheme - with a symptom complex of certain characteristics. Let us substitute real indicators instead of a mysterious complex of functions and qualities: heart rate, breathing rate and depth, tremor, reaction time, intensity and switching of attention, i.e. everything that is recorded when a particular condition is detected and serves as its characteristics. In accordance with the given definitions, it turns out that their change affects the performance and efficiency of human activity. But is there a direct relationship between the level of severity of these indicators and human performance? Doesn't heart rate and performance depend on other factors, in particular, on the emotion that has arisen, on volitional regulation, from the energy balance in the body? It is obvious that the definition of the essence of the state is replaced by a description of the shifts that occur when the state occurs.
The second half of the analyzed scheme is also not flawless in terms of understanding the essence of states. First, why must the state be necessarily characterized in terms of a change in working capacity? Without this criterion, can't we judge the state that has arisen (for example, about joy, about fear)? Secondly, many conditions appear before the person's working capacity changes (in particular, decreases). Consequently, the change in working capacity is a secondary phenomenon and does not directly reflect the essence of the state. For example, in many manuals on physiology and psychology, fatigue is characterized as a temporary decrease in performance as a result of human activity. In reality, the state of fatigue appears before performance begins to decline (Myzan, 1975; Shabunin, 1969; Hoffmann, Clark, Brawn, 1946). It is no coincidence that sports theorists single out phases of compensated and uncompensated fatigue in endurance work. In the first phase, the difficulties arising in the work are compensated by volitional effort.
Moreover, for example, in the state of monotony (boredom) at the first stages of its development, physical performance even increases, which is expressed in an increase in the rate of working movements, an increase in muscle strength, and a reduction in the time of a simple sensorimotor reaction.
So, although a change in performance may be a characteristic of a number of conditions that arise under the influence of physical, mental and emotional stress, this characteristic is changeable and ambiguous. In addition, the definition of state as a factor influencing performance does not reveal the essence of states. Therefore, it is hardly advisable to put the fact of a change in working capacity at the forefront in determining states.
There are other approaches to defining states. For example, the states are reduced to the system personal characteristics person. So, according to A. Ts. Puni, “the state ... can be represented as a balanced, relatively stable system of personal characteristics of athletes, against which the dynamics of mental processes unfold” (1969, p. 29). With such an approach to states, it becomes incomprehensible, what then is the personality itself?
Thus, the existing state definitions in best case indicate how the condition can be detected (since the consequences of its occurrence are described), but not what the condition is.
From my point of view, the state in the broadest sense is the reaction of functional systems to external and internal influences, aimed at obtaining a result useful for the body. In many cases, a beneficial result is expressed in maintaining the integrity of the body and ensuring its normal functioning under given conditions. However, as P. K. Anokhin pointed out, it would be completely unprogressive for living nature if “the system 'sought' to find only a stable state” (1972, p. 31). He writes further that “the system “strives” to obtain the programmed result and for the sake of the result it can go to the greatest perturbations in the interactions of its components ... It is the result, if it is difficult to obtain it, that can lead the entire system into an extremely restless and by no means stable state” ( ibid.). From this we can conclude that the state is the reaction of a functional system not only to maintain its stability, but also to change it in order to adapt to new conditions of existence.
It should be noted that the idea of the state as a reaction to influences sometimes slips in some publications (Marishchuk, 1974), but is not laid down as the basis for the definition of the concept of "state".
I define the psycho-physiological state as a holistic response of a person to external and internal stimuli, aimed at achieving a useful result. It should be emphasized that a useful result for a functional system may not coincide with the beneficial effect expected by a person. Therefore, speaking about a beneficial effect that is a consequence of the development of a certain state, one must bear in mind, first of all, the biological expediency of the occurrence of the state. For example, the emergence of a state of fear is unfavorable for a person, but it is an expedient and useful reaction of the body to a threatening situation. Of course, I am far from thinking to prove that all states provide the achievement of such a useful result that conflicts with the goal of human behavior and with the tasks facing him. Suffice it to mention that a person can cause a number of states arbitrarily (by self-suggestion) or by suggestion from the outside and thereby direct the reaction of the functional system in the direction necessary for the effectiveness of his activity.
This definition psychophysiological state suggests that it is a causally determined phenomenon, the reaction is not separate system or an organ, but the personality as a whole, with the inclusion in the response of both physiological and mental levels (subsystems) of control and regulation related to the substructures and aspects of the personality. As a result, as N. D. Levitov (1964) correctly pointed out, any state is both an experience of the subject and the activity of his various functional systems. It has an external expression not only in a number of psychophysiological indicators, but also in human behavior.
AT in general terms functional system, the reflection of the reaction of which are psycho-physiological states, can be represented as a multi-level, including the mental level (including human experiences), physiological
cue (central nervous system, vegetative system) and behavioral level
(psychomotor reactions, facial expressions, pantomimics). In any psychophysiological
state, all these levels must be represented in one way or another, and only according to
set of indicators reflecting each of these levels, we can conclude
about a person's condition. The condition characterizes the syndrome, i.e. co-
the totality of symptoms, and not a single symptom, even very important from the point of view of
diagnostics.
So, the emotional side of states is reflected in the form of emotional experiences (fatigue, apathy, boredom, aversion to activity, fear, the joy of achieving success, etc.), and the physiological side is reflected in a change in a number of functions, and primarily vegetative and motor . Both experiences and physiological changes are inseparable from each other, that is, they always accompany each other. In this unity of mental and physiological signs of states, each of them can be a causal factor. For example, with the development of a state of monotony, the cause of increased parasympathetic influences may be a feeling of apathy and boredom, and with the development of a state of fatigue, the cause of the appearance of a feeling of fatigue may be physiological changes in the motor nerve centers or muscles and associated sensations.
mental states influence the course of activities. This also corresponds to the idea of the emotional state as the background against which both mental and practical human activity develops. However, we must also remember something else: in many cases, it is through activity (mental, sensory, physical) that one or another state develops. Therefore, in many cases it is a product of activity. At the same time, however paradoxical it may sound, in a number of cases states are the result of a person’s inactivity, therefore, speaking of them, one should always consider specific situations in which they occur.
In conclusion, it should be noted that all states are "marked" by the sign and modality of emotional experiences. This serves as another proof of the inseparability of emotions and states. But it does not follow from this that “... in emotional states, the emotions experienced by a person are directly realized” (Witt, 1986, p. 54). From my point of view, N. V. Witt made two inaccuracies here. Firstly, it is incorrect to talk about experienced emotions: a little higher, the author defined emotion as specific form experiences (it turns out - experienced experiences). Secondly, and most importantly, the experienced emotion, according to Witt, is realized through the emotional state. It turns out that emotion is one thing, and the emotional state is something else, derived from emotion.
Emotional tone as a reaction to sensations and impressions. The emotional tone of sensations is phylogenetically the most ancient emotional reaction. It is associated with the experience of pleasure or displeasure in the process of sensation. The emotional tone of sensations is characterized by a reaction to certain properties of objects or phenomena: a pleasant or unpleasant smell of a chemical or a taste of a product; pleasant or unpleasant sound; an annoying or pleasing combination of colors, etc.
First function emotional tone of sensations, which many authors point to - indicative function , which consists in telling the body whether this or that effect is dangerous or not, whether it is desirable or whether it should be eliminated.
Second function emotional tone of sensations is providing feedback , whose task is to inform a person that his biological need is satisfied (and then a positive emotional tone arises - pleasure) or not satisfied (then a negative emotional tone arises - displeasure). The emotional tone of impressions is the next step in the development of emotional response. It accompanies a person's impressions from the processes of perception, representation, mental activity, and communication. We can remember a pleasant vacation, call the interlocutor “boring”, and the lecture “interesting”, talk with pleasure about our successful presentation, etc.
The emotional tone of impressions is an integral part of emotions. It is this circumstance that gives reason to divide emotions into positive (associated with pleasure) and negative (associated with displeasure), i.e. mark out sign. Therefore, we can say that the emotional tone of impressions is a sign of emotion. The emotional tone of impressions cannot be reduced to a specific emotion. For example, fear can cause not only negative experiences, but, under certain circumstances, positive ones (otherwise, why jump with a “bungee?”).
Feeling pleasure or displeasure about various objects, a person often cannot explain what exactly attracts or repels him in them. The most interesting thing is that such an analysis is not required, and sometimes it would even interfere. I.M. Sechenov also noted that “analysis kills pleasure”, and P.V. Simonov, in this regard, wrote that “if a person behaved like a computer when choosing a life partner, he would never be able to marry ".
Emotion as a reaction to a situation and an event
Most often, emotions are defined as a person's experience at the moment of his attitude to something or to someone (in a current or future situation, to other people, to himself, etc.). However, emotions are not only the experience of a relationship, but also what motivates, organizes and directs our perception, thinking and action, and therefore behavior in general. The role of emotions in the organization of appropriate behavior for a given situation is undoubted. In that case, the statement P. Zhane (1928) that the function of emotions is to disorganize behavior is taken as a completely natural joke.
Unlike emotional tone, emotion is a reaction to a situation, and not to a separate stimulus. When we suddenly experience intense pain, fear arises. And fear is a reaction not so much to the pain stimulus itself, but rather reflects the characteristics of the situation as a whole: a threat in the present, unpleasant consequences in the future, perhaps the experience of an inability to oppose something to a traumatic stimulus, etc.
Emotion is often an early reaction to a situation. Thanks to emotional foresight, a person reacts to an event that has not yet occurred: anticipation of a date, joyful chores on the eve of a vacation or travel, expectation of the birth of a child. Often, experiences in anticipation of something bring no less, if not more pleasure than real events. Emotion acts as a mechanism for foreseeing the significance for a person of a particular situation, a mechanism for advance and adequate preparation for it.
Emotion quite subtly shows us the desirability - undesirability, significance - the insignificance of a particular situation or event. Something may not just displease us: it may upset, sadden, cause disappointment, anger or grief, resent, cause hatred or disgust.
Emotion is a mechanism for fixing positive and negative experiences. Occurring when a goal is achieved or not achieved, emotions are a positive or negative reinforcement of behavior. Emotions can be expressed actively and passively. Fear manifests itself actively (running away) and passively (freeze from fear). Joy can be stormy and quiet. Angry, a person can get excited, or can only frown. In anger, a person may rage, or he will not show his anger in any way (“everything is boiling inside”).
At the beginning of the twentieth century, affects began to be singled out as an independent group. And yet the affect is just special kind emotions. Affect is nothing but a strongly expressed emotion . As writes A.G. Fortunatov (1976), if emotion is emotional excitement, then affect is a storm. Any emotion can reach the level of affect if it is caused by a strong or especially significant stimulus for a person. Almost always affects arise in the form of a reaction in which tension is reacted.
The effect is characterized by:
rapid onset;
very high intensity of experience;
brevity;
violent expression (expression);
lack of accountability, i.e. loss of conscious control over their actions. In a state of passion, a person is not able to "control himself." With affect, the consequences of what is being done are little thought out, as a result of which a person's behavior becomes impulsive. Such a person is sometimes said to be "unconscious";
diffuseness. Strong affects capture the entire personality, which is accompanied by a decrease in the ability to switch attention, a narrowing of the field of perception. Attention control focuses mainly on the object that caused the affect: “anger blinds the eyes”, “rage blinds”.
Affective manifestations of positive emotions- this is delight, inspiration, enthusiasm, bouts of unbridled fun, laughter; affective manifestations of negative emotions- it is rage, anger, horror, despair.
Sometimes the affect is accompanied by stupor (freezing in a motionless posture). More often, the affect has bright external manifestations, which, in some cases, acquire a destructive and even criminal character. After an affect, there often comes a breakdown, indifference to everything around or remorse for what you have done, i.e., the so-called affective shock. The frequent manifestation of affect in a normal environment indicates either bad manners (a person, as it were, allows himself extreme emotional manifestations), or a neuropsychiatric disorder that he has.
Mood(emotional tone at the moment.) Of all the emotional phenomena, mood is the most vague, hazy, almost mystical. A.G. Maklakov (2000) considers mood as a "chronic" emotional state that colors all human behavior. In ordinary consciousness, it is often understood as a good or bad "disposition of the spirit", as the mood (presence or lack of desire) of a person at the moment to communicate, do something, agree or disagree, etc. (It is not for nothing that subordinates, going to an appointment with their boss, try to find out what mood he is in).
In most psychology textbooks, mood is described as an independent emotional phenomenon, distinct from emotions. By S.L. Rubinshtein , “Mood is not a special experience dedicated to some particular event, but a diffuse general state. The mood is somewhat more complex and, most importantly, more iridescent and diverse and, for the most part, vague, richer in subtle shades than a clearly defined feeling ”(1989, p. 176). S.L. Rubinshtein also emphasizes that mood, unlike other emotional experiences, personally.
Unlike emotions mood is characterized:
weak intensity;
significant duration (mood can last for hours or even days);
sometimes the ambiguity of its cause. Experiencing this or that mood, a person, as a rule, is poorly aware of the reasons that caused it, does not associate it with certain people, phenomena or events. For example, if a person is in bad mood after sleep, they say about him that he “got up on the wrong foot”;
influence on human activity. Constantly present as an emotional background, the mood increases or decreases its activity in communication or work.
The mood can be good (sthenic) and bad (asthenic). In the first case, with its stable manifestation, one speaks of hyperthymia, i.e. about high spirits. It is characterized by elation, cheerfulness, cheerfulness with bursts of cheerfulness, optimism, happiness. The constant manifestation of hyperthymia is embodied in such a characteristic feature as hyperthymia. This is an emotional stereotype of behavior, which, if pronounced, can lead to an uncritical manifestation of activity: a person claims to do more than he can and can do, he strives to take on everything, teach everyone, tries to attract attention to himself at any cost. Such a person is often "carried away".
The opposite hyperthymia is an hypothymia: low mood, a kind of emotional "minor", which, similarly to a hyperthymic characterological warehouse, can become the basis for the formation of a hypothymic character. Mood is actually closely related to characterology, which will be discussed below.
