It is common for a person to constantly show feelings and emotions, since he is being thinking and spiritually developed.
Despite the seeming commonality of these processes, they differ significantly from each other.
Concept and examples of emotions
Emotions - mental states that a person experiences during situations and events that are significant to him.
These processes occur constantly in the body in response to almost any external stimuli or internal experiences.
It can be fear, joy, sadness, hurt, irritation, anger, etc. There are a lot of emotions, and they all arise in response to a specific eventexperienced at this point in time.
Emotions originated in animals, as an adaptive mechanism. They help to adapt to the situation and make the right decision.
For example, thanks to fear, the animal mobilizes and makes efforts to save its own life. Similarly, a person, guided by his feelings, develops a strategy of behavior, makes a decision.
For example, when he sees a car approaching at high speed, he will not waste time comparing the speed of the vehicle, its stopping distance, the adequacy of the driver, etc. Encouraged by fear, he will take momentary decision to run aside as quickly as possible.
Often in social life there are situations in which it is necessary at the present time. navigate and decide. In such situations, there is no time for reflection, analysis.
All that can be done is to perceive the moment, and make a decision based on the experiences that have arisen.
Moreover, such short-term decisions often the most faithfulbecause they are based on inner sensation and are not distorted by rational arguments of the mind.
Frequent mistakes of people - neglect of emotions, neglect of them.
Often people and just do not notice their own internal stateDrowned out by the habit of evaluating any situation from a purely practical point of view.
For example, having heard a marriage proposal from a wealthy and successful young man, a girl may intentionally ignore their negative feelings (sadness, indifference, etc.) and give a positive answer.
In this case, it will be guided solely by the mind (prospect of a prosperous life), and not by real experiences.
Emotions can be both real and imaginary. For example, looking at the big waves, a person may experience fear. This fear will be based solely on inner experiencethat in these waves you can drown.
The most vivid emotion is the state of passion. Affect - a short mental phenomenon that occurs in a critical situation and is characterized by considerable power of manifestation.
In the state of passion, a person ceases to perceive all other external stimuli except the one that caused this condition.
For example, during a disaster, we are driven by animal fear of escape, survive. All other needs fade into the background.
Identification of feelings in psychology and examples
Feelings are mental processes that are not tied to a specific moment and reflect attitudes towards various phenomena, events, people. This is the highest stage of emotion.
They are resistant and arise on the basis of established relationships with the outside world. The tendency to one or another feeling develops in a person in the process of his development, education in the family.
They can manifest themselves in different degrees in different people. This is explained by the fact that the same attitudes of life have different significance for individuals.
For example, love to spouse one person may be expressed in care, attention, interest, and in another - in jealousy, demanding and critical. These phenomena are divided into lower and higher.
Lower are the result of satisfaction, dissatisfaction of biological needs.
For example, in a state of constant hunger, a person experiences suffering, fatigue.
A well-fed, healthy, physically developed person is satisfied, he is active and active in life.
Higher feelings arise as a result of social life. They are divided into three groups:
- Moral: companionship, friendship, love, affection, duty, pity, etc. They arise as a result of the assimilation of the norms and principles of behavior existing in society. The assimilation of information occurs on a conscious level, therefore, as a result, an own value system is formed.
It defines the rules of behavior in society, the nature of relationships with people, the social roles performed.
- Intellectual: curiosity, the search for truth. They appear in people in the process of developing their brain activity.
- Aesthetic: admiration, sarcasm, sense of humor, tragedy, enthusiasm, etc. These sensations arise from the perception of information of an aesthetic nature - artistic images, musical works. A person forms his own ideas about beauty and ugliness.
What is the difference?
These mental processes differ from each other according to the following criteria:
- Degree of awareness. An individual experiencing emotions can not always give a clear description of his condition. For example, he may be hectic, but not understand the essence of this concern. It can be caused simultaneously by fear, anxiety, anger, etc. Feelings are always clearly understood. A person always understands to whom he has friendship, and to whom love, when he is happy, and when he is unhappy.
- Understanding the reasons. Emotion sometimes occurs completely without a reason. For example, we suddenly feel sad and lonely, but there are no real grounds for such experiences. Feelings always have a specific cause. We are friends with a friend, because we are interested in him, reliably, fun. We are proud of our spouse because he is successful and handsome.
- Degree of stability.
Emotions are always tied to a specific situation, to the current point in time.
Experiencing "here and now" the joy of some event may be already irrelevant tomorrow. Feelings peculiar to stability. They are tied to a specific subject and not exclusively related to the current situation.
Value concepts
Despite the differences, both types of mental manifestations are a way of expressing yourself and your attitude to the surrounding reality.
At the same time, feelings are a broader, more complex and sustainable process, which includes other manifestations.
Different emotions can accompany the same feeling.. For example, a friendly attitude to another person in the process of interaction can be accompanied by a whole palette of sensations - joy, distrust, sadness, anger, boredom, jealousy, etc.
In this case, the instability of momentary sensations, depending on specific circumstances, does not affect the stability of friendship. That is, the object of friendship itself does not cease to arouse sympathy and be considered a friend only because of a conflict in a particular situation.
Feelings manifest outwardly through emotions. So, experiencing love for another person, we experience a whole range of positive moments in the process of communicating with him: joy, emotion, interest, sentimentality, etc.
Feelings associated with the feeling of love can be negative: jealousy, anxiety, sadness, longing, etc.
Patterns
Both mental processes are subject to certain laws. So, for feelings are characteristic:
- Generalization. Feeling a certain character of feelings to an object, one can transfer a similar attitude to all homogeneous objects. For example, love for your domestic cat can transform into love for all cats.
- Dullness. This means gradual extinction, loss of heat. This effect is especially pronounced when considering love relationships. Even the brightest love in the course of time turns into a more peaceful course.
- Mutual influence. In the situation of observing various actions or phenomena, a more pronounced perception of one event taking place against the background of another event is possible. Thus, the betrayal of one friend in a critical situation is perceived especially negatively against the background of the nobility shown by another.
- Summation. Feelings experienced during life can add up. For example, the pleasure of professional realization can be constantly intensified as a result of new achievements and successes.
Or, permanent failures in one’s personal life can result in a state of depression.
Patterns of emotions:
- Substitution. Following the failure in one question, success may follow in another, and the sadness experienced in the first case turns into joy.
- Switchability. Dissatisfaction with one object or phenomenon switches to other objects, phenomena. Thus, a woman dissatisfied with her husband’s behavior may throw out her negative attitude towards children.
- Incompatibility. Filling a person with incompatible emotions can lead to serious intrapersonal conflicts. For example, a wife who loves her husband, who is periodically beaten, may at the same time feel affection and hatred for her husband. As a rule, in such a conflict of feelings, the one wins, and the second is supplanted.
How to determine what it is?
Often, people confuse two mental phenomena with each other, cannot give a precise definition of the sensation experienced.
To solve the problem, it is necessary to analyze the sensations according to the following criteria: awareness, stability, presence of a cause.
For example, such phenomena as anger, joy and sorrow are emotions. They can manifest themselves unconsciously, without any specific reason, and are tied to a specific current event.
So, during the day you can experience a gratuitous grief in the morning, the joy of meeting with an old friend and anger because of a dispute with a neighbor.
All these sensations replace each other and do not affect the characteristics of the whole person.
Such a mental phenomenon as pride is a feeling.
It possesses awareness, because a person has pride in himself or for a loved one, based on the analysis of objective data.
This phenomenon is sustainable, since it is impossible to stop being proud because of a temporary situation. There is always a reason for pride based on achievement and success.
The ability to express feelings and emotions is given to each of us. These mental phenomena have certain differences, but closely related.
What is the difference between emotions and feelings? Find out from the video:
