The role of "positive" and "negative" emotions. negative emotions

Experiencing both positive and negative emotions creates interesting dynamics and food for thought.

Professional and academic studies of positive and negative emotions show that experiencing positive and negative feelings in a 3 to 1 ratio brings people to a tipping point, after which they become more resilient to adverse factors and easily achieve what they can imagine.

With a positive attitude, we learn to see new opportunities, recover from setbacks more easily, connect with other people, and become more perfect.

We constantly experience emotions in our daily lives related to people, life experiences or events. We allow ourselves to be drawn into positive and negative emotions, which means that it is necessary to consider these emotions in the aspect that is really important to us.

Balance of feelings

All Muslims know that it is necessary to exercise moderation in everything, to strive for balance and peace with ourselves and with what Allah has given us for a short time of life.

We must avoid extremes in all things, including emotions: any excessive emotions can be destructive, whether positive or negative.

Positive emotions are positive feelings such as love, hope, enthusiasm, determination, gratitude, optimism, glee, and confidence. Negative emotions are irritation, boredom, embarrassment, sadness, fear, discontent, depression.

Prophet Muhammad, peace and blessings be upon him, said the words that were narrated in an authentic hadith narrated by Bukhari:

"None of you will truly believe until you love your brother as much as you love yourself."

So, you are in a positive frame of mind, experiencing positive emotions when you look at the blessings you receive in life. Remember that you have much more than many other people. So take a few minutes and pray for your brothers and sisters all over the world who don't have what you have. Do this while you are in a positive state of mind.

When we thank someone, we appreciate the contribution of a person to us and the greater the degree of our gratitude, the more positive we will see in others and ourselves.

The more we notice how Allah has blessed us, see His presence in our lives, the more our heart will be at peace.

“Here the Lord announced: “If you give thanks, I will multiply for you ...” Koran (Sura Ibrahim 14:07).

Take a short break while you are busy and thank Allah. You will never be able to thank Allah for everything He has given you, but you will truly appreciate the presence of Allah in your life.

Now, let's take a quick look at the negative emotions we may feel: maybe we're disappointed because we didn't realize our potential, or we feel anxious, depressed, or jealous. Only we know when we feel those emotions, but what really matters is how we handle those emotions.

Since the month of Ramadan has left us, we sometimes feel guilty for not getting enough done this month, but don't let that stop us from continuing to improve. Even if we make a mistake, someday we will admit it immediately to Allah or those whom we have offended.

Let us never be arrogant, because arrogance caused the fall of Shaitan.

The Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) said:

"Every action is based on its intention" (Bukhari)

and in another hadith it is narrated:

“The best actions are those that are small and consistent” (Bukhari and Muslim).

Let's decide what consistent positive changes can become part of our lives forever. It can help to take any worries and negative thoughts and use them as motivation to help manifest positive changes in our actions and actions in this life and in the life to come.

Finally, let's try not to feel overwhelmed and never lose hope. When we seek happiness in this life, we experience needs in many areas: beautiful clothes, delicious food, a wonderful home, a great wife or husband, and so on. However, if a person expresses gratitude to Allah, he will receive what he really needs - true happiness!

1.3 The role of "positive" and "negative" emotions

"Negative" emotions play a more important biological role than "positive" emotions. It is no coincidence that the mechanism of "negative" emotions has been functioning in a child from the first days of his birth, while "positive" emotions appear much later. A “negative” emotion is an alarm signal, a danger to the body. "Positive" emotion is a signal of returned well-being. It is clear that the last signal does not need to sound for a long time, so emotional adaptation to the good comes quickly. The alarm signal must be given until the danger is eliminated. As a result, only “negative” emotions can become stagnant. "Negative" emotions are harmful only in excess, just as everything that exceeds the norm is harmful. Fear, anger, rage increase the intensity of metabolic processes, lead to better nutrition of the brain, increase the body's resistance to overload, infections, etc.

The neural mechanisms of positive emotional reactions are more complex and subtle than those of negative ones. "Positive" emotions have an independent adaptive meaning, i.e. the role of "positive" emotions is different from the role of "negative" emotions: "positive" emotions induce living systems to actively violate the achieved "balance" with environment: "The most important role of positive emotions is an active violation of peace, comfort, the famous "balancing of the body with the external environment"". “Negative emotions, as a rule, ensure the preservation of what has already been achieved by the evolution or individual development of the subject. Positive emotions revolutionize behavior, prompting the search for new, not yet satisfied needs, without which pleasure is unthinkable. This does not indicate the absolute value of positive emotions. They may be driven by primitive, selfish, socially unacceptable needs. In such cases, we will undoubtedly give preference to such negative emotions as anxiety for the fate of another person, compassion for those in trouble, indignation at injustice. The social value of emotions is always determined by the motive that brought it to life.

1.4 Types of emotional states

Depending on the depth, intensity, duration and degree of differentiation, the following types of emotional states can be distinguished: sensual tone, emotions proper, affect, passion, mood.

The simplest form of emotions is the emotional tone of sensations - innate hedonic experiences (from the Greek hedone - pleasure) that accompany certain vital influences (eg, taste, temperature, pain). Already at this level, emotions are differentiated into 2 polar classes. Positive emotions caused by beneficial effects encourage the subject to achieve and maintain them; negative emotions stimulate activity aimed at avoiding harmful influences.

1. Sensual or emotional tone is the simplest form of emotions, an elementary manifestation of organic sensitivity that accompanies certain vital influences and encourages the subject to eliminate or preserve them. Often, such experiences, due to their weak differentiation, cannot be expressed verbally. Sensual tone is perceived as an emotional coloring, a kind of qualitative shade of the mental process, as a property of the perceived object, phenomenon, action, etc.

2. Actually emotions - mental reflection in the form of direct biased experience life meaning phenomena and situations, due to the relationship of their objective properties to the needs of the subject. These are subject-specific mental processes and states that arise in a specific situation and have a narrowly focused character. Emotions arise with excessive motivation in relation to the real adaptive capabilities of the individual. Emotions arise due to the fact that the subject cannot or does not know how to give an adequate response to stimulation (situations that are novel, unusual or sudden).

The division of emotions into positive and negative is traditionally considered. However, such emotions as anger, fear, shame cannot be unconditionally classified as negative, negative. Anger is sometimes directly correlated with adaptive behavior and even more often with the protection and assertion of personal integrity. Fear is also associated with survival and, along with shame, contributes to the regulation of permissive aggressiveness and the establishment of social order.

Popular is the classification of emotions in relation to activity and, accordingly, their division into sthenic (inciting to action, causing tension) and asthenic (inhibiting action, depressing). Classifications of emotions are also known: by origin from groups of needs - biological, social and ideal emotions; by the nature of the actions on which the probability of meeting the need depends - contact and distant.

3. Affect - a rapidly and violently flowing emotional process of an explosive nature, which can give a discharge in action that is not subject to conscious volitional control. The main thing in affect is an unexpectedly coming, sharply experienced by a person shock, characterized by a change in consciousness, a violation of volitional control over actions. In affect, the parameters of attention change dramatically: its switchability decreases, concentration and memory are disturbed, up to partial or

complete amnesia. Affect has a disorganizing effect on activity, sequence and quality of performance, with maximum disintegration - stupor or chaotic non-purposeful motor reactions. Distinguish between normal and pathological effects.

The main signs of pathological affect: altered consciousness (disorientation in time and space); inadequacy of the intensity of the response to the intensity of the stimulus that caused the reaction; presence of post-affective amnesia.

4. Passion - an intense, generalized and prolonged experience that dominates other human motives and leads to a focus on the subject of passion. The causes of passion can be different - ranging from bodily desires to conscious ideological convictions. Passion can be accepted, sanctioned by a person, or it can be experienced as something undesirable, obsessive. The characteristic features of passion are the strength of feeling, expressed in the appropriate direction of all the thoughts of the individual, stability, the unity of emotional and volitional moments, a peculiar combination of activity and passivity.

5. Mood - a relatively long, stable mental state of moderate or low intensity. The reasons that cause mood are numerous - from organic well-being (vitality of life) to the nuances of relationships with others. The mood has a subjective orientation, in comparison with the sensual tone, it is realized not as a property of the object, but as a property of the subject. A certain role is played by individual personality traits.

Variety of manifestations emotional life of a person puts psychology in front of the need for their clearer differentiation. According to the tradition of Russian psychology, it is customary to single out feelings as a special subclass of emotional processes. Feeling is experienced and found in specific emotions. However, in contrast to the actual emotions and affects associated with specific situations, feelings distinguish phenomena in the surrounding reality that have a stable need-motivational significance. The content of a person's dominant feelings expresses his attitudes, ideals, interests, etc. So, feelings are stable emotional relations, acting as a kind of "attachment" to a certain range of phenomena of reality, as a persistent focus on them, as a certain "capture" by them. In the process of regulating behavior, feelings are assigned the role of the leading emotional and semantic formations of the personality.

Emotional reactions (anger, joy, melancholy, fear) are subdivided by them into an emotional response, an emotional outburst and an emotional outburst (affect). The emotional response is, according to the authors, the most dynamic and constant phenomenon of a person's emotional life, reflecting quick and shallow switching in the systems of a person's attitudes to routine changes in situations of everyday life. The intensity and duration of the emotional response are small, and it is not able to significantly change the emotional state of a person. A more pronounced intensity, intensity and duration of the experience is characterized by an emotional outburst that can change the emotional state, but is not associated with a loss of self-control. An emotional outburst is characterized by a rapidly developing emotional reaction of great intensity with a weakening of volitional control over behavior and a facilitated transition to action. This is a short-term phenomenon, after which there is a breakdown or even complete indifference, drowsiness.

We can talk about emotional experiences of various durations: fleeting, unstable, long-lasting, lasting several minutes, hours and even days) and chronic. At the same time, one must understand the conditionality of such a division. These three groups of emotional reactions can also be called differently: operational (appearing with a single exposure), current and permanent (lasting weeks and months). However, an emotional reaction (anxiety, fear, frustration, monotony, etc.) under certain conditions can be both operational (momentary), current (long-term), and permanent (chronic). Therefore, the use of this characteristic in singling out a class of emotional reactions is very relative.

It is no secret that only a person can experience a huge amount of emotions. No other living being in the world has this property. Although the disputes between the scientific fraternity still do not subside, but the majority is inclined to believe that our smaller, highly developed brothers are capable of experiencing some emotions. I completely agree with them. It is enough to look at the dog, which was shown a treat and then immediately hid it.

But back to man. What emotions do a person have, where do they come from and in general, what are they for?

What is emotion. Do not confuse with feelings!

Emotion is a short-term reaction to a situation. And feelings do not disappear under the flow of emotions or situations, they are stable and in order to destroy them, you have to try hard.

Example: A girl saw her boyfriend on the other side. She is angry, upset and offended. But after talking with the guy, it turned out that this is his cousin, who came to visit today. The situation was resolved, the emotions passed, and the feeling - love, did not disappear anywhere, even at the moment of the strongest passions.

I hope that you caught the difference between feelings and emotions.

In addition, emotions lie on the surface. You will always see when a person is funny, his fear or amazement. And feelings lie deep, you can’t get to them so easily. After all, it often happens when you despise a person, but due to the prevailing circumstances, you are forced to communicate with him, while portraying a positive attitude.

Classification of emotions

There are dozens of emotions. We will not consider everything, we will focus only on the most basic ones.

Three groups can be distinguished:

• Positive.
• Negative.
• Neutral.

In each of the groups there are quite a few emotional shades, so it is almost impossible to calculate the exact number. The list of human emotions presented below is not complete, since there are many intermediate feelings, as well as a symbiosis of several emotions at the same time.

The biggest group is the negative ones, the second one is the positive ones. The neutral group is the smallest.

That's where we'll start.

Neutral emotions

These include:

• Curiosity,
• Amazement,
• Indifference,
• Contemplation,
• Astonishment.

Positive emotions

These include everything that is connected with a feeling of joy, happiness and satisfaction. That is, with the fact that a person is pleased and really wants to continue.

• Direct joy.
• Delight.
• Pride.
• Confidence.
• Confidence.
• Delight.
• Tenderness.
• Gratitude.
• jubilation.
• Bliss.
• Calm.
• Love.
• Sympathy.
• Anticipation.
• Respect.

This is not a complete list, but at least I tried to remember the most basic positive human emotions. If you forgot something - write in the comments.

negative emotions

The group is large. It would seem, for what they are needed. After all, it’s good when everything is only positive, there is no anger, anger and resentment. Why is a person negative? I can say one thing - without negative emotions, we would not appreciate the positive ones. And, as a result, they would have a completely different attitude to life. And, as it seems to me, they would be callous and cold.

The tint palette of negative emotions is as follows:

• Woe.
• Sadness.
• Anger.
• Despair.
• Anxiety.
• A pity.
• Malice.
• Hatred.
• Boredom.
• Fear.
• Resentment.
• Fright.
• Shame.
• Mistrust.
• Disgust.
• Uncertainty.
• Repentance.
• Remorse.
• Confusion.
• Horror.
• Indignation.
• Despair.
• Annoyance.

This is also far from a complete list, but even on the basis of this it is clear how rich we are in emotions. We perceive literally every little thing instantly and give out our attitude towards it in the form of emotions. Moreover, very often this happens unconsciously. After a moment, we can already control ourselves and hide the emotion, but it's too late - whoever wanted to, he already noticed and made a conclusion. By the way, the method of checking whether a person is lying or telling the truth is based on this.

There is one emotion - gloating, which is not clear where to stick, either positive or negative. It seems that by gloating, a person evokes positive emotions for himself, but at the same time, this emotion produces a destructive effect in his own soul. That is, in fact, is negative.

Is it necessary to hide emotions

By and large, emotions are given to us for humanity. It is only thanks to them that we are several stages of development above all other individuals of the animal world. But in our world, more and more often people get used to hiding their feelings, hiding behind a mask of indifference. This is both good and bad.

Good - because the less others know about us, the less harm they can do to us.

It’s bad, because hiding our attitude, forcibly hiding emotions, we become callous, less responsive to the environment, get used to wearing a mask and completely forget who we really are. And this threatens, at best, with a prolonged depression, at worst, you will live your whole life playing an unnecessary role for no one, and will never become yourself.

That, in principle, is all that I can say so far about what emotions a person has. How you deal with them is up to you. I can say one thing for sure: there should be a measure in everything. It is also important not to overdo it with emotions, otherwise it will not be life, but its grotesque likeness.

05.12.2016 14:28

We have already talked with you about the extreme need for positive emotions, but it is unlikely that we will be able to eliminate negative emotions from our lives. One way or another, they are present in us. In order to develop and move forward, we need barriers and pushes, otherwise we will relax and stop moving. Ideally, positive and negative emotions should be in a 7:1 ratio.

Positive emotions give us awareness of the present, allow us to feel joyful in the moment of "now". And this is very true, because there is only this moment. Negative emotions cloud the present with restless emotions and thoughts, and we are immersed in worries about the past or the future. Physically, we are always in present time, but mentally we can be anywhere, so negative emotions have a huge scope, they are divided into biological and social.

Let's look at biological emotions - they are all well known to us.

Anxiety is an emotional state that occurs when the moment is perceived as unfavorable. Every person is faced with this emotion, scientists even believe that anxiety in small manifestations is the norm. Although I very much doubt such data, because anxiety can spoil any joyful event, therefore, in my opinion, its presence in our lives is not at all the norm. If a person constantly experiences a feeling of anxiety, then it is extremely difficult for him to become happy and prosperous.

Outwardly, anxiety manifests itself quite clearly, noticing a fussy and at the same time constrained person, with a tense face or with a tight mask of impartiality, we will immediately understand that he is anxious.

In an anxious person, the nervous system is in an excited state, while the sympathetic system stimulates metabolic processes, and the parasympathetic one inhibits them, which leads to a lack of activity. It's like an inexperienced driver who, in a panic, presses both on the gas and on the brake at the same time, and as a result, the car will break down rather than drive.

Some people prefer to hide their anxiety and not show it, they keep an expressionless expression on their face, constantly restrain themselves from showing emotions, which leads to a state of constant tension. Although at the same time they can even be proud of themselves - that they keep all the chaos of sensations inside under lock and key. But this has its consequences and, of course, at some point a person will not stand it and will break. At best, it will be an emotional nervous breakdown, and at worst, a physical breakdown in the form of a stroke, heart attack, etc.

Another option is that a person becomes too fussy, restless, constantly in a hurry somewhere, does a lot of unnecessary work, drives his life into stereotyped frames and cannot get out of them.
A negative side effect of anxiety is an increase in appetite, it is often observed that an anxious person seizes his experiences, thus trying to calm down. If anxiety is related to work, then the appetite will increase during work. At the same time, only those who are prone to this will gain weight, thin people, on the contrary, will lose weight. And for everyone who wants to lose weight, a diet will not always help you. First you need to deal with all the problems in the soul, overcome anxiety and find harmony.

Anxiety is divided into personal and situational. The latter appears before an important event that needs to be held with dignity - a meeting with the leader, meeting the bride's parents, exams. Such anxiety is felt by a person in the form of palpitations, trembling, sweating. To overcome these symptoms, you just need to exercise physically. Imagine a car with a warm running engine, but standing still, because all the energy generated will be burned only in motion, so it’s better to drive a car. So it is for a person - if the heart is pounding - go for a run or exercise, let the body and heart come to the same rhythm. Also, if you are worried before a public speech and know that your voice may tremble or disappear, walk up the stairs to the speech hall, run to the podium. In this case, your breathing and a little stammering will be natural and justified. And then it will pass by itself as soon as you catch your breath.

The fight against personal anxiety is much more difficult, it goes deep into a person, in order to overcome it, it is better to contact a psychotherapist. You can learn and perform exercises to relax tense muscles yourself.

If the anxiety does not go away for a long time, then the person tries to find the cause of the danger and destroy it. But there are times when it is impossible to remove the cause, then fear appears. It appears due to the work of thinking and anxiety and is one of the most dangerous emotions. It is fear that pushes to crimes and rash acts, a person driven by fear can do a lot of trouble.

Outwardly, fear is clearly manifested - it is raised straight eyebrows, wide eyes, tense lips, while a person can either run away from fear or silently freeze.

Fear, like any emotion, affects the state of our body, it has a stimulating effect on the nervous system. At the same time, if the fear is not strong, activity increases, from which an interest may arise that can absorb fear.

It happens that anxiety for a loved one and fear negatively affect a person and lead to tragedy. Excessive guardianship of the mother of her already adult child usually leads to sad consequences, in this situation the mother will destroy the child, who has long been independent, with her anxiety. For example, the son was late at work, on the way home, knowing that his restless mother was sitting, worrying and waiting for him, he hurried across the road, not paying attention to the car in the distance, and got under the wheels. There are many such examples of excessive maternal love and fear for the child.

To learn to deal with fear and anxiety, you need to overcome the tightness and shyness in the manifestations of these feelings. We have fears since childhood. With bad behavior, we were always afraid of what would come for us grey Wolf or some villain. You should not intimidate children with either villains, or uncles on the street, or doctors, all this can then affect the psyche. If a child is afraid, you can’t scold him, you need to talk and explain. Constant fears make the child weak and sick.
Fear is an acquired feeling, because newborn children are not afraid of anything, they do not yet have the experience and knowledge that can scare them.

Depending on the degree of fear and its impact on a person, we can say that there are fears within the normal range, but there are pathologies. But it is very difficult to draw a clear line between these concepts. There are various phobias, for example, acrophobia - fear of heights, insectophobia - fear of insects. In some cases, such fear manifests itself only when confronted with an object of fear, and the person realizes that this is a phobia and tries to cope with it. In other cases, fear develops into obsession and pathology, in which case it is better to consult a specialist.

Excessive fearfulness due to not very serious reasons is called cowardice. Courage is the ability to overcome your fears and develop. If a hardened soldier who has gone through many battles, one enters into battle with a dozen novice soldiers, then this is not courage at all. But if a person who is insanely afraid public speaking, overcoming himself, comes out with a report and tries to speak, struggling with bouts of fear - this can already be called courage.

Fears arise for various reasons, it is one thing when there is a real threat to life or physical health. But when fears grow, then a person begins to be afraid of everything - to catch a cold, get hurt, contract some disease. The more he is nervous and worried, trying to protect himself from all dangers, the more likely it is that he will get sick with exactly what he is afraid of.

There are also many fears based on social and psychological reasons. Those who suffer like this, I define simply - psychological cowards. At the same time, it is rather difficult to unravel their cowardice, in case of real danger they may not be afraid and show courage in an emergency, but this does not mean anything. From their psychological cowardice, many problems and troubles arise for themselves and their loved ones. They cannot admit to themselves the real reasons for their misfortunes, because they do not even realize that behind all their actions there is only cowardice. She is a master at hiding and adopting various masks, which we will cover in the next article.

Why are emotions needed? In short, emotions perform very important functions - they simplify life and give it flavor.

Emotions simplify life in a rather original way - instead of a long multilateral analysis of interaction with a person, we feel: “I hate him” or “I am delighted with him.” If we are afraid of something, fear keeps us from doing stupid things. Sadness prevents you from repeating the mistake. Joy confirms the correctness of the solution of a complex problem.

Emotions are such a kind of feedback mechanism to a “conscious person” from his own soul. Emotions are signaling system. They are born in order to tell a person either joyful or unpleasant news. Namely: positive emotions inform a person that he is moving in the right direction and satisfies his needs. Negative emotions indicate that a person's needs are not being met.

Our emotions guide us when we are in a quandary and are faced with tasks too important to be left to the intellect alone - in danger, a painful loss, persistently moving towards a goal despite disappointments, establishing a relationship with a partner, creating a family. Each emotion suggests a characteristic readiness for action, each points us in a direction that has already proven itself well in solving the repetitive complex tasks that life sets before a person. In the process of repeating these eternal situations throughout our evolutionary history, the value of our emotional repertoire for survival in them was confirmed by its fixation in the nervous system in the form of innate automatic tendencies of the human heart.

Everyone knows that emotions give taste to life (motivate). For example, we seek joy and avoid sorrow. It's so obvious that no explanation is needed. Less well known is that this taste or motivation is only created when one person has both positive and negative emotions. Just as it takes two poles in an electrical network to turn on a light bulb, so in an emotional life you need two poles - the experience of experiencing positive and negative emotions. This is where the analogy with electricity ends - negative emotions do not have to be as much as positive ones. Positive emotions can be much more. Just do not try to do without negative emotions at all. Perfectly healthy and happy children gather and tell each other horror stories. At a more mature age, people, as a rule, have an experience of experiencing negative emotions, but they feel a desire to take up the so-called extreme sports - those where there is a real danger of serious injury or even death. As you know, risk causes fear - a strong negative emotion. It turns out that in extreme sports people are looking for negative emotions. But if there are a lot of negative emotions in everyday life, then they are not additionally looked for. Then the fashion for extreme sports in general reflects the well-being in society, and well-being in society is not so bad.

Emotions (from the French word emotion - excitement, comes from the Latin emoveo - shake, excite) are the reactions of humans and animals to the impact of external and internal 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 that arise on the basis of the highest social needs of a person are usually called feelings (intellectual, aesthetic, moral).

In another way, we can say that emotions are a special class of subjective psychological states, reflecting in the form of direct experiences, sensations of pleasant or unpleasant, a person’s attitude to the world and people, the process and results of his practical activity. The class of emotions includes moods, feelings, affects, passions, stresses. These are the so-called "pure" emotions. They are included in all mental processes and human states. Any manifestations of his activity are accompanied by emotional experiences.

Thanks to emotions, we better understand each other, we can judge each other's states and better prepare ourselves for joint activities and communication. Remarkable, for example, is the fact that people belonging to different cultures are able to accurately perceive and evaluate each other's emotional states such as joy, anger, sadness, fear, disgust, surprise. This, in particular, applies to those peoples who have never been in contact with each other at all.

The manifestation of emotions. What signs can be used to determine that a person is experiencing some emotion? There are five levels of expression of emotions.

1. Subjective expression of emotions.
2. Manifestation of emotions in behavior.
3. The manifestation of emotions in speech.
4. Vegetative level of manifestation of emotions.
5. Manifestation of emotions at the biochemical level.

Consider how objectively it can be judged that a person experiences certain emotions, based on their manifestation at each of these levels.

1. Subjective plan for the manifestation of emotions. Here the reflection of emotions takes place in inner experiences closely related to the personal experience of the individual and based on it.

2. The manifestation of emotions in behavior. Emotions are not only a psychological event, and their functional purpose is not limited to versatile influences at the level of subjective reflection. As R. Descartes stated, “the main effect of all human passions is that they induce and set the soul of a person to desire what these passions prepare his body for.” Thus, since emotions signal the significance of what is happening, the preparation in the emotional state of the body for better perception and possible actions is so useful that it would be surprising if it did not take root in evolution and become one of the characteristic features emotional processes.

C. Darwin notes that the free expression of emotions through external signs makes these emotions more intense. On the other hand, suppressing the external manifestation of our emotions, as far as possible, leads to their softening. The one who gives free rein to violent movements intensifies his rage. Those who do not restrain the manifestation of fear will experience it in an increased degree. He who, overcome by grief, remains passive, misses The best way restore mental balance. Darwin emphasizes that all these conclusions follow, on the one hand, from the fact that there is a close connection between all emotions and their external manifestations, and, on the other hand, from the fact of the direct influence of our efforts on the heart, and, consequently, on the brain.

The manifestation of emotions, of course, can be observed in facial expressions, gestures, and movements of people.

3. The manifestation of emotions in speech. One of the features of affects is that they arise in response to a situation that has actually occurred and in connection with this, a specific experience is formed - affective traces. Their meaning lies in the fact that a person, mentally returning to the event that caused the state of passion, experiences similar emotions.

Such affective traces ("affective complexes") "reveal a tendency of obsession and a tendency to inhibition." The action of these opposite tendencies is clearly revealed in the associative experiment. The method of associative experiment is used in the developed by K.G. Jung's way of diagnosing the past state of affect. Psychologists of Jung's school found that affect, first of all, disrupts the normal course of associations, and with strong affect, associations are usually sharply delayed.

This phenomenon was used to reveal the involvement of a suspect in a crime. A crime is always associated with a strong affect, which in those who have committed it (especially for the first time) takes on a very acute character. As rightly noted by A.R. Luria, “it is difficult to assume that there are no traces left of this affect of a crime in the psyche of the person who committed it. On the contrary, much convinces us that mental traces after each crime remain in a very noticeable form.

The tasks of experimental diagnostics of involvement in a crime boil down to being able to evoke the desired affective traces and, on the other hand, being able to objectively trace and record them. Both of these tasks were carried out in the method of associative experiment. This method consists in the fact that the subject is presented with some word, to which he must answer with the first word that came to his mind. In ordinary cases, the subject easily responds with his own word to what is presented to him. This response word always turns out to correspond to special associative laws and is usually not randomly selected.

The matter changes dramatically when the subject is presented with a word that arouses in him this or that affective memory, this or that affective complex. In this case, the associative process is sharply inhibited. The subject either comes to mind at once a lot of response words that confuse his usual course of associations, or nothing comes to mind, and for a long time he cannot give the associative reaction required from him. If he nevertheless gives this reaction, then one can immediately notice its peculiar disturbance: it passes with hitches, verbosity, and its very form is often more primitive than usual.

A.R. Luria explains this by saying that “a verbal stimulus can provoke affective states associated with it, and these affective moments distort the further course of associations. If we have before us a criminal whose affective traces we wish to uncover by this method, we proceed as follows. Having studied in detail the situation of the crime based on the materials of the investigation, we select from it those details that, in our opinion, are quite closely connected with it and at the same time awaken affective traces only in those involved in the crime, remaining completely indifferent words for the uninvolved.

Speaking about the manifestation of other emotions in speech, it should be noted that in a state of emotional arousal, the power of the voice usually increases, and its pitch and timbre also change significantly.

Considering the question of the ratio of innate and acquired in the expression of emotions by voice, J. Reikovsky says that such manifestations as a change in the strength of the voice (with a change in emotional arousal) or voice trembling (under the influence of excitement) are caused by innate mechanisms. “With an increase in emotional arousal, the number of functional units actualized for action increases, which has an impact on increased activation of the muscles involved in vocal reactions.”

4. Vegetative level of manifestation of emotions. The methods used to determine emotions at this level allow you to track the background emotional state of the subject. The reactions of the autonomic nervous system (ANS) to the emotions experienced by a person are more difficult to control than their speech and behavior. As correlates of emotions at the vegetative level, changes in the pulse, increased heart rate, respiration, changes in pupil diameter, electrical resistance of the skin (skin-galvanic response) are used.

Emotions experienced by a person cause activation of the nervous system and, above all, the autonomic department, which in turn leads to numerous changes in the state of internal organs and the body as a whole. The nature of these changes shows that emotional states cause either the mobilization of the organs of action, energy resources and protective processes of the body, or, in favorable situations, its demobilization, tuning to internal processes and accumulation of energy. This explains the change in the indicators listed above.

Ch. Darwin, when analyzing the expression of emotions in a person, notes that “if movements (or changes) of any kind invariably accompany any states of mind, we immediately see expressive movements in them. They may be referred to<...>hair standing on end, sweating, changes in capillary circulation, difficulty breathing, and vocal or other sounds. In humans, the respiratory organs are of particular importance as a means of not only direct, but even more indirect expression of emotions. Darwin also emphasizes that "of all expressions, blushing with shame seems to be the most peculiar feature of man, and it is common to all or almost all human races, whether or not the change in color of their skin is noticeable or imperceptible."

In modern science, when determining emotions, methods based on the reaction of the ANS are used to a greater extent. The most striking example is the use of a "lie detector", which is used not only in the special services, but also in some commercial organizations. The detector registers changes in the depth and speed of breathing, measures pressure and registers changes in perspiration.

Having registered changes in these indicators, we can conclude that a person is experiencing some emotions, but we do not have sufficient data to indicate what specific emotion the subject is experiencing.

Thus, the study of emotions at the vegetative level also does not provide objectivity.

5. The manifestation of emotions at the biochemical level. The biochemical method for determining emotions is also indirect. It is associated with the hormonal activity of the body, which provides a person's physiological response to the emotions experienced. The method is based on the analysis of physiological fluids (blood, urine) taken from the subject. According to the content of the corresponding hormones in them, it is determined how strong the subject was subject to emotions. It can be seen from the foregoing that, given the precise quantitative measurements, this method is quite reliable. Its disadvantages include the fact that it does not allow you to monitor the changes occurring in the body of the subject, associated with emotions, in the background. Some discreteness in measurements is required.

It should also be noted that this method does not allow you to determine what kind of emotion the subject is experiencing.

Comparing the considered methods for studying the manifestations of emotions, it can be noted that the most convincing and functional methods are those based on the identification of behavioral (including facial expressions) and speech (including vocal) signs of experienced emotions. Even more convincing is the method of determining emotions by the reaction of the ANS.

On the origin of emotions. Emotions and feelings arose and developed in the process of evolution. What was their adaptive value?

Animal life is characterized by uneven loads. Human ancestors were no exception here. Periods of extreme tension alternate with periods of rest and relaxation. During the hunt and pursuit of prey, in a fight with a strong predator that threatens life, or at the time of flight from danger, the animal requires tension and dedication of all forces. It is necessary to develop maximum power at a critical moment, even if this is achieved with the help of energetically unfavorable metabolic processes. The physiological activity of the animal switches to "emergency mode". This switching is the first adaptive function of emotions. Therefore, natural selection fixed this important psychophysiological property in the animal kingdom.

Why, in the course of evolution, did not organisms appear that constantly work at “increased” capacities? The need for a mechanism of emotions to bring them into combat readiness would disappear: they would always be in a state of "alertness". But the state of combat readiness is associated with very high energy costs, wasteful consumption of nutrients and wear and tear of the body; huge amounts of food would be needed, and most of it would go to waste. This is not beneficial for the animal organism: it is better to have a lower metabolic rate and moderate strength, but at the same time have reserve mechanisms that, at the appropriate moment, mobilize the body for functioning in a more intensive mode, allow developing high power when it is urgently needed.

Another function of emotions is signaling. Hunger forces the animal to look for food long before the body's nutrient stores are depleted; thirst drives in search of water when the fluid reserves are not yet exhausted, but have already become scarce; pain is a signal that tissues are damaged and are in danger of death. The feeling of fatigue and even exhaustion appears much earlier than the energy reserves in the muscles come to an end. And if fatigue is relieved by powerful emotions of fear or rage, the animal's body is then able to do a great job.

Finally, the third adaptive function of emotions is their participation in the process of learning and gaining experience. Positive emotions arising as a result of the interaction of the organism with the environment contribute to the consolidation of useful skills and actions, while negative ones force one to evade harmful factors.

As you can see, the role of emotions in the life of animals is very great. Therefore, they talk about the biological expediency of emotions as a mechanism for adapting to changing conditions. external environment. The mechanism of emotion proved to be beneficial to the animal, and natural selection, acting with irresistible force over many generations, fixed this property.

In some situations, emotions can be harmful, coming into conflict with the vital interests of the animal. The rage emotion helps the predator in chasing its prey, increasing its strength tenfold. But the same rage deprives him of caution and prudence and thus can lead to death. Here, a regularity is implemented that is inherent in any biological mechanism of adaptation: in general, this mechanism contributes to the survival of the species, but in particular manifestations it is not always useful, and sometimes even harmful.

In the process of evolution, in parallel with the development of the nervous system, the assessment of situations by the brain becomes more and more subtle. If at first the assessment is of a general nature, such as “useful - harmful”, “dangerous - safe”, “pleasant - unpleasant”, then the assessments become more specific, more accurate, more “fractional”.

Assessments of the first type are carried out by changing the state of a large number of nerve elements and the connections between them. This is the processing of information on emotional programs. But besides such roughly approximate processing, there are programs that are more differentiated, with a small "bandwidth", but more accurate. These are mental programs that arose in the course of evolution later than emotional programs.

In humans, information processing begins with emotional programs. They give the most general assessment of the situation and thus "narrow the space" for processing according to logical programs. But such a scheme is not rigid. Intermediate results of information processing have the opposite effect on the flow of emotions and feelings.

There may be a mismatch between these programs. It is possible that the separation of thinking from feelings underlies some mental disorders.

The interaction of feelings and thinking is concretely manifested in the fact that feelings affect the mechanisms of memory, selectively enlivening only some information from past experience and inhibiting others. In this way, feelings to a certain extent predetermine the nature of association, the content of the associative process.

Man inherited the mechanism of emotions from his animal ancestors. Therefore, part of human emotions coincides with the emotions of animals: rage, hunger, thirst, fear. But these are the simplest emotions associated with the satisfaction of organic needs. With the development of the mind and higher human needs, more complex human feelings were formed on the basis of the apparatus of emotions.

Thus, we distinguish emotion from feeling. In the course of evolution, emotion arose before feelings; it is inherent not only in humans, but also in animals, and expresses an attitude towards the satisfaction of physiological needs. Feelings developed on the basis of emotions in interaction with the mind, in the course of the formation public relations and are unique to humans.

As for the term "emotional states", it is equally related to feelings and emotions. The line between emotion and feeling is not always easy to draw. In terms of the physiology of higher nervous activity, their difference is determined by the degree of participation of cortical and especially secondary signal processes.

Feeling is one of the forms of reflection of reality, expressing the subjective attitude of a person to the satisfaction of his needs, to the correspondence or non-correspondence of something to his ideas.

A significant part of human needs is formed by education, instilled by society (for example, hygienic and cultural needs). Many feelings are so soldered with mental activity that do not exist outside of this activity.

If a person is not aware of the danger, the feeling of fear does not come. But much later, when the past danger is realized, a person can be overcome by fear, and he literally grows cold at the thought of what kind of threat he was exposed to.

Sometimes the insulting hint does not immediately reach, and then with a delay comes a feeling of anger. It happens that a distant memory resurrects former feelings: a person smiles joyfully, remembering a pleasant event that happened in the past.

In the story of L.N. Tolstoy "Hadji Murad" main character, telling the story of his life, did not hide how once in his youth, during a hot fight that broke out, he got scared and ran away. His interlocutor Loris-Melikov, knowing Hadji Murad's tested courage, was surprised. Then Hadji Murad explained that since then he had always remembered this shame, and when he remembered, he was no longer afraid of anything.

Shame turned out to be stronger than fear due to the property of memory to resurrect former feelings. This helped to suppress fear, and subsequently, apparently, led to a partial "atrophy of fear."

In general, the feeling of shame plays a huge role in shaping the moral and ethical qualities of a person. J. B. Shaw put it aphoristically: "There is no courage - there is shame."

Below is a list of the most famous senses. We stipulate that no enumeration can exhaust the variety of emotional states. A comparison with the colors of the solar spectrum is appropriate here: there are seven basic tones, but how many more intermediate colors and how many shades can be obtained by mixing them!

In addition, depending on the chosen criterion, feelings are grouped differently. For example, they are divided into positive and negative on the basis of the pleasure or displeasure delivered. You can distinguish feelings directed at other people, and feelings directed at oneself. The first are love, gratitude, envy, contempt. To the second - complacency, shame, remorse. There are feelings associated with the assessment of the events of the surrounding world - chagrin, disappointment, joy. A whole group of feelings is associated with the instinct of self-preservation - fear, anxiety, fright. There are “intermediate” feelings that can be classified into several groups: for example, anger and annoyance can be directed both at others and at oneself. Such "transitional units" are inherent in any classification.

Ignoring emotions and feelings can lead to violations emotional sphere, various psychological problems, reduce the body's resistance and cause diseases. Emotions and feelings are given to a person as a guide to maintaining their psychological integrity. If a person does not listen to them and does not draw correct conclusions about what they want to tell him, in his inner world a conflict arises, which, if this situation is not corrected, only worsens with time. Difficulties in the form - problems of lack of motivation (desire) and the need to motivate oneself with something, misunderstanding of one's place in life, as well as conflicts in the form - I want and I cannot; I can and do not want; I need, but I don't want; I want, but I don't have to; I don't know what I want; I need or I want 2 conflicting goals at once, etc. - they were initially generated by just such a conflict. This conflict usually begins in childhood, when the emotional needs of the child are ignored by the parents or even deliberately broken (some believe that this will make the child stronger). So the child is disoriented in understanding his feelings, the correct (adequate) attitude towards them, forms destructive beliefs for the future. People use various techniques of self-motivation, working with emotions, beliefs, etc., but they are needed only as long as there is a given internal conflict in a person.

Functions and role of emotions

Speaking about why humans and animals need emotions, one should distinguish between their functions and role. The function of emotions is a narrow natural purpose, the work performed by emotions in the body. Their role (generalized meaning) is the nature and degree of participation of emotions in something, determined by their functions, or their influence on something other than their natural purpose, i.e. by-product of their functioning. The role of emotions for animals and humans can be positive and negative. The function of emotions, based on their expediency, is predetermined by nature to be only positive, otherwise, why would they appear and gain a foothold? It can be argued that emotions can have a destructive effect on the body. But this is due to excessively pronounced physiological changes in the body accompanying emotions, associated not with the quality of regulation (emotional), but with its intensity. This is the role of emotions, not their function. Vitamins and salt are good for the body, but their excess intake can lead to illness or poisoning. So it is with emotions. Fulfilling their biological functions, emotions “do not ask” a person whether it is useful or harmful from his point of view. The role of emotions is assessed precisely from personal positions: the arisen emotion or its absence interferes with the achievement of the goal, whether or not it violates human health.

It was about the role of emotions, and not about their function, that the Stoics and Epicureans argued, discussing the question of their usefulness or harmfulness. This controversy continues in our time, as there is evidence both for and against each point of view.

The differences between function and role can be clearly illustrated on the motor apparatus, the function of which is the movement of man and animals in space, and the role of this movement is determined by the knowledge of the environment, approaching the source of food and mastering it, etc., i.e. by what a person or animal acquires in the process of performing its function by the motor apparatus.

The role of "positive" and "negative" emotions

"Negative" emotions play a more important biological role than "positive" emotions. It is no coincidence that the mechanism of "negative" emotions has been functioning in a child from the first days of his birth, while "positive" emotions appear much later. A “negative” emotion is an alarm, a danger to the body. "Positive" emotion is a signal of returned well-being. It is clear that the last signal does not need to sound for a long time, so emotional adaptation to the good comes quickly. The alarm signal must be given until the danger is eliminated. As a result, only “negative” emotions can become stagnant. Under these conditions, human health really suffers. "Negative" emotions are harmful only in excess, just as everything that exceeds the norm is harmful. Fear, anger, rage increase the intensity of metabolic processes, lead to better nutrition of the brain, increase the body's resistance to overload, infections, etc.

For the body, it is important not to preserve monotonously positive emotional states, but to keep them constantly dynamic within a certain, optimal intensity for a given individual. At the same time, there is evidence that the level of intelligence development is higher in preschool children with a predominance of "positive" emotions and lower - with a predominance of "negative" ones.

From the point of view of P. V. Simonov, the nervous mechanisms of positive emotional reactions are more complex and subtle than negative ones. He believes that “positive” emotions have an independent adaptive meaning, i.e. the role of “positive” emotions is different from the role of “negative” emotions: “positive” emotions encourage living systems to actively violate the achieved “balance” with the environment: “The most important role positive emotions - an active violation of peace, comfort, the famous "balancing of the body with the external environment".

“Negative emotions,” writes Simonov, “as a rule, ensure the preservation of what has already been achieved by the evolution or individual development of the subject. Positive emotions revolutionize behavior, prompting the search for new, not yet satisfied needs, without which pleasure is unthinkable.

This does not indicate the absolute value of positive emotions. They may be driven by primitive, selfish, socially unacceptable needs. In such cases, we will undoubtedly give preference to such negative emotions as anxiety for the fate of another person, compassion for those in trouble, indignation at injustice. The social value of emotions is always determined by the motive that brought it to life.

Without "positive" emotions, Simonov notes, it is difficult to imagine those forms of mastering reality that are not dictated by a direct utilitarian effect: play, artistic creativity and the perception of works of art, theoretical knowledge. He believes that in these areas of human activity, the motivating influence of "negative" emotions is negligible, if any.

It seems that this statement is too categorical. It is contradicted by the manifestation of frustration as a desire to prove to oneself and others the accidental nature of creative failure. But do people perceive works of art only for the sake of positive experiences? Why, then, do audiences cry at movie performances?

Speaking about the role of emotions in a person's life, it is wrong to raise the question of why, for what purpose someone experiences emotions. Such questions are legitimate in relation to consciously set goals. Emotions arise most often involuntarily. Therefore, in relation to them, one can only pose the question: what benefit or harm can be to a person from the appearance of this or that emotion (based on the functions intended by nature for them)?

Answering this question, it should be borne in mind that the positive role of emotions is not directly associated with “positive” emotions, and the negative role is not directly associated with “negative” ones. The latter can serve as an incentive for self-improvement of a person, and the former can be a reason for complacency. Much depends on the purposefulness of a person and the conditions of his upbringing. The opinions of scientists about the meaning of emotions and the functions they perform differ. However, the main function of emotions is undoubtedly their participation in controlling the behavior of humans and animals.

The role and functions of emotions in the management of behavior and activities

Reflective-evaluative role of emotions
Even Charles Darwin wrote that emotions arose in the process of evolution as a means by which living beings establish the significance of certain conditions for satisfying their needs. This role of emotions is manifested due to the subjective component of emotional response (experience) and mainly at the initial stage of voluntary control (when a need arises and a motivational process is deployed on its basis) and at the final stage (when assessing the achieved result: satisfaction of a need, realization of an intention).

The reflective function of emotions is not recognized by all scientists. VK Vilyunas (1979) believes that "emotions perform the function of not reflecting objective phenomena, but expressing subjective attitudes towards them." And he is probably right. To reflect reality, animals and humans have analyzers and thinking. They act as a mirror that reflects what is. Whether a person likes what he sees in the mirror or not - this does not depend on the mirror, it does not evaluate what is reflected. Evaluation (attitude) depends on the subjective perception of the visible, which is compared with the standards, desires, tastes of a person.

It should be noted that there are different opinions among scientists about the relationship between experience and evaluation (what is primary and what is secondary). Some believe that experience precedes evaluation; others, on the contrary, believe that evaluation precedes the emergence of emotion, while others write that emotion can replace evaluation or accompany it.

This discrepancy is due to the fact that the authors have in mind different classes of emotional phenomena. With the emotional tone of sensations, first there is an experience of pleasant or unpleasant, and then its assessment as useful or harmful. Obviously, the same takes place with unconditioned reflex emotions (for example, fright). In the case of the emergence of emotions, the situation is first assessed, and then an experience (emotion) may appear. For example, when a person comes to the window of his apartment, located on the third floor or higher, and looks down, thinking: “What if we jump down?”, then he has an assessment of this situation as dangerous, but without experiencing fear. But then there was a fire and now he has to jump out of the window. In this case, the assessment of the situation will clearly be the cause of the person's fear.

The evaluative role of emotional response, along with the development of the nervous system and the psyche of living beings, changed and improved. If at the first stages it was limited to telling the body about pleasant or unpleasant, then the next stage of development was, obviously, signaling about useful and harmful, and then about harmless and dangerous, and, finally, more widely, about significant and insignificant. If the first and partly the second stage could be provided only by such a mechanism of emotional response as the emotional tone of sensations, then the third stage required another mechanism - emotions, and the fourth - feelings (emotional attitudes). In addition, if the emotional tone of sensations is capable of giving only a rough differentiation of stimuli and sensations associated with them (pleasant - unpleasant), then emotion provides a more subtle, and most importantly, psychological differentiation of situations, events, phenomena, showing their significance for the body and the person as a person. . It was also important that emotion arises as a conditioned reflex and thus makes it possible for animals and humans to respond in advance to distant stimuli, to the situation that is taking shape. Rage already at the sight of the enemy, from afar, at the sounds, smell of the enemy allows the animal to engage in a fight with the enemy with the maximum use of all power resources, and fear - to flee.

It is obvious that the process of conscious comparison of what is obtained with what should be can proceed in a person without the participation of emotions. They are not needed as a matching mechanism. Another thing is the assessment of what happened. It can indeed be not only rational, but also emotional, if the result of the activity or the expected situation is deeply significant for the subject. At the same time, one should not forget that emotion is a reaction to some event, and any reaction is an answer after the fact, i.e. on what is already influencing or has already passed, has ended, including the completed comparison of information. Of course, emotional evaluation can be connected to the process of rational (verbal-logical) comparison of information, coloring one or another paradigm in positive or negative tones and thereby giving them more or less weight.

However, for this, emotions must have one more function: to force the body to urgently mobilize its capabilities, energy, which the emotional tone of sensations cannot do.

The motivational role of emotions
Emotions play a significant role at all stages of the motivational process: when assessing the significance of an external stimulus, when signaling a need that has arisen and assessing its significance, when predicting the possibility of satisfying a need, when choosing a goal.

Emotions as an assessment of the significance of an external stimulus. At the first (motivational) stage, the main purpose of emotions is to signal the benefits or harms to the body of a particular stimulus, phenomena that are marked with a certain sign (positive or negative) even before they are subjected to a conscious, logical assessment. On this occasion, P. K. Anokhin wrote: “Producing almost instantaneous integration of all functions of the body, emotions in themselves and in the first place can be an absolute signal of a beneficial or harmful effect on the body, often even before the localization of effects and the specific mechanism of response are determined. body reactions” (“Psychology of Emotions”, 1984).

Emotions reflect not only the biological, but also the personal significance of external stimuli, situations, events for a person, i.e. what worries him. Emotion is a form of reflective mental activity, where the attitude to the surrounding information comes to the fore. Emotions are ahead of a person's awareness of the situation, signaling a possible pleasant or unpleasant outcome, and in this regard, they speak of the anticipatory function of emotions. Fulfilling this reflective and evaluative role, determining what is significant for a person and what is not, emotions thereby contribute to the orientation of a person in various situations, i.e. perform an orientation function.

Emotions as a signal of a need. The reflective-evaluative role of emotions is also manifested in their connection with the needs that act as internal incentives. The close relationship between emotions and needs is obvious, and it is not surprising that P. V. Simonov developed a theory of emotions, largely based on the conditionality of emotions by needs and the probability of satisfying the latter, and B. I. Dodonov created a classification of emotions based on the types of needs.

The subjective reflection of needs must necessarily be carried out by special mental phenomena that are fundamentally different from those that reflect the objective properties of reality. Although the actualization of a need is also an objective event, it should not be reflected in the psyche in the same way as other events, since for the subject it should not become one of many, but a central, all-consuming event that grabs attention, mobilizes adaptive resources, etc.

Emotions as a way of marking meaningful goals. The point is not only the need for an accentuated reflection of needs. To satisfy them, the subject must act not with the needs themselves, but with those objects that meet them. This means that the need must be reflected not only by itself along with other reflected objects (for example, in the form of experiencing hunger, thirst, etc.), but also projected into the image of reality and highlighting in it the necessary conditions and objects that in as a result of such allocation become targets.

The goal cannot be reflected only by cognitive processes. As a reflected object, the goal is one of the many elements of the environment, acting, like the others, on the analyzers, causing the corresponding delayed motor reactions and, therefore, perceived in the image. In this respect, the goal does not stand out in any way either among other objects of reality, or in the image that reflects it. The objective properties of a thing, reflected by the subject in the form of possible actions with it, do not contain signs indicating its need for this moment body. Therefore, in the structure of the image there must be something that, reflecting the state of the needs of the organism, would join the individual reflective elements of the environment, thereby distinguishing them from others precisely as goals and inducing the individual to achieve them. In other words, in order for a mental image, as a field of potential actions, to serve as the basis for the construction and regulation of activity, it must necessarily be “equipped” with a special mechanism that would upset the balance between equally possible actions and direct the individual to the choice and preference of certain of them.

This role of highlighting in the image of need-significant phenomena and inducing a person to them is performed by numerous varieties of biased, emotional experience.

Emotions as a mechanism to help decision making. Emotions, pointing to objects and actions with them that can lead to the satisfaction of a need, thereby contribute to decision making. Very often, however, the achievement of the desired is not provided with the information needed to make a decision. Then the compensatory function of emotions manifests itself, which consists in replacing information that is missing for making a decision or making a judgment about something. Emotion arising from a collision with an unfamiliar object gives this object an appropriate coloring (like it or not, good or bad), in particular, in connection with its similarity with previously encountered objects. Although with the help of emotion a person makes a generalized and not always justified assessment of the object and situation, it still helps him get out of the impasse when he does not know what to do in this situation.

Emotions by no means supplement information about the real signs of a threat and the possibilities for its elimination. The elimination of the lack of information occurs in the process of search activities and training. The role of emotions is to urgently replace, compensate for the lack of knowledge at the moment. All this applies to cases associated with a lack of information and, consequently, negative emotions.

Compensatory and stimulating function is also inherent in positive emotions. In this case, the function manifests itself not at the moment of the emergence of the emotion, but during longer periods of adaptive behavior. Even a small and partial success can inspire people to overcome difficulties, i.e. positive emotion reinforces the need to achieve the goal.

Involved in the process of probabilistic forecasting, emotions help to evaluate future events (anticipation of pleasure when a person goes to the theater, or expectation of unpleasant experiences after an exam, when a student did not have time to properly prepare for it), i.e. perform a predictive function. Emotions make it easy to find right exit from the situation, in connection with which they speak of their heuristic function. Consequently, emotions are involved not only at the first stage of the motivational process, when the significance of this or that external or internal stimulus is determined, but also at the decision-making stage.

Making a decision by a person is also connected with the sanctioning (including switching the direction and intensity of activity) function of emotions (to make contact with the object or not, to maximize one's efforts or to interrupt the state that has arisen). The "switching" function of emotions is found both in the sphere of innate forms of behavior and in the implementation of conditioned reflex activity, including its most complex manifestations. Most clearly, this function of emotions is manifested in the competition of motives, in the allocation of the dominant need, which becomes a vector of purposeful behavior. Needs are fighting, dressed in the "armor" of emotions. Emotions help this struggle, as they indicate the significance of a particular need at the moment.

The dependence of emotions on the probability of satisfying a need makes it extremely difficult to compete with the corresponding motives, as a result of which behavior often turns out to be reoriented towards a less important, but easily achievable goal: “a tit in hand” defeats a “pie in the sky”.

The fulfillment of the sanctioning function by emotions can be based on the protective function of the emotion of fear. It warns a person about a real (or imaginary) danger, thereby contributing to a better thinking of the situation that has arisen, a more thorough determination of the likelihood of success or failure. Thus, fear protects a person from unpleasant consequences for him, and possibly from death.

The motivating role of emotions. Emotion in itself contains attraction, desire, striving towards or away from an object, just as attraction, desire, striving is always more or less emotional. In general, the question of where the charge of energy comes from in an impulse is rather complicated. It is impossible to exclude the presence of the energy of emotions in the impulse to action, but it is also hardly possible to consider that emotions in themselves cause an impulse to action.

The role of emotions in assessing the results achieved. The peculiarity of emotions is that they directly reflect the relationship between motives and the implementation of activities that correspond to these motives. Assessing the course and result of activity, emotions give a subjective coloring to what is happening around us and in ourselves. This means that different people can emotionally react differently to the same event. For example, the fans of the loss of their favorite team will cause disappointment, grief, while the fans of the opposing team will be happy. People perceive works of art in different ways. It is not for nothing that people say that there is no comrade for taste and color, and that they do not argue about tastes.

Emotion as a value and a need
Although emotions themselves are not motives (which are considered as a complex formation that includes a need, an ideal (imagined) goal and motivators, i.e. factors that influenced decision making and intention formation), they can act in the motivational process not only as an "adviser" or an energy amplifier of motives that arise in the process of motivation, but also as the motivator itself, however, not actions to satisfy needs, but the motivational process. This happens when a person has a need for emotional sensations and experiences and when a person realizes them as a value.

Understanding emotion as a value leads to the idea that a person has a need for "emotional saturation", i.e. in emotional experiences. Indeed, even the famous mathematician B. Pascal said that we think we are looking for peace, but in fact we are looking for unrest. This means that emotional hunger can directly condition the motivational process.

The need for emotional saturation is physiological, despite the fact that the emotions themselves carry a psychological content. He substantiates this by the fact that every organ must function, otherwise it will involute, degrade. Consequently, the centers of emotions need to function, i.e. in the manifestation of emotions in order to maintain their reactivity.

E. Fromm writes about the human need for positive emotions. Indeed, a person does many things for the sake of getting pleasure, enjoyment: he listens to music, reads a book he likes and has already read more than once, rides a rollercoaster to experience “thrills”, etc. Therefore, emotion acts as a goal (a person doing something to get the desired experience). A conscious goal is a value for a person, or a motive for behavior.

The completeness of satisfaction of an emotional need depends on the quality of the object of satisfaction. Thus, listening to music when it is played on the equipment of the highest quality from a record evokes emotions of greater intensity and in more than from a third-class cassette recorder. By analogy, we can say that the depth and intensity of emotional experience when listening to music on a stereo player will be greater than on a mono player, and being at a concert will bring more emotional pleasure than listening to the same piece of music at home. In the same way, a visit to an art gallery will be more emotional than browsing through albums, slides, and postcards at home.

Activation-energetic role of emotions
The influence of emotions on the physical abilities of humans and animals has been known for a long time. Even B. Spinoza wrote that emotions increase or decrease "the ability of the body to act."

The activation-energetic role of emotional response is manifested mainly due to its physiological component: changes in autonomic functions and the level of excitation of the cortical parts of the brain. According to the influence on human behavior and activity, the German philosopher I. Kant (1964) divided emotional reactions (emotions) into sthenic (“wall” in Greek - strength), enhancing the vital activity of the organism, and asthenic - weakening it. Stenic fear can contribute to the mobilization of human reserves due to the release of an additional amount of adrenaline into the blood, for example, in its active-defensive form (escape from danger). Promotes the mobilization of the body's forces and inspiration, joy ("inspired by success", they say in such cases).

The acceleration and intensification of reactions that support the individual and species existence of living systems is one of the most striking features of emotional response. It consists in the fact that when emotions arise, the activation of nerve centers occurs, which is carried out by non-specific structures of the brain stem and transmitted by non-specific pathways of excitation. According to "activation" theories, emotions provide an optimal level of excitation of the central nervous system and its individual substructures. Activation of the nervous system and, above all, its vegetative division leads to changes in the internal organs and the body as a whole, leading either to the mobilization of energy resources or to their demobilization. From here we can talk about the mobilization function of emotions.

P. K. Anokhin spoke about "motivational tone", thanks to which all life processes are maintained at an optimal level.

Being an active state of a system of specialized brain structures, emotions affect other cerebral systems that regulate behavior, the processes of perceiving external signals and extracting engrams of these signals from memory, and the autonomic functions of the body. When emotional stress the volume of vegetative changes (increased heart rate, rise in blood pressure, release of hormones into the bloodstream, etc.), as a rule, exceeds the real needs of the body. Apparently, the process of natural selection fixed the expediency of this excessive mobilization of resources. In a situation of pragmatic uncertainty (namely, it is so characteristic of the emergence of emotions), when it is not known how much and what will be needed in the next few minutes, it is better to waste energy than in the midst of intense activity - fight or flight - to be left without sufficient oxygen and metabolic supply. "raw material".

The intensity of the excess of emotional response as an energy reaction results in a huge excess of energy, and therefore many unnecessary side effects are obtained. But they are inevitable in the interests of the great task of concentrating the whole organism on a certain kind of reaction.

Physical performance in individuals with strong nervous system more with the emotion of joy than with the emotion of suffering, and in persons with a weak nervous system - with the emotion of suffering than with the emotion of joy (however, at the level of reliability only in terms of the power of work).

The destructive role of emotions
Emotions can play in a person's life not only a positive, but also a negative (destructive) role. They can lead to disorganization of human behavior and activities.

The futility and even harmfulness of emotions is known to everyone. Imagine, for example, a person who has to cross the street; if he is afraid of cars, he will lose his cool and run. Sadness, joy, anger, weakening attention and common sense, often force us to commit undesirable actions. In short, the individual who finds himself at the mercy of emotions "loses his head."

Emotion causes disturbances in memory, skills, leads to the replacement of difficult actions with simpler ones. The negative impact of experiences associated with previous failure on the speed and quality of intellectual educational activity of adolescents was revealed.

In many cases, the disorganizing role of emotions is obviously related not so much to their modality as to the strength of emotional arousal. Here the “law of force” of IP Pavlov is manifested (with very strong stimuli, excitation turns into transcendental inhibition) or what is the same - the Yerkes-Dodeon law. Weak and medium intensity of emotional excitation contribute to an increase in the efficiency of perceptual, intellectual and motor activity, while strong and superstrong intensity reduce it.

However, the modality of emotion also matters. Fear, for example, can disrupt a person's behavior associated with the achievement of a goal, causing him to have a passive-defensive reaction (stupor with strong fear, refusal to complete a task). This leads either to a refusal of activity, or to a slowdown in the pace of mastering any activity that seems dangerous to a person, for example, when learning to swim. The disorganizing role of emotions is also visible in anger, when a person strives to achieve a goal at all costs, repeating the same actions that do not lead to success. With strong excitement, it can be difficult for a person to concentrate on a task, he may forget what he needs to do. One flight school cadet, during his first solo flight, forgot how to land the plane, and was able to do this only under dictation from the ground of his commander. In another case, due to strong excitement, the gymnast - the champion of the country - forgot, having gone to the projectile, the beginning of the exercise and received a zero mark.

However, as the role of emotions was studied, attitudes towards them began to change, and now the disorganizing role of emotions is being questioned. So, VK Vilyunas (1984) believes that the disorganizing role of emotions can be accepted only with reservations. He believes that the disorganization of activity is due to the fact that emotions organize another activity that diverts forces and attention from the main activity that is taking place at the same moment. By itself, emotion does not carry a disorganizing function. “Even such a gross biological reaction as affect,” writes Viliunas, “usually disorganizing human activity, under certain conditions can be useful, for example, when he has to escape from a serious danger, relying solely on physical strength and endurance. This means that disruption of activity is not a direct, but a side manifestation of emotions, in other words, that there is as much truth in the statement about the disorganizing function of emotions as, for example, in the statement that a festive demonstration serves as a delay for vehicles.

We can agree with this. Emotions really do not have such a function programmed by nature. It would be strange if emotions appeared in the evolutionary development of living beings in order to disorganize the control of behavior. But the disorganizing role of emotions, in addition to their "will", can play, as mentioned above. The point of separating the role and function of emotions is precisely not to confuse what is destined by nature as a sign of progressive development with what is obtained as a side effect, contrary to the intended function.

Applied role of emotions

The communicative role of emotions
Emotions, due to their expressive component (mainly facial expression), take part in establishing contact with other people in the process of communicating with them, in influencing them. The importance of this role of emotions is evident from the fact that in the West, many managers hire employees on the basis of intelligence quotient (IQ), and promote them according to the emotional quotient (EQ), which characterizes a person’s ability to communicate emotionally.

The role of emotional response in the process of communication is diverse. This is the creation of the first impression about a person, which often turns out to be true precisely because of the presence of “emotional inclusions” in it. This is the provision of a certain influence on who is the subject of the perception of emotions, which is associated with the signaling function of emotions. The role of this function of emotions is clearly visible to parents whose children suffer from Down's disease. Parents are oppressed by the fact that children cannot communicate their experiences to them through facial expressions and other ways of emotional communication.

The regulatory function of emotions in the process of communication is to coordinate the sequence of statements. Often, a combined manifestation of various functions of emotions is observed. For example, the signaling function of emotions is often combined with its protective function: a frightening appearance in a moment of danger helps to intimidate another person or animal.

Emotion, as a rule, has an external expression (expression), with the help of which a person or animal informs another about his condition, what they like and what they don’t, etc. This helps mutual understanding in communication, preventing aggression from another person or animal , recognition of the needs and states that another subject has at the moment.

Using emotions as a means of manipulating other people. As part of a communicative role, emotions can be used to manipulate other people. Often we consciously or out of habit demonstrate certain emotional manifestations, not because they arose naturally in us, but because they have a desirable effect on other people. A. Schopenhauer wrote about this: “Just as paper money circulates instead of silver and gold, so instead of true respect and true friendship, their external evidence and forged mimic grimaces and body movements circulate in the world as naturally as possible ... In any case, I rely more to the wagging of an honest dog's tail than to a hundred such displays of respect and friendship."

This function of emotions is already known to the baby, who uses it to achieve his goals: after all, the crying, screaming, suffering facial expressions of the child cause sympathy in parents and adults. Thus, emotions help a person to achieve satisfaction of his needs through changes in the right direction of the behavior of other people.

As means of manipulation, a smile, laughter, threat, screaming, crying, ostentatious indifference, ostentatious suffering, etc. are used. When manipulated, an “emotional blank” is reproduced - an engram. Memory imprints situations in which the "emotional preparation" gives the desired effect, and subsequently a person uses them in similar situations. Engrams constitute the manipulative experience of man. They are positive and negative when viewed from the point of view of influencing other people. The first are called upon to evoke a positive attitude towards themselves (trust, recognition, love). In this case, such mimic means as a smile, laughter, voice intonations of a lyrical and peaceful spectrum, gestures symbolizing greeting, acceptance of a partner, joy from communicating with him, head movements expressing consent, body movements indicating trust in a partner are used. etc. The latter are filled with symbols of aggression, hostility, anger, alienation, distancing, threats, displeasure. For example, a parent makes a formidable expression on his face, raises his voice and uses swear words against the child. But this does not mean that at this moment he hates the child, he only achieves the desired behavior from him.

E. Shostrom (1994) describes the role of emotions in manipulating other people by the so-called "manipulators". However, their tactics may be different. In one case, "manipulators", such as hysterical women, bring down a mixture of feelings on those around them, bringing them to complete confusion. From hysterical women, feelings fly off like sparks, but none of them linger long enough to fully form and express themselves. As soon as they arise, they burst like soap bubbles. In another case, "manipulators" save their emotions in reserve in order to use them at a convenient moment. “I took offense at you last week,” a manipulator might say. Why didn't he say that last week? Shostrom asks. Because then it was unprofitable for him to declare his offense, but now he can bargain for something.

A "manipulator" may experience many feelings quite sincerely, but he will certainly try to use them "for something useful." That is, as Shostrom writes, in addition to sincere tears, a certain manipulative goal is given.

The role of emotions in cognitive processes and creativity
The presence of emotional phenomena in the process of cognition was also noted ancient Greek philosophers(Plato, Aristotle).

However, the discussion of the role of emotions in the cognitive process was initiated by P. Janet and T. Ribot. According to P. Janet, emotions, being "secondary actions", the reaction of the subject to his own action, regulate "primary actions", including intellectual ones. T. Ribot, on the contrary, believed that there should be no “emotional admixture” in intellectual thinking, since it is the affective nature of a person that is most often the cause of illogicality. He shared intellectual thinking and emotional. L. S. Vygotsky attached great importance to the connection between thinking and affects. He wrote: “He who has torn thinking from the very beginning from affect has forever closed his way to explaining the causes of thinking itself, because the deterministic analysis of thinking necessarily involves the discovery of the driving motives of thought, needs and interests, motives and tendencies that direct the movement of thought into that or the other side."

S. L. Rubinshtein also noted the need to connect thinking with the affective sphere of a person. “Mental processes, taken in their concrete integrity, are not only cognitive processes, but also “affective”, emotional-volitional ones. They express not only knowledge about phenomena, but also attitude towards them. In another work, he sharpens this issue even more: “The point is not only that emotion is in unity and interconnection with the intellect or thinking with emotion, but that thinking itself, as a real mental process, is itself a unity of the intellectual and emotional. , and emotion - the unity of the emotional and intellectual" ("Problems of General Psychology", 1973.

Currently, most psychologists involved in the study of intellectual activity recognize the role of emotions in thinking. Moreover, it is argued that emotions do not just influence thinking, but are an indispensable component of it, or that most human emotions are intellectually conditioned. They even distinguish intellectual emotions that are different from the basic ones.

True, the opinions of the authors about the specific role of emotions in the control of thinking do not coincide. From the point of view of O. K. Tikhomirov, emotions are a catalyst for the intellectual process; they improve or impair mental activity, speed it up or slow it down. In another work (Tikhomirov, Klochko, 1980), he goes even further, considering emotions to be the coordinator of mental activity, ensuring its flexibility, restructuring, correction, avoiding the stereotype, and changing actual attitudes. According to P. V. Simonov, emotions are only a trigger mechanism for thinking. L.V. Putlyaeva considers both of these points of view to be hyperbolic and, in turn, identifies three functions of emotions in the thought process:

1) emotions like component cognitive needs, which are the source of mental activity;

2) emotions as a regulator of the cognitive process at certain stages;

3) emotions as a component of the assessment of the achieved result, i.e. as feedback.

The role of emotions in the intellectual creative process is diverse. This is the pain of creativity and the joy of discovery. “The ardent desire for knowledge,” wrote K. Bernard, “is the only engine that attracts and supports the researcher in his efforts, and this knowledge, so to speak, constantly slipping out of his hands, is his only happiness and torment. Whoever did not know the torments of the unknown will not understand the pleasures of discovery, which, of course, are stronger than all that a person can feel.

But here's what is characteristic: this inspiration, joy over creative success is not long-term. K. Bernard wrote about this: “Due to some whim of our nature, this pleasure, which we so eagerly sought, passes as soon as the discovery is made. It is like lightning that has lit up a distant horizon for us, towards which our insatiable curiosity rushes with even greater fervor. For this reason, in science itself, the known loses its attraction, and the unknown is always full of charms.

When discussing the connection between thinking and emotions, some psychologists go to extremes. So, A. Ellis (Ellis, 1958) argues that thinking and emotions are so closely related to each other that they usually accompany each other, acting in the cycle of “cause and effect” relationships, and in some (though almost all) relationships are essentially the same, so that thinking becomes emotion and emotion becomes thought. Thinking and emotions, according to this author, tend to take the form of self-talk or internal suggestions; the sentences that people say to themselves are or become their thoughts and emotions.

As for the transformation of thought into emotion and vice versa, this is a rather controversial statement. Another thing is that, as Ellis writes, it is hardly possible to distinguish between thought and emotion and isolate it in its pure form. Here we can agree with the author. Emotions play a special role in various types art. K. S. Stanislavsky (1953) said that of all three mental spheres of a person - mind, will and feelings - the latter is the most "difficult to educate a child." The expansion and development of the mind is much more easily amenable to the will of the actor than the development and expansion of the emotional sphere. Feeling, noted Stanislavsky, can be cultivated, subordinated to the will, cleverly used, but it grows very slowly. The alternative "is or is not" applies to him most of all. Therefore, it is the most precious thing for an actor. Students with mobile emotions, the ability to deeply experience - this is the golden fund of the theater school. Their development is fast. At the same time, Stanislavsky complained that there were too many rational actors and stage works coming from the mind.