Contents
Hello dear blog readers! Feelings occupy a special place in psychology. With their help, you can not only characterize the personality of a person, his ways of communication and life views. But also influence his behavior, relationships with himself and other people, increase or decrease the level of satisfaction with every day he lives, change his mood, and so on. Because emotions are in fact the response of our body to stimuli, no matter what nature, positive or negative.
Role and functions
So, in order to understand how truly valuable feelings are in our lives, let’s take a closer look at the functions that they perform.
Communicative
It’s hard to communicate with a person who behaves like a robot, isn’t it? Unfortunately, such people are quite common. They just can’t see what’s going on with them. The mood is always even, and decisions are made only through intellectualization and analysis. Attachments, both to such a person and to herself, are almost impossible to form.
When communicating with other people, it is important for us to receive a response, that is, a reaction to our words and actions. Then we get to know each other better, get to know and get closer. Accordingly, we understand how it is better to behave, and what actions it is better to refrain from, so as not to destroy the established intimacy. We transmit information about our state, opinion, attitude to something. This reaction can be verbal or non-verbal, with the help of facial expressions, gestures. If it is available, it can be argued that all participants in the dialogue were in contact. And they did not feel complete indifference to the process.
Regulatory
This feature helps to reduce the level of emotional arousal. For example, with extremely strong tension, when it becomes unbearable, a person simply bursts into tears. And crying can last for a long time, until the body throws off what has been accumulated and not expressed.
This provides vitality, otherwise the body would quickly wear out and fail. Burned out. Just imagine a pot of soup on fire, which was covered tightly with a lid, preventing steam from escaping. After a while, the contents will go through the top.
You can read about emotional burnout in this article.
Therefore, give yourself the opportunity to live those feelings that have arisen. Do not hide them, hold and accumulate. Sooner or later you will drop them anyway, but only with more sad consequences. Especially if in a passion, when a person simply loses control over himself.
reflective
Allows you to evaluate ongoing events in order to understand whether they are beneficial or not. They can cover the entire body in order to have time to react to a threatening situation in time. No wonder we experience fear, it allows us to survive. Otherwise, in his absence, we would do crazy things without thinking about the consequences.
Incentive
Motivated to accomplish. Suppose an envious person realizes that he wants to have the same thing that his friend has. With constructive envy, he will begin to take actions that will provide him with what he aspires to. Whether it is the purchase of something material, or the development of some qualities and skills. By the way, you can learn more about this from the article, which is located here.
reinforcing
Events that turned out to be significant for a person can cause a very strong reaction and remain forever in memory. It is then that we can passionately fall in love with some profession or suddenly cool down to our activities, hobbies.
Switching
It happens that at the same time an individual is concerned about several needs, which in their importance can compete with each other. So, based on feelings, you can determine which is the key in a given period of life, and switch to it.
adaptive
Simplifies the process of adapting to changes in the environment.
Stages of formation
Genesis
A small dot appears, which gradually, and in some cases rapidly, increases in volume. She is like a bubble that is being inflated. After she has reached a certain size and has stopped the process of birth, the emotion begins to rise to the surface. At this moment, a person who is attentive enough to himself can notice it.
Manifestation
During this period, it is felt in the body, and even if it is not realized, it is visible to others. Not everyone is able to recognize the meaning that carries a certain feeling, but subconsciously the information will be read. Because the mimic muscles of the face, voice, postures and gestures will give out any changes in mood.
This is followed by a stage when a person begins to understand what he is experiencing. He not only notices the energy, but can also decipher what it is connected with, what message it carries. For example, anger signals that some needs are frustrated, boundaries are violated. That is, something happens that you don’t like, don’t like, and you want it differently. Or vice versa, something does not happen, but the person still hopes and waits. From that, the accumulated irritation is transformed into anger, and sometimes into anger.
Transformation
When there is an awareness of the cause of any experience, the quality of its energy changes. For example, a feeling of anxiety and worry can cause great damage to health. Moreover, the intensity will only increase, or accompany the person in the background until he understands why he is worried and worried.
But having clarified the reasons, thinking about what is happening in a given period of life, which becomes scary, you can move forward in development. Having discovered the advantages and resources in the fact that I managed to notice the signals of my body in time. That is, the person may continue to experience anxiety. But now that it is understood, it is not destructive, but, on the contrary, even creative.
Energy release
Now that the root cause of the origin is known, there is no need to keep it. There is not just a process of release, but also acceptance, integration of the new. For example, sadness usually signals the loss of something. And when a person accepts the fact that, for example, the relationship has ended, and for some period he will have to live alone, grieve, then in parallel with this, he also learns to deal with himself and other people. She used to be in a couple, but now she needs to organize her life on her own. To be sad, but at the same time to do something in a new way. This is integration. Experience.
Death
Do not be afraid of this word. This is a natural process when the need for a certain energy disappears — it goes into decline, making room for other sensations. If you do not notice, for example, an insult for a long time, or deliberately ignore it, this will not mean that it does not exist. She will then «live» in the subconscious, periodically reminding her of her presence. Destroying not only health, but also the quality of life, relationships.
Types of emotions
In addition to our feelings regarding emotions, in terms of whether we like them or not, there is a whole classification of feelings. So, they are distinguished:
By sign
- Negative — associated with the frustration of needs;
- Positive — respectively, with their satisfaction;
- Ambivalent — when there is an ambivalent attitude towards something. For example, this happens when a person rejoices at the failures of a colleague. On the one hand, joy is pleasant, but on the other hand, the fact that it is associated with the troubles of another person speaks of hatred for him, anger.
By quality
Carl Izard, an American psychologist, was of the opinion that there are basic, fundamental emotions that a mentally healthy person experiences.
Here is a description of each of them:
- Joy — arises when any actual need is satisfied;
- Surprise is a reaction to circumstances that turned out to be sudden, that is, the person had not previously predicted them, respectively, did not expect them;
- Anger is a state that occurs in case of strong frustration, a threat to security, both psychological boundaries and health, the life of an individual. Or in case of prolonged accumulation of irritation. How to deal with it, you can find out if you follow this link;
- Disgust is a marker of having to come into contact with what causes dislike. If you do not notice your disgust and “eat up” something disgusting, unpleasant, you can throw up. This applies not only to products, but also to relationships, information in general;
- Contempt — when life positions, foundations, values and opinions are completely different than those of the one who is despised. It is not always possible to recognize the right of another to be as he is, it is at such moments that contempt is born;
- Fear — arises in case of real, or possible, sometimes even imaginary danger.
- Shame — when ideas about oneself or one’s behavior did not at all coincide with the expectations of others. It can turn into toxic when all attention is focused only on one’s own transgression or imperfection. Then it brings quite intense suffering against the background of isolation. That’s why it’s hard to make eye contact when you’re ashamed;
- Suffering — if a person realizes that some need cannot be satisfied, pain arises. For example, the loss of a loved one brings a lot of suffering, grief.
For strength and stability
- Situational — are simple, short-term. They arise as a reaction to some event. They can manifest themselves intensely, for example, in the form of an affect. But at the end of their expression, the state stabilizes, returns to normal.
- Stable — a long-term state that affects the perception of the surrounding reality. When the soul is joyful, the colors seem brighter, the smells are richer, and the people around are kind and interesting. But if pain and sadness overtook, then even pleasant events will not cause a reaction, which could be in a normal mood.
Completion
Be attentive to yourself! Emotions affect not only our sense of self, but also on such mental processes as perception, memory, thinking. Yes, they can easily activate any of them, or vice versa, slow down. Stimulate imagination and the ability to find creative solutions. With their help, we can safely say that we are alive, and this is the most important thing. They enrich us and allow us to fully live every day, appreciate it, remember it.
And that’s all for today, dear readers! Be attentive to your own experiences, as well as those who met on your way. Pleasure to you, and happiness! Finally, I recommend taking a test to find out how sensitive and aware you are. You will find it here.
The material was prepared by a psychologist, Gestalt therapist, Zhuravina Alina.