The emotional state that you are experiencing in the process. Coursework: Psychology of emotional states

The concept of "emotion" is sometimes used to define a holistic emotional reaction of a person, which includes not only the mental component - experience, but also specific physiological changes in the body that accompany this experience. In such cases, one speaks of emotional state human (I.B. Kotova, O.S. Kanarkevich). In emotional states, changes occur in the activity of the respiratory organs, digestion, cardiovascular system, endocrine glands, skeletal and smooth muscles, etc.

The fact that emotions should be considered as states was first emphasized by N.D. Levitov. He wrote about this: “In no sphere of mental activity is the term “state” so inapplicable as in emotional life, since in emotions, or feelings, a tendency is very clearly manifested to specifically color the experiences and activities of a person, giving them a temporal orientation and creating what, figuratively speaking, can be called the timbre or qualitative originality of mental life.

So, the emotional side of states is reflected in the form of emotional experiences (fatigue, apathy, boredom, aversion to activity, fear, the joy of achieving success, etc.), and the physiological side is reflected in a change in a number of functions, primarily vegetative and motor . Both experiences and physiological changes are inseparable from each other, that is, they always accompany each other

Consider such emotional states as anxiety, fear, frustration, affect, stress, interest, joy.

Anxiety- this is a vague, unpleasant emotional state, characterized by the expectation of an unfavorable development of events, the presence of bad forebodings, fear, tension and anxiety. Anxiety differs from fear in that the state of anxiety is usually pointless, while fear suggests the presence of an object, person, event or situation that causes it.

The state of anxiety cannot be called unequivocally bad or good. Sometimes anxiety is natural, appropriate, useful. Everyone feels anxious, restless or tense in certain situations, especially if they have to do something out of the ordinary or prepare for it. For example, speaking in front of an audience with a speech or taking an exam. A person may experience anxiety when walking down an unlit street at night or when they get lost in a strange city. This kind of anxiety is normal and even beneficial, as it prompts you to prepare a speech, to study the material before the exam, to think about whether you really need to go out at night all alone.

In other cases, anxiety is unnatural, pathological, inadequate, harmful. It becomes chronic, permanent and begins to appear not only in stressful situations, but also for no apparent reason. Then anxiety not only does not help a person, but, on the contrary, begins to interfere with his daily activities.

In psychology, the terms “excitement” and “anxiety” exist as extremely close in meaning to anxiety. However, theoretically, there is a possibility for separating excitement and anxiety into independent experiences in relation to anxiety. So, on the one hand, anxiety is characterized by a negative, pessimistic connotation (expectation of danger), while describing excitement, experience tells us that it can be both pleasant and joyful (expectation of something good). On the other hand, anxiety is usually associated with a threat to one's own personality (concern for oneself), anxiety is often used in the sense of "concern for another."

This dilution more clearly delineates the area that is described by the psychological term "anxiety". First of all, the following points should be emphasized: a negative emotional connotation, the uncertainty of the subject of experiences, a sense of a real threat, as well as a focus on the future, which is expressed in the fear of what will be, and not what was or what is.

Anxiety is a person's tendency to experience a state of anxiety. The measurement of anxiety as a personality trait is especially important, since this property largely determines the behavior of the subject. A certain level of anxiety is a natural and obligatory feature of a person's vigorous activity. Each person has their own optimal or desirable level of anxiety - this is the so-called useful anxiety. A person's assessment of his state in this respect is an essential component of self-control and self-education for him.

Individuals classified as highly anxious tend to perceive a threat to their self-esteem and life in a wide range of situations and react very tensely, with a pronounced state of anxiety. If a psychological test reveals a high rate of personal anxiety in a subject, then this gives reason to assume that he has a state of anxiety in a variety of situations, and especially when they relate to assessing his competence and prestige.

Under personal anxiety is understood as a stable individual characteristic that reflects the subject's predisposition to anxiety and suggests that he has a tendency to perceive a fairly wide range of situations as threatening, responding to each of them with a certain reaction. As a predisposition, personal anxiety is activated when certain stimuli are perceived by a person as dangerous, threats to his prestige, self-esteem, self-respect associated with specific situations.

situational, or reactive anxiety as a state characterized by subjectively experienced emotions: tension, anxiety, concern, nervousness. This state occurs as an emotional reaction to a stressful situation and can be different in intensity and dynamic in time.

Most often, a person's anxiety is associated with the expectation of the social consequences of his success or failure. Anxiety and anxiety are closely related to stress. On the one hand, anxious emotions are symptoms of stress. On the other hand, the initial level of anxiety determines individual sensitivity to stress.

If anxiety exists long enough, the person begins to look for the source of danger, eliminates it and repents. If the source of anxiety cannot be eliminated, anxiety turns into fear. Thus, fear is the result of the work of anxiety and thinking.

Fear is a very dangerous emotion. Phobic fears bring great harm to a person, i.e. phobias. The person may be scared to death. Fear can explain the death of African natives after breaking a taboo. In ancient times, those sentenced to death died of fear, when the priest ran his hand over the skin of their elbows, they thought that their veins had been cut. But fear is not only evil. Fear is a protective reaction of the body, it warns of danger. The fact is that with fear, the stimulation of the nervous system increases.

In such a state it is easier to be active (of course, with low degrees of fear), which can lead to the development of interest, which often drowns out fear. Fear is given to us by nature for self-preservation. A belief such as "I'm not afraid of anything!" - harmful. This is one of the extreme poles, a deviation from the norm. A person completely devoid of fear does not feel any danger. He has a dull instinct for self-preservation. His life could end very quickly. Feeling fear is normal. It is helpful to believe that "I can control my fear."

frustration- the mental state of a person caused by objectively insurmountable (or subjectively perceived as such) difficulties that arise on the way to achieving a goal or solving a problem; experience of failure.

Distinguish: frustrator - the reason causing frustration, frustration situation, frustration reaction. Frustration is accompanied by a range of mostly negative emotions: anger, irritation, guilt, etc. The level of frustration depends on the strength, intensity of the frustrator, the functional state of a person who has fallen into a frustration situation, as well as on the stable forms of emotional response to life's difficulties that have developed in the process of personality formation. An important concept in the study of frustration is frustration tolerance (resistance to frustrators), which is based on a person's ability to adequately assess a frustration situation and anticipate a way out of it.

Levitov N.D. highlights some typical states that are often encountered under the action of frustrators, although they appear each time in an individual form.

These states include:

1) Tolerance.

There are different forms of tolerance:

a) calmness, prudence, readiness to accept what happened as a life lesson, but without much complaining about oneself;

b) tension, effort, containment of unwanted impulsive reactions;

c) flaunting with emphasized indifference, behind which carefully concealed anger or despondency is masked. Tolerance can be nurtured.

2) Aggression. This state can be clearly expressed in pugnacity, rudeness, cockiness, and can take the form of hidden hostility and anger. A typical state of aggression is an acute, often affective experience of anger, impulsive disorderly activity, anger, loss of self-control, unjustified aggressive actions.

3) Fixation - has two meanings:

a) stereotyping, repetition of actions. Fixation understood in this way means an active state, but in contrast to aggression, this state is rigid, conservative, not hostile to anyone, it is a continuation of the previous activity by inertia when this activity is useless or even dangerous.

b) attachment to the frustrator, which absorbs all attention. The need for a long time to perceive, experience and analyze the frustrator. Here the stereotype is manifested not in movements, but in perception and thinking. A special form of fixation is capricious behavior. An active form of fixation is withdrawal into a distracting activity that allows one to forget.

4) Regression - a return to more primitive, and often infantile forms of behavior. As well as a decrease in the level of activity under the influence of the frustrator. Like aggression, regression is not necessarily the result of frustration.

5) Emotionality. In chimpanzees, emotional behavior occurs after all other coping responses have failed.

Sometimes frustrators create a psychological state of external or internal conflict. Frustration takes place only in cases of such conflicts in which the struggle of motives is excluded because of its hopelessness, futility. The barrier is the very endless hesitation and doubt.

Frustration is different not only in its psychological content or direction, but also in duration.

She may be:

Typical of a person's character;

Atypical, but expressing the emergence of new character traits;

episodic, transient.

The degree of frustration (its type) depends on how prepared a person was for meeting the barrier (both in terms of being armed, which is a condition for tolerance, and in terms of perceiving the novelty of this barrier).

Affect- a strong and relatively short-term emotional state associated with a sharp change in important life circumstances for the subject and accompanied by pronounced motor manifestations and changes in the functions of internal organs. An affect can arise on an event that has already taken place and be, as it were, shifted to its end.

At the heart of the affect lies the state of internal conflict experienced by a person, which is generated either by contradictions between inclinations, aspirations, desires, or by contradictions between the requirements that are presented to a person (or he makes them to himself). The affect develops in critical conditions when the subject is unable to find a way out (adequate) from dangerous unexpected situations. A.N. Leontiev notes that affect arises when something needs to be done, but nothing can be done, i.e. in hopeless situations.

Criteria for determining affect according to A.N. Leontiev:

1) pronounced vegetative changes;

2) disorder of consciousness;

3) impulsive behavior, lack of planning;

4) discrepancy between affective behavior and personality.

Ya.M. Kalashnik considers pathological affect and distinguishes three phases in its development: preparatory, explosion phase and final phase.

Preparatory phase. Consciousness is preserved. There is a tension of emotions, the ability to reflect is disturbed. Psychic activity becomes one-sided due to the single desire to fulfill its intention.

explosion phase. From a biological point of view, this process reflects the loss of self-control. This phase is characterized by a random change of ideas. Consciousness is disturbed: the clarity of the field of consciousness is lost, its threshold is reduced. There are aggressive actions - attacks, destruction, struggle. In some cases, instead of aggressive actions, behavior acquires a passive character and is expressed in confusion, aimless troublesomeness, and incomprehension of the situation.

Final phase. The final phase is characterized by the depletion of mental and physiological forces, expressed in indifference, indifference to others, a tendency to sleep.

There are two functions of affect:

1. Possessing the property of a dominant, affect slows down mental processes not related to it and imposes on the individual a method of “emergency” resolution of the situation (numbness, flight, aggression), which has developed in the process of biological evolution.

2. The regulatory function of affect consists in the formation of affective traces that make themselves felt when confronted with individual elements of the situation that gave rise to the affect and warn of the possibility of its repetition.

The term "stress" comes from the field of physics, where it refers to any stress, pressure, or force applied to a system. In medical science, this term was first introduced by Hans Selye in 1926. G. Selye noticed that all patients suffering from a variety of somatic ailments seem to have a number of common symptoms. These include loss of appetite, muscle weakness, high blood pressure, loss of motivation to achieve. G. Selye used the term "stress" to describe all non-specific changes within the body and defined the concept as a non-specific response of the body to any requirement presented to it.

The most frequently criticized question in the current scientific literature is how “non-specific” the stress response is. Other researchers (Everly, 1978) argued that the stress reaction is of a specific nature, which depends on the strength of the stimulus and the individual characteristics of the organism. The strength of the stimulus is understood as the impact on the human body of a significant (meaningful) factor for him, as well as a strong extreme impact.

Thus, stress (in the narrow sense) - this is a set of non-specific physiological and psychological manifestations of adaptive activity under strong, extreme influences for the body. Stress (in the broadest sense) - these are non-specific manifestations of adaptive activity under the influence of any factors significant for the body.

In 1936, G. Selye described the general adaptation syndrome, which, in his opinion, contributed to the acquisition of a state of habit to harmful effects and maintained this state. Adaptation Syndrome - a set of adaptive reactions of the human body, which are of a general protective nature and arise in response to stressors - adverse effects that are significant in strength and duration.

The adaptation syndrome is a process that naturally proceeds in three stages, which are called the stage of stress development:

1. Stage of "anxiety" (stage of mobilization) - mobilization of adaptive resources of the body.

Lasts from several hours to two days and includes two phases:

1) phase of shock - a general disorder of body functions due to mental shock or physical damage.

2) the “anti-shock” phase.

With sufficient strength of the stressor, the shock phase ends with the death of the organism during the first hours or days. If the adaptive capabilities of the body are able to resist the stressor, then the antishock phase begins, where the body's defense reactions are mobilized. The person is in a state of tension and alertness. Physically and psychologically, he feels good, is in high spirits. In this phase, psychosomatic diseases (gastritis, stomach ulcers, allergies, etc.) often disappear, and by the third stage they return with a triple force.

No organism can be constantly in a state of alarm. If the stress factor is too strong or continues its action, the next stage of stress occurs.

2. Stage of resistance (resistance). It includes a balanced expenditure of adaptive reserves, supported by the existence of the organism in conditions of increased requirements for its adaptation. The duration of this stage depends on the innate adaptability of the organism and on the strength of the stressor. This stage leads either to stabilization and recovery, or to exhaustion.

3. Stage of exhaustion - loss of resistance, depletion of the mental and physical resources of the body. There is a discrepancy between the stressful effects of the environment and the body's responses to these requirements. In contrast to the first stage, when the stressful state of the body leads to the disclosure of adaptive reserves and resources, and the human body can cope with stress on its own, at the third stage, help can only be from outside, either in the form of support, or in the form of eliminating the stressor that exhausts the body.

Depletion of adaptive capacity- a condition that leads to the appearance of negative changes in the mental state of a person. These negative changes can cover all levels of mental maladaptation: psychotic and borderline.

The psychotic level includes various types of psychotic reactions and states (psychoses). Psychosis - a deep mental disorder, manifested in a violation of the adequacy of the reflection of the real world, behavior and attitude to the environment. A psychotic state or reaction can occur as a response of the body to a sudden acute psycho-traumatic event (death of relatives or information about death, threat to one's life, etc.) and, as a rule, are irreversible (complete recovery does not occur).

The borderline (pre-psychotic) level of response to stress includes various types of neurotic reactions (neuroses) and psychopathic states (psychopanies). neuroses - a group of borderline functional neuropsychiatric disorders resulting from a violation of especially significant life relationships of a person as a result of a psychotraumatic situation. Psychopathy is a personality anomaly characterized by the disharmony of its mental makeup.

Now consider our emotional needs. Man is programmed for happiness. If he wants to be healthy, active and live long, he must be happy.

For our well-being, three kinds of stimuli act on the brain:

Causing positive emotions (35%),

Causing negative emotions (5%) - they stimulate activity, make you look for new approaches and methods. They arise when our activity does not give the desired results.

Emotionally neutral stimuli (60%). Those. the environment should be neutral so that there is no discomfort and the person can concentrate on their activities.

The great thing about positive emotions is that they keep us in the present, the best time is the present. The past is no more, the future is not yet. Only in the present is the unity of soul and body. Negative emotions lead the soul either into the past or into the future. The body is always present.

Psychologically, a person strives for happiness. In emotional terms, the state of happiness is accompanied by positive emotions of interest and joy. They are manifested in creative work and love. Interest prevails only in creative work, and joy is, as it were, a reward for success in work. In love, on the contrary: in order to extract great joy, you need to work a little.

In biochemical terms state of interest is accompanied by the release of endorphins into the blood - substances that, in their psychological and physiological action, resemble the action of morphines. Therefore, when a person is interested, he does not get sick, eats moderately and does not want to drink. When does it occur state of joy , alcohol is released into the blood. At this moment, a person becomes a little stupid, stops working. In the presence of alcohol, recovery processes are fastest.

Interest is the most commonly experienced positive emotion. Interest, as the American psychologist K. Izard points out, is extremely important in the development of skills, knowledge and intellect. It contributes to the development of the intellect and allows the individual to engage in any activity or develop skills until he has mastered them.

Interest plays an important role in the development of creativity. “A creative person in a state of inspiration loses the past and the future,” wrote psychologist A. Maslow, “lives only in the present. She is completely immersed in the subject, fascinated and absorbed by the present, the current situation, what is happening here and now, the subject of her studies.

The emotion of interest is accompanied by the optimal functioning of all organs and systems. However, it also has a drawback. With a long-term sustained interest, you can deplete the body's resources. Recall how you could read an exciting book or play a computer game all night with unflagging interest without feeling sleepy. But the next day, your performance was declining.

Joy is what is felt after some creative or socially significant action that was not carried out for the purpose of obtaining benefits (joy is a by-product). According to K. Izard: “Joy is characterized by a sense of confidence and significance, a feeling that you love and are loved. The confidence and personal significance that comes from joy gives a person a sense of being able to cope with difficulties and enjoy life. Joy ... is accompanied by satisfaction with others and the whole world.

Some scientists believe that pain, fear, suffering are at the other pole of joy. As Tomkins points out, joy occurs when there is less stimulation of the nervous system. People who cannot experience a sense of joy directly from interesting creative work choose professions associated with increased danger (climbers, fitters, high-altitude workers, etc.). When they manage to avoid danger, they have a feeling of joy.

For some people, the whole process of life is connected with joy. They enjoy the fact that they live. Such people go through life more slowly and calmly. Joy enhances responsiveness and, according to Tomkins, ensures social interaction.

Intense interest keeps in suspense. Joy calms a person. Repeated joy increases a person's resistance to stress, helps him cope with pain, be confident in his own abilities.

Throughout the centuries-old history, the study of emotional states has received the closest attention, they have been assigned one of the central roles among the forces that determine the inner life and actions of a person.

The development of approaches to the study of emotional states was carried out by such psychologists as W. Wundt, V. K. Vilyunas, W. James, W. McDougall, F. Kruger.

W. Wundt

V.K.Vilyunas

W. McDougall

Teachings about feelings or emotions is the most undeveloped chapter in psychology. This is the side of human behavior that is more difficult to describe and classify, and also to explain by some kind of laws.

In modern psychological science, the following types and forms of experiencing feelings are distinguished:

• Moral.
• Intelligent.
• Aesthetic.
• subject.

moral feelings- these are feelings in which a person's attitude to the behavior of people and to his own is manifested. Moral feelings are alienation and affection, love and hatred, gratitude and ingratitude, respect and contempt, sympathy and antipathy, a sense of respect and contempt, a sense of camaraderie and friendship, patriotism and collectivism, a sense of duty and conscience. These feelings are generated by the system of human relations and the aesthetic norms that govern these relations.

Intellectual Feelings arise in the process of mental activity and are associated with cognitive processes. It is the joy of searching when solving a problem or a heavy feeling of dissatisfaction when it is not possible to solve it. Intellectual feelings also include the following: curiosity, curiosity, surprise, confidence in the correctness of the solution of the problem and doubt in case of failure, a sense of the new.

aesthetic feelings- this is a feeling of beauty or, on the contrary, ugly, rude; a feeling of greatness or, conversely, meanness, vulgarity.

Object feelings- feelings of irony, humor, a sense of the sublime, tragic.

Attempts to give more universal classifications of emotion were made by many scientists, but each of them put forward his own basis for this. So, T. Brown put the sign of time as the basis for classification, dividing emotions into immediate, that is, manifested "here and now", retrospective and prospective. Reed built a classification based on the relationship to the source of the action. I. Dodonov in 1978 notes that it is impossible to create a universal classification in general, therefore a classification suitable for solving one range of problems turns out to be ineffective for solving another range of problems

Emotions - (French emotion, from Latin emoveo - shake, excite) - a class of mental states and processes that express in the form of direct biased experience the meaning of reflected objects and situations to meet the needs of a living being.

Emotion is a general, generalized reaction of the body to vital influences.

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.

Of greatest importance is the division of emotions into higher and lower.

Higher (complex) emotions arise in connection with the satisfaction of social needs. They appeared as a result of social relations, labor activity. Lower emotions are associated with unconditioned reflex activity, based on instincts and being their expression (emotions of hunger, thirst, fear, selfishness).

Of course, since a person is an inseparable whole, the state of the emotional body directly affects all other bodies, including the physical one.

In addition, emotional states (more precisely, the states of the emotional body) can be caused not only by emotions. Emotions are pretty fleeting. There is an impulse - there is a reaction. There is no impulse - and the reaction disappears.

Emotional states are much more permanent. The reason for the current state may disappear long ago, but the emotional state remains and sometimes lingers for a long time. Of course, emotions and emotional states are inextricably linked: emotions change emotional states. But emotional states also affect emotional reactions, and in addition they affect thinking (i.e. mind). In addition, feelings contribute: they also change the emotional state. And since people often confuse where feelings are and where emotions are, then a simple process in general turns into something difficult to understand. Rather, this is not difficult to understand - it is difficult to put it into practice without preparation, and therefore (including therefore) people sometimes have difficulties with managing their emotions and emotional states.

It is possible to suppress an emotional state by an effort of will - this is the very suppression that is harmful, according to psychologists, all the more harmful both for a person and as a parent. You can switch yourself: artificially evoke in yourself (or attract from outside) some other impulse - react to it in some previously known way - a new emotion will add its stream and lead to a different emotional state. You can do nothing at all, but focus on living the current emotional state (this approach is mentioned in Buddhism and Tantra). This is nothing new, and we learn to suppress emotional states from childhood, considering this process the control of emotions ... but this is not true. Still, this is the control of emotional states, and with its help it is impossible to control emotions themselves.

And this is where the confusion appears: a person thinks that he is trying to control emotions - but he does not work with emotions. In reality, a person is trying to work with the consequences of emotions; but since he does not touch on the causes of his emotional state, his attempts will certainly be ineffective (of course, if he does not work with himself and in terms of choosing emotions) - in terms of emotional states, the difficulty is that our current state is the result of several different reasons at once , diverse reasons. Therefore, it is difficult to choose an intelligent method of self-regulation (especially if only emotions are taken into account and other areas of the psyche are not taken into account). However, it seems that with a sufficiently developed will, it is easier to work with one's own emotional states. Well, you should not lose sight of the fact that the causes from the sphere of feelings are weakly amenable to control and observation, at least at first.

Thus, there are a great many approaches to the classification and definition of emotions, emotions accompany all manifestations of the body's vital activity and perform important functions in the regulation of human behavior and activities:

· signaling function(signal about a possible development of events, a positive or negative outcome)

· estimated(assesses the degree of usefulness or harmfulness to the body)

· regulating(based on the received signals and emotional assessments, he chooses and implements ways of behavior and actions)

· mobilizing and disorganizing

adaptive the function of emotions is their participation in the process of learning and gaining experience.

The main emotional states distinguished in psychology:

1) Joy (satisfaction, fun)

2) Sadness (apathy, sadness, depression)

3) Fear (anxiety, fear)

4) Anger (aggression, anger)

5) Surprise (curiosity)

6) Disgust (contempt, disgust).

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 make it necessary to evade harmful factors.

What emotions and emotional state are you experiencing lately?

Emotional states are mental states that arise in the process of the subject's life and determine not only the level of information and energy exchange, but also the direction of behavior. Emotions control a person much more than it seems at first glance. Even the absence of emotions is an emotion, or rather a whole emotional state, which is characterized by a large number of features in human behavior.

According to the impact on human life, emotions can be divided into two groups:

sthenic - increasing the vital activity of the body and

asthenic - lowering them.

An emotional state in which sthenic or asthenic emotions predominate can manifest itself in a person in any kind of his activity and become his character trait.

His life, his health, his family, work, his entire environment depend on the emotional state of a person, and a change in the emotional state of a person leads to fundamental changes in his life.

In everyday life, people are stratified into groups according to close emotional states. Different groups do not understand each other well, communication is worse, but inside the group things are somewhat better. As a rule, an integral, formed group belongs to one emotional state.

Each person is unique and holds his own personal opinion about life, but his point of view is not due to reasoning or education, but to his emotional state.

There is a set of invariable reactions corresponding to each emotional state. In all people, emotions change in a strictly defined order. This pattern is applicable to all people without exception, one and the same and unchanged in appearance for all.

The sequence of emotional states of a person is as follows:
1. Zone of active life:

a) Enthusiasm.

b) Fun.

c) Strong interest.

2. Zone of conservatism:

a) Conservatism.

Medium interest, moderate interest.

Satisfaction, satisfied, weak interest.

Lack of interest.

Monotony, uniformity.

3. Zone of antagonism:

a) Antagonism, open hostility.

Hostility, enmity, strong dislike.

4. Anger Zone:

a) Anger (anger, rage).

Hatred.

Indignation.

5. Zone of fear:

a) Lack of emotion.

b) Hidden hostility.

Despair.

Numbness.

d) Sympathy.

d) Coaxing, the need to propitiate (reconciliation).

6. Zone of grief and apathy:

a) Grief (sadness).

b) Making amends, atonement for guilt.

c) Victim.

d) Apathy.

Briefly, the main emotional states distinguished in psychology:

1) Joy (satisfaction, fun)
2) Sadness (apathy, sadness, depression), 3) Anger (aggression, anger),
4) Fear (anxiety, fear),
5) Surprise (curiosity),
6) Disgust (contempt, disgust).

Usually a person is well aware of his emotional state and carries out a transfer to other people and for life. The higher the emotional state of a person, the easier it is for him to achieve his goals in life. Such a person is rational, reasonable, therefore he is happier, more alive, more confident. The lower his emotional state, the more a person's behavior is under the control of his momentary reactions, despite his education or intelligence.

Emotions and feelings are peculiar states of the psyche that leave an imprint on the life, activity, actions and behavior of a person. If emotional states mainly determine the external side of behavior and mental activity, then feelings affect the content and inner essence of experiences due to the spiritual needs of a person.

Emotional states include: moods, affects, stresses, frustrations and passions.

Mood- the most general emotional state that covers a person for a certain period of time and has a significant impact on his psyche, behavior and activities. The mood can arise slowly, gradually, or it can cover a person quickly and suddenly. It can be positive or negative, permanent or temporary.

Affect- a rapidly emerging and rapidly flowing short-term emotional state that negatively affects the psyche and behavior of a person. If the mood is a relatively calm emotional state, then the affect is an emotional flurry that suddenly swooped in and destroyed the normal state of mind of a person. An affect may arise suddenly, but it may also be prepared gradually on the basis of the accumulation of accumulated experiences when they begin to overwhelm the soul of a person. In a state of passion, a person cannot reasonably control his behavior. Overwhelmed by affect, he sometimes commits such actions, which he later bitterly regrets. It is impossible to eliminate or slow down the affect. However, the state of affect does not release a person from responsibility for his actions, since each person must learn to control his behavior in a given situation. To do this, it is necessary at the initial stage of affect to switch attention from the object that caused it to something else, neutral. Since in most cases the affect manifests itself in speech reactions directed at its source, instead of external speech actions, one should perform internal ones, for example, count slowly to 20. Since the affect manifests itself for a short time, by the end of this action its intensity decreases and the person will come to a calmer condition. The affect is predominantly manifested in people of the choleric type of temperament, as well as in ill-mannered, hysterical subjects who are unable to control their feelings and actions.

Stress- an emotional state that suddenly arises in a person under the influence of an extreme situation associated with a danger to life or an activity that requires great stress. Stress, like affect, is the same strong and short-term emotional experience. Therefore, some psychologists consider stress as one of the types of affect. But this is far from the case, since they have their own distinctive features. Stress, first of all, occurs only in the presence of an extreme situation, while affect can arise for any reason. The second difference is that affect disorganizes the psyche and behavior, while stress not only disorganizes, but also mobilizes the organization's defenses to get out of an extreme situation. Stress can have both positive and negative effects on a person. Stress plays a positive role by performing a mobilization function, while a negative role is played by a harmful effect on the nervous system, causing mental disorders and various diseases of the body. Stress affects people's behavior in different ways. Some, under the influence of stress, show complete helplessness and are unable to withstand stressful influences, while others, on the contrary, are stress-resistant individuals and show themselves best in moments of danger and in activities that require the exertion of all forces.

frustration- a deeply experienced emotional state that arose under the influence of failures that occurred with an overestimated level of personality claims. It can manifest itself in the form of negative experiences, such as: anger, annoyance, apathy, etc. There are two ways to get out of frustration. Either a person develops vigorous activity and achieves success, or reduces the level of claims and is content with the results that he can achieve to the maximum.

Passion- a deep, intense and very stable emotional state that captures a person completely and completely and determines all his thoughts, aspirations and actions. Passion can be associated with the satisfaction of material and spiritual needs. The object of passion can be various kinds of things, objects, phenomena, people that a person seeks to possess at all costs. Depending on the need that caused passion, and on the object through which it is satisfied, it can be characterized either as positive or negative. A positive or sublime passion is associated with highly moral motives and has not only a personal but also a social character. Passion for science, art, social activities, protection of nature, etc. makes a person's life meaningful and interesting. All great things were done under the influence of great passion. Negative or base passion has an egoistic orientation and when it is satisfied, a person does not consider anything and often commits antisocial immoral acts.

Which arises in a person as a result of a reaction to an object or situation. They are not static and have a different strength of expression. Such states determine and depend on the data of his character and psychotype.

Basic emotional states: characteristics

Emotions are characterized by three parameters:

1. Valence. This is the so-called tone of emotions: they can be negative and positive. An interesting fact is that there are much more negative emotions than positive ones.
2. Intensity. Here the strength of emotional experience is evaluated. External physiological manifestations are the more pronounced, the stronger the emotion. This parameter is closely related to the CNS.
3. parameter affects the activity of human behavior. It is represented by two options: sthenic and emotions contribute to the paralysis of actions: the person is lethargic and apathetic. Stenic, on the contrary, encourage action.

Kinds

Emotional states of a person are divided into 5 categories, which are identified by the strength, quality and duration of manifestation:

1. Mood. One of the longest lasting emotional states. It affects human activity and can occur both gradually and suddenly. Moods can be positive, negative, temporary and persistent.
2. affective emotional states. This is a group of short-term emotions that suddenly cover a person and are characterized by a vivid manifestation in behavior. Despite the short duration, the influence of affects on the psyche is very large and has a destructive character, reducing its ability to organize and adequately assess reality. This state can be controlled only by individuals with a developed will.
3. stressful emotional states. They arise when a person gets in from a subjective point of view. Severe stress can be accompanied by affect if a lot of emotional damage has been suffered. On the one hand, stress is a negative phenomenon that adversely affects the nervous system, and on the other hand, it mobilizes a person, which sometimes allows him to save his life.
4. Frustration. It is characterized by a feeling of difficulties and obstacles, leading a person into a depressed state. In behavior, there is anger, sometimes aggressiveness, as well as a negative reaction to ongoing events, regardless of their nature.
5. Emotional states of passion. This category of emotions is caused by a person's reaction to material and spiritual needs: for example, a strong desire for something causes in him a desire for an object that is difficult to overcome. Activity is observed in behavior, a person feels a rise in strength and most often becomes more impulsive and proactive.

Along with this classification, there is a more detailed one, which divides all emotions into 2 categories.

Psychologists identify 7 basic emotions:

• joy;
• anger;
• contempt;
• astonishment;
• fear;
• disgust;
• sadness.

The essence of the main emotions is that they are experienced by all people who had a harmonious development without pathologies from the nervous system. They are equally manifested (albeit in varying degrees and quantities) in representatives of different cultures and social environments.

This is due to the presence of certain brain structures that are responsible for a particular emotion. Thus, a certain set of possible emotional experiences is inherent in a person from the very beginning.