Psychology of Emotions

The psychology of emotions in modern science has been developed to a much lesser extent than other areas of psychological science. Emotions and feelings in psychology have been studied for a long time, but there are still many gaps in this field of knowledge.

Each mental phenomenon performs two functions - reflection and regulation. In this case, emotional functions do not perform these functions in the same way as cognitive processes, such as thinking, memory, perception, sensation, imagination, etc.

The psychology of emotions studies primary forms of reflection, which are much older than conscious and mediated cognitive processes. Their main purpose is to signal the use or harm to the organism of certain phenomena of the surrounding world.

There is such an experimentally proven emotional primacy as a "primitive". It precedes a more logical, conscious and detailed evaluation. About this write E. Artemieva, K. Obukhovsky and others. Emotions bear a seal of connections with desires and deep needs of the person. It is this closest connection with needs that is the most important sign of emotion.

Psychology of emotions refers to complex internal regulators of human activity, which emotions perform through motives. It is characteristic that quite often the motives of behavior remain unconscious for the person himself. This feature of emotions (connection with the unconscious) essentially distinguishes them from cognitive processes, carried out mainly under the clear control of consciousness.

Modern psychology of emotions does not give a clear definition of its object of study. That is, there is virtually no clear formulation of what is included in the concept of "emotion". This can be traced in those branches of psychology that explore different emotional states. For example, the psychology of loneliness is engaged in studying one of the most difficult problems of psychology of emotions. The difficulty is that solitude in the modern world has become synonymous with individual success and the main condition for the emergence of the individual. From the point of view of psychology, loneliness is the problem of the individual, which often becomes a social problem. Investigate the roots of the problem and find its solution for a long time: the origins are Z. Freud.

There are many different emotional states: fear, stress, anxiety, frustration, tension, etc. It is noteworthy that many emotional states have common characteristics and therefore are not clearly distinct. In many respects they correspond with other states: mental, nervous, functional, etc. Such uncertainty of the content of the term "emotions" greatly complicates scientific research in this field of knowledge.

The concept of emotions takes into account the integral factor of social experience, which is the cultural and historical determination of all psychic phenomena. Social determination explains the occurrence of certain emotions, as well as determines the forms of their expression.

General psychology of emotions should include aspects of emotional states and concepts about the mechanisms by which emotions are realized, that is, about the psycho-physiological laws that ensure their existence.

The psychology of emotions explores both the individual emotional states and the individual characteristics of the emotional life of a person.

The basic emotional states peculiar to a person are divided into emotions, feelings and affects. The first two concepts express the meaning of certain life situations for a person in terms of actual needs. The emotions can be caused by both real and imaginary situations. They are perceived by man as inner experiences. In external behavior, they are relatively weak. Accompanying behavioral acts, they are not even always recognized by a person. Therefore, emotional experience is always wider than the experience of individual experiences.