Characteristics of emotional states. General concept of emotions

The idea of the complexity of the psychological structure of emotions was first formulated by W. Wundt. In his opinion, the structure of emotions includes three main dimensions:

pleasure/displeasure;

excitement/calming;

voltage/resolution.

Subsequently, these views on the structure of emotions were developed and, to a certain extent, transformed in the works of other foreign and domestic psychologists. Currently, the main emotions in the structure are called following components:

impressive(inner experience);

expressive(behavior, facial expressions, motor and speech activity);

physiological(vegetative changes).

Many psychologists adhere to such views on the structure of emotions (G.M. Breslav, K. Izard, E.P. Ilyin, R. Lazarus, A.N. Luk, etc.).

Each of these components in various forms of emotional response can be expressed to a greater or lesser extent, but all of them are present in each holistic emotional reaction as its components.

The impressive component of the emotional response (experience). All emotional reactions are characterized by a specific internal experience, which, according to A.E. Olshannikova, “the main emotional unit.” According to S.L. Rubinstein, experience is a unique event of inner life, a manifestation of the individual history of the individual. According to L.I. Bozhovich, understanding the nature of a person’s experiences allows us to better understand his essence. Consequently, the main function of experiences is the formation of a specific, subjective experience of a person, aimed at identifying his essence, place in the world, etc.

In modern psychology, there are several approaches to defining the concept of “experience”:

through its opposition to objective knowledge. So, according to L.M. According to Wecker, experience is a direct reflection by the subject himself of his own states, while the reflection of the properties and relationships of external objects is knowledge;

through linguistic analysis of the words “experience”, “relive". This is typical for the activity theory of experiences by F.E. Vasilyuk, according to which to experience something means to endure some kind of life event, to cope with a critical situation, and experience is “a special activity, a special work on restructuring the psychological world, aimed at establishing a semantic correspondence between consciousness and being, the general goal of which is to increase the meaning of life." Experience-activity manifests itself in cases when it becomes impossible to directly and directly solve problems in objective-practical activity;

through the criterion of meaningfulness. M.I. Dyachenko and L.A. Kandybovich is given following definition experience: “a meaningful emotional state caused by a significant objective event or memories of episodes from a previous life.” According to A.N. Leontyev, the main function of experiences is signaling about the personal meaning of an event, and F.E. Vasilyuk believes that the function of

reliving is not only the identification, but also the production of personal meaning;

4) through the significance criterion: to what extent certain events or objects are necessary, useful or, conversely, harmful to this person. F.V. Bassin, analyzing the problem of “meaningful experiences,” writes that any event can acquire a different type of “meaning” for a person, “mediated” not by the objective characteristics of the impact, but by the “history” of the subject.

It seems most correct point of view, that not meaning (which is a phenomenon of consciousness), but rather significance is the most essential criterion for understanding the essence of the concept of “experience,” since experiences can also be unconscious. In this case, significance can act both as a source and as a result, a product of the experiencing process.

Thus, experience is a manifestation of a person’s subjective attitude to any external or internalevent of his life, expressing the character (usefulness, necessitytraffic, danger, etc.) and the degree of its significance forsubject.

Different scientists have different definitions of the nature and degree of significance of events that can cause an emotional reaction. If for W. Wundt any perceived event is significant (and, therefore, emotional) due to the fact that at the moment of perception it is part of the individual’s life, then according to other scientists (R. Lazarus, E. Claparède, etc.) emotions arise only in exceptional cases.

Expressive component of emotional response.

Emotional experiences have a certain expression in a person’s external behavior: in his facial expressions, pantomime, speech, and gestures. It is the expressive manifestations of emotions that are better recognized and controlled by a person. At the same time, a person is not able to fully manage or control the external expression of emotions. Thus, with the help of hypnosis, it was revealed that a person cannot perform a movement characteristic of one type of emotion and simultaneously experience another emotion. He either changes his movement or finds himself unable to experience the new emotion instilled in him (N. Bull). In addition, blocking (suppression, containment) of expressive emotional manifestations (for example, in

situations that cause fear, but exclude the possibility of escape, etc.) usually leads to the appearance of a condition emotional stress.

All means of emotional expression can be divided into facial expressions(expressive facial movements), speech(intonation, etc.), sound(laughter, crying, etc.) gestural(expressive hand movements) and pantomimic(expressive movements of the whole body).

Facial means of emotional expression. The human face has the greatest ability to express various shades of emotional experiences. With the help of facial expressions, i.e. coordinated movements of the eyes, eyebrows, lips, nose, etc., a person is able to express the most complex and varied emotions. Facial expression is also the main recognition channel emotional states from other people.

One of the first attempts to classify emotional facial expression is the work of I. Lavater “Essay on Physiognomy” (1783). Later, in 1859, the German anatomist T. Piderit expressed the idea that any facial expression can be characterized by several elementary expressive movements, and in support of this he compiled many schematic drawings of facial reactions (Fig. 66).

However, the systematic study of emotional expression began with the works of Charles Darwin, in which he formulated universality thesis facial reactions: all people have a certain set of universal facial expressions, reflecting the basic adaptive models developed in the process of evolution. For example, anger is expressed by frowning eyebrows, squinted eyes and a slightly open mouth (so that teeth are visible) - this is how our ancestors expressed their intention to bite the enemy. The results of cross-cultural studies, as well as the study of facial reactions of primates in general confirm this assumption of Charles Darwin, however, facial expression is not completely determined by innate factors.

J. Reikowski identifies the following main factors in the formation of facial expression of emotions:

1) congenital species-typical facial patterns corresponding to certain emotional states;

acquired, learned, socialized ways of expressing feelings, subject to voluntary control;

individual expressive features peculiar only to a given individual.

The fact that a person is born with a ready-made mechanism for expressing emotions through facial expressions was revealed in the studies of G. Oster and P. Ekman: all the facial muscles necessary for expressing various emotions are formed during the 15-18th week of intrauterine development, and changes in the “facial expression” of the embryo can be observed as early as the 20th week. However, a person’s emotional experience is much broader than the experience of his individual experiences, as evidenced by the poverty of facial expressions in people who are blind from birth. A person’s emotional experience is also formed as a result of emotional empathy that arises in communication with other people and transmitted, in particular, through the means of art (literature, painting). There is also a so-called conventional facial expressions as a generally accepted way of expressing emotions in a given culture. Each person has a certain repertoire of facial reactions characteristic only for him, repeated in

in a wide variety of situations: closing or opening your eyes wide, wrinkling your forehead, opening your mouth, etc.

The first attempt to create a scale, a system of facial expressions of emotions, is considered to be the scheme of R. Woodworth. He proposed to categorize the entire variety of emotional expression of facial expressions using a linear scale with the following six steps:

love, joy, happiness;

astonishment;

fear, suffering;

anger, determination;

disgust;

contempt.

G. Schlosberg, having applied the classification scheme of R. Woodworth when analyzing photographs of people with different facial expressions, suggested that representing the R. Woodworth scale in the form of a circle with two axes would be more appropriate (Fig. 67): pleasure/displeasure, acceptance/non-acceptance ( rejection).

The greater the distance between individual emotional categories on the scale, the less similar the corresponding

them facial expressions. Distance along the axis from the edge to the center indicates an increasingly weaker manifestation of this facial expression of emotion.

Research by P. Ekman and K. Izard made it possible to identify three autonomous zones of the face:

forehead and eyebrow area;

eye area (eyes, eyelids, base of nose);

lower part of the face (nose, cheeks, mouth, jaw, chin). As experiments by V.A. showed. Barabanshchikova and T.N. Small

Kova (1988), the most expressive facial manifestations are localized mainly in the lower part of the face, and the least expressive - in the forehead and eyebrows. In their opinion, the eyes are a kind of semantic center of the face, where the influence of strong facial changes in the upper and lower parts is accumulated. In addition, there are optimal recognition zones for different emotions: for grief and fear - the eye area, anger - the upper part of the face, joy and disgust - the lower part of the face.

In the temporal aspect, each facial reaction, according to K. Izard, proceeds as follows:

I)latent period- time interval from the moment of stimulation to the beginning of visible manifestations of the reaction;

deployment period - the time interval from the end of the latent period to reaching the maximum level of manifestation;

climax period - maximum level of emotional manifestations;

recession period- the time interval from climax to complete extinction.

By assessing one or more time characteristics of a facial reaction, you can quite easily distinguish a sincere emotion from a feigned one. For example, the facial expression of basic emotions lasts on average from 0.5 to 4 s. Facial expressions lasting less than 1/3 s and more than 10 s are quite rare, so going beyond the boundaries of this time range most often indicates that a person is “depicting” an emotion.

Speech means of emotional expression. The expression of emotions through various speech means has acquired great importance in human relationships. At the same time, speech can have an expressive meaning regardless of and even in contradiction with the meaning and content of the spoken words.

Table 6 Characteristic facial changes during various emotions (corresponding to three areas of the face)

	Upper face		Lower face
	Eyebrows raised and furrowed. Mor-	The upper eyelids are raised so that the view	Lips stretched and tense
	wrinkles only in the center of the forehead	on the sclera, the lower ones are raised and tense
Astonishment	Eyebrows raised high and rounded	The upper eyelids are raised, and the lower ones are lowered	The mouth is open, lips and teeth are separated,
	us. Horizontal wrinkles are not	puppies so that above the iris	tension or tension in the mouth area
	cut off the entire forehead	where the sclera is visible
	The eyebrows and forehead are calm	The upper eyelids are calm, the lower	The mouth is closed, the corners of the lips are pulled to the sides and
		eyelids are raised, but not tense	raised. From the nose to the outer edge of the lips
		us; wrinkles under the lower eyelids. At the outer edge of the corners of the eyes there are wrinkles - “crow’s feet”	wrinkles stretch - nasolabial folds
	The eyebrows are lowered and drawn together, between	The upper eyelids are tense, the lower ones are	Mouth closed, lips pursed
	eyebrows vertical folds	tense and elevated
Disgust	Eyebrows slightly lowered	The upper eyelids are drooping, the lower ones are	The nose is wrinkled. Mouth closed. Upper lip
		raised, but not tense; under	raised, the lower lip is also raised and
		wrinkles on the lower eyelids	moved upward towards upper lip
	The inner corners of the eyebrows are raised	The inner corners of the upper eyelids are	The mouth is closed, the corners of the lips are lowered, tense
			no tingling or tension in the mouth area
Contempt	One eyebrow archedly raised	The eyelids are half-lowered, the eyes are looking	Lower lip drooping
	the one on the forehead with a transverse fold

The main characteristics of speech emotional expression are:

intonation;

clarity of diction;

logical stress;

rate of articulation and pausing;

lexical richness;

free and precise expression of thoughts.

Speech in a state of emotional stress has the following distinctive features:

in terms of motor implementation - significant increase/decrease in speech volume, faster/slower rate of speech, clearer pronunciation, increase by 50 % number of pauses of hetization (doubt), incompleteness of phrases;

grammatically- an increase in the number of nouns and verbs compared to adjectives and adverbs, repetitions and ambiguities, violations in the syntactic structure of phrases (“telegraphic style”);

semantically - the appearance of words with the meaning of semantic non-exclusivity (eternally, always, never, no one, etc.); speech is characterized, on the one hand, by greater harshness in assessments, and on the other, by indecisiveness (V.P. Belyanin).

Physiological component of emotional response.

The presence of an emotional reaction to something can be judged not only by a person’s self-report about the state he is experiencing or by his external behavior, but also by the nature of changes in vegetative indicators (pulse, blood pressure, respiratory rate, etc.). Most often, such changes in the body are called emotional excitement. However, based on physiological changes, one can draw a conclusion about the quantitative characteristics of the emotional process (intensity, duration) rather than about the qualitative ones (modality).

At the same time, the sign of emotion can determine the characteristics of the autonomic reaction. P.V. Simonov found that positive emotional reactions:

Emotions and the autonomic nervous system. When we talk about the physiological component of an emotional response, we mean, first of all, those changes that occur in the autonomic nervous system (ANS), which controls the activity of internal organs (digestion, blood circulation, respiration, metabolism, etc.).

Sympathetic department The ANS ensures adaptation to changed conditions, prepares the body for work and protection, which is reflected in increased heart rate, increased blood pressure, inhibition of motility and secretion of the digestive tract. Parasympathetic Division The VNS ensures the restoration of disturbed balance in the body and resources, which is manifested in a decrease in heart contractions, a decrease in blood pressure, increased motility and secretion of the digestive tract. In general, the effect of excitation of the sympathetic nervous system in many organs and systems of the body is opposite to the effect of excitation of the parasympathetic nervous system, therefore some authors associate the functioning of negative emotions primarily with the activation of the sympathetic part of the ANS, central adrenergic structures, and positive emotions with the activation of the parasympathetic part and structures of cholinergic nature (P.K. Anokhin and others).

However, P.V. Simonov notes that numerous experimental facts indicate the participation of both sections of the ANS in the implementation of both positive and negative emotional states and that increased activity of these sections can occur simultaneously. According to J. Lacey and colleagues, with the same emotional reaction, an increase in heart rate can be observed (cuterski shift) and increase in GSR (parasympathetic shift). P.V. Simonov believes that the degree of participation of the sympathetic and parasympathetic parts of the ANS depends on the nature of the negative emotion (Fig. 68).

Emotions and the hormonal system. Experimental studies have revealed that hormones have different effects on a person’s emotional sphere. Yes, there is a shortage

norepinephrine contributes to depression in the form of melancholy, and serotonin deficiency contributes to depression in the form of anxiety. A study of the brains of depressed patients who committed suicide showed that they were depleted of both norepinephrine and serotonin. An increase in the concentration of serotonin in the brain causes an improvement in mood (N.N. Danilova, 2000).

VC. Myager and A.I. Goshev studied the relationship between adrenaline and norepinephrine for various negative emotions (Table 7).

Table 7 The relationship between adrenaline and norepinephrine in negative emotions

Emotional condition	Adrenalin	Norepinephrine
	Rising	Rising
		Decreases
Despair	Decreases	Rising
		Decreases

Changes in breathing during emotional response. Breathing movements during emotions perform a dual function:

R. Woodworth identified the following changes in the speed and amplitude of respiratory movements: when excited, breathing movements are frequent and deep; in case of anxiety - accelerated and weak; in case of fear - a sharp slowdown in breathing, etc. (Fig. 69).

An informative indicator of a person’s emotional state is also the ratio between the duration of inhalation and exhalation. Shterring (1906), determining this ratio by dividing the inhalation time by the time of the entire cycle, obtained the following data showing a significant increase in the duration of inhalation in emotional states compared to the duration of exhalation: at rest -0.43 s; when excited - 0.60 s; with surprise - 0.71 s; in case of sudden fear - 0.75 s.

Changes in blood circulation during emotional response.

These changes are characterized by the frequency and strength of the pulse, blood pressure, expansion and contraction of blood vessels. As a result of these changes, blood flow speeds up or slows down and, accordingly, there is an influx of blood to some organs and its outflow from other organs and parts of the body. As mentioned above, the speed of heart contractions is regulated by autonomic impulses, and also changes under the influence of

adrenaline rush. At rest, the heart rate is 60-70 beats per minute. When frightened, an instant acceleration occurs up to 80-90 beats per minute. With excitement and tense anticipation (for example, at the start), the heart rate increases by 15-16 beats per minute.

Corresponding changes are observed in blood pressure. When frightened, systolic blood pressure rises. This increase is also observed when thinking about possible pain (for example, in some people it is detected as soon as the dentist enters the room and approaches the patient). The increase in blood pressure before the first day of examination in students is sometimes 15-30 mm above normal.

All these changes are related to the body’s needs for better performance of the corresponding activity: in case of sudden fear, they lead to faster and better blood supply to the muscles that have to work; in anticipation of an exam, to improved blood supply to the brain, etc.

12.4. Classification of emotions

The variety of emotions, their qualitative and quantitative manifestations exclude the possibility of a simple and unified classification. Each of the characteristics of emotions can act as an independent criterion, a basis for their classification (Table 8).

Table 8 Characteristics of emotions as a basis for their classification

Characteristics of emotions	Types of emotions
	Positive, negative, ambivalent
Modality	Joy, fear, anger, etc.
Influence on behavior and activity	Sthenic, asthenic
Degree of awareness	Conscious, unconscious
Objectivity	Subjective, non-subjective
Degree of randomness	Voluntary, involuntary
Origin	Congenital, acquired Primary, secondary
State of the art	Inferior, superior
Duration	Short term, long term
Intensity	Weak, strong

By sign emotional experiences can be divided:

to positive;

negative;

ambivalent.

Main function positive emotions is to maintain contact with a positive event, therefore they are characterized by a reaction of approaching a useful, necessary stimulus. In addition, according to P.V. Simonov, they encourage one to break the achieved balance with the environment and look for new stimulation.

For negative emotions characteristic is the reaction of removal, interruption of contact with a harmful or dangerous stimulus. They are believed to play a more important biological role because they ensure the survival of the individual.

Ambivalent emotions are contradictory emotional experiences associated with an ambivalent attitude towards something or someone (simultaneous acceptance and rejection).

However, many researchers note that the sign of an emotion is not always correlated with a positive one ( positive emotions) or negative (negative emotions) significance of stimuli and direction towards them, and in general this division is quite conditional. K. Izard suggests using the constructiveness criterion to distinguish between positive and negative emotions: positive emotional experiences contribute to a person’s constructive interaction with other people, with situations and objects, while negative ones, on the contrary, prevent such interaction. J. Reikovsky considers this problem from the standpoint of organization (disorganization) of the flow of regulatory activities.

In the psychological literature there are different approaches to how many and which of the emotional modalities are basic. Different authors name different numbers of basic modalities: from two (pleasure/displeasure) to ten. In domestic psychology V.D. Nebylitsyn proposed to consider three main modalities:

The rest of the emotions are their derivatives or combinations. The question of the need to also include the emotion of sadness in the structure of the initial modalities of the emotional sphere remains debatable. According to O.P. Sannikova, “emotions of such patterns as “joy” and “sadness” belong to the same qualitative continuum, occupying polar positions in it.” Other authors believe that the emotion of sadness has its own distinctive characteristics (L.M. Abolin, 1987; N.M. Rusalova, 1979, etc.). A.I. Makeeva considers the following emotional modalities as the main ones: joy, surprise, fear, suffering, anger, contempt. Six basic emotions are also identified by A.T. Zlobin: fear, sadness, anger, shame, joy, fearlessness.

In foreign psychology, three main modalities of emotions are named in the works of J. Watson (fear, rage and love) and J. Gray (anxiety, joy/happiness and horror/anger). R. Woodworth, when classifying facial emotional manifestations of people, identified the following main groups:

love, joy, happiness;

astonishment;

fear, suffering;

anger, determination;

disgust;

contempt.

R. Plutchik names eight primary emotions (modalities) corresponding to the main prototypes of adaptive behavior: acceptance, disgust, anger, joy, fear, grief, surprise, interest.

R.S. Lazarus, based on the idea that emotional reactions arise from interactions with the environment, created his own classification of emotions and the reasons for their occurrence (Table 9).

However, the most developed, focused on individual emotional modalities, is the theory of differential emotions by K. Izard, which identifies ten fundamental emotions:

1) interest- intellectual emotion, a feeling of involvement that increases a person’s ability to perceive and process information coming from outside world information that stimulates and regulates his activity;

Table 9Emotions and the reasons for their occurrence (according toR. S. Lazarus, 1994)

	Cause of occurrence
	An attack directed at the person himself and what belongs to him
	Facing uncertainty, existential threat
	Facing an immediate, specific and overwhelming physical danger
	Violation of the moral imperative
	Failure to live up to your ideal self
	Experiencing irrevocable loss
	The desire to possess something that another has
Jealousy	Resentment directed toward a third party resulting from the loss or threat of losing another person's affection
Disgust	Perceiving an intolerable object or idea, or getting too close to such an object
	Taking a noticeable step towards achieving the intended goal
Pride	Strengthening a person's ego identity by accepting praise for an achievement or an object of value
Relief	Worrying about a condition that is not meeting the goal, which has either changed for the better or disappeared altogether
	Fearing the worst, but striving for the best
	The desire for affection or its presence, which, however, is not always mutual
Compassion	A state when a person is touched by the suffering of another and is driven by the desire to help him

joy- an emotion characterized by the experience of psychological comfort and well-being, a positive attitude towards the world and oneself;

astonishment - an emotion caused by sudden changes in stimulation that prepares a person for effective interaction with new or sudden events;

sadness- experience of loss (temporary/permanent, real/imaginary, physical/psychological) of an object

satisfying a need that causes a slowdown in mental and physical activity, the general pace of human life;

5) anger - an emotion caused by a state of discomfort, limitation or frustration, characterized by mobilization of energy, high levels of muscle tension, self-confidence and generating readiness for attack or other forms of activity;

6) disgust- emotional reaction of rejection, removal from physically or psychologically harmful objects;

7) contempt - a feeling of superiority, value and significance of one’s own personality in comparison with the personality of another person (devaluation and depersonalization of the object of contempt), which increases the likelihood of committing “cold-blooded” aggression;

8) fear - an emotion characterized by a feeling of insecurity, uncertainty about one’s own safety in a situation of threat to the physical and (or) mental “I” with a pronounced tendency to escape;

9) shame - the experience of one’s own inadequacy, incompetence and uncertainty in a situation of social interaction, one’s inconsistency with the requirements of the situation or the expectations of others, both contributing to compliance with group norms and having a destructive effect on the very possibility of communication, giving rise to alienation, the desire to be alone, to avoid those around you;

10) guilt - an experience that arises in a situation of violation of the internal moral and ethical standard of behavior, accompanied by self-condemnation and repentance.

The classification of modalities proposed by K. Izard is criticized for its empirical nature, since it is recognized that it is not entirely justified that these ten emotions are singled out. Thus, there is an opinion that only those emotions that have deep phylogenetic roots can be called basic, that is, they are present not only in humans, but also in animals. Therefore, emotions that are unique to humans, such as shame and guilt, can hardly be considered basic (they are believed to appear as a result of the socialization of the basic emotion of fear). In addition, it was revealed that facial expressions of contempt are not at all perceived and understood by children aged 3-5 years, therefore, it can be assumed that contempt is social.

a lysed form of anger. In general, interest is more often considered a motivational phenomenon.

Appearing in response to the impact of vital events, emotions contribute to either mobilization or inhibition of mental activity and behavior. Depending on the influence on behavior and activity human emotions are divided into sthenic(from the Greek sthenos - strength) - activating the vital activity of the body, encouraging action (anger, surprise, etc.), and asthenic- depressing and overwhelming life processes in the body (shame, sadness, etc.). Emotions of such modalities as fear or joy can be both sthenic and asthenic in nature.

Depending on the degree of awareness emotions are divided into conscious And unconscious. However, awareness of emotional experiences is not subject to the all-or-nothing principle. Therefore, there are different degrees of awareness of emotions and different forms of its distortion. Full awareness presupposes both a comprehensive description of the emotion itself and an understanding of the connections between the emotion and the factors that caused it, on the one hand, and between the emotion and the actions to which it prompts, on the other. A change in the awareness of emotional experiences, according to J. Reikovsky, can manifest itself in the following forms:

unawareness of the very fact of the emergence of emotions (for example, a person does not notice his anxiety, emerging feelings, etc.);

misinterpretation of the cause of the emotion (for example, a person believes that his anger is caused by someone’s unworthy behavior, when in fact it is caused by the fact that he was not given enough attention);

incorrect interpretation of the connection between an emotion and the action caused by it (for example, the parent believes that he is punishing the child “for his own good,” when in fact he does it in order to show his superiority).

Psychology did not immediately come to the understanding that not all emotional experiences are conscious. Initially, the ideas of introspective psychology dominated, in which emotions were considered as phenomena of consciousness and,

therefore, they were fully conscious. It was in psychoanalysis that the provisions were first formulated that not all mental phenomena (including emotions) are registered in consciousness. The main reasons for the lack of awareness of certain emotional phenomena are their weak intensity, as well as the action of special mechanisms blocking awareness (psychological defenses). In addition, those emotional experiences that arose and formed in early childhood, when the child’s consciousness was not yet sufficiently developed, remain unconscious, although they can subsequently participate in the regulation of adult behavior.

Depending on the objectivity, that is, from the connection of emotional experiences with a specific object, emotions are subject And pointless.

VC. Vilyunas proposed a functional classification of emotions: according to their functional characteristics and role in the regulation of activity. Considering emotions as a mediator between needs and activities to satisfy them, the author subdivides them:

on leading - experiences that color the objects of need in the image of the environment and thereby transform them into motives. Such experiences are a direct subjective correlate of the need, objectifying it in objective activity. Leading emotions precede activity, encourage it and are responsible for its general direction;

derivatives - situationally significant experiences that arise in the process of activity and express the subject’s attitude to individual conditions that favor or hinder its implementation, to specific achievements in it, to existing or possible situations.

Depending on the degree of arbitrariness, i.e. the possibilities of voluntary regulation and control of behavior, emotions are arbitrary And involuntary. However, the voluntariness of emotional response, like awareness, is a continuous scale and has varying degrees of severity.

By origin emotions are divided into congenital, associated with the implementation of instinctive response programs and acquired, formed under the influence of individual and social experience.

According to G.A. Vartanyan and E.S. Petrov, primary emotions are genetically determined and strictly related to the disruption or restoration of homeostasis in the body. Such experiences are functionally inextricably fused with specialized unconditional reflex reactions and are non-probability (occur in response to a certain external stimulus with a probability equal to “1”). Secondary emotions are formed on the basis of primary ones as a result of individual adaptation experience.

By level of development emotions are divided into inferior- associated primarily with biological processes in the body, with the satisfaction (dissatisfaction) of vital human needs, and higher - associated with the satisfaction (dissatisfaction) of human social and spiritual needs. Component composition lower and higher emotions are also different: higher emotions include a “subjective link” (assessment of one’s emotional state) and various cognitive links (providing a probabilistic assessment of the situation, etc.).

Duration emotions characterizes the time of occurrence of an emotional reaction. Short-term emotional reactions usually appear with a single exposure and are unstable, temporary, and transient in nature. Long lasting emotional experiences are characterized by stability and constancy.

Intensity emotions characterizes the strength of experience and accompanying expressive and physiological reactions. At weak emotional experiences there are no significant physiological changes and expressive manifestations in human behavior. Strong emotional experiences are accompanied by pronounced physiological and expressive reactions.

Along with the so-called “internal” grounds for classifying emotions (according to their inherent characteristics), there are also “external” ones (according to the spheres of their manifestation and subject content). An example of such a distinction between emotional phenomena is the classification of B.I. Dodonov, who divides emotions depending on their subjective value for a person:

on altruistic- arising on the basis of the need for assistance, help, patronage of other people (devotion, pity, sympathy, etc.);

communicative - arising from the need for communication (liking, respect, appreciation, gratitude, adoration, etc.);

gloric- associated with the need for self-affirmation, fame and recognition (pride, a sense of superiority, wounded pride, etc.);

practical - caused by activity, changes in the course of work, success or failure, difficulties in its implementation and completion (passion, etc.);

pugnistic - originating from the need to overcome danger, interest in fighting (feelings of excitement, determination, competition, etc.);

romantic- associated with the desire for everything unusual, mysterious (hope, expectation, etc.);

gnostic - associated with the need for cognitive harmony (surprise, a sense of conjecture, the joy of discovery, etc.);

aesthetic - associated with lyrical experiences, with enjoying the beauty of something or someone (feeling of beauty, etc.);

active - arising in connection with interest in accumulation, collecting (sense of possession, etc.);

hedonistic - associated with satisfying the need for physical and mental comfort (a feeling of carefree, fun, etc.).

The main disadvantage of the proposed B.I. Dodonov’s classification of emotions is its empirical-descriptive nature, the absence of a single basis for the types of emotions he distinguishes.

Questions for self-control

Criteria in the classification of emotions.

Basic emotional modalities.

Basic emotions identified by K. Izard.

The influence of emotions on human behavior and activity.

Forms of change in awareness of emotional experiences.

12 Zak. 3128 353

Main types of emotions depending on their subjective valuefor a person.

Approaches to defining the concept of “emotion”.

Differences between cognitive and emotional processes.

Properties inherent in emotions.

The main structural components of emotional response.

Approaches to defining the concept of “experience”.

The most expressive means of emotional expression.

Basic facial changes during various emotions.

Factors influencing the formation of facial expressionexpressions of emotions.

Distinctive features of speech in an emotional stateyarn.

Changes in the body during various emotional experiences.

Emotional condition- This is the direct experience of a feeling.

Depending on the satisfaction of needs, the states experienced by a person can be positive, negative or ambivalent(duality of experiences). Taking into account the nature of the impact on human activity, emotions are sthenic(encourage active activity, mobilize forces, for example, inspiration) and asthenic(relax a person, paralyze his strength, for example, panic). Some emotions can be both sthenic and asthenic at the same time. Different effects of the same feeling on activity different people due to the individual characteristics of the person and his volitional qualities. For example, fear can disorganize a cowardly person, but mobilize a courageous one.

According to the dynamics of the course, emotional states can be long-term and short-term, according to intensity - intense and weakly expressed, according to stability - stable and changeable.

Depending on the form of occurrence, emotional states are divided into mood, affect, stress, passion, frustration, and higher feelings.

The simplest form emotional experience is emotional tone, i.e. emotional coloring, a peculiar qualitative shade of the mental process, prompting a person to preserve or eliminate them. The emotional tone accumulates a reflection of the most common and frequently occurring signs of useful and harmful factors in the surrounding reality and allows you to make a quick decision about the meaning of a new stimulus ( beautiful landscape, unpleasant interlocutor). The emotional tone is determined personal characteristics a person, the process of his activity, etc. The purposeful use of emotional tone makes it possible to influence the mood of the team and the productivity of its activities.

Mood- these are relatively long-term, stable mental states of moderate or weak intensity, manifesting themselves as a positive or negative emotional background of mental life. Mood depends on social activity, worldview, and orientation of a person. May be related to health status, time of year, or environment.

Depression- This is a depressed mood associated with a weakening of excitement.

Apathy characterized by loss of strength and represents psychological condition caused by fatigue.

Affect- this is a short-term, violent emotion that has the character of an emotional explosion. The experience of affect is stage-specific. At the first stage, a person, seized by a flash of rage or wild delight, thinks only about the object of his feelings. His movements become uncontrollable, his breathing rhythm changes, and small movements are disrupted. At the same time, at this stage, every mentally normal person can slow down the development of affect, for example, by switching to another type of activity. In the second stage, a person loses the ability to control his actions. As a result, he can commit actions that he would not have committed in his normal state. At the third stage, relaxation occurs, the person experiences states of fatigue and emptiness, and sometimes he is not able to remember episodes of events.

When analyzing an affective act, it is necessary to remember that the structure of this act does not have a goal, and the motive is the experienced emotions. To prevent the formation of an affective personality, it is necessary to teach students methods of self-regulation and take into account their type of temperament in the process of education. Students with choleric and melancholic temperaments (the latter in a state of fatigue) are prone to affect.

The concept of “stress” was introduced into science by G. Selye (1907-1982). The scientist determined stress as a nonspecific reaction of the human (animal) body to any demand. Depending on the stress factor, physiological and mental stress are distinguished. The latter, in turn, is divided into informational(EMERCOM worker does not have time to accept the right decision at the required pace in a situation of high responsibility) and emotional(occurs in situations of threat, danger, for example, during an exam). The body's response to stress is called "general adaptation syndrome". This reaction includes three stages: the alarm reaction, the resistance phase and the exhaustion phase.

From the point of view of G. Selye, stress is not just nervous tension, it is not always the result of damage. The scientist identified two types of stress: distress and eustress. Distress occurs in difficult situations, with great physical and mental overload, when it is necessary to make quick and responsible decisions and is experienced with great internal tension. The reaction that occurs during distress resembles affect. Distress negatively affects the results of a person’s activities and has a detrimental effect on his health. Eustress, on the contrary, it is positive stress that accompanies creativity and love, which has a positive impact on a person and contributes to the mobilization of his spiritual and physical strength (G. Selye, 1960).

Ways to adapt to stressful situation are rejection of it on a personal level (psychological protection of the individual), complete or partial disconnection from the situation, “displacement of activity,” the use of new ways to solve a problem problem, the ability to carry out a complex type of activity despite tension. To overcome distress, a person needs physical movements that help activate the parasympathetic department of the higher nervous activity, music therapy, bibliotherapy (listening to excerpts from works of art), occupational therapy, play therapy, as well as mastering self-regulation techniques may be useful.

Passion- a strong, stable, all-encompassing feeling, which is the dominant motive of activity, leads to the concentration of all forces on the subject of passion. Passion can be determined by a person's worldview, beliefs, or needs. In its focus it is emotional manifestation can be positive and negative (passion for science, passion for hoarding). When we talk about children, we mean hobbies. Truly positive hobbies unite a child with others and expand his sphere of knowledge. If a positive hobby isolates a child from his peers, then perhaps it compensates for the feeling of inferiority experienced by him in other areas of activity (in studies, sports) that are not related to his interests, which indicates a dysfunctional personality.

Frustration is a mental state caused by the appearance of insurmountable obstacles (real or imaginary) when trying to satisfy a need that is significant to the individual. Frustration is accompanied by disappointment, annoyance, irritation, anxiety, depression, and devaluation of the goal or task. For some people, this condition manifests itself in aggressive behavior or is accompanied by withdrawal into the world of dreams and fantasies. Frustration can be caused by a lack of abilities and skills necessary to achieve a goal, as well as by experiencing one of three types of internal conflicts (K. Levin, 1890-1947). This conflict of equals positive opportunities , which arises when it is necessary to choose in favor of one of two equally attractive prospects; b) conflict of equal negative possibilities, arising from a forced choice in favor of one of two equally undesirable prospects; V) conflict of positive-negative possibilities, arising from the need to accept not only the positive, but also the negative aspects of the same perspective.

The dynamics and forms of manifestation of states of frustration vary from person to person. Research shows that intelligence plays a special role in shaping the direction of emotional reactions. The higher a person’s intelligence, the more likely it is to expect an externally accusatory form of emotional reaction from him. People with less high intelligence are more likely to take the blame in situations of frustration.

Many psychologists believe that there are only three basic emotions: anger, fear and joy.

Anger is a negative emotion caused by frustration. The most common way to express anger is aggression- an intentional action intended to cause harm or pain. Ways of expressing anger include: direct expression of feelings, indirect expression of feelings (transferring anger from the person who caused the frustration to another person or object) and containing anger. Optimal options overcoming anger: thinking about the situation, finding something comic in it, listening to your opponent, identifying yourself with the person who caused anger, forgetting old grievances and strife, striving to feel love and respect for the enemy, awareness of your condition.

Joy is an active positive emotion that is expressed in good mood and a feeling of pleasure. A lasting feeling of joy is called happiness. According to J. Friedman, a person is happy if he simultaneously feels satisfaction with life and peace of mind. As research shows, people who have families, have active religious beliefs, and have good relationships with others are happier (V. Quinn, 2000).

Fear is a negative emotion that arises in situations of real or perceived danger. Justified fears play an important adaptive role and contribute to survival. Anxiety- this is a specific experience caused by a premonition of danger and threat, and characterized by tension and concern. The state of anxiety depends on the problem situation (exam, performance) and on personal anxiety. If situational anxiety is a state associated with a specific external situation, then personal anxiety- stable personality trait constant an individual's tendency to experience anxiety. People with low personal anxiety are always calmer, regardless of the situation. Required relatively high level stress in order to trigger a stress response in them.

Higher feelings of a person arise in connection with the satisfaction or dissatisfaction of his spiritual needs, with the fulfillment or violation of the norms of life and social behavior he has learned, the course and results of his activities. Depending on the subject area to which they relate, higher feelings can be intellectual, moral and aesthetic.

TO intellectual feelings include experiences that arise in the process of human cognitive activity (surprise, interest, doubt, confidence, feeling of something new, etc.). Intellectual feelings can be determined by the content, problematic nature of the activity, and the degree of complexity of the tasks being solved. Intellectual feelings, in turn, stimulate activity, accompany it, influence the course and results of a person’s mental activity, acting as its regulator.

Moral feelings include a moral assessment of an object, phenomenon, and other people. The group of moral feelings includes patriotism, love of profession, duty, collectivism, etc. The formation of these feelings presupposes the assimilation by a person of moral rules and norms, which are historical in nature and depend on the level of development of society, customs, religion, etc. The basis for the emergence of moral feelings are public interpersonal relationships, defining their content. Once formed, moral feelings encourage a person to perform moral actions. Violation of moral standards is fraught with the experience of shame and guilt.

Aesthetic feelings represent a person’s emotional attitude to beauty. Aesthetic feelings include a sense of the tragic, comic, ironic, sarcastic, and are manifested in assessments, tastes, and external reactions. They intensify activities and help to better understand art (music, literature, painting, theater).

Emotions are different complex structure, no matter how elementary they may seem to us at first glance.

The idea of the complexity of the psychological structure of emotions was first formulated by the outstanding German psychologist of the 19th century. V. Wundtom. In his opinion, the structure of emotions includes three main dimensions: 1) pleasure-displeasure; 2) excitement-calming; 3) voltage-resolution.

Subsequently, these views on the structure of emotions were developed and, to a certain extent, transformed. Currently, the following components are called the main ones in the structure of emotions: 1) impressive(inner experience); 2) expressive(behavior, facial expressions, motor and speech activity); 3) physiological(vegetative changes). Each of these components in various forms of emotional response can be expressed to a greater or lesser extent, but all of them are present in each holistic emotional reaction as its components.

The impressive component of the emotional response (experience). All emotional reactions are characterized by a specific internal experience, which is the “main emotional unit.” An experience is a unique event of inner life, a manifestation of the individual history of a person. Understanding the nature of a person’s experiences allows us to better understand his essence. Consequently, the main function of experiences is the formation of a specific, subjective experience of a person, aimed at identifying his essence, place in the world, etc.

Thus, experience – this is a manifestation of a person’s subjective attitude to any external or internal event of his life, expressing the nature (usefulness, necessity, danger, etc.) and the degree of its significance for the subject.

Expressive component of emotional response. Emotional experiences have a certain expression in a person’s external behavior: in his facial expressions, pantomime, speech, and gestures. It is expressive manifestations of emotions that are better realized and controlled by a person. At the same time, a person is not able to fully manage or control the external expression of emotions.

Facial means of emotional expression. The human face has the greatest ability to express various shades of emotional experiences. With the help of facial expressions, that is, coordinated movements of the eyes, eyebrows, lips, nose, etc., a person is able to express the most complex and varied emotions. Facial expression is also the main channel for recognizing emotional states in other people. It is believed that any facial expression can be characterized using several elementary expressive movements (Fig. 6.1).

Fig.6.1. Character traits facial expressions:

A- pleasure; b- alertness; V- bitterness; G- anger;

d- contempt; e- gaiety; and- strong laughter; h- sadness

The following main factors in the formation of facial expressions of emotions are identified: 1) congenital species-typical facial patterns corresponding to certain emotional states; 2) acquired, learned, socialized ways of expressing feelings, subject to voluntary control; 3) individual expressive features peculiar only to a given individual.

Research has identified three autonomous facial zones: 1) forehead and eyebrow area; 2) eye area (eyes, eyelids, base of nose); 3) lower part of the face (nose, cheeks, mouth, jaw, chin). As experiments have shown, the most expressive facial expressions are localized mainly in the lower part of the face, and the least expressive - in the forehead-eyebrow area. The eyes are a kind of semantic center of the face, where the influence of strong facial changes in the upper and lower parts is accumulated. In addition, for different emotions there are optimal recognition zones: for grief and fear - the eye area, anger - the upper part of the face, joy and disgust - the lower part of the face (Table 6.1).

Throughout its centuries-long history, research on emotional states has received the closest attention; they have been assigned one of the central roles among the forces that determine inner life and human actions.

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

W. Wundt

V.K.Vilyunas

W. McDougall

The doctrine of 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 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 people’s behavior 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 regulate these relations.

Intellectual feelings arise in the process of mental activity and are associated with cognitive processes. This 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, inquisitiveness, surprise, confidence in the correctness of the solution to 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, rough; a feeling of greatness or, conversely, baseness, vulgarity.

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

Many scientists have made attempts to give more universal classifications of emotions, but each of them put forward their own basis for this. Thus, T. Brown based the classification on the sign of time, 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 action. I. Dodonov notes in 1978 that it is generally impossible to create a universal classification, 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 - shocking, exciting) - a class of mental states and processes that express, in the form of direct biased experience, the meaning of reflected objects and situations to satisfy 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, and stress. 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.

The division of emotions into higher and lower is of greatest importance.

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

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

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

Emotional states are much more permanent. The cause of 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 influence emotional reactions, and also influence thinking (i.e., the mind). In addition, feelings contribute: they also change the emotional state. And since people often confuse where are feelings and where are emotions, a generally simple process turns into something difficult to understand. Or rather, this: it’s not difficult to understand - it’s difficult to put it into practice without preparation, and therefore (including why) people sometimes have difficulties managing their emotions and emotional states.

You can suppress an emotional state with a strong-willed effort - this is the same suppression that, according to psychologists, is harmful, especially harmful both for a person and as a parent. You can switch yourself: artificially evoke in yourself (or attract from the outside) some other impulse - react to it in some way in advance in a known way– a new emotion will add its own current and lead to a different emotional state. You can do nothing at all, but focus on experiencing 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 to be control of emotions... but this is wrong. Still, this is 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 is not working with emotions. In reality, a person is trying to work with the consequences of emotions; but since he does not touch upon the causes of his emotional state, his attempts will obviously 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 various reasons, various reasons. Therefore, it is difficult to choose an intelligent method of self-regulation (especially if you consider only emotions and do not take into account other areas of the psyche). However, it seems that if you have a sufficiently developed will, it is easier to work with your own emotional states. Well, you shouldn’t lose sight of the fact that reasons from the sphere of feelings are poorly 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 activity:

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

· evaluative(assesses the degree of usefulness or harmfulness for the body)

· regulating(based on received signals and emotional assessments, he selects and implements methods of behavior and action)

· mobilizing And disorganizing

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

The main emotional states identified in psychology:

1) Joy (satisfaction, fun)

2) Sadness (apathy, sadness, depression)

3) Fear (anxiety, fright)

4) Anger (aggression, bitterness)

5) Surprise (curiosity)

6) Disgust (contempt, disgust).

Positive emotions that arise as a result of the body’s interaction with the environment contribute to the consolidation of useful skills and actions, while negative ones force one to evade harmful factors.

What emotions and emotional states have you been experiencing lately?

Psychology of emotional state

Plan

Introduction

1. Psychology of human emotional states

1.1. Types and role of emotions in human life

1.2. Psychological theories of emotion

1.3 Emotional states

Conclusion

Bibliography

Introduction

Any human activity is associated with the fulfillment of needs. Emotional experiences are one of the ways of expressing cognitive needs.

Emotions are elementary experiences that arise in a person under the influence of the general state of the body and the process of satisfying current needs. This definition of emotions is given in a large psychological dictionary.

Emotional states are one of the types of emotions, characterized by a longer duration, which can be measured in hours and days.

According to their modality, emotional states can appear in the form of irritability, anxiety, complacency, various shades of mood - from depressive states to euphoria. However, most often they are mixed conditions. Since emotional states are also emotions, they also reflect the relationship between the needs of the subject and the objective or subjective possibilities for their satisfaction, rooted in the situation.

Knowledge of the psychological foundations and nature of emotional states is one of the necessary factors in the self-regulation of individual behavior.

The above provisions indicate the relevance of the topic of the course work.

The purpose of the course work is to study the psychological foundations of emotional states.

Job objectives:

Expand the concept of emotions, their types and role in human life.

Review psychological theories on the problem of emotions.

Describe the characteristics of emotional states.

Give ways to eliminate negative emotional states.

1. Psychology of human emotional states

1.1 Types and role of emotions in human life

Any need, including cognitive needs, is given to a person through emotional experiences.

In other words, “emotions are subjective psychological states that reflect, in the form of direct experiences, feelings of pleasant or unpleasant, a person’s attitude to the world and people, to the process and result of his practical activity.”

A number of authors adhere to the following definition. Emotions are a mental reflection in the form of direct, biased experience, life meaning phenomena and situations determined by the relationship of their objective properties to the needs of the subject.

According to the authors, this definition contains one of the main features of emotions, which distinguishes them, for example, from cognitive processes - the direct presentation in them to the subject of the relationship between a need and the possibility of satisfying it.

A.L. Groysman notes that emotions are a form of mental reflection that stands on the verge (to the content of the cognizable) with physiological reflection and represents a unique personal attitude of a person both to the surrounding reality and to himself.

Types of emotions

Depending on the duration, intensity, objectivity or uncertainty, as well as the quality of emotions, all emotions can be divided into emotional reactions, emotional states and emotional relationships (V.N. Myasishchev).

Emotional reactions are characterized by a high rate of occurrence and transience. They last minutes, are characterized by a fairly pronounced quality (modality) and sign (positive or negative emotion), intensity and objectivity. The objectivity of an emotional reaction is understood as its more or less unambiguous connection with the event or object that caused it. An emotional reaction normally always arises about events that occurred in specific situation something or someone. This could be fear from a sudden noise or scream, joy from heard words or perceived facial expressions, anger due to an obstacle that has arisen or about someone’s action, etc. It should be remembered that these events are only a trigger for the emergence of emotion, and the cause is either the biological significance or the subjective meaning of this event for the subject. The intensity of emotional reactions can be different - from barely noticeable, even for the subject himself, to excessive - affect.

Emotional reactions are often reactions of frustration of some expressed needs. Frustration (from the Latin frustatio - deception, destruction of plans) in psychology is a mental state that arises in response to the appearance of an objectively or subjectively insurmountable obstacle to satisfying a need, achieving a goal or solving a problem. The type of frustration reaction depends on many circumstances, but very often it is a characteristic of the personality of a given person. This could be anger, frustration, despair, or guilt.

Emotional states are characterized by: longer duration, which can be measured in hours and days; normally, lower intensity, since emotions are associated with significant energy expenditure due to the accompanying physiological reactions; in some cases, pointlessness, which is expressed in the fact that the subject may the reason and the reason that caused them are hidden, as well as some uncertainty of the modality of the emotional state. According to their modality, emotional states can appear in the form of irritability, anxiety, complacency, various shades of mood - from depressive states to euphoria. However, most often they are mixed conditions. Since emotional states are also emotions, they also reflect the relationship between the needs of the subject and the objective or subjective possibilities for their satisfaction, rooted in the situation.

In the absence of organic disorders of the central nervous system, the state of irritation is essentially a high readiness for anger reactions in a long-term situation of frustration. A person has outbursts of anger for the slightest and various reasons, but they are based on dissatisfaction with some personally significant need, which the subject himself may not be aware of.

A state of anxiety means the presence of some uncertainty about the outcome of future events related to the satisfaction of some need. Often the state of anxiety is associated with a sense of self-esteem (self-esteem), which may suffer if there is an unfavorable outcome of events in the expected future. The frequent occurrence of anxiety in everyday activities may indicate the presence of self-doubt as a personality, i.e. about unstable or low self-esteem inherent in a given person in general.

A person's mood often reflects the experience already achieved success or failure, or a high or low probability of success or failure in the near future. A bad or good mood reflects the satisfaction or dissatisfaction of some need in the past, success or failure in achieving a goal or solving a problem. It is no coincidence that a person in a bad mood is asked if something has happened. A long-term low or high mood (over two weeks), not typical for a given person, is a pathological sign in which an unsatisfied need is either truly absent or deeply hidden from the subject’s consciousness, and its detection requires special psychological analysis. A person most often experiences mixed states, for example, a depressed mood with a tinge of anxiety or joy with a tinge of anxiety or anger.

A person can also experience more complex conditions, an example of which is the so-called dysphoria - a pathological condition lasting two to three days, in which irritation, anxiety and bad mood are simultaneously present. Less severe dysphoria may occur in some people and is normal.

Emotional relationships are also called feelings. Feelings are stable emotional experiences associated with a specific object or category of objects that have special meaning for a person. Feelings in a broad sense can be associated with various objects or actions, for example, you may not like a given cat or cats in general, you may or may not like doing morning exercises, etc. Some authors suggest calling only stable emotional relationships towards people feelings. Feelings differ from emotional reactions and emotional states in duration - they can last for years, and sometimes for a lifetime, for example, feelings of love or hatred. Unlike states, feelings are objective - they are always associated with an object or an action with it.

Emotionality. Emotionality is understood as stable individual characteristics of the emotional sphere of a given person. V.D. Nebylitsyn proposed to take into account three components when describing emotionality: emotional impressionability, emotional lability and impulsiveness.

Emotional sensitivity is a person’s sensitivity to emotional situations, i.e. situations that can evoke emotions. Because different people have different dominant needs, each person has different situations that can trigger emotions. At the same time, there are certain characteristics of the situation that make them emotional for all people. These are: unusualness, novelty and suddenness (P. Fress). Unusuality differs from novelty in that there are types of stimuli that will always be new for the subject, because there are no “good answers” for them, such as loud noise, loss of support, darkness, loneliness, images of the imagination, as well as combinations of the familiar and the unfamiliar . There are individual differences in the degree of sensitivity to emotiogenic situations that are common to all, as well as in the number of individual emotional situations.

Emotional lability is characterized by the speed of transition from one emotional state to another. People differ from each other in how often and how quickly their state changes - in some people, for example, the mood is usually stable and depends little on minor current events, in others, with high emotional lability, it changes for the slightest reasons several times a day. day.

Impulsivity is determined by the speed with which emotion becomes the motivating force of actions and actions without prior thought. This personality quality is also called self-control. There are two different mechanisms of self-control - external control and internal. With external control, it is not the emotions themselves that are controlled, but only their external expression; emotions are present, but they are restrained; the person “pretends” that he does not experience emotions. Internal control is associated with such a hierarchical distribution of needs in which lower needs are subordinated to higher ones, therefore, being in such a subordinate position, they simply cannot cause uncontrollable emotions in appropriate situations. An example of internal control would be a person's passion for something when he for a long time does not notice hunger (“forgets” to eat) and therefore remains indifferent to the type of food.

In psychological literature, it is also common to divide the emotional states that a person experiences into actual emotions, feelings and affects.

Emotions and feelings are personal formations that socio-psychologically characterize a person; associated with short-term and working memory.

Affect is a short-term, rapidly flowing state of strong emotional arousal, resulting from frustration or some other reason that has a strong effect on the psyche, usually associated with the dissatisfaction of very important needs for a person. Affect does not precede behavior, but forms it at one of its final stages. Unlike emotions and feelings, affects occur violently, quickly, and are accompanied by pronounced organic changes and motor reactions. Affects can leave strong and lasting traces in long-term memory. Emotional tension accumulated as a result of the occurrence of afetogenic situations can accumulate and sooner or later, if it is not given a way out in time, lead to a strong and violent emotional release, which, while relieving tension, often entails a feeling of fatigue, depression, depression.

One of the most common types of affects these days is stress - a state of mental (emotional) and behavioral disorder associated with a person’s inability to act expediently and wisely in the current situation. Stress is a state of excessively strong and prolonged psychological tension that occurs in a person when his nervous system receives emotional overload. Stresses are the main “risk factors” for the manifestation and exacerbation of cardiovascular and gastrointestinal diseases.

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Characteristics of emotional states. General concept of emotions

Introduction

1. Psychology of human emotional states

1.1 Types and role of emotions in human life

Psychology mental state

Negative emotional state

Emotional state memory