Emotions and feelings are inherent in every person. But have you ever wondered what it is in general and what are the differences between these concepts? Often they are used as synonyms, although not all psychologists, psychiatrists and other representatives of science agree with this point of view. Of course, the issue of emotions and feelings in psychology is very multifaceted and it is simply impossible to cover it within the framework of one article (especially since experts are far from always unanimous in everything related to this area). In this article, we will analyze what are emotions human and what are feelings, What is the difference and what are emotions.

Emotions: a matter of definition

We encounter different approaches to emotions already at the stage of definitions. Psychologists, psychiatrists, and other professionals sometimes give very different answers to the question of what emotion means, depending on the theories, views, and ideas that are being analyzed. In the context of this article, the most appropriate are, for example, the following definitions:

• emotions - a special class of mental phenomena, manifested in the form of a direct, biased experience by the subject of the life meaning of these phenomena, objects and situations to meet their needs (Great psychological encyclopedia);
• emotions are states associated with an assessment of the significance for the individual of the factors acting on him and are expressed primarily in the form of direct experiences of satisfaction or dissatisfaction of actual needs. They are one of the main regulators of activity (Psychological Dictionary);
• emotions are a mental reflection in the form of a direct biased experience of the relationship of phenomena and situations to needs (G. Verbina. Psychology of emotions).

All these definitions are united perception of the essence of emotions as a reaction to external events and phenomena. Needs in this context are considered as widely as possible: these are both needs in the literal sense of the word, as well as desires, plans, ideas about something, etc. Events/phenomena are also widely understood: they can happen now, we can only imagine them or experience them in some other way. Accordingly, all the features of emotions, their external (facial expressions, gestures, etc.) and internal (our relationships, experiences) manifestations become the result of such a reaction.

Regardless of the interpretation of what emotions are, experts agree that this word itself goes back to the Latin verb emovere- excite, shock, excite.

How are emotions different from feelings?

So where are the feelings, and where are the emotions? According to some theories, the main difference between emotions and feelings is related to the definition mentioned above. So, we call emotions a response to an event or situation. For example, a banknote found on the road
in 1,000 rubles causes joy, lost - sadness. As a rule, emotions pass rather quickly if the reaction to an event/phenomenon fades away in one way or another. You found 1,000 rubles - and rejoice. Then you get distracted - and the joy goes away.

Feeling, on the other hand, is a stable emotionally colored attitude towards any object / subject, which is not a reaction to specific situations or events. For example, love for a spouse, hatred for a traitor, etc. - they are constant in time, although they are also capable of changing (how can one not remember that there is only one step from love to hate).

Another difference between feelings and emotions is in their character. Feelings tend to concern the social sphere(relationships with other people), while for emotions this is not necessary. Besides, feelings are attached to some subject/object, and for emotions this, again, is optional. It is impossible to love or hate in the abstract - only someone specific.

Note that different specialists have different attitudes towards feelings. Some consider them as higher emotions (we will analyze this issue later), while others distinguish them as a separate type of emotional / mental states. And here it should be noted that in the scientific community there are different definitions of emotional and mental states. Therefore, we propose to accept that feelings are qualitatively different from fleeting emotions, but we will address the question of what emotional / mental states are in the following materials.

In relation to the same object / subject, we can experience simultaneously divergent feelings and emotions. For example, you can love your spouse very much, but be annoyed with him for not keeping his promise. And the next moment - to rejoice at the gift that he made as an apology. We often do not know about the true feelings of another person for us and sometimes we conclude about them based on the emotions that he shows to us (which may not coincide with feelings). It is useful to remember this: both when you want to understand how another person feels for you, and when you are trying to imagine how he perceives your feelings for him.

What are emotions? Several basic classifications

All experts agree that emotions can be classified and divided into different groups depending on their particular qualities and characteristics. Although, the question of how to divide emotions into groups, of course, is solved in different ways. We propose to dwell on those main features and classifications that most fully correspond to the above definitions. And here we can distinguish the following types of emotions:

1. Positive and negative

Of course, emotions come first. positive(joy, love, admiration, delight, gratitude) and negative(anger, rage, disgust, disappointment, sadness). Another name for the same division of emotions by sign, by modality - positive and negative. Also allocate neutral emotions (interest, curiosity).

2. Sthenic and asthenic

Emotions and feelings are not only expressed in different ways (both externally and internally), but also have a different effect.
on our body, affecting metabolism, blood circulation, hormone release and other physiological processes. Emotions can slow down or speed up reactions, increase/decrease energy levels, and positively/negatively affect perception, attentiveness, and more. According to the nature of this influence, emotions are divided into sthenic(they are active) and asthenic(they are passive).

Sthenic emotions activate life processes (give us energy, efficiency, etc.); asthenic, on the contrary, oppress. So, joy allows you to forget about fatigue, gives a feeling of lightness, good health, etc. In turn, because of sadness, our hands can drop, the level of energy drops, fatigue piles up.

3. Simple and complex

Emotions happen simple and complex(other names for the same classification: basic/elementary and composite). Figuratively speaking, complex emotions consist of simple/basic/elementary ones. In turn, simple / basic / elementary emotions cannot be divided into smaller components.

Recall that this is only one of the versions of such a classification. So, some experts, for example, share the concepts of basic emotions and elementary ones. For them, the elementary ones are those that cannot be divided into smaller ones, and the basic ones are those that are characteristic of every person, regardless of his age, the culture he belongs to, etc.

Lists of the simplest emotions, of course, also vary. For example, Descartes highlights desire, love, hate, joy, sadness, and surprise. K. Izard in his book "Psychology of Emotions" gives 11 basic, or fundamental, emotions: guilt, anger, interest, disgust, sadness, contempt, joy, embarrassment, fear, shame and surprise. And there is such a list: anger, sadness, joy, fear, shame. Or this: disgust, sadness, joy, fear, pleasure.

As you can see, most experts single out joy as a simple emotion, while admiration or tenderness are components. Sadness, too, is generally seen as a basic emotion, while resentment or annoyance is a complex one. Interestingly, in most lists, there are more negative elementary emotions than positive ones.

4. Higher and lower

Another type of emotion lower and higher. The lower ones are emotions aimed at satisfying the simplest needs and instincts (the joy of eating or relaxing). Whereas the highest relate to intellectual, social, moral, aesthetic and other complex issues (in the broadest sense of the word, for example, admiration for a beautiful picture or pride in a child who won a school olympiad). At the same time, there is a point of view that higher emotions are feelings, but not everyone agrees with this approach.

As it has certainly become clear from our first lessons on the presented topic, acting is a very interesting and exciting creative activity. But at the same time, it is also a very complex activity, because requires from any person who is involved in it, the maximum disclosure of their creative potential, which, in turn, implies the activation and mobilization of all, and especially skills. Thus, we can conclude that the craft of the actor, to a large extent, is the ability to control their emotions.

According to Stanislavsky, the craft is the use by the actor of ready-made acting clichés, perceiving which the viewer can clearly determine what emotions the character is experiencing at a given moment in time. Moreover, the emphasis should be placed precisely on the external manifestations of internal experiences. The ability of an actor to reproduce emotions will be discussed in the lesson presented to your attention.

After studying this lesson, you will learn about what emotions are and how they are characterized, what basic emotions exist and how they manifest themselves outwardly. But the main thing is that you will get acquainted with various ways and methods of managing emotions, which are so rich in acting. The lesson will describe in detail the main emotions and feelings, provide exercises and recommendations to help train their recreation and manifestation (facial expressions, gestures, postures, etc.), and will also consider several effective emotion management techniques, using which you will learn how to quickly reproduce any emotional state at any moment. Actors' emotions are people's emotions, and this lesson will make you a real master of emotion management, which will allow you to use this unique skill not only on stage, but also in your daily life.

emotional process

The emotional process is a psychophysical process that motivates and regulates human activity (thinking, perception, behavior) and reflects the subjective meaning of various situations and objects for a person, expressed in his mind in the form of experiences. Despite this definition, in scientific circles there are a huge number of different views on the very nature of emotional processes, and there is no one specific definition for this phenomenon, and emotional processes should always be understood from the context in which they are considered.

The classification of emotional processes by different scientists also occurs in different ways. There are even theories that take as a basis the existence of only one emotion in general, which simply depends on certain factors and causes various experiences. Most of the researchers among the emotional processes are distinguished by several basic ones - these are affects, emotions, feelings and moods. Let's consider each of them in a little more detail.

• affects- are short-term intense emotional processes that are accompanied by changes at the physiological level. For example, sudden fear.
• Emotions- are longer, but less intense than the first ones, and reflect the subjective meaning of situations (but not specific objects) for a person. For example, a feeling of anxiety.
• Feelings- are longer, but less intense than affects, and reflect the subjective meaning for a person of specific objects. For example, love.
• Moods- are long-term emotional processes of low intensity. For example, boredom.

The reasons for the emergence of various emotional processes, as you can easily see, can be anything: events, situations, phenomena, objects, people, animals, thoughts, etc. If we talk about acting, then we can say that emotional processes serve as the basis for all the emotions that arise in an actor, and only the ability to control these processes makes it possible for a truly plausible experience, interpretation and representation of any images and roles by the master of reincarnations.

Considering that our lesson is devoted specifically to managing emotions, we should talk a little about what emotions are and list the basic emotions of a person.

Emotions and basic emotions

Emotion is an emotional process characterized by an average duration and reflecting a person's subjective assessment of existing or possible situations. Like most other mental phenomena, they are little studied and are understood differently by different specialists. It follows that this definition is not comprehensive and generally accepted.

Emotions are characterized by a number of features:

• Valence- positive or negative coloration. By the way, it has been scientifically confirmed that negative emotions prevail over positive ones in a person, and their number is several times greater.
• Intensity- the strength with which emotions are experienced.
• Stenichnost- emotions can be inciting to activity (sthenic), for example, joy, or relaxing, paralyzing (asthenic), for example, longing.
• Content Emotions can reflect different aspects of the meanings of the situations that evoke them.
• Physiology- a factor that reflects the impact of emotions on a person at the physiological level and causes a certain reaction of the body.
• Mimic feedback- Emotions can cause involuntary manifestations at the level of facial expressions. However, facial expressions can also cause certain emotions, i.e. communication is two-way.

It should also be noted here that scientists have found the strongest connection between emotions and stress, which means that the strongest emotions, regardless of valence, have a tiring effect on the human body and lead to a state of stress, which, with prolonged exposure, can even cause problems for mental, physiological and other levels.

What are basic emotions?

Basic emotions are the basic set of emotions present in every person. To date, there is no generally accepted classification of emotions, and some scientists are inclined to believe that basic emotions exist, while others deny the fact of their existence. But most experts still tend to believe that they are, and in order to determine whether an emotion is basic, there are several defining parameters:

• Basic emotions have a foundation at the neural level
• Basic emotions are manifested at the level of facial expressions
• Basic emotions are perceived by a person and are clearly experienced by him.
• Basic emotions are the result of evolutionary biological processes
• Basic emotions have an organizing and motivating effect on a person.

There are other characteristics to consider when defining basic emotions, but they are secondary.

Many researchers have tried and are trying to determine the basic emotions, but no single list of them has yet been created. But, despite this, there are several basic classifications, the most popular of which can be called the classification of Carroll Izard. That is what we will consider.

Classification of basic emotions according to Izard

According to Carroll Izard, there are eleven basic emotions, and any others are combinations and modifications of them, and arise from them. Below is a list of basic emotions. Basic emotions according to Izard:

1. Joy
2. Astonishment
3. sadness
4. Disgust
5. Contempt
6. Woe-suffering
7. Interest-excitement
8. Embarrassment

Joy

Joy is one of the main positive human emotions. It is characterized by a feeling of satisfaction, happiness and pleasure, and is also considered a positive intrinsic motivation.

Smile, desire to be active, pronounced gestures, rapid heartbeat, desire for communication, good mood.

How to bring joy: in order to invoke joy in yourself, you can think of something pleasant (about some kind of joyful event), recall pleasant memories in your memory, chat with a person who is in a good mood, buy something that you have long dreamed of, in in general, to do something that caused, causes or can cause pleasant emotions in you.

Astonishment

Surprise is an emotion that appears in the event of an unexpected situation. In more scientific terms, surprise can be called an adequate response to a deviation from the norm. Depending on the specifics of the situation, surprise can turn into fear, interest or joy.

Physiological and external manifestations: raised eyebrows, rounded eyes, parted lips, in another case - arched eyebrows, head tilted forward, with strong surprise - wrinkles crossing the forehead.

How to surprise: the main way to surprise yourself is to reproduce physiological manifestations. To simplify your task, you can mentally imagine something that could surprise you: some object, person, situation. Simply put, to be surprised, you need to pretend that you are surprised.

sadness

Sadness is an emotion that occupies an intermediate position between melancholy, sadness and despondency, and is able to incline to one, then to the other, then to the third. Occurs in the event of any distressing circumstances.

Physiological and external manifestations: drawn together eyebrows and raised their inner part, stretched corners of the upper eyelids, lowered corners of the lips, vertical wrinkles between the eyebrows, horizontal wrinkles in the center of the forehead, sometimes tears, passive behavior, desire to be alone with yourself.

How to induce sadness: You can cry out sadness in yourself quite simply: for this you need to think about some sad, sad, tragic event in your life, try to feel what you felt when this event happened, and try to linger in this state, feel it as as deeply as possible, so that the emotion of sadness manifests its outward signs.

Anger

Anger is an emotion with a strong negative valence. Most often, anger is caused by injustice towards a person and the desire to eliminate this injustice immediately.

Physiological and external manifestations: drawn and lowered eyebrows, if anger reaches the limit, then the outer side of the eyebrows soars up, narrowed or, conversely, bulging eyes, tense eyelids, tense and closed lips, in other cases, a grin is possible, tense muscles of the neck and chin, a huge motivation for active actions, sometimes inadequate, the desire to influence the object of anger physically.

How to induce anger: You can evoke the emotion of anger in yourself very simply: you need to think about something that causes you a frank feeling of protest and injustice, remember a conflict situation or a person (if there is one, of course), whose actions cause you negative emotions. In the case of anger, the reproduction of physiological manifestations helps very well.

Disgust

Disgust is a strong form of rejection, a negatively colored feeling. It occurs in cases when a person is faced with something that is very unpleasant for him from a moral, physical, aesthetic point of view.

Physiological and external manifestations: a strongly raised upper lip, raised or lowered, but bulging lower lip, raised cheeks, narrowed eyes and slightly lowered eyebrows, wrinkles at the bridge of the nose, a desire to turn away, brush away, move away.

How to induce disgust: it is very easy to arouse disgust in yourself if you try to imagine something very unpleasant in your imagination in all details: any objects, situations, manifestations and behavior of people, smells, tastes, pictures, etc. It is easy to express the emotion of disgust, simply by reproducing its external manifestations. Most likely, the necessary inner experiences will arise in you by themselves.

Contempt

Contempt is a negatively colored feeling that arises in relation to any object that exhibits behavior or qualities that the disgusted person himself does not allow himself to demonstrate and which seems to him extremely unacceptable. Often, disgust is associated with a sense of superiority of one person over another and can turn into anger and even hatred.

Physiological and external manifestations: signs are similar to signs of disgust, but they most often lack symmetry, tense corners of the lips, closed lips, pushed forward and / or raised chin, a desire to express one's negative attitude, to point out the wrong.

How to arouse contempt: causing contempt is a little more difficult than the above emotions, but, of course, you can. To do this, it is best, just as before, to recreate in your imagination the image of a person whose behavior or qualities cause you negative emotions, and which you do not allow yourself to show. Images of people doing low, deceitful deeds are perfect for this.

Woe-suffering

Grief is a negative emotion associated with a sense of loss. Sorrow and sadness are often synonymous with grief. Suffering, in turn, is a collection of very unpleasant and painful physical or emotional sensations.

Raised inner side of the eyebrows, drawn together eyebrows, lowered corners of the lips, wrinkles on the forehead, in other cases - closed jaws, grin, head thrown back or lowered, clenched fists, tense body, tears.

How to cause grief-suffering: because this emotion is very strong, it is quite simple to evoke it: firstly, you can reproduce external manifestations, secondly, imagine some kind of physical pain, thirdly, you can recreate in your imagination a very tragic situation from your life (the life of another person ) and immerse yourself in the experiences experienced in connection with this.

Shame

Shame is an emotion with a negative connotation associated with some unacceptable hidden or overt act or quality of the person who is ashamed, or with another person for whom he becomes ashamed.

Physiological and external signs: numbness, desire to be alone, stiff movements, passivity or desire to run away, guilt, strained breathing, lowered eyes, wrinkles on the forehead, compressed lips, redness of the face as a result of an abundant flow of blood to it.

How to induce shame: to evoke an emotion of shame in yourself, it is enough to imagine that you have done something very bad or obscene and everyone who is nearby knows about it. It is very good to feel shame when you imagine yourself naked in front of a large number of people who laugh at you. It is also easy to reproduce this emotion if you reflect its physiological signs.

Interest-excitement

Interest is an emotion with a positive connotation. Interest is associated mainly with the need to learn something new about any object, and increased attention to it. Excitement in this context can be called a set of internal experiences associated with something.

Physiological and external signs: slightly wrinkled forehead and slightly shifted eyebrows, often rapid heartbeat and breathing, closed or, conversely, slightly parted lips, desire to possess, desire for physical contact, a gaze, increased concentration on the object of interest, in case of strong excitement - increased sweating, trembling in limbs, stuttering, erratic breathing.

How to generate interest-excitement: it is quite simple to invoke the emotion of interest in yourself: you can imagine that you really want to know more about the person you are next to, or about some object, situation, event, phenomenon, reproduce physiological signs of interest, think about what is interesting , talk about it, collect the necessary information, etc. If you need to cause excitement, then you can think about some important upcoming event, or about one that has already happened, but imagine in the state in which you were even before that.

Guilt

Guilt is an emotion with a negative connotation, arising from the commission of a certain act, which is presented to a person as having negative consequences for himself or for others. Most often it appears in a person in relation to something done specifically by him, which distinguishes the emotion of guilt from the emotion of shame.

Physiological and external signs: lowered or shifting eyes, lowered head, deep breathing, desire to be alone with oneself, the appearance of a blush on the face, a trembling voice, sometimes a raised chin and a contemptuous look, but unwillingness to meet the eyes of others.

How to induce guilt: a person can make himself feel guilty, firstly, if he imagines that he has committed some act that will cause other people or himself to suffer. Secondly, if it accurately reproduces the physiological signs of the emotion of guilt. You can also remember something from the past, for which you felt guilty: some actions, spoken words, committed deeds. The emotion of guilt is closely related to the emotion of shame, therefore, you can resort to methods that allow you to evoke this particular emotion.

As you can easily see, emotions are closely interconnected with each other and, in the vast majority of cases, allow one person to understand what another person is feeling at the moment. But if an actor shows on stage only those emotions that he actually feels at a given moment in time, this can have an extremely negative effect on the quality of his game. In order to avoid unpleasant situations (associated with the expression of emotions) during rehearsals, performances, filming, and in general in life, it is useful to learn some emotion management techniques. But first you need to know about these techniques. This is what we dedicate the final section of our lesson.

15 Emotion Management Techniques

1. Anchoring

The "" technique originates in neuro-linguistic programming and is therefore one of the most effective when it comes to managing emotions. She has an amazing power to influence a person, both on others and on himself. For this reason, we will consider it in somewhat more detail than all of the following.

The meaning of this technique lies in the fact that in the process of simple, but regularly performed actions, a person causes a certain emotional state and fixes (anchores) it through the so-called ritual action. In simpler terms, a conditioned reflex is created that allows one to enter the desired state through the performance of a certain action. With the help of anchoring, you can evoke any emotion.

First of all, you need to create reinforcements, i.e. cause the desired emotional state, remembering any past experience corresponding to it from life. Then, at the moment of the highest intensity of this state, you need to perform a certain action, invented in advance. This may be crossing fingers, biting the lips, pinching the skin, etc. It is important that only you know about this action. By doing this procedure several times, you create an anchor that will instantly evoke the desired emotion in the future. This process is very simple, but requires regular and systematic consolidation.

So the anchoring technique is:

• Invoke the desired state by accessing your memory. Imagine it in detail, visualize it, feel it, feel it completely, trying to reach the peak point.
• At the moment of reaching the peak point, you perform a pre-invented action. Try to come up with something that you will never confuse with anything and probably will not do spontaneously. Repeat this sequence several times, taking small pauses between each "set" until you are "at your peak".
• After that, distract yourself to enter a normal emotional state. Take a break for a while (half an hour / hour) and let the state subside. Then repeat the first two points and again get distracted.
• Repeat the procedure regularly (10, 20, 30 ... 100 times) so that the anchor is stably fixed. The result will be the ability to invoke any emotion you need with a certain action.

2. Technique of the opposite action

This method is used to control emotions of high intensity. It is based on the replacement of experienced emotions with actions that are opposite in meaning to them. Moreover, the actions performed should not suppress or slow down the experienced state, but should simply express something else.

As an example, we can use a state of increased emotional arousal, when a person, for whatever reason, experiences an emotional outburst, which is expressed in excessive mental activity. To suppress this surge, using the technique of the opposite action, you need to sit comfortably on an armchair or sofa, relax, slow down your breathing, think about something calm and pleasant. After some time, you will notice that your state has changed from emotional excitement to calmness and peace.

3. Muscle Release Technique

This technique helps to get rid of tension and the emotions associated with it. It is very convenient to use it when there is a surge of any negatively charged emotions, such as anger, anger, etc.

It is very simple to apply it: as soon as you feel that negative (or positive) emotions begin to take possession of you, you need to sharply and quickly tighten all the muscles of the body (or some specific muscle group) and stay in this state until you feel that there is no more strength to be in tension. After that, the muscles will begin to relax spontaneously, and the outgoing tension will take with it the energy potential of the emotions that have begun to develop.

4. Technique for identifying and labeling an emotional reaction

The proposed technique is the main method of managing emotions, namely, recognizing and identifying current emotional states. But this method is complicated in its own way, because. requires a person to maximize the activation of the ability to self-observation and description of their mental manifestations.

The technique for applying this method consists of several steps:

1. Definition and description of the event that generated the emotion
2. Definition and description of the meaning given to the event
3. Definition and description of emotion-related sensations
4. Definition and description of movements caused by emotion
5. Defining and describing the effect an emotion has on you

The step-by-step implementation of these instructions, firstly, will in itself relieve most of the emotional stress, and secondly, it will allow you to adequately and rationally assess your behavior and take the necessary actions to eliminate the emotion. By the way, the same method can be used to evoke any emotion in yourself. But for this you need to have a clear understanding of the basic emotions of a person in order to be able to reproduce the necessary elements.

5. Technique for applying the suffering tolerance method

There is an opinion that sometimes a person, in order to cope with a negative emotion, needs to be allowed to manifest the actions that it causes. This method is based on the fact that those experiences that accompany negative emotions can and should be simply endured.

For example, you feel angry or angry and want to scream, break something, hit someone. Under no circumstances should you do this. You just need to accept this emotion for what it is, to allow it to be. After a while, you will notice that this emotion will begin to fade, and later disappear altogether. And knowing how much mental suffering a negative emotional charge can cause, you can intentionally reproduce this or that emotion if necessary, for example, when you need to reproduce the behavior of an angry person.

6. Technique for identifying barriers to change emotions

In many cases, certain barriers prevent a person from changing emotions. They may be related to habitual behavior, self-indulgence, protecting one's ego, maintaining status in society, and so on. The technique of identifying barriers makes it possible to identify these barriers, evaluate them, come to an understanding of what drives you and draw appropriate conclusions based on all this, which will allow you to influence your emotional state through volitional efforts.

As soon as you feel that somewhere in the depths of your being a negative emotion begins to arise, and you cannot overcome it, try to switch your attention to determining its true causes: why does it arise in you, what prevents you from changing it, what factors it influence. Such an analysis will allow you not only to learn to identify barriers, but also to better know yourself and your personality. Subsequently, this will be useful to you in the practice of acting, because. help, for example, to get rid of stage clamps, any complexes, etc. obstacles that prevent you from revealing your acting talent.

7. Simple Emotion Detection Technique

Another technique related to the main ones. Its goal is to master the skill of facing your emotions, and not seek salvation from them. When a person is aware of his emotional states, he always has a choice of how to react to a particular situation and what to feel.

You need to master this technique by simply writing down the events that cause you various experiences, the manifestations of these experiences, the features of their impact on you and your behavior. By doing this, you will learn to identify your typical responses to certain emotions. Knowing such information about yourself, you will be able at any suitable moment not only to neutralize the states that you would not like to experience, but also to produce those that you need at the present time. Just imagine what an impact the ability to reproduce or extinguish emotional states will have on your acting data!

8. Technique of desensitization to the level of "emotional intelligence"

In cases where a person is exposed to stressful situations and negative emotions, his emotional reactivity also increases, i.e. a person begins to react to everything very quickly, sometimes without realizing what he is doing. The fundamental factor here is the ability to maintain emotional balance in any life situation. This is "emotional intelligence" that prevents overexertion of any kind.

To make it possible to control your emotional balance always and everywhere, you need to not only try to constantly be in a state of awareness, but also take into account such factors as proper nutrition, healthy sleep, morning exercises, abstinence from alcohol and drugs, etc. Together, this will have an amazing effect on you. Make up for yourself the optimal "mode of life". If you adhere to special rules that help improve your lifestyle, this will certainly affect both your emotional state in general and the ability to control it, which, in turn, will be an advantage for you in acting and in life.

9. Technique to increase the number of events that cause positive emotions

The ability to manage emotions is based, among other things, on the fact that negative emotions contribute to a person’s poor health and vice versa. Of course, you can change the perception of emotions, but emotions will remain anyway. This technique involves mastering the skill of controlling what causes negative emotions.

The main and main method of this technique is to increase the positive events that occur in a person's life. This can be done by purposefully performing any actions or organizing events that bring joyful experiences. The systematic practice of this can even lead to the fact that your lifestyle will change radically. But the initial result will be that you will begin to notice more good things happening in your life. And this means that your general attitude to any activity will be positive, and all undertakings will be crowned with success, because. in everything you will be accompanied by enthusiasm and the disclosure of creativity.

10. Technique of non-judgmental perception of emotions

This technique is designed to reduce the intensity of emotions through their nonjudgmental perception. The fundamental principle here is that when a person does not make any judgments about his emotions, he, thereby, does not allow their psychic energy to take over his consciousness.

This technique is applied quite simply: at the moment of a strong emotion, do not succumb to its influence, do not give it a good or bad rating, concentrate on breathing, look at your emotions from the outside. Just note all the changes, thoughts, judgments about these emotions, remember that you are watching yourself. You can even try to predict the possible changes that could be if you succumbed to experiences. This skill can be successfully applied in real everyday life, and in the one that you lead, being in character, playing, for example, in a play or in a movie, because. allows you to enter any emotional state by reproducing their details.

11. Technique for reducing psychological involvement in the current emotional state

The presented technique is based on the assertion that an even greater experience of a negative emotion that has arisen only exacerbates the situation, because starting to empathize with oneself, a person induces the appearance of secondary emotions associated with the basic one, which increase the potential of the first, bringing even greater suffering. From this it follows that any negative emotion must and can be inhibited, reducing one's psychological involvement in it.

Just like in many previous techniques, the first task here is the ability to notice the emergence of emotion in time. As soon as you feel that an emotion has appeared, do not let yourself build a habitual chain of subsequent reactions. For example, if you feel guilty, then it will certainly be followed by sadness, disappointment, self-flagellation, etc. To prevent this from happening, "slow down" your emotion, do not indulge in further reflection, do not make judgments, do not evaluate. Just accept the state as it is. Think about something abstract, pleasant, bringing opposite - positive emotions, etc. If you do not get involved in a negative state, its intensity will eventually begin to fade and come to naught. This skill will be useful to you, both in life and on stage.

12. Physical Desensitization Technique as a Way to Deal with Emotions

This technique is similar to the desensitization technique discussed above. The most important thing here is the ability to recognize physical conditions that make a person more or less prone to the effects of emotional states.

In order to determine how physical states affect your emotions, you need to ask yourself a few important questions:

1. How does the way I eat affect how I feel?
2. What are the short and long term effects of overeating and undereating?
3. What are the short and long term effects of my alcohol, medication, etc.?
4. How does my sleep affect my well-being?

The answers to these questions should show you the real state of things, namely: how the above factors generally affect your emotional state, and how these states change, depending on the change in the indicators of these factors. Based on this, you will be able to determine the most suitable lifestyle for you, including sleep, diet, drinking or not drinking, etc. A well-designed regimen is bound to contribute to predominantly positive emotions and a better life, and will also have an impact on your productivity, both in everyday life and in acting.

13. Technique "Second pair of eyes"

Using this technique, you can, so to speak, split in two and master the skill of looking at yourself from the outside, which will allow you to more critically evaluate yourself, your actions and emotional experiences, see their essence and change them at your discretion.

Applying this technique means that you allow everything that happens to take its course. At the same time, the main part of your attention should be directed to yourself. You need to watch your reactions, manifestations, actions, etc. Cultivate an inner observer in yourself, which should be as critical and impartial as possible. Self-observation will allow you, if necessary, to make adjustments to your mental manifestations, which means that in any situation you will keep yourself and your emotions under control, which is a huge advantage not only in being in a stage image, but in life in general.

14. Deep breathing technique

The technique under consideration is based on breathing. it is closely related to the human nervous system. Breathing is the basis of life, and the way a person breathes has a direct impact on any states and emotions he experiences.

The practice of this technique is the practice of breathing exercises, which are the regulators of states. Today, there are many breathing exercises in which people mainly take deep breaths in and out. Here is one such exercise:

• You need to sit up straight and take a deep breath through your nose for a count of four, then exhale through your mouth for a count of four.
• On inhalation, the left leg first rises, on exhalation it lowers. After that, the right leg. And so on in turn.
• You need to do four sets for each leg.

Using this technique will allow you to reduce the intensity of any emotion and enter a state of balance and peace. It is very effective because it can be used almost anywhere and anytime.

15. Technique of conscious control of emotions

This is the last technique we will look at. Its main principle is the conscious and intentional management of their emotional states, which allows a person to control all emerging emotions and their subsequent manifestations.

In any situation where you feel any strong emotion coming up, take a little breather. This means that you need to say to yourself: “I need to think”, “I want to reschedule this conversation”, “It's time to pause” or something similar, which will allow you to abstract from the experienced state for a while and “decompose into head all on the shelves. " Set a time limit for yourself during which you can realize your condition and evaluate it. This will stimulate you to enter into states of heightened awareness, during which you will be able to calm down and draw the necessary conclusions. It is very convenient to use this method to study emotions, which in the future will allow you to neutralize them or, conversely, intentionally cause them.

Based on the techniques we have presented in this lesson, we can conclude that there are many ways to influence our emotions. Of all the techniques considered, you can choose the one that is most suitable for you, develop it, study its features and apply it in everyday life. It is important to remember one important rule: a person chooses whether to be a slave to his emotions or their master.

As for the management of emotions in general, it should be noted that this skill is necessary for a person not only in cases where he is an actor, but also in general in everyday life. The ability to manage emotions can be useful for public speaking and for negotiating, and for influencing people, and for successfully running a business, and for building friendships or love relationships, and even for things like sound recording, photo shoots, interviews, etc. .

Train, learn to manage your emotions and know yourself! We wish you success in life and in acting!

Test your knowledge

If you want to test your knowledge on the topic of this lesson, you can take a short test consisting of several questions. Only 1 option can be correct for each question. After you select one of the options, the system automatically moves on to the next question. The points you receive are affected by the correctness of your answers and the time spent on passing. Please note that the questions are different each time, and the options are shuffled.

Chapter 7 Emotions

7.1. Emotions and their functions

It is quite difficult to imagine life without emotions, feelings, moods. We experience a significant number of emotional states every day. With the help of emotions, a person expresses his own internal states, and also communicates with other people.

Emotions - psychological states expressed in the form of experiences, sensations of pleasant or unpleasant, satisfaction or dissatisfaction of a person. Emotions serve to assess the world around him - people, objects, phenomena and events.

There are five main functions of emotions.

– Evaluation of the significance of what is happening. Emotion makes it possible to assess the strength of the stimulus, its impact on a person, to assess a critical or conflict situation.

- Motivation, motivation for certain actions in order to satisfy one's needs or desires. Emotional states are manifested at the physiological level - for example, when adrenaline is released into the blood. Emotions serve as a motivating force to satisfy any needs of the body.

- Regulation of activities, evaluation of successful or unsuccessful labor actions.

- Anticipation, the ability to anticipate the development of events, to predict a pleasant or unpleasant outcome.

- Expressive - the expression of emotions in the form of facial expressions, movements, gestures, sounds.

Emotions have several characteristics, such as excitement or strength, as well as the "charge" of the emotion ("positive" and "negative" emotions).

- Emotional arousal - an increase in the level of activation of the central nervous system, characterizing the strength of the emotional state. Emotions are characterized in addition to mental activity by motor activity. The strongest emotions tend to be the least lasting. An example of a strong short emotional state is affect (it will be discussed a little later). Weakly expressed emotions can last quite a long time (for example, envy or hope).

- Sign of emotions. Emotions can be negative and positive. Negative emotions arise when it is impossible to realize one's goals or objectives, when a person is exposed to harmful external factors. Positive emotions arise in the implementation of their tasks, satisfaction of needs.

It should be noted that within the framework of the study of emotions, one can talk about emotional states, i.e. some stable forms of manifestation of emotions. Emotional states are characterized by a sufficiently long duration, smooth flow.

7.2. emotional states

Consider some of the main types of emotional states.

- Mood is a reflection of the emotional state of a person, his feelings. The mood is bad (characterized by fatigue, irritability, passivity) or good (in which a person is active, cheerful, full of energy). At the same time, a person's mood can persist for a long period of time or change frequently.

- Anxiety- an emotional state characterized by a sense of uncertainty, bad premonitions, the perception of safe situations as containing a threat. Unlike feelings of fear, anxiety rarely has a specific stimulus and is often groundless. At the same time, it plays a significant protective function, expressed in the fact that a person will not respond to a stimulus in relation to which he feels anxiety. The tendency to often experience anxiety may indicate that a person is not confident in himself, he has low self-esteem.

– Frustration(lat. frustratio- deceit, failure) - an emotional state that occurs in a situation of non-fulfillment of any significant goal for a person, dissatisfaction of a significant need and caused by insurmountable obstacles in achieving them. If the causes of frustration are not eliminated, then a person can fall into a depressed state, experience problems with memory and thinking. The negative effect of frustration often manifests itself in aggressive behavior, anger, loss of self-control. The impossibility of overcoming negative factors translates into a search for compensation, which manifests itself in an escape from reality, a feeling of hopelessness.

– Stress(from English. stress- stress) - the reaction of the body to an extreme, strong impact, physical or psychological, as well as the state of the nervous system or the organism as a whole that occurs in response to this impact. Every day a person is exposed to a number of strong stimuli called stressors.

The concept of stress was introduced by the Canadian scientist Hans Hugo Bruno Selye (1907–1982), an endocrinologist. According to Selye, stress is an organic, physiological, neuropsychiatric disorder, namely, a metabolic disorder caused by some irritating factors. Selye investigated the effects of stressors on rats and other animals by exposing them to unpleasant or painful stimuli. He found that all animals exhibited a series of similar responses to stressors, which he called the "General Adaptation Syndrome" and described in A Syndrome Produced by Diverse Nocuous Agents, published in 1936. in the journal Nature.

Selye identified three stages of the General Adaptation Syndrome.

1. Stage of anxiety. In the case of the perception of a threat from a stressor, a person begins to experience a feeling of anxiety, as well as discomfort from the fact that he does not realize the cause of anxiety. When discomfort increases, a person seeks to relieve tension (for example, after a hard day at work, a person may sleep longer than usual).

2. Stage of resistance. In the case of an increase in the work of a stressor, the body needs to deal with its negative effects, adapt to adverse conditions. Significant effort is required to maintain a stable state and resist stressors.

3. Stage of exhaustion. At this stage, a person uses all resources to resist stress factors, which leads to the impossibility of maintaining the normal functioning of the nervous system and the timely restoration of physical strength. The reserve of strength is running out, and the result of a long-term stage of exhaustion can be serious health problems, loss of ability to work.

In 1974, American psychologist Richard S. Lazarus (1922–2002), a professor at the University of California, proposed a model that divides stress into two types: eustress, or eustress, and distress.

Eustress is healthy, positive stress. The word is derived from the Greek eu (eu), which means "good". The combination of this prefix with the word "stress" means "good stress." However, a stressor is more likely to be good, since even eustress can harm human health. As a rule, this type of stress is caused by positive emotions, it is able to mobilize a person to adapt in a particular environment. Examples of eustress include holidays or weekends, winning competitions, getting promotions, romantic relationships, and so on.

Distress is a negative type of stress that has a negative effect on the body, which a person is unable to cope with.

Symptoms of stress can be headaches, loss of energy, changeable mood, lethargy.

Stressors can be:

- sensory stimuli - pain, bright light, sharp sound, noise;

- life events - death and birth of children, weddings and divorces, quarrels in the family;

- factors related to labor activity - unemployment, rigid work plans, conflicts with colleagues;

- lifestyle - drunkenness, insufficient sleep.

As a rule, there are two main types of stress - physiological and psychological. Physiological stress is caused by the direct impact of an adverse stimulus on the body (for example, contact with a hot or ice object). Psychological stress is divided into informational and emotional. Information stress occurs in the case of information overload, when a person cannot cope with tasks, not having time to make the right decisions at the required pace, with a high level of responsibility for the final result. Emotional stress manifests itself in cases of threat, danger, resentment, etc.

The impact of stress factors on human health can be assessed using the Holmes-Rage scale. The modern scale contains a list of 41 stressful events, each of which can lead to human disease.

In 1967, psychologists Thomas Holmes and Richard Rage conducted a study of more than 5,000 patients, offering them a list of 43 life events. As a result, a high correlation was established between these events and human diseases.

In 1970, a study was conducted, the purpose of which was to be able to predict a possible disease. The scale was offered to 2,500 seafarers, who had to indicate the stressful events that happened to them over the last six months. Monitoring the health status of seafarers over the next six months made it possible to establish a relationship between the number of stressful events and the duration and complexity of the disease.

To obtain a result reflecting the impact of stress on health, it is necessary to select all the events that happened to a person over the past year. The sum of points will be the necessary reflection of stress.

Here is an example of some life events and their corresponding scores.

With high levels of stress, the probability of getting sick in the next two years reaches 80%. A large number of points serves as a signal warning of danger. The calculation of the sum of points makes it possible to recreate a picture of stress and determine which life situations negatively affect health.

There are several basic ways to combat and manage stress:

– study and application of relaxation techniques;

- the use of sedative herbal preparations;

- dietary changes - eating less fatty foods and more - fruits and vegetables;

- walks in the open air;

- managing your aggression - do not lash out at loved ones due to stress at work;

– reduction of the number of stressors and their intensity.

– affect(lat. affectus- passion, emotional excitement) is a short-term, strongly and rapidly flowing emotional experience, manifested in the temporary disorganization of consciousness. Affect is a powerful emotional reaction that completely captures the human psyche and causes some actions. Such actions may be unconscious, in which case a person cannot restore them in his memory. During an affect, the ability to think rationally and control one's actions is sharply reduced. Actions with affect are not performed according to a clearly thought-out scheme based on logic. The affect can manifest itself in the form of avoiding a disturbing situation or in the form of a stupor, but most often it manifests itself in unmotivated aggression. The course of affect causes a person to lose considerable strength, due to the fact that a person gives vent to his emotions.

There are three main stages in the development of affect.

1. Preparatory stage. A person becomes tense, the basic mental processes are disorganized.

2. Explosion stage. The person loses control over the situation and loses self-control. Emotional overexcitation is accompanied by poorly controlled actions. The clarity of consciousness is disturbed.

3. Final stage. Nervous tension subsides. There is an exhaustion of both mental and physical strength. There is a state of depression, weakness.

– Fear- an unpleasant sensation, an emotional response to danger - real or not. Fear can manifest itself as an agitated or depressed emotional state. Fear can be described in different terms depending on the severity.

– Disgust- an emotional state caused by objects, direct or indirect contact with which conflicts with the emotions, desires, principles and attitudes of a person.

– fright- a strong emotional shock caused by the direct perception of something unexpected. As a rule, fright is a short-term state.

– Horror- an extreme form of fear, the most powerful and intense mental shock. Horror often expresses a reaction to an event that has already happened.

– Paranoia(from other Greek. ???? - near, near, deviation from something, ???"? - to think) - persecution mania. This mental disorder is characterized by long periods of unreasonable distrust of others, as well as increased susceptibility.

Many people have trouble distinguishing between paranoia and phobia. For example, a person may be afraid to fly on airplanes, including because of the fear of a plane crash. We can call it a phobia. However, if a person explains his fear without proper evidence and reason by saying that the pilot of the plane is an alcoholic and the plane will crash for this reason, we can consider such a disorder as paranoia.

Signs of paranoia are that a person is sure that they want to harm him, and intentionally. The most common manifestation of paranoia is the belief that a person is being persecuted, poisoned, or loved by people of higher social status.

The last disorder - "de Clerambault's syndrome" (erotomania) - was first scientifically substantiated in 1921. This syndrome is based on the conviction of a sick person that a person with a higher social status is secretly in love with him (often famous personalities - actors, politicians , athletes, etc.). The attempt on the life of the 40th US President Ronald Reagan, committed by John Hinckley, was caused precisely by the "de Clerambault syndrome" and the conviction that the death of the president would "impress" the famous actress Jodie Foster, forcing her to "confess her feelings", and also allow Hinckley himself to become no less famous and equal in status to her. Another well-known paranoid disorder is the "Kandinsky-Clerambault syndrome", expressed in the patient's conviction that someone else or "higher powers" control his mind.

– Phobia(from other Greek. ????? - fear) - a stable manifestation of fear of various situations, actions, things, people, etc. The main symptom is the desire to avoid the source of fears at all costs. It is generally accepted that about 10-20% of the inhabitants of the Earth suffer from phobias.

There are several types of phobias.

Aerophobia is the fear of flying in an airplane.

Agoraphobia is the fear of open spaces.

Acrophobia is the fear of heights.

Algophobia is the fear of pain.

Arachnophobia is the fear of spiders.

Autophobia is the fear of being alone.

Aphobophobia is the fear of the absence of phobias.

Bacteriophobia is the fear of being infected by bacteria.

Hemophobia is the fear of blood or its appearance.

Hydrophobia is the fear of water.

Demophobia is the fear of crowds, large gatherings of people.

Zoophobia is the fear of animals, most often of a particular species.

Claustrophobia is the fear of closed spaces.

Mesophobia is an obsessive fear of infection, infection and subsequent illness.

Trypanophobia is the fear of injections.

In addition to the actual psychological disorders in relation to phobias, one can also talk about the existence among them of a number of prejudices, negative or hostile attitudes towards any objects or subjects.

Gerontophobia is the fear of aging or communication with the elderly.

Homophobia is a negative attitude towards homosexuality or homosexuals.

Psychophobia is prejudice against the mentally ill or discrimination against them.

Xenophobia is a negative attitude towards foreigners, visitors.

Christianophobia and Islamophobia is a negative attitude towards representatives of Christianity and Islam.

The number of phobias is large, moreover - in the modern world their number is increasing. Not all of them are widespread, and some may seem absurd. An example of a compound phobia would be "hexakosiohexekontahexaparaskavedekatriaphobia" - the fear of the number 666 on a particular day - Friday the 13th.

– Aggression- individual or collective behavior aimed at intentionally causing harm to other people. Aggression can be physical, verbal or psychological. Aggressive actions can range from verbal threats or insults to international military conflicts.

– Joy- a positive emotional state associated with the ability to satisfy an actual need for a person.

– Astonishment- a reaction to suddenly arisen circumstances or any event that can have both a positive charge and a negative one.

– Shame- an emotional state, expressed in the awareness of the inconsistency of one's own actions or thoughts with the expectations of other people, as well as one's own ideas about appropriate behavior.

Emotional reactions (as opposed to stable emotional states) are characterized by a high rate of occurrence and transience.

An emotional reaction occurs as a response to some irritant (fear from a sharp sound, anger or joy in the event of a goal against one of the football teams, etc.). The intensity of emotional reactions can vary from extremely weak and often not perceived by the person himself to excessively bright.

Emotional relationships are also called feelings. Feelings are stable emotional experiences associated with some specific object that is important to a person. Feelings differ from emotional reactions and emotional states primarily by their duration - they can last for years, and sometimes for a lifetime. Feelings are divided into moral, aesthetic, intellectual.

Moral (moral) feelings are feelings that arise when the perceived phenomena of reality are correlated with the norms developed by society. Moral norms are formed in the process of the historical development of society, depending on its traditions, religion, dominant ideology, etc. Moral feelings include humanity, love, benevolence, etc. To immoral - selfishness, greed. Although it is worth noting that in the modern world, with its ideas about morality, almost all feelings that were previously considered negative are now recognized by many as completely natural.

Intellectual feelings arise in the process of human activity, are formed on the basis of his work and its success. Intellectual feelings include curiosity, efficiency, self-criticism, etc.

Aesthetic feelings reflect the emotional attitude of a person to beauty. This kind of feelings is manifested in relation to nature, art.

Literature

1. Vartanyan G.A., Petrov E.S. Emotions and behavior. - L .: Nauka, 1989.

2. Vasilyuk F.E. Psychology of experience: An analysis of overcoming critical situations. – M.: Publishing House of Moscow State University, 1984.

3. Vilyunas V.K. Psychology of emotional phenomena. – M.: Publishing House of Moscow State University, 1976.

4. Izard K.E. Psychology of emotions. - St. Petersburg: Peter, 1999.

5. Gavrilova T.P. About the education of moral feelings. – M.: Knowledge, 1984.

6. Dodonov B.I. In the world of emotions. - Kyiv: Politizdat, 1987.

7. Kitaev-Smyk L.A. Psychology of stress. – M.: Nauka, 1983.

8. Ladanov I.D. Stress management. – M.: Enlightenment, 1989.

9. Nemchin T.A. A state of mental stress. - L .: Publishing House of Leningrad State University, 1983.

10. Olshannikova A.E. Emotions and education. – M.: Knowledge, 1983.

11. Rubinshtein S.L. Fundamentals of General Psychology. - St. Petersburg: Peter, 1999.

12. Simonov P.V. Emotional brain. Physiology. Neuroanatomy. Psychology of emotions. – M.: Nauka, 1981.

13. Selye G. Stress without distress. – M.: Progress, 1982.

14. Tigranyan R.A. Stress and its importance for the body. – M.: Nauka, 1988.

15. Fress P., Piaget J. Experimental psychology. Sat. articles. – M.: Progress, 1978.

16. Yakobson P.M. The emotional life of a student. - M .: Education, 1966. This text is an introductory piece.

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Chapter 2 Emotions Emotion or emotionality Emotion is a form of mental reflection that appeared earlier than others in the evolution of the animal world and in the phylogeny of the psyche. Earlier than other forms of reflection, this mental process also appears in the ontogeny of each personality.

One of the most interesting and mysterious areas of our psyche is the world of emotions. Studied for thousands of years by scientists from different fields of knowledge, it still keeps many of its secrets and mysteries. Emotions permeate our entire life, making it bright, rich, sometimes quivering and tender, sometimes filled with unbearable burning pain. Yes, they are this life itself, because where feelings disappear, human existence ends.

It is psychology that most fully reveals the essence of this area of ​​the human psyche - the only science that has managed to organically link together the physiological basis and manifestations of emotional states.

In psychology, the concept of “emotions” is used both in a broad sense, as emotional states, and in a narrow one, as one of the types of these states, along with feelings, moods, affects, etc. Emotional states are a special class of mental phenomena that reflect the attitude person to the world.

Emotions and needs

Interacting with the outside world and with other people, a person is constantly faced with situations that cause him a different attitude: joy or indignation, sadness or hatred, surprise or sympathy. That is, a person reflects the world and stores information in memory not only in images and concepts, but also in the form of sensory experiences - emotions.

Emotions are closely related to. Those life circumstances, situations or people that contribute to the satisfaction of needs cause us positive emotions, and those that hinder, hinder - negative. It's so simple and so complicated at the same time.

• Firstly, we are not always aware of our needs, but we always experience the emotions associated with them. Therefore, often we cannot even explain to ourselves why we do not like this or that person, or because of what the mood suddenly deteriorated.
• Secondly, a person lives a complex and multifaceted life, and often his needs come into contact not only with the needs of other people, but also with his own desires. Therefore, it is extremely difficult even for an experienced psychologist to understand this confusing and chaotic whirlpool of emotions. You probably know that you can love and hate the same person at the same time, or be afraid and look forward to some event at the same time.

You can deal with your experiences only by realizing and bringing your confused desires and needs into at least relative order. Experienced psychotherapists can help with this. After all, only by understanding and accepting your needs or consciously abandoning them, you can reduce the severity of negative experiences.

Psychophysiology of emotional states

Emotions are the oldest type of mental states, they are in animals and are associated with the satisfaction of natural, and in higher animals and social, needs.

• The antiquity of this type of mental states is confirmed by the fact that they are born in the old, from the point of view of evolution, subcortical part of the brain - in the limbic system. By the way, the name is very telling. Limbo is a purgatory, a place between heaven and hell, and even deeper lurk animal instincts and hidden, often dark desires and needs. They sometimes break through from the subconscious level, awakening strange emotions in us, frightening even ourselves.
• But the manifestation of emotions is controlled and controlled by the "youngest" and rational part of the brain - the neocortex ("new cortex"). And when the rational part of the brain is turned off, for example, when heavily intoxicated or in a state of passion, then emotions get out of our control, and instincts, not reason, begin to control behavior.

Any external influence causes a focus of excitation in the cerebral cortex. If the irritation is weak, then the focus quickly fades, but the stronger the impact, the larger and more stable this focus. Penetrating into the subcortical zone, it activates the centers of emotions.

Emotions, in turn, cause a variety of changes in the physiological systems of the body, because emotions are a signal about the nature of the impact of the stimulus. And if they are negative, then our body is rebuilt, preparing to repel the danger or run away from it. Moreover, for our brain, it turns out, it doesn’t matter whether it is a real enemy or an imaginary one - the signal to restructure the body’s work still comes, and we experience various, often unpleasant sensations. Thus, the emergence of a feeling of fear is accompanied by the following processes:

• adrenaline is released into the blood, which should increase the oxygen supply to the muscles and activate the sympathetic nervous system;
• blood and nutritional resources are directed to support the muscular system; this reduces the supply of other body systems, so a person feels a feeling of cold, chills, his face turns pale, due to a lack of blood supply, dizziness and even loss of consciousness may occur;
• to cope with the increased demand for blood supply, the heart begins to beat faster, breathing quickens to supply oxygen to the blood and, as a result, there are difficulties with speech;
• rational control over behavior is reduced, as the functions of the cerebral cortex are somewhat suppressed, and the person literally becomes stupid, thinks poorly rationally.

Changes in the work of different body systems under the influence of emotions are reflex in nature, so we cannot consciously control them, but we can control emotions, at least at the initial stage of their occurrence. Our brain is quite capable of "persuading" the body not to succumb to feelings of fear or anger. And in psychotherapy there are special techniques and trainings that allow a person to learn even in the most critical situations.

Managing emotions is necessary not only to regulate behavior, but also to maintain physical health. The fact is that negative feelings (and they are experienced by a person more strongly than positive ones) have very unpleasant consequences. Their systematic experience can lead to the development, first of all, of the cardiovascular and digestive systems. It is these systems that are most affected by adrenaline rushes and other physiological changes. That is, the saying: “All diseases are from the nerves” has a rational basis.

Types of emotions

The most ancient and primitive type of emotional states are the states of pleasure and displeasure, which are referred to as the simplest organic sensitivity. These experiences are connected with the satisfaction (or dissatisfaction) of natural needs and a person is felt even more physiologically than psychologically. For example, when, after a long and tiring day spent on your feet, you sit down in a soft comfortable chair.

But most of our emotional states are "humanized", that is, they are conscious in nature and are associated with activities, social relations.

Moods

This is the most generalized type of emotional states. Moods, on the one hand, are weakly expressed, and on the other hand, they create the background of all our activities, as if coloring our life at one stage or another.

The mood is quite stable. Changing it depends not only on the situation, but also on personal characteristics. In people with a mobile nervous system, moods are less stable and often change.

The most important characteristic of mood is its non-objective character. This emotional state creates a background, but is not associated with a specific subject. Although a person may well be aware of the circumstance that spoiled his mood, the emotion itself extends not only to this circumstance, but also affects activity (everything falls out of hand, I want to quit everything, etc.) and interpersonal relationships. Often we take our bad mood out on those who have nothing to do with it, or share our joyful well-being with the whole world.

Emotions

Actually, emotions (in the narrow sense) and feelings are quite close and similar, and psychologists are still arguing which of these emotional states can be attributed to a higher level, and which is more primitive. But this is important for science, but does not play a role in everyday life.

Actually, emotions are more short-lived than moods, but they are also more clearly expressed. The strength of the manifestation of emotions is also much higher than that of mood. Emotions are more conscious of a person, and he clearly differentiates them: joy and anger, fear and hatred, pleasure and hostility.

But the main difference between emotions and moods is that they are objective and directed at a specific object or situation. These emotional states are social in nature, that is, they are part of the communication process, a person transmits his emotions (through facial expressions, pantomime, intonation, gestures) to other people and he himself is able to perceive them, empathize, sympathize with others.

Emotions have another unique feature - we are able to experience them in relation not only to a real situation, but also to an imaginary one. Memories and adventures of the heroes of books and films can also evoke emotions.

Feelings

This kind of emotional states, like emotions, is associated with certain objects. We love or hate very specific people, phenomena and situations. It is impossible to love, to feel feelings of respect or hostility at all. But feelings are longer, more stable than emotions, deeper and more diverse than them. And it can also be said that feelings are more socialized and depend on the interaction of a person with other people. Therefore, feelings are diverse, and there are several types of them:

• objective feelings - the largest variety of feelings associated with various aspects of human existence; these include, for example, admiration and disgust, feelings of the sublime and a sense of humor (comic);
• moral feelings are associated with relations in society (love, hatred, sense of duty, friendship, envy, etc.);
• intellectual feelings are associated with cognitive needs (curiosity, inquisitiveness, a sense of mystery, doubt, confidence, etc.);
• aesthetic feelings arise in response to the perception of the beautiful or the ugly in nature and art, in general they can be characterized as the experience of pleasure or displeasure, pleasure or disgust, etc.

This classification, of course, is not entirely accurate and complete, since any feeling, in fact, is objective. But it reflects quite well the diverse and colorful palette of human feelings.

Affect and stress

Affect is a very strong and vivid emotional response to a sudden situation that threatens the health and life of a person. Affects are short-term, but they are expressed in a sharp activation of all the protective functions of the body. It can be said that all the forces and hidden reserves of a person are directed to getting rid of the cause of such strong negative emotions.

Cases are described when, in a state of passion, people jumped over four-meter fences, climbed tall trees. There was even a case when a woman, saving a child from under the wheels of a car, was able to turn it into a ditch with a blow of her hands on the side of a small truck.

The peculiarity of affect is that it is accompanied not only by a powerful release of physical and emotional energy, but also by a state of altered consciousness. It manifests itself in the loss by a person of rational control over his actions. The subject, as it were, falls out of reality, and then cannot remember what he did in a state of passion. In forensics, murders committed in this state are classified as special types of crimes, since a person is not aware of his actions and does not control them.

After the affect comes a “rollback” - having used up all his strength, even internal reserves, a person feels weak, his hands tremble, his legs become “cottoned”, and sometimes he even loses consciousness.

Stress is similar to a state of affect in that it occurs as a response to or a threatening situation. But it is less strong and longer lasting. What is important is that stress is not accompanied by a change in consciousness and the disconnection of rational control. Although a person, immersed in the cycle of his problems, may not realize that he lives in a state of stress.

Stress also activates the forces of the body, not only physical, but also intellectual. But at the initial stages, this is felt as an increased tone and a kind of stimulation of activity, and internal reserves are not used up. Only too prolonged stress is harmful to a person, which leads to an overload of the nervous system, chronic fatigue syndrome, and even depression.

Functions of emotions

Emotional states bring us many minutes of pleasure, but often seem superfluous. We would like to get rid of negative experiences, not to worry about loved ones, not to experience feelings of anger or fear. But emotions, even the most unpleasant, perform very important functions in our lives.

• Control or regulation function. Emotions, as negative or positive experiences, control our behavior, form motives and are the strongest stimulus. After all, any living being strives for what brings pleasure, and tries to avoid unpleasant sensations.
• Evaluation function. Emotions help to understand the complex world, to put things in order in our relationships. They evaluate everything that happens to us: both good and bad. This assessment allows us to divide people into friends and enemies, and events into pleasant and unpleasant.
• Protective-mobilizing function. Emotions warn us of danger, and they also turn on the defense mechanisms of our body, mobilize forces to solve the problem.
• Signal or expressive. Emotions play a huge role in communication, conveying to other people information about our condition and attitude. Expressive movements that accompany emotions are an important part of non-verbal communication.
• synthesizing function. Emotions are a kind of “cement mortar” that connects events, images, and phenomena in memory. It is emotions that create in memory single blocks-complexes of events connected by experiences.

But along with positive and, undoubtedly, important and necessary functions, emotional states can also play a disorganizing role, that is, interfere with normal human actions. The feeling of fear can develop into panic, which prevents you from properly comprehending the situation and making the right decision. Excitement does not allow you to focus on activities, for example, solve a problem on a test. And love, too, happens to be so dizzy that a person can no longer think about anything and does not evaluate his actions sensibly.

However, there is a way out. A person may well learn to control emotions and subordinate them to the control of the mind.