Self-esteem and self-love 

Mood and emotional state. Emotions and the human condition

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Emotional condition 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). Given 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, sadness). 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 individual and her volitional qualities. For example, fear can disorganize a cowardly person but mobilize a brave one.

According to the dynamics of the flow, emotional states are long and short-term, in intensity - intense and mild, in terms of stability - stable and changeable. Depending on the form of flow, emotional states are divided into mood, affect, stress, passion, frustration, higher feelings.

The simplest form emotional experience is emotional tone, i.e. emotional coloring, a kind of qualitative shade of the mental process, prompting a person to preserve or eliminate them. The emotional tone accumulates in itself 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 due personality traits a person, the process of the course of his activity, etc. The purposeful use of an emotional tone allows you to influence the mood of the team, the productivity of its activities.

Mood- these are relatively long, stable mental states of moderate or low intensity, manifested as a positive or negative emotional background of mental life. Mood depends on social activities, worldview, orientation of a person, his state of health, season, environment.

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

Apathy characterized by a breakdown and is a psychological state caused by fatigue.

Affect- this is a short-term turbulent emotion, which has the character of an emotional explosion. The experience of affect is stadial in nature. At the first stage, a person, seized by a flash of rage or wild delight, thinks only about the object of his feeling. His movements become uncontrollable, the rhythm of breathing changes, small movements are upset. However, at this stage, each 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 do things that he would not normally do. At the third stage, relaxation occurs, a person experiences states of fatigue and emptiness, sometimes he is not able to remember episodes of events.

When analyzing an affective act, it must be remembered that the structure of this act lacks a goal, and the experienced emotions act as a motive. To prevent the formation of an affective personality, it is necessary to teach schoolchildren the methods of self-regulation, to take into account their type of temperament in the process of education. Pupils of choleric and melancholic temperaments are prone to affect (the latter are in a state of fatigue).

The concept of "stress" was introduced into science by G. Selye. The scientist determined stress as a non-specific 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 subdivided into informational(an employee of the Ministry of Emergency Situations 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, in 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 arises 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 with distress is reminiscent of affect. Distress negatively affects the result of a person's activity, adversely affects his health. Eustress On the contrary, it is a positive stress that accompanies creativity, love, which has a positive effect on a person and contributes to the mobilization of his spiritual and physical forces.

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 of solving a problematic task, the ability to carry out complex view activities under pressure. To overcome distress, a person needs physical movements that contribute to the activation of the parasympathetic department of higher nervous activity, music therapy, bibliotherapy (listening to excerpts from works of art), occupational therapy, play therapy, as well as mastering self-regulation techniques.

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 the worldview, beliefs or needs of the individual. In its direction, this emotional manifestation can be positive and negative (passion for science, passion for hoarding). When we are talking about children, they mean hobbies. Truly positive hobbies unite the child with others, expand his sphere of knowledge. If a positive hobby isolates a child from 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 person’s troubles.

frustration is a mental state caused by the appearance of insurmountable obstacles (real or imaginary) in an attempt to satisfy a need that is significant for the individual. Frustration is accompanied by disappointment, annoyance, irritation, anxiety, depression, depreciation 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 the lack of abilities and skills necessary to achieve the goal, as well as the experience of one of three types internal conflicts(K. Levin). These are: a) conflict of equal positive possibilities, which arises when it is necessary to choose one of two equally attractive prospects; b) conflict of equivalent negative possibilities, arising from a forced choice in favor of one of two equally undesirable prospects; in) conflict of positive-negative possibilities arising from the need to accept not only positive but also negative aspects of the same perspective.

The dynamics and forms of manifestation of states of frustration are different for different people. Studies show that intellect 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 outwardly accusatory form of emotional reaction from him. People with lower intelligence are more likely to take the blame in situations of frustration.

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 he has learned and social behavior, the course and results of 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, a sense of the new, etc.). Intellectual feelings can be determined by the content, the problematic nature of the activity, the degree of complexity of the tasks being solved. Intellectual feelings, in turn, stimulate activity, accompany it, influence the course and results. mental activity person, acting as its regulator.

moral feelings include a moral assessment of an object, phenomenon, other people. The group of moral feelings includes patriotism, love for the profession, duty, collectivism, etc. The formation of these feelings involves the assimilation of moral rules and norms by a person, which are of a historical 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. Being formed, moral feelings encourage a person to commit moral deeds. Violation moral standards fraught with feelings of shame and guilt.

aesthetic feelings represent the emotional attitude of a person to beauty. Aesthetic feelings include a sense of the tragic, comic, ironic, sarcastic, are manifested in assessments, tastes, external reactions. They activate activity, help to comprehend art (music, literature, painting, theater) more deeply.

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 act to cause harm or pain. Ways of expressing anger include: direct expression of feelings, indirect expression of feelings (transfer of anger from the person who caused frustration to another person or object) and containment of anger. Best options for dealing with 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- this is an active positive emotion, which is expressed in a 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. Studies show that people who are married, have active religious beliefs, and have good relationships with others are happier.

Fear is a negative emotion that occurs in situations of real or perceived danger. Reasonable 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 is 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 particular external situation, then personal anxiety- stable personality trait, permanent the tendency of an individual to experience a state of anxiety. People with low personal anxiety are always more calm, regardless of the situation. Required relatively high level stress to elicit a stress response in them.

Glossary

Emotions, feelings, emotional state, positive emotional state, negative emotional state, ambivalent emotional state, sthenic emotional state, asthenic emotional state, emotional tone, mood, depression, apathy, affect, stress, information stress, emotional stress, general adaptation syndrome, distress, eustress, passion, frustration, higher feelings, intellectual feelings, aesthetic feelings, moral feelings, anger, aggression, joy, fear, anxiety, situational anxiety, personal anxiety.

Questions for self-control

1. Compare emotions and feelings. What are their similarities? What are the differences?

2. How does Charles Darwin explain the emergence of emotions?

3. What is the essence of the theory of cognitive dissonance?

4. Name the emotional states depending on the form of flow.

5. What is the specificity of affect?

6. What are the similarities between stress and affect? And what are the differences?

7. Is passion a feeling or an emotion?

8. What caused the experience of frustration?

The concept of "emotional states"

Emotional states are mental states that arise in the process of the subject's life and determine not only the level of information and energy exchange, but also the direction of behavior.

Emotions control a person much more than it seems at first glance. Even the absence of emotion is an emotion, or rather a whole emotional state, which is characterized by a large number of features in human behavior.

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

The main emotional states distinguished in psychology:

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

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

Emotional states include: mood, affect, stress, frustration and passion.

Mood is the longest emotional state. This is the backdrop against which all the rest flow. mental processes. It is very diverse and can be joyful or sad, cheerful or depressed, cheerful or depressed, calm or irritated, etc. The mood can arise slowly, gradually, or it can take over a person quickly and suddenly.

Mood is an emotional reaction not to the direct consequences of certain events, but to their significance for a person's life in the context of his general life plans, interests and expectations.

A positive mood makes a person energetic, cheerful and active. Any business goes well with a good mood, everything works out, the products of activity have high quality. In a bad mood, everything falls out of hand, work in progress sluggish, mistakes and marriage are allowed, the products are of poor quality.

Mood is personal. In some subjects, the mood is most often good, in others - bad. Has a positive effect on the mood big influence temperament.

In sanguine people, the mood is always cheerful, major. Cholerics often change their mood good location spirit suddenly changes to bad. In phlegmatic people, the mood is always even, they are cold-blooded, self-confident, calm. Melancholic people are often characterized by a negative discord, they are always afraid and afraid. Any change in life unsettles them and causes depressive experiences.

Any mood has its own reason, although sometimes it seems that it arises by itself. The reason for the mood can be the position of a person in society, the results of activities, events in his personal life, health status, etc.

The mood experienced by one person can be transmitted to other people (A.I. Kravchenko "Psychology and Pedagogy" textbook).

Affect - is a rapidly and violently flowing emotional process of an explosive nature, which can give a relaxation in actions that is not subject to conscious volitional control. It is affects that are predominantly associated with shocks - shocks associated with the disorganization of activity, which is expressed in the disorganization of motor reactions and inhibition of conscious activity (E.V. Ostrovsky, L.I. Chernyshova "Psychology and Pedagogy" textbook).

In a state of passion, a person cannot reasonably control his behavior.

Overwhelmed by passion, he sometimes commits such actions, which he later bitterly regrets.

It is impossible to eliminate or slow down the affect.

However, the state of passion does not release a person from responsibility for his actions, since each person must learn to control his behavior in a given situation. To do this, it is necessary at the initial stage of affect to switch attention from the object that caused it to something else, neutral.

Since in most cases the affect manifests itself in speech reactions directed at its source, instead of external speech actions, one should perform internal ones, for example, count slowly to 20. Since the affect manifests itself for a short time, by the end of this action its intensity decreases and the person will come to a calmer condition.

The affect is predominantly manifested in people of the choleric type of temperament, as well as in ill-mannered, hysterical subjects who do not know how to control their feelings and actions.

Stress is an emotional state that suddenly arises in a person under the influence of an extreme situation associated with a danger to life or an activity that requires great stress.

Stress, like affect, is the same strong and short-term emotional experience. Therefore, some psychologists consider stress as one of the types of affect. But this is far from the case, since they have their own distinctive features. Stress, first of all, occurs only in the presence of an extreme situation, while affect can arise for any reason.

The second difference is that affect disorganizes the psyche and behavior, while stress not only disorganizes, but also mobilizes the organization's defenses to get out of an extreme situation.

Stress can have both positive and negative effects on personality.

Stress has a positive role, performing a mobilization function, a negative role - having a harmful effect on the nervous system, causing mental disorders and various diseases of the body.

Stress conditions affect people's behavior in different ways. Some, under the influence of stress, show complete helplessness and are unable to withstand stressful influences, while others, on the contrary, are stress-resistant individuals and show themselves best in moments of danger and in activities that require the exertion of all forces.

Frustration is a deeply experienced emotional state that arose under the influence of failures that took place with an overestimated level of personality claims. It can manifest itself in the form of negative experiences, such as: anger, annoyance, apathy, etc.

There are two ways to get out of frustration. Either a person develops vigorous activity and achieves success, or reduces the level of claims and is content with the results that he can achieve to the maximum.

Passion is a deep, intense and very stable emotional state that captures a person completely and completely and determines all his thoughts, aspirations and actions. Passion can be associated with the satisfaction of material and spiritual needs. The object of passion can be different kind things, objects, phenomena, people that a person seeks to possess at all costs (R.S. Nemov " General Basics psychology" textbook).

Depending on the need that caused passion, and on the object through which it is satisfied, it can be characterized either as positive or negative.

A positive or sublime passion is associated with highly moral motives and has not only a personal but also a social character. Passion for science, art, social activities, protection of nature, etc., makes a person's life meaningful and intense. All great things were done under the influence of great passion.

Negative or base passion has an egoistic orientation and when it is satisfied, a person does not consider anything and often commits antisocial immoral acts.

Emotional states can manifest themselves in a person in any kind of his activity and become his character trait. Emotional processes cause changes in the human body: in the nervous system, cardiovascular activity, respiratory organs, and digestion. Emotional states cause changes in pulse, pressure, dilated pupils, increased sweating, discoloration of the skin, increased blood flow to human organs.

Conducting electrophysiological studies showed the importance of special formations nervous system for emotional states, which are determined by the functions of the thalamus, hypothalamus and limbic system.

There are found centers of positive and negative emotions. From the state of the reticular formation, this set of nerve structures located in the central parts of the brain stem (medulla oblongata and midbrain, visual tubercles) depends on the emotional tone of a person, his reactions to stimuli.

One form of violation normal life of a person is the tension caused by the emotional state of a person. Often, increased tension is accompanied by fears, anxiety, fears and develops into steady state anxiety.

Emotion is one of several psychological states of a person. The emotional and mental state of a person depends on the environment and looks like a spiritual experience.

Emotions

Feelings are the consequences of experiences from human emotions. For example, if a person likes another person - these are emotions, when he fell in love with him - these are already feelings.

Emotions are divided into several states:

  • mood;
  • affects;
  • stress;
  • frustration;
  • passion.

Mood is the main strongest emotional state, a person experiences it for a certain period of time. Mood emotion arises suddenly, unexpectedly, sharply or slowly, gradually. The mood is good or bad, long-term or short-term.

Good mood creates positive energy balance for a person. He readily sets to work, household chores or other duties. In the end, everything works out, and the process is actively carried out with a high percentage of quality. Bad mood has the opposite result. The energy tone is lowered, there is no desire to act, the quality of the work performed is poor.

Mood is individual. Someone is experiencing good mood constantly, for someone it changes from good to bad very often.

Change of mood depends on temperament, which is divided into several types:

  • sanguine;
  • choleric;
  • phlegmatic person;
  • melancholic.

It turns out that sanguine people are more positive personalities and their mood is always in a positive tone.

Cholerics are subject to frequent changes and emotional ups and downs of their mood. During the day, his mood can change several times.

to the cold-blooded and calm people can be classified as phlegmatic. Their self-confidence allows them to control the change of emotions, keep themselves in control all the time and almost never lose their temper.

And the melancholic experiences the most negative emotions. Change life situations and the environment is bad for their mood. This knocks them out of balance and disturbs peace.

What determines the mood? There can be many factors influencing this. The main ones can be success at work, achieving goals, surprises, gifts, news, health status.

Experiencing positive or negative emotions, a person can transfer them to another person.

Affect

The next emotional state is affect (abruptly arising emotion). It has a strong effect on the human psyche. This state has negative character, in which a person's behavior changes for the worse, makes him nervous and uncontrollable. This leads to the destruction of the psyche and violates the state of mind of the individual.

A person in this state is unable to perform reasonable actions and may later regret his actions. It is impossible to stop the affect, but you can try to control your actions and deeds so that this state does not occur. To do this, you need to switch your attention from the situation that caused the affect to neutral actions. Psychologists recommend distracting yourself by counting numbers. This process helps to direct mental activity in a different direction and forget the problems that have arisen.

Most often affected are choleric people and people with low level intellect, unable to cope with emotions.

Next comes stress. This is a condition that occurs during dangerous factors, during which there is a possibility of losing a life or getting injured and mutilated. Stress is an emotion similar to affect. It has a high mental impact on the human nervous system. But stress has many differences from affect. If affect arises unexpectedly, stress appears during an extreme situation. Affect turns off brain activity body, and stress, on the contrary, can help make the right decision at a crucial moment.

Stress affects the human body both positively and negatively. A bad effect is due to a load on the nervous system, which leads to a decrease in immunity and the threat of disease. A good effect is due to an increase in the activity of the whole organism.

The behavior of a person under stress can be different. A person may be lost and unable to deal with the problem that has arisen, while someone, on the contrary, becomes more active, ready to act.

frustration

Another emotion is frustration. This is a very emotional experience, arising from the background of bad success. Expressed in the form of anger, despair, apathy. Help to get out of this state active actions that will bring success.

Passion

What is passion? It turns out that this is a state that completely absorbs and begins to control all the desires and needs of a person. Passion requires constant satisfaction of its needs. They are material and spiritual, positive and negative.

If a person is seized with a passion to create and express his desires, then this is considered a normal manifestation of emotions. But if the individual does not want to reckon with anyone and does things that are beneficial only for him. In addition, all human desires are associated with the desire to satisfy their needs, that is, in this case, they talk about the negative effect of passion.

When people experience feelings. Feelings are:

  • moral;
  • moral;
  • intellectual;
  • cognitive;
  • aesthetic.

A person experiences moral feelings when he worries about the opinion that people have about him.

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

Basic emotional states: characteristics

Emotions are characterized by three parameters:

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

Kinds

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

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

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

Psychologists identify 7 basic emotions:

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

The essence of basic emotions is that they are experienced by all people who have had harmonious development without pathologies from the nervous system. They appear the same (albeit in varying degrees and quantity) from representatives different cultures And social environment.

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