Mental states. Emotions and Feelings in Psychology Emotions and Feelings Briefly

Hello dear reader. In order to show the relevance of our today's conversation, I want you to stop reading the article for a few moments and answer the question: "What emotions are you experiencing at the moment?"
Have you thought? Have you answered?

Now let's see what problems often arise when answering this question.

• Many people answer such a question as follows: "Yes, I am not experiencing any particular emotions now, everything is fine." Does this mean that there really are no emotions? Or does it just mean that a person is poorly aware of his own emotional condition? The fact is that a person always experiences emotions, every moment of his life. Sometime they reach high intensity, and sometime their intensity is low. Many people pay attention only to strong emotional experiences, and they do not attach any importance to low-intensity emotions and even do not notice them at all. However, if emotions are not very strong, this does not mean that they are absent.
• Another possible answer to the question posed is: “Somehow I feel unpleasant. I am uncomfortable. " We see that a person realizes that there are unpleasant emotions, but which ones, he cannot name. Maybe it's irritation, or maybe frustration or guilt, or maybe something else.
• Often, our question is answered in this way: "I feel that it is time for me to get up from the computer and get busy" or "I feel that this article can be useful to me." Many people confuse their emotions with thoughts and the urge to do something. When trying to describe their emotional state, they describe anything but emotions.

Meditation Exercise for Understanding Emotions

In my work with clients, I often use a meditation exercise to help me better understand my own emotions. It is so effective that I decided to make an audio recording so that anyone can use this technique. The mechanism of action of the exercise is based on the connection between emotions and bodily reactions. Any, even the most insignificant, emotion is reflected in the body (read more about this). Learning to listen to your own bodily reactions can help you become more familiar with your emotions.

You can do the exercise now. Here is the entry:

After you have learned what emotions are, and have easily learned to describe your inner state, you may be interested in a deeper study of yourself. For example, you may want to figure out what positive meaning can be carried by emotions that, at first glance, are absolutely meaningless and even harmful. Read about it in the next

Feelings and emotions

1. The concept of feelings, emotions and their types. Emotional states

Interacting with the surrounding world, a person relates to it in a certain way, experiences any feelings about what he remembers, imagines, what he thinks.

A person's experience of his attitude to what he does or learns, to other people, to himself, are called feelings and emotions.

Feelings and emotions are interrelated but different phenomena of the emotional sphere of a person . Emotions consider a simpler, direct experience at the moment, associated with the satisfaction or dissatisfaction of needs. Manifesting as reactions to objects in the environment, emotions are associated with initial impressions. The first impression of something is purely emotional in nature, it is a direct reaction (fear, anger, joy) to some of its external features.

Feeling - it is more complex than emotions,a constant, well-established attitude of the individual to what she knows and does, to the object of her needs. Feelings are characterized by persistence and duration, measured by the months and years of their subject's life. Feelings are peculiar only to a person, they are socially conditioned and represent the highest product of a person's cultural and emotional development. A sense of duty, self-esteem, shame, pride are exclusively human feelings. Emotions associated with the satisfaction of physiological needs are also present in animals, but in humans even these emotions bear the stamp of social development. All emotional manifestations of a person are regulated by social norms. A person often subordinates physiological needs to higher, specifically human spiritual needs.

Sources of emotions and feelings are, on the one hand, the surrounding reality reflected in our consciousness, and on the other, our needs. Those objects and phenomena that are not related to our needs and interests do not evoke noticeable feelings in us.

The physiological basis of feelings is primarily the processes occurring in the cerebral cortex. The cerebral cortex regulates the strength and stability of the senses. Experiences cause processes of excitement, which, spreading through the cerebral cortex, capture the subcortical centers. In the parts of the brain, lying below the cerebral cortex, there are various centers of the body's physiological activity: respiratory, cardiovascular, digestive and secretory. That is why the excitation of the subcortical centers causes increased activity of a number of internal organs. In this regard, the experience of feelings is accompanied by a change in the rhythm of respiration and cardiac activity, the functioning of the secretory glands is disrupted (tears from grief, sweat from excitement). Thus, when experiencing feelings, with emotional states, there is either an increase or decrease in the intensity of various aspects of a person's life. In some emotional states, we experience a surge of energy, we feel vigorous, efficient, in others, there is a breakdown, stiffness in muscle movements.

It must be borne in mind that the inextricable connection between the cerebral cortex and the subcortical region allows a person to control the physiological processes occurring in the body, consciously control their feelings.

There are three pairs of the most simple emotional experiences.

"Pleasure is displeasure." The satisfaction of the physiological, spiritual and intellectual needs of a person is reflected as pleasure, and dissatisfaction as displeasure.

"Voltage-resolution". The emotion of tension is associated with creating a new or breaking old lifestyle and activities. The completion of this process is experienced as an emotion of resolution (relief).

"Excitement - tranquility". The emotion of excitement is determined by impulses going into the cerebral cortex from the subcortex. The emotional centers located here activate the activity of the cortex. Inhibition by the cortex of impulses coming from the subcortex is experienced as tranquility.

There are also sthenic (Greek "stenos" - strength) and asthenic (Greek "asthenos" - weakness, impotence) emotions. Sthenic emotions increase activity, energy and cause rise, excitement, cheerfulness (joy, fighting excitement, anger, hatred). With stenic emotions, it is difficult for a person to remain silent, it is difficult not to act actively. Experiencing compassion for a friend, a person looks for a way to help him. Asthenic emotions reduce the activity, energy of a person, reduce life activity (sadness, melancholy, despondency, depression). Asthenic emotions are characterized by passivity, contemplation, they relax a person. Empathy remains a good but fruitless emotional experience.

Feelings are usually classified by content. It is customary to distinguish the following types of feelings: moral, intellectual and aesthetic.

Depending on the combination of speed, strength and duration of the senses are distinguished types of emotional states, the main ones are mood, passion, affect, inspiration, stress and frustration.

Mood - This is an emotional state that is characterized by weak or medium strength and significant stability. This or that mood can last for days, weeks, months. This is not a special experience about any particular event, but a "spilled" general condition. Mood usually "colors" all other emotional experiences of a person, is reflected in his activity, aspirations, actions and behavior.

Passion is a long-term and stable emotional state. But, unlike mood, passion is characterized by a strong emotional intensity. Passion arises with a strong desire for certain actions, to achieve a goal and helps this achievement. Positive passions serve as a stimulus for great creative human activity. Passion is a long-term, stable and deep feeling that has become a characteristic of a person.

Affects are called extremely strong, rapidly emerging and rapidly flowing short-term emotional states (affects of despair, rage, horror). A person's actions during affect occur in the form of an "explosion". Strong emotional arousal manifests itself in violent movements, in disorderly speech. Sometimes the affect manifests itself in a tense stiffness of movements, posture or speech (for example, it can be confusion with a pleasant but unexpected news). Affects negatively affect human activity, sharply reducing the level of its organization. In a state of passion, a person may experience a temporary loss of volitional control over his behavior, he may commit rash acts. Any feeling can be experienced in an affective form. Affect is no longer joy, but delight, not grief, but despair, not fear, but horror, not anger, but rage. Affects arise when the will is weakened and are indicators of incontinence, the inability of a person to self-control.

Inspiration how the emotional state manifests itself in different types activities. It is characterized by great strength and aspiration for certain activities. Inspiration arises in those cases when the purpose of the activity is clear and the results are vividly presented, at the same time as necessary, valuable. Inspiration is often experienced as a collective feeling, and the more people are seized by the feeling of inspiration, the more this feeling is experienced by each person individually. Especially often and most vividly, this emotional state is manifested in the creative activity of people. Inspiration is a kind of mobilization of all the best spiritual forces of a person.

Stress (English 51ge85 - stress) is a state of excessively strong and prolonged psychological stress that occurs in a person when his nervous system gets emotional overload. For the first time the word "stress" was used by the Canadian biologist G. Selye (1907-1982). He also introduced the concept of "stress phase", highlighting the stages of anxiety (mobilization of protective forces), resistance (adaptation to a difficult situation) and exhaustion (the consequences of prolonged exposure to stress). Stress is caused by extreme conditions for a given personality and is experienced with great inner tension. Stress can cause dangerous conditions for life and health, great physical and mental overload, the need to make quick and responsible decisions. With severe stress, heart rate and respiration increase, blood pressure rises, a general arousal reaction occurs, expressed in varying degrees of disorganization of behavior (erratic, uncoordinated movements and gestures, confused, incoherent speech), confusion is observed, difficulties in switching attention, perception errors are possible , memory, thinking. Stress disorganizes human activity, disrupts the normal course of his behavior. Frequent and prolonged stress have a negative impact on the physical and mental health of a person. However, with mild stress, general physical concentration, increased activity, clarity and clarity of thought, and quick wits appear.

Frustration - this is a psychological state of disorganization of consciousness and personality activity, caused by objectively insurmountable (or subjectively so understood and experienced) obstacles on the way to a very desirable goal. This is an internal conflict between the orientation of the personality and the objective possibilities with which the personality does not agree. Frustration manifests itself when the degree of dissatisfaction is higher than what a person can tolerate, i.e. above the frustration threshold. In a state of frustration, a person experiences a particularly strong neuropsychic shock. It can manifest itself as extreme annoyance, anger, depression, complete indifference to the environment, unlimited self-flagellation.

2. Functions of emotions and feelings, their significance in human life

Emotions and feelings perform the following functions. Signal(communicative) function is expressed in the fact that emotions and feelings are accompanied by expressive movements:

mimic (movement of the muscles of the face), pantomimic (movement of the muscles of the body, gestures), changes in voice, vegetative changes (sweating, redness or blanching of the skin). These manifestations of emotions and feelings signal to other people what emotions and feelings a person is experiencing; they allow him to convey his experiences to other people, inform them about his attitude to objects and phenomena of the surrounding reality.

Regulatory function is expressed in the fact that persistent experiences direct our behavior, support it, make us overcome obstacles encountered on the way. The regulatory mechanisms of emotions relieve excess emotional arousal. When emotions reach extreme tension, they are transformed into processes such as the release of tear fluid, contraction of facial and respiratory muscles (crying).

Reflective The (evaluative) function is expressed in a generalized evaluation of phenomena and events. Feelings cover the entire body and allow you to determine the usefulness or harmfulness of the factors affecting them and react before the harmful effect itself is determined.

Incentive(stimulating) function. Feelings, as it were, determine the direction of the search that can provide a solution to the problem. Emotional experience contains the image of an object that satisfies needs, and its partiality to it, which prompts a person to action.

Reinforcing function is expressed in the fact that significant events that cause a strong emotional reaction are quickly and permanently imprinted in the memory. So, the emotions of "success - failure" have the ability to instill love for any kind of activity or extinguish it.

Switching the function is revealed in the competition of motives, as a result of which the dominant need is determined (the struggle between fear and a sense of duty). The attractiveness of the motive, its closeness to personal attitudes, directs the activity of the individual in one direction or another.

Adaptive function. Emotions arise as a means by which living beings establish the significance of certain conditions in order to satisfy their urgent needs. Thanks to the feeling that arose in time, the body has the ability to effectively adapt to the surrounding conditions.

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? They are often used interchangeably, 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 not always united in everything that concerns this area). In this article we will analyze what are emotions human and what are feelings, What is the difference and what are the emotions.

Emotions: a question of definition

WITH different approach we encounter emotions already at the stage of definitions. Depending on the theories, views and ideas analyzed, psychologists, psychiatrists and other specialists sometimes give very different answers to the question of what emotion means. In the context of this article, the most appropriate are, for example, the following definitions:

• emotions are a special class mental phenomena, manifested in the form of a direct, biased experience by the subject of the vital meaning of these phenomena, objects and situations to satisfy their needs (Great Psychological Encyclopedia);
• emotions - states associated with an assessment of the significance for an individual of factors acting on him and expressed primarily in the form of direct experiences of satisfaction or dissatisfaction of urgent needs. They are one of the main regulators of activity (Psychological Dictionary);
• emotions - this is a mental reflection in the form of 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 broadly as possible: these are both needs in the literal sense of the word and desires, plans, ideas about something, etc. Events / phenomena are also widely understood: they can occur 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 a consequence 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 above definition. So, we call emotions a response to any event or situation. For example, a banknote found on the road
1,000 rubles arouses joy, lost - sadness. As a rule, emotions go away rather quickly if the reaction to an event / phenomenon somehow comes to naught. You have found 1,000 rubles and you are happy. Then you get distracted - and the joy goes away.

Feeling, on the other hand, is a stable emotionally colored attitude towards an 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 you 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 social sphere (relationships with other people), whereas for emotions it is not necessary. Besides, feelings are attached to any subject / object, but for emotions, this, again, is optional. It is impossible to love or hate in the abstract - only someone concrete.

Note that different specialists have different attitudes towards feelings. Some consider them as higher emotions (we will analyze this issue further), 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 fast-moving emotions, but we will turn to the question of what emotional / mental states are in the following materials.

In relation to the same object / subject, we can experience simultaneously multidirectional 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 true feelings ah to us another person and sometimes we draw a conclusion 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 the other person feels for you, and when you are trying to imagine how he perceives your feelings for him.

What emotions are there? 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 basic features and classifications that most fully correspond to the above definitions. And here the following types of emotions can be distinguished:

1. Positive and negative

Of course, in the first place there are emotions positive(joy, love, admiration, delight, gratitude) and negative(anger, rage, disgust, disappointment, sadness). Another name for the same separation of emotions by sign, by modality - positive and negative... Also distinguish neutral emotions (interest, curiosity).

2. Stenic and asthenic

Emotions and feelings are not only expressed in different ways (both externally and internally), but also have different effects.
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, mindfulness, and more. By the nature of this influence, emotions are divided into sthenic(they are active) and asthenic(they are passive).

Stenic emotions activate life processes (give us energy, efficiency, etc.); asthenic, on the contrary, depress. So, joy allows you to forget about fatigue, gives a feeling of lightness, well-being, etc. In turn, due to sadness, our hands can drop, the level of energy drops, fatigue piles on.

3. Simple and complex

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

Recall that this is only one version of this classification. So, some experts, for example, share the concepts of basic and elementary emotions. 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, culture, which he belongs to, etc.

The lists of the simplest emotions, of course, also vary. For example, Descartes emphasizes desire, love, hate, joy, sadness, and surprise. K. Izard in his book "The 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 identify joy as a simple emotion, while admiration or tenderness is a composite one. Sadness is also generally viewed as a basic emotion, while resentment or irritation is a complex one. It is interesting that in most lists there are more negative elementary emotions than positive ones.

4. Higher and lower

Another type of emotion - inferior and higher... The lowest are emotions aimed at satisfying the simplest needs and instincts (the joy of eating or resting). While the highest ones 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 school Olympiad). At the same time, there is a point of view that the highest emotions are feelings, however, not everyone agrees with this approach.

"People eat when they are lonely, make love when they are angry, speak from the podium when they are sexually anxious. This perversion of the connection between sensation and behavior is evidence of alienation from oneself." I. Polster.

People often confuse sensations with feelings and feelings with emotions. Ask your friends: " What is the correct way to say: am I feeling hungry or am I feeling hungry? Is resentment a feeling or an emotion? And what about joy?". Having asked these, it would seem simple questions, you will receive varied and conflicting answers.

Unfortunately, in the psychological literature, these concepts are often confused. To my great surprise, after reading dozens of books by classics and contemporaries, hundreds magazine articles, I have not yet come across an integral system that clearly distinguishes between feelings, sensations and emotions and gives answers to their semantic differences! It would seem that there is nothing wrong with that, and you should not cling to words. It seems that there is no urgent need to draw clear and rigid boundaries between the meanings of related words. But this is only at first glance. A clear understanding of the meaning of these words and their differences is relevant for working with the sensory sphere of a person in all types of psychotherapy and is extremely important in areas such as gestalt, psychosynthesis and body-oriented psychology.

The differentiation of these concepts and the ability to differentiate them allows you to determine the place of violation in the relationship of a person with himself and the world and purposefully work with this.

Sensations are the process of obtaining information about the properties of objects, phenomena and about internal states organism. Information comes to us through sight, hearing, taste, smell, touch, vestibular apparatus and kinesthetics (sensory information from muscles, tendons and ligaments). You can compare the sensations with the instrument panel and sensors in the cockpit, which show flight parameters: altitude, speed, air temperature, fuel level, wind direction and strength, fuselage tilt, distance to other objects, and much more. When I have a sore throat, I feel hot, sick, and heavy in my head, and these signs tell me that I am getting sick. If a person is deprived of sensations, then he will not be able to navigate in what is happening and will not be able to do anything purposefully.

The senses have a completely different function. If we compared sensations with the instrument panel showing flight parameters, then feelings can be compared with the pilot's personal assessment of these readings. I remember well that the illness on the eve of meeting my girlfriend caused me completely different feelings than the same illness on the eve of the physics test. Feelings are a process personal assessment situation, which performs both signaling and organizational and directing functions. They talk about a person's attitude to what is happening, show him whether it is good or bad. So the feelings are playing double role: it is a system of signals of well-being or trouble on the one hand, and a regulator of our desires and aspirations on the other. And speaking in the language of Gestalt, then feeling is a holistic signal about the relationship between a person's needs and the environment. Feelings can carry a huge energy potential, but even so, you should not confuse them with emotions. Emotions are external expression our feelings, presenting them to the world around us. This is a non-verbal language of communication that appeared among our distant ancestors many hundreds of thousands of years ago. He helped to understand each other and interact successfully even before the emergence of articulate speech and verbal communication. Even higher animals are able to discern our emotional messages by tone of voice and facial expression.

Thus, despite the fact that feelings carry in themselves emotional coloring and energy, they turn into emotions only when a person begins to present them to the world and people. As Lowen wrote: "To avoid confusion between these concepts, it should be noted that the word emotion implies activity (motion - movement and the preposition e-outward, outward)"... (A. Lowen. Psychology of the body) If, due to the strength of the experience or the inability to notice his feelings, a person immediately jumps into the field of emotions, unable to realize his feelings, then they say: "No feelings - only emotions"!

In summary, we can say that:

• sensations are information;
• feelings - how I feel about it (my assessment);
• emotions - how I react to it, and what I express by this (my reactions and messages to the world).

By looking at these concepts in terms of their function, it is easy to see their place on the contact cycle curve. It is difficult to overestimate their informational, evaluative and contacting role in the process of satisfying a need. I remember how many years ago, at one of the psychological trainings, I was struck by the question leading to one of the members of the group, whose name was Nastya: " Who are you crying to and what do you want from it? ". And her surprised answer:" Nobody and nothing, I just cry and that's it, I do so often“Later I managed to understand her feelings, and the address of her emotions, and what need she was trying to resolve with this. specific goal... Whether the crying person realizes this is another question.

Let us consider the sequence of the emergence and manifestation of the affective wave "sensation - feeling - emotion" on the example of the cycle of satisfaction of the needs of B. Reznik and T. Barley:

I. Stage of undifferentiation.

II. The stage of the formation of the figure.

III. The stage of focusing the figure.

IV. Field scanning stage.

V. Stage of resolution of the need.

Vi. Assimilation stage.

Vii. Stage of undifferentiation ".

The emergence of sensations, the increase in their intensity and the formation of a vague figure of need correspond to the level of sensations. Focusing the figure, identifying sensations and evaluating them gives rise to feelings, accompanied by scanning the field for satisfaction of the need - the level of feelings. The choice of the mode of action and the resolution of the need corresponds to the level of emotion. Then comes the second, control wave - the level of pleasant sensations - the stage of resolution. Withdrawal and assimilation - the level of feelings (satisfaction) and final emotions. Further - a temporary lull when the field is not differentiated. Unfortunately, this is not always the case.

Often, the violation of the cycle of satisfaction occurs due to a distortion of the perception of sensations, incorrect identification of feelings and the unconscious presentation of their emotional reactions. The situation is complicated by the speech patterns of the language, both Russian and the languages ​​of the Romance group. Perhaps things are different in the East, but I cannot say with certainty. We say sensory organs instead of sensory organs; we say - "he expresses his emotions" - instead of saying: "he expresses his feelings", and about a person with poor emotional expression, we say that "he has few feelings." It turns out that we initially do not understand the role of sensations, we put feelings in their place, and we put emotions in place of feelings.

I want to repeat well famous saying Polstera: "L They eat when they are lonely, make love when they are angry, speak from the podium when they are sexually preoccupied. This perversion of the connection between sensation and behavior is evidence of alienation from oneself. "... (I. Polster, M. Polster. Integrative gestalt therapy)

If distortions at the level of sensations lead to such consequences, what happens when distortions also occur at the level of feelings and emotions? Feelings of hunger and loneliness, feelings of sex drive and emotions of anger. Having learned to distinguish between these concepts, the client will no longer confuse anxiety and hunger, fatigue and depression, attraction and love, confidence and aggression. The list goes on and on, and you yourself can remember some of the most striking examples from your practice.

To solve these and similar issues, it seems to me, you need to have:

1. The skill of differentiating sensations, feelings and emotions based on their criteria.

• Sensations convey information about the situation inside and outside.
• Feelings are internal assessments, reactions and experiences.
• Emotions are the presentation of reactions and assessments to the world.

1. The skill of noticing is being aware of the moments of transition of sensations into feelings, and feelings into emotions, and vice versa.

I suggest several interesting exercises helping to gain practical skills of awareness and differentiation.

• "List".

Make a list of feelings, emotions, and sensations as large as possible. You don't have to strive to do it in one go. It is best to do this exercise for several days - until you have an impressive list of 50-100 or even more items.

• "Sorting".

Break it down into two or three columns. I am deliberately not saying that there should be two or three. It depends on whether feelings and emotions are included by you in one list, when one word, depending on the context, can have different meanings, or there are strictly deterministic words. For example, where would you take resentment? Panic? What about satisfaction?

• "Fitting".

Try every word on the list - feeling, feeling, or expressing it. Note what was easier for you and what was harder. Are there any names on the list that you did not manage to present and survive at all? During the day, it is useful to stop for a minute or two and "catch by the tail" of the experienced emotion, feeling or sensation, having realized and identified the "caught animal". Determine the strength and clarity of what you are experiencing, on a 10-point, 100% or any other scale convenient for you.

• "Pendulum of feelings".

Listen to yourself and be aware of your actual feeling at the moment. Stay with it for a while, and then go into the realm of sensations associated with this feeling, noticing and realizing place, strength, clarity and other parameters. Return to the area of ​​feelings and see what new shades have arisen in the feeling, or whether it has changed completely. And then, starting from this feeling, go into the realm of emotions, noticing how you express them in movements, gestures, facial expressions and intonation. After a while, return again to the realm of feelings and realize what you are feeling now, what has changed and what has appeared.

• "Trouble zone".

When a person is worried about a problem, a zone of anxiety arises around it from feelings, sensations and emotions. On the one hand, in this area all experiences are stronger and sharper, and on the other, they are less clear and stable. It resembles a room of crooked mirrors, in which a person is distorted so that he looks like a skinny giant, then a wide dwarf, then walking upside down, then stretching forward like chewing gum. Noticing every day - realizing the strength and certainty of feelings, sensations and emotions in this problem area, you will be able to track the positive dynamics of changes in both the zone itself and the problem that gives rise to it. Working with an area in which improvements are slower, it is worth spending more time and effort.

Summing up, I would like to note that understanding the role and place of these phenomena, as well as the ability to differentiate them, is an important condition for awareness - noticing true feelings, sensations and emotions that will help the client see and restore violations of contact with an actual need. They are the most reliable indicator energy processes, going in a person with "disturbance" of the field "organism - external environment". Processes from the moment of the appearance of the first vague sensations to the moment of satisfaction of the need and its dissolution in the surrounding background. I am confident that as long as a person exists, any violation in the "Self" system is necessarily accompanied by greater or lesser changes in the sensory sphere both through the "Id" function and through the "Personality" function. If you run away from recognition and awareness, expecting that everything will work out automatically, by itself, then this will lead to the loss of the "Ego" function as a mechanism for assessing the situation, choosing and making adaptive decisions.

As Perls wrote: “To strive for maximum automatic functioning and minimum awareness - awareness - means striving for death before it comes” (F. Perls, P. Goodman, R. Hefferlin. Workshop on gestalt therapy).

We are angry with our colleagues for taking time off from work and placing additional tasks on us ... We feel great joy when we see a clear sky and a bright sun ... We are proud of our children, we love our parents, we are sad for school years... All these experiences are emotions and feelings. In psychology, they are always considered as two halves of one whole, since they are interrelated and often complement each other.

The essence of emotion

Definition of this concept gives practical psychology... Emotions of a person are his inner experiences in relation to a particular person, object, phenomenon or action. They can be colored in positive or negative tones. Usually closely related to the internal needs of the individual, therefore, a psychological state called emotions occurs in a person depending on how well or poorly his needs are met, interests are met. For example, we can feel anger if we are offended, that is, our "I" is infringed upon, they go against our desires, because we always expect praise.

It is impossible to briefly explain what emotions and feelings are in psychology. Since they cover a very wide range of life, activities, human relations... There can only be hundreds of emotions themselves, and each of them is painted in new shades, which means that it is always characterized in a different way. For example, pleasure. This feeling is always different: if we get it from work, then it is mixed with a sense of pride; if from a hobby, then there is a touch of relaxation and lightness; from communication with a friend - intimacy and trust. In short, each emotion always looks new, depending on the specific situation.

Feelings: how they differ from emotions

The two are often confused. And this is not surprising: they are very similar, often even identical. Despite this, differences do exist. What is the difference between emotions and feelings of a person? Psychology characterizes the former as a temporary state that has arisen in the form of a response to events occurring at the moment. Emotions are situational: if we want to eat, we feel hungry. But as soon as we have a snack, the need and the associated emotion disappear. It all depends on the specific circumstances, time, place and even the company of people.

Feelings, on the other hand, are secondary. They are based on emotions, only their duration is longer. For example, suppose you experience temporary sympathy when you meet a young man. It's an emotion. After some time, it is transformed and reincarnated into love, which is already a feeling. It no longer depends on the change in the situation and will accompany us all our life (or some segment life path). Emotions and feelings in psychology are divided by a fine line, often we cannot understand for a long time what we are experiencing and feeling.

Demonstration of emotions and feelings

So, we figured out the characteristics of these two phenomena. Now let's define how emotions and feelings are manifested. In psychology, the former are always conscious, but they can also be latent. For example, we are angry with our spouse for not having time to cook dinner. We clearly understand that we are angry, but nevertheless we hide our emotion: we do not want to spoil our nerves after a hard day at work, we avoid spreading negativity in the presence of children, or we ourselves were guilty for some reason. Adults are used to masking their true feelings so as not to offend, disappoint other people, not lose their trust, and so on. As for the manifestation of emotions, we usually do this by shouting, crying, laughing, gesturing or moving. If they are latent, then we betray ourselves by facial expressions or voice intonation.

If an individual can easily explain why he is experiencing this or that emotion, then feelings cannot be described in words. Often we ourselves do not understand why we love this or that person. We do not always know how to hide feelings, since they are deep in the heart: it is not we who influence them, but they affect us. We demonstrate with the help of actions, facial expressions, verbal signs.

Main types

To better understand the difference between the two, you need to classify them. According to general psychology, emotions and feelings can be positive, negative and neutral. A person manifests them depending on the life situation. For example, positive emotions include joy, pleasure, delight, bliss, negative ones - fear, sadness, sadness, grief, despair, anxiety, neutral ones - surprise, indifference, curiosity. As for feelings, love, happiness, responsibility are positive, hatred and alienation are considered negative. Neutrals are hard to single out, since a person usually takes one side or the other, with only one indifference serving as a narrow bridge between them.

In addition, feelings are:

1. Moral or moral. They arise as the relationship between social rules and human behavior. They are social in nature, they are positive and negative: patriotism, friendship, contempt, disrespect.
2. Intelligent. Based on cognitive activity. For example, self-satisfaction, disappointment.
3. Aesthetic. Ability to create or perceive beauty.

Each feeling and emotion easily passes from one category to another, as they are able to transform and completely change their "color".

What shapes feelings and emotions

The starting point of human responses is difficult to determine. Therefore, the reasons why emotions and feelings have arisen often remain a mystery. In psychology pictures shown to different people during the experiment, they provoke different behaviors. For example, showing experimental participants a photograph of a fire, scientists see completely different reactions: for some, the flame causes irritation, for others - fear, and for others - a feeling of warmth. Life experience, the knowledge gained forms our attitude to this or that phenomenon. It is clear that if we survived a fire or received a severe burn, then the contemplation of the fire cannot be associated with anything joyful.

Since feelings and emotions are a social phenomenon, they arise in the process of life. We acquire them by communicating with parents, friends, colleagues, reading literature, watching movies. Already in early childhood, we are taught what is good and what is bad. And if you do not have tender feelings for this or that subject, you are considered strange or selfish. For example, even at school, we are hammered into our heads with a sense of duty and love for the Motherland. But if a person does not accept violence and refuses to go to war in order to protect the country from the enemy, he is immediately called not a patriot, a pitiful coward and a traitor.

Inborn feelings and emotions

Not all of our sensations are formed under the influence of society, some we absorb with mother's milk. Inborn emotions and feelings in psychology are those that arise in a baby immediately after his birth. There are very few of them, and the border between them and the acquired ones is rather blurred. Many psychologists argue that interest, excitement, joy, surprise, fear, anger, disgust are already in the genes. The rest of the senses of a person have been taught to him by the likes of him. But here you can argue. Consider fear, for example. This is not to say that the baby is immediately afraid of everything. Most likely, he acquires this feeling depending on life situations: Thunderclaps, dog barking, mother's absence. On the other hand, it is possible that the baby is already at birth inclined to be frightened, just a certain case activates this emotion.

Emotions and feelings fill our life with meaning, paint gray everyday life in bright colors. Of course, I would like to experience only positive feelings. But, you must admit that we also cannot do without bad ones. After all, only when we feel grief and disappointment do we know how to appreciate love, eagerly drawing pleasure and happiness from it.