EMOTIONS
Feeling:
Feeling is attitudes towards certain topics. It is both sensory and motor.
On the sensory side: it is the sensation mass unanalysed and not utilized to indicate facts.
On the motor side: it is the general set to act towards an object according to its characteristics as we are acquainted with them.
Dimension of Feelings:
Refers to the opposing polarity where the grades of feeling dimensions could be met with; examples:
- pleasant-unpleasant
- tension-release
- excitement-numbness
Sources of Pleasure and Displeasure:
It could be: natural, conditioned, or depending on the intensity of specific need at a particular moment.
Emotions
Emotion is a moved or stirred up state of feeling of the organism.

Characteristics of the subjective experience of emotion:
• emotion is transitory; it tends to have a clear beginning and end, and a relatively short duration. Moods, by contrast, tend to last longer
• emotional experience has valence, which means it is either positive or negative
• emotional experience is elicited partly by a cognitive appraisal of how a situation relates to your goals
• emotional experience alters thought processes, often by directing attention toward some things and away from others
• emotional experience elicits an action tendency, a motivation to behave in certain ways
• emotional experiences are passions that happen to you, usually without willful intent
Examples
• Fear is the emotional response to danger
• anger is the emotional response to interference etc.
• Components of an Emotion
1) Emotional Experience:
• It consists of the subjective feeling or awareness of certain emotions e.g., happiness, sadness, anger, etc.
• This needs the integrity of cerebral cortex.
2) Emotional Expression:
• Internal changes occur involving the autonomic nervous system and hormones.
• External changes occur involving facial expression, body language, eye language and artistic modes of expression.
• As children grow, they learn an emotional culture - rules that govern what emotions are appropriate in what circumstances and what emotional expressions are allowed.
• The same emotion may be communicated by different facial expressions in different cultures.
• Social referencing: the process of letting another person’s emotional state guide our own behavior is called social referencing. This occurs especially in ambiguous situations.
3) Emotional Behavior:
• It occurs when the manifestations of emotions surpass the normal accompaniments of a certain idea, a given situation, or, a related meaning.
The biology of emotion
• activity in the limbic system, especially the amygdala, is central to various aspects of emotion
• victims of a disease that destroys only the amygdala are unable to judge other people’s emotional state by looking at their facial expressions
• facial movements associated with emotions are governed by the extrapyramidal motor system, which depends on subcortical areas
• people with damage to the pyramidal system show normal facial expressions during genuine emotion, but cannot fake a smile
• people with damage to the extrapyramidal system can pose facial expressions at will, but remain straight-faced even when feeling joy or sadness
• the right hemisphere is activated during many displays of emotion - the experiencing of negative emotion, the perception of any emotion, and the facial expression of any emotion depend on the right hemisphere more than the left
• the experiencing of positive emotion may depend on the left frontal cortex
• depressed people display greater electrical activity in the right frontal cortex and perform more poorly on tasks that depend on the right hemisphere
• after suffering damage to the right, but not the left, hemisphere, people no longer laugh at jokes, even though they can understand the words, the logic, and the punch lines
• when people are asked to name the emotions shown in slides of facial expressions, blood flow increases in the right hemisphere more that the left
Classification of emotions
I. Primary emotions (Plutchik’s Classification):
They are eight primary emotions. Each emotion has associated with it a common stimulus and typical behavior. Each emotion can vary in intensity. Emotions with different names may be the same emotion at various intensities. The following table shows the 8 types of primary emotions.
II. Secondary emotions:
They are combination of primary emotions e.g.:
- love = joy + acceptance
- submission = acceptance + fear
Emotional Intelligence
Definition
Emotional intelligence (EI) is the ability to identify, assess, and control the emotions of oneself, of others, and of groups. The ability to perceive, control, and evaluate emotions. Some researchers suggest that emotional intelligence can be learned and strengthened, while others claim it is an inborn characteristic.
Dimensions Emotional Intelligence (Five)
- Self-awareness
- Being aware of what you’re feeling
- Self-management
- The ability to manage your own emotions and impulses
- Self-motivation
- The ability to persist in the face of setbacks and failures
- Empathy
- The ability to sense how others are feeling
- Social Skills
- The ability to handle the emotions of others
Table represents the Primary emotions of Plutchik’s Classification
Typical behavior Common stimulus Primary emotion
Destruction of Obstacle Blocking of goal directed behavior 1- Anger
Protection Threat or danger 2- Fear
Search for help and comfort Sadness 3- Loss of something valued
Rejection; pushing away Something gruesome or loathsome 4- Disgust
Orientation; turning toward A sudden, novel stimulus 5- Surprise
Exploration and searching A new place or environment 6- Curiosity
Sharing and incorporating A member of one’s own group; something of value 7- Acceptance
Reproduction and mating Potential mate 8- Joy
Effects of Emotions
Emotions affect both psyche and, soma (body) under normal conditions as well as, pathological states.
A- Effects on the Psyche:
Emotions influence other psychological functions implicitly or explicitly:
1) Influence the preparatory state for dealing with the environment.
2) Direct the attention towards certain objects and away of others.
3) Affect both perception as well as thinking.
4) Facilitate (within limits) or hinders learning and memory.
5) Considered as the fuel of motivation and creation.
Under Abnormal conditions:
Emotions may:
1) Reach a pathological function e.g. abnormal emotion of sadness (depression)
2) Influence thinking causing difficulty and slowness
3) Minimize motivations as well.
B- Effects on the Soma:
- Emotions affect the bodily functions mainly through:
The sympathetic nervous system and, adrenal medulla gland.
- The endocrinal system is directly related to emotional changes:
Thyroid is stimulated, the anterior and posterior pituitary (depends partly on the stress reaction which responsible for more liberation of (ACTH). Adrenaline and noradrenalin hormones are hormones of combat (fight and flight).
All the alterations in bodily functions could be understood though considering the requirements of a combating primitive bodily battle.
The activation of circulation (faster heart, contracted viscera and spleen, the better is agulation increased prothrombin level, the pale skin, subcutaneous vasoconstriction etc., the moist hands (sweating) could all be looked at as to facilitate fight component of the combat.
The ejaculation without erection, the more blood to skeletal muscle and the abortion of pregnant female are example of flight component of the combat.
The Abnormal (Pathological) Effect of Emotions on the Body:
1. Emotion may exaggerate an already present illness e.g. anxiety may exaggerate bronchial asthma.
2. Emotion may prepare for actual organic pathology e.g. peptic ulcer.
3. Emotions may participate in the establishment of certain disorder as essential hypertension.
4. Emotion may produce organic dysfunction while the organ is structurally free as in hysterical paralysis.
Measurement of emotions
A- Physiological Methods:
By quantitative assessment of associated physiological changes (pulse, degree of sweat, blood pressure, respiration … etc.).
The lie detecting apparatus (deceptogram) is based on the idea that the liar is emotionally aroused. It records the change in body physiology.
B- Psychological Methods:
- Observation method
- Mental testing by questionnaire method
generate 15 MCQ and answers from the given data (5 choices) with ILOs for each