Emotion

'''Emotions''' are the basic control mechanism of the body which are associated with feelings. They are not only feelings which color our life. The appraisal function and the strong subjective experience is only one side, the other side is an action tendency which prepares the body for action. Nico H. Frijda defines emotions in the following way: “Emotions are changes in readiness for action” (Frijda, 1986). He argued

  “Action readiness change is the major feature of emotion; it is [..] the defining feature. The 
  notion of ‘action readiness’ includes action tendencies and activation modes; it also includes their 
  absence, in relational null states and deactivations. [..] Emotional experience largely consists of 
  experienced action readiness or unreadiness: impulse to flee or strike or embrace, lack of impulse, 
  apathy, listlessness”

They are in fact the basic control mechanism which guides the behavior of all animals, from mice to humans. There is no introductory pyschology book without a chapter on emotions. Emotions are central to our existence and accompany almost all the significant events in our lives, for example we feel proud when we receive a promotion, we become angry when we learn that we have been betrayed, we feel joy when our children have been born, and we experience grief and sadness when someone we love has died (Smith and Lazarus, 1990). Both positive and negative emotions are indeed necessary to survive. The former tell us to do the right thing (do-more-of-it), the latter protect us from doing the wrong thing (do-less-of-it).

Neural networks and their modulation through emotions are an adaptation to motile and mobile life-forms in general, which are able to move around in complex habitats and environments. Emotion and motivation are derived from lat. movere (which means ‘move’). Plants do not have nervous systems or brains. Only animals have brains, and they need emotions as the basic connection between body and mind. Emotions advise the organism to do the right things in fast changing, challenging surroundings. In the struggle to survive, emotions have an important and essential function. Certain person-environment relationships, constellations and situations trigger instantly certain states of mind, which are characterized by a certain type of action readiness, urge or impulse to do something.

Emotions control the movements and actions of the body. Without any emotions, the organism would not know what to do and what to learn. What is important and should be remembered? What is less important and should be forgotten? Emotions answer these questions. They are a bit like the voice of the genes or a built-in navigation system for the body: the genes set the goals, and the emotions tell the vehicle where to go. They enable the organism to get away from threats to its well-being while pursuing beneficial things and useful opportunities. While basic emotions are necessary to survive at all, highly differentiated emotions are an adaptation to living conditions which require a high degree of response flexibility, for example in complex social systems. The high diversity of individual emotions, both negative and positive, help the organism to respond quickly to various threats and opportunities. Self-conscious emotions like embarrassment, guilt, pride and shame occur mainly in social groups with self-conscious life-forms such as primates and humans. They must have an adaptive advantage for the survival in these groups.

see [[Core relational theme|core relational theme]]

== Links ==

* Wikipedia entry for [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emotion Emotion]

== Books and Bibliography ==

* Nico H. Frijda, The Emotions, Cambridge University Press, 1986
* Richard S. Lazarus, Emotion and Adaptation, Oxford University Press, 1991
* Craig A. Smith and Richard S. Lazarus, “Emotion and Adaptation” in Lawrence A. Pervin (Ed.),“Handbook of Personality”, The Guilford Press, 1990

[[Category:Complex Systems]] [[Category:Psychology]]