We all know people who lose control in an insignificant situation and react impulsively. But we also know people who in complicated and unexpected situations. Are able to control themselves, stay calm and reflect before acting. What do the differences in their ways of responding depend on? Without a doubt, they depend on how they manage their emotions.
It is also valid to recognize that emotions are sometimes difficult to understand. Not all people have a good psycho-emotional education. Sometimes the understanding of what we feel cannot go beyond “it makes no sense for me to feel that way”. For many subjects, emotional matters are chaotic processes that are impossible to understand or relate to any type of meaning or situation.
What do you feel right now, as you read this? Curious? Do you think it can be useful for you? Are you hoping to learn about yourself? Do you find it boring? Or are you happy because it’s a song you like? Do you have some worries and don’t focus on reading? Do you experience frustration because you didn’t find what you expected? Maybe you’re distracted by something else, like anticipating a plan, or appointment, or project. Or are you feeling sad because you’re going through a breakup, loss of a loved one, or work or health issue?
Emotions like these are part of human nature. They give us information about what we are experiencing and help us know how to react.
We experience emotions from the time we are newborns. Infants and toddlers react to them with facial expressions. Actions such as laughing, giving a hug, or crying. They feel and show emotions, but they don’t yet have the ability to name it or explain why they feel one way or another. As we grow up, we become more adept at understanding experiences.
Instead of reacting as children react, we can identify what we feel and put it into words. With time and practice we become better at deciphering what we feel and why. This skill is called emotional awareness.
Conceptualizing emotions
An emotion is a reaction that people experience in response to a stimulus, event, or situation. It is a psychological and physiological phenomenon that manifests itself in behavior, body perceptions and consciousness, as an adaptive reaction to an important stimulus. It is an impulse that generates a tendency to action. Emotions are complex, diverse and involve three types of factors: physiological, behavioral and cognitive. Let’s look at an example.
An individual with fear experiences tachycardia (physiological factor), changes their facial expression and tone of voice (behavioral factor) and catalogs what has happened to them as unpleasant (cognitive factor).
Classification of emotions: primary and secondary
There are different theories that classify emotions. Those that are common to all human beings. And even to many animals, are known as primary or basic emotions. These, when combined with each other, result in secondary emotions. Which are more complex and closer to the concept of feeling. For example, surprise and sadness make up disappointment.
Paul Ekman (born February 15, 1934) is an American psychologist who pioneered the study of emotions and facial expression. Ekman is considered one of the 100 most outstanding psychologists of the twentieth century. For him there are six basic emotions in every human being: joy, disgust, anger, fear, sadness, and surprise.
Joy is a pleasant feeling of satisfaction and well-being that invites us to share or present some achievement. So the human being seeks in this joy to recognize himself as happy and share with others. It promotes approaches and social bond-building behaviors. As well as being an indicator of satisfaction or success.
Disgust or aversion seeks to identify through displeasure something disgusting that can affect health. Avoid contact with or consumption of substances that could be harmful or toxic. For example, a rotting food, when I smell it, generates disgust that puts me on alert. Something is wrong and it is better not to continue with the action.
Anger is given by a feeling of anger that often generates annoyance, irritability, indignation. It arises as a response to the perception of a threat or injustice and can motivate corrective or defensive actions.
Fear is an apprehension caused by a sense of threat, of danger, in which one must take stock of the resources available to him in the face of that danger. Fear activates the threat response system and prepares the individual for flight or confrontation.
Sadness is experienced as misery and unhappiness for the past well-being that I am now experiencing as a sorrow, as a mourning, as something that will not return. A typical response to experiences of loss or failure. Which can encourage introspective reflection or the search for social support.
Surprise is a surprise or discomfort in the face of something unexpected. It works as a rapid warning mechanism that helps to direct our attention to new stimuli. Facilitates adaptation to sudden changes or new information. It can be pleasant or unpleasant.
Secondary emotions
Secondary emotions are not present in all cultures.
They arise from the combination of different aspects of primary emotions and manifest themselves according to learned social, cultural, and personal codes. However, in them there will always be vestiges of the primal emotions that gave birth to them.
They are more complex and intellectually refined, and have an important cultural and traditional component. Some secondary emotions are optimism, disappointment or submission or dependence, love, among others.
All emotions are compasses, and therefore all are necessary, whether pleasant or unpleasant. They serve to guide us on our journey of discovery of the world. They offer us information that helps us make decisions in our lives.
Emotions have three very important functions
1.- The adaptive function: they help us to adapt to the environment and survive by preparing for action and change.
2.- The Communicative Function: because they allow us to express what we feel and make others participate in it. Their physical and behavioral expressions are indicators of people’s status, intentions, and needs, allowing for empathy and improved communication.
3.- The motivational function: because they motivate certain behaviors or actions in ourselves and in others.
I think emotional awareness helps us unveil what we need and want (or don’t want). It helps us build better relationships. This is because by being aware of our emotions we can speak clearly about our feelings and experiences. Resolve conflicts better, and overcome difficult states more easily.
Some people are naturally more in touch with their emotions than others. The good news is that we can all be more aware of them. It only takes practice, but it’s worth the effort. Emotional awareness is the first step towards building emotional intelligence, a skill that can help people to be more successful in life and which I will tell you about in one of these meetings between The Psychiatrist and You.
By: Israel Manuel Fagundo Pino / Translated by Radio Angulo
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