Emotion

Emotions form an important component of psychological events. They can be defined as a set of psychological and physiological phenomena.

Emotion feature[edit | edit source]

Emotion:

Emotional experiences can be divided into:

experiences – reflect the positive or negative value of the stimulus situation in relation to the individual's needs
affects (= short-term attunements) and moods (= prolonged attunements)

← these are positive or negative stimuli to objects and phenomena of the external and internal environment and to one's own manifestations

← used for tactical programs

feelings and higher emotions – positive or negative stimuli regarding perspective, long-term relationships

← main – love, hate

← feelings serve strategic goals

in addition to subjective experience, emotions also have somatic-vegetative manifestations, mainly negative emotions

Laugh heals. But only those who can laugh. (Jiří Žaček)
- motor manifestations can be suppressed (laughter, crying, gestures), vegetative manifestations cannot (changes in muscle tone, blood pressure , pulse, etc.) → it can lead to psychosomatic diseases
- the anatomical basis for the emergence and experience of emotions is represented by the so-called emotional circuit:
- it represents: hypothalamus, pituitary gland, adrenal cortex, reticular formation, thalamus, limbic system, cortex
- it involves the interplay of subcortical areas with the crust
mediators playing a role in mood:
- depression : noradrenaline, serotonin, dopamine, acetylcholine, GABA
- fear : GABA, NA, serotonin
- aggression : GABA, serotonin, NA, dopamine

lower (stimuli from the vital area, satisfaction of basic needs)
higher (social, specifically human)
- intellectual feelings (associated with intellectual activity)
- aesthetic feelings
- moral feelings
- ethical feelings

rapid-onset and rapid-fading emotional responses
accompanied by distinct vegetative and mimic reactions
tendency to reckless behavior (can be handled freely, but needs to be acquired through education and self-discipline)
the emergence depends on dispositions and the immediate state of emotionality
every affect tends to discharge

displacement of the affect – it is discharged, for example, on another person
stagnation of affect - after a series of insufficiently intense and cumulative stimuli, the last one causes an inadequate explosion

Pathetic affect
- unusually intense
- at its peak there will be a short-term clouding of consciousness → a serious event may occur (murder, suicide, etc.) ← memory is missing
- relatively rare
- Etiology :
  - after a severe attack of epilepsy
  - alcohol
  - dementia
  - even in normal people - during starvation, exhaustion, etc.
Pathetic affective irritability
- tendency to excessively strong affects
- Etiology :
  - mainly in organic brain conditions – atherosclerosis , dementia, oligophrenia, intoxication, alcoholism
Paroxysmal affects
- Etiology :
  - biological factors: pheochromocytoma , temporal lobe lesions, epilepsy
Emotional lability
- changeable emotions even to weak stimuli
- Etiology :
  - the cause is natural
  - organic disorder (atherosclerosis, dementia)
Emotional incontinence
- reaction with pathetic crying even to non-emotional stimuli
- Etiology :
  - typically in cerebral atherosclerosis
Hypersensitivity
- easy emergence of emotions - they are more permanent than in lability
Affective ambivalence
- opposite emotions at the same time (love x hate)
- Etiology :
  - schizophrenia
Phobia
- intrusive fears also have an emotional component, but intrusiveness is characteristic

mood is a long-lasting setting of the emotional system
it is the base for a number of psychic processes
it is not tied to the content of consciousness, but affects the character of other functions – attention, inculcation, memory , alertness, evaluation, motivation, affects, etc.
intense, repeated exposure to certain stimuli can modify mood:
- physical factors – environmental temperature, atmospheric pressure, geomagnetic field, humidity, sun, length of day, season, time of day
- chemical factors – poisons, drugs, psycholeptics, dysleptics, dysphoria, antidepressants
- metabolic factors – irritability in hypoglycemia and hyperthyroidism, anxiety in cardiac and asthmatic patients, premenstrual syndrome , postpartum depression , toxic infection, exhaustion, hunger, weight loss, CNS diseases
- psychological factors - mainly mood quality

characteristic :
- intensity and duration (months to years)
- independence of emergence from psychogenic factors
- influence on personality
it is important to realize that there is a pathic endogenous mood – folk psychological wisdom attributes every mood change to an experience
types:
- euphoric = blissful
  - occurrence: frontal lobe affections
- expansive = high activity, self-confidence
  - incidence: mania , hebephrenia
- exalted = feeling of well-being, enthusiasm
  - incidence: epilepsy, hysterical psychotic states
- apathetic = reduced pace, indifference, loss of initiative
  - incidence: depression, dementia, drug addiction
- explosive = explosive
  - incidence: epilepsy, chronic alcoholism, explosive psychopathy
- clueless = inability to make a decision, is experienced unpleasantly
  - incidence: depression, schizophrenia
- anxious = a feeling of tension, restlessness, threatened suicide
  - incidence: depression, schizophrenia, epilepsy, dementia
- depressed = sadness, desolation, fear, high risk of suicide!
  - incidence: depression, schizophrenia, epilepsy, dementia

the most common disorders are:
- undeveloped feelings
- loss of higher feelings
- reduction of higher emotions
Etiology :
- innately - insensitive, ruthless people
- organic disorder – oligophrenia, tumors, encephalitis, injuries, etc.
manifestations :
- egocentrism, bad taste, tactlessness, bluntness, rudeness
- infantile and hysterical personality i - on the one hand warm and devoted, on the other ruthless and hateful
- passions = exaggerated feelings – collecting, gambling, careerism, jealousy, etc.
- some hypersensitive overly conscientious persons – excessive development of higher feelings