What would life be like without emotions?

Unit 6. Emotions: Riding Life’s Roller Coaster

In some ways life would be better. We would not experience the distress asso­ciated with anger, fear, and depression. We would never be in a bad mood. There would be no unhappiness.

On the other hand, without emotions there would be no joy, laughter, or excitement. We would never know- the pleasure of a good mood. There would be no happiness.

Emotions give life much of its dimension and depth. Although emotions can sometimes diminish the quality of existence, they also often enrich life. The ups and downs associated with our emotional states give life something of the quality of a roller-coaster ride. Some people live a wild emotional life characterized by extreme highs and low-s. Others lead a more rational emotional life—the highs and low-s are not too extreme. But we all ride life’s emotional roller coaster in one way or another. Consequently, emotions merit study and have an important place in psychology.

The word emotion is a contraction of two words: exit and motion. The ancient Greeks believed that the smiles and the frowns associated with such states as happiness or sadness indicated that the soul was coming out of the body and revealing itself. It was making an “exit motion."' This became “e-motion"' or simply “emotion."'

An emotion is. at the physiological level, a disruption in homeostatic base­lines. There are changes in heart rate, respiration rate, and blood pressure. These are fluctuations in arousal. At the psychological level, these physiological changes are experienced as either greater excitement or increased calmness. Human beings also experience these changes as either pleasant or unpleasant.

It is evident from the above that there are two basic psychological dimensions to emotions: excitement-calm and pleasant-unpleasant. The pleasant-unpleasant dimension of emotions is identified as hedonic tone. The concept of hedo­nism. as presented by the philosopher Aristotle, was a motivational concept. Hedonism is the point of view- that we approach stimulus situations that are pleas­ant and avoid situations that are unpleasant.

The two dimensions of emotions generate four categories of emotions: (1) excitement-pleasant, (2) excitement-unpleasant, (3) calm-pleasant, and (4) calm- unpleasant. All of the many words that we use to describe emotions can be read­ily placed in one of these categories. Words such as happy, joy. and ecstasy belong in category 1. Words such as anger, fear, and rage belong in category 2. Words such as relaxed, blissful, and tranquil belong in category 3. Words such as sad. melancholy, and depressed belong in category 4.

There are three aspects to all emotions: (1) cognitive, (2) physiological, and (3) behavioral. The cognitive aspect of emotions refers to w-hat one is thinking w-hen one feels an emotion. Thoughts such as “YCh.at a wonderful day,” ^tfI hate him,” and ‘‘1 think we’re going to crash” are likely to either induce emotional states or be associated with them.

The physiological aspect of emotions refers to the disruption of homeo­static baselines. As already indicated, emotions are associated with either increased or decreased arousal. Fear is associated with increased arousal. Depression is asso­ciated with decreased arousal.

The behavioral aspect of emotions refers to w-hat people do w-hen they feel an emotion, w-hat actions they take. Fear might induce a person to run away, if pos­sible, from the stimulus source that is causing fear. If a person can’t run, he or she might shake and tremble. If the fear is being caused by a threat from a menacing per­son, one might plead, turn over a purse or wallet, or beg for mercy. On the other hand, an emotion such as depression might induce a particular person to sit in a chair and mope. Another person in response to depression might go on an eating binge.