Emotions and feelings of a person have a very subtle content, which gives rise to a great variety of opinions and views on these concepts. The article will talk about general characteristics of emotions and feelings from my personal position. I have no intention of imposing this material as the ultimate truth, but I believe that the data are sufficiently substantiated to present them to a wide range of people.

The essence of emotions and feelings

Translated from latin emoveo means to excite, excite, cheer up. In everyday life, by emotions we mean the external reactions of a person to everything that happens to him and around him. This kind of response accompanies every day of the individual (with the exception of mental health pathologies), and it also contains the main the essence of emotions and feelings.

Emotional response is a special experience, the purpose of which is to notify the consciousness of the mental state of a person. These experiences are:

• positive and negative
• weak and strong
• short-term and long-term (the latter most often include the feelings that a person experiences).

These experiences undoubtedly affect the activity of the individual, and are also capable of causing physiological changes in organism. "Fly on wings" and "drag yourself by the hair" is all about the most that is not the essence of emotions and feelings... The complexity of emotions as a psychological phenomenon is that there are an infinite number of reasons for the emergence of emotions, as well as the forms of their manifestation.

Forms of emotional reactions

• "Quiet", superficial response. It can be a reaction to the little joys and sorrows of life. It might be an unexpected hug or a smile, or it might just be dawn.
• violent reaction with temporary loss of self-control. For some, this is an unexpected pregnancy, but for others, the victory of their favorite team in the championship.
• stable relatively long-term state. For example, a state of quiet joy, which is difficult and often simply impossible to explain to others, or depression.

As for feelings, they are one of the components of the emotional sphere, along with the emotions themselves. They define a stable emotional attitude towards something. Emotions and feelings are not identical and have a number of differences, about which you can read in more detail here. Thus, you can see how, on the basis of various kinds of representation, more and more emerges general characteristics of emotions and feelings.

Expression of emotions and feelings in everyday life

Our emotions and feelings are primarily an external reflection of our internal state... And each of us needs to learn to be free in their manifestation. If only because the people around us do not know how to read minds at all. Of course, with a high degree of closeness, they can guess about the processes that are taking place in your inner world, suggest what you feel, and even predict your behavior, but only you are able to truly assess your state.

Not everyone can afford the luxury of expression of emotions and feelings... After all, for a start, it would be nice to understand yourself what you feel, but for this you need to think. But we are not one of those who are used to being "driven". So we go with the flow, periodically changing masks, which do not very often coincide with our true states.

Currently, the problem of emotions has become quite urgent. It is quite obvious that successful progress in the study of the problem of emotions is possible only with the joint efforts of various areas of psychological science.

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1. THEORETICAL ASPECT OF STUDYING EMOTIONAL PROCESSES AND STATES

Since the time of Plato, all mental life has been divided into three relatively independent entities: mind, will, and feelings or emotions.

Emotions always arise and act against our will and desire.

Psychology has recently turned to serious research into the problem of emotions. There are different opinions about emotions. Some argue that emotions are not related to behavior. According to others - emotions constitute the primary motivational system of a person. Emotions appeared in humans in the process of evolution. Each emotion performed one or another adaptive function in the process of human evolution.

Emotion is something that is experienced as a feeling that organizes and directs perception, thinking and action. Every aspect this definition important for understanding the nature of emotions. Emotion mobilizes energy. In some cases, this energy is felt by the subject as a tendency to perform an action. Emotion guides the mental and physical activity of the individual, directs it in a certain direction.

As emphasized by many researchers of emotions (for example, Vilyunas, Kruger, Rubinstein, etc.), they reflect the personal significance and assessment of external and internal situations for human life in the form of experiences. This is the subjectivity and involuntary nature of emotions.

Emotions are a person's experience of his personal relationship to certain phenomena of the surrounding reality. As well as a subjective state that arises in the process of interaction with environment or when meeting your needs. Emotions are a kind of reflection of the real process of human interaction with the environment. In emotions, a person expresses his attitude to the content of the cognized in the form of pleasure or displeasure, joy, sadness, fear, delight, etc. For example, a rejoicing person gestures, children jump and clap their hands, laugh. If joy gives a feeling of lightness, then a feeling of heaviness arises in grief, the more tense a person is, the less his ability to enjoy and feel happiness. Sadness paralyzes a person. There is a feeling of fatigue, he moves slowly. The most accurate signal of a change in emotional state is the pulse rate.

Emotions can be characterized by several characteristics. First, emotions express the state of the subject and his relationship to the object. Emotions, secondly, usually differ in polarity, that is, they have a positive or negative sign: pleasure - displeasure, fun - sadness, joy - sadness, etc.

The term "Emotion" (from Lat. Emovere - shock, excite) means a caring attitude to various events and situations in life. That is, emotions are a person's attitude towards the world and towards himself.

Emotions are formed in the course of human activity aimed at satisfying his needs. If our needs are met, then this gives us positive emotions; what interferes with the satisfaction of needs, causes negative emotions in us.

Researchers have shown that numerous physiological changes in the body accompany any emotional state. Throughout the history of the development of this area psychological knowledge more than once attempts have been made to link physiological changes in the body with certain emotions and to show that the complexes of organic signs accompanying various emotional processes are indeed different.

In 1872 Charles Darwin published the book "Expression of Emotions in Man and Animals", which was a turning point in understanding the relationship between biological and psychological phenomena, in particular, the body and emotions. It proved that the evolutionary principle is applicable not only to biophysical, but also to the psychological and behavioral development of living things, that there is no impassable gap between the behavior of an animal and a person.

Emotions, according to this theory, appeared in the process of evolution of living beings as vital adaptive mechanisms that contribute to the adaptation of the organism to the conditions and situations of its life. The bodily changes that accompany various emotional states, in particular those associated with the corresponding emotions of movement, according to Darwin, are nothing more than rudiments of real adaptive reactions of the body.

Charles Darwin's ideas were perceived and developed in another theory, which was widely known in psychology. Its authors were W. James and K. Lange.

James summarizes his theory as follows: “Bodily arousal follows immediately the perception of the fact that caused it: a person's awareness of this excitement is emotion. If bodily manifestations did not immediately follow perception, the latter would be in its form a purely cognitive act, devoid of color and emotional "warmth".

The James-Lange theory correctly noted the essential role that organic changes of a peripheral character play in emotions. Without autonomic responses, there is no emotion. They are not only the external expression of emotions, but also their component. The James-Lange theory has erroneously reduced emotions exclusively to peripheral reactions. Modern physiology has shown that emotions are not reducible to peripheral reactions alone.

The dynamics of emotional processes was considered by S. Shekhter. He showed that a person's memory and motivation make a significant contribution to emotional processes. The concept of emotions, proposed by S. Shekhter, was called cognitive-physiological.

According to this theory, in addition to the perceived stimuli and the bodily changes they generate, the emotional state is influenced by the person's past experience and his assessment of the current situation from the point of view of his actual interests and needs.

According to P.V. Simonov, emotions are associated with needs. But the nature of emotions depends on whether a person has sufficient information about the means of satisfying this need. If there is little information and a person does not know how to satisfy the need, the emotion is negative.

So, summing up, it should be noted that theories help explain the actions of a person, his actions in different situations... Emotions largely depend on a person's lifestyle. A person (if he is mentally healthy) strives to receive as many positive emotions as possible and as few negative ones as possible.

An important unresolved issue in the general psychology of emotions is the classification of emotional processes. Emotions are systemic phenomena. Allocation of systemic qualities, their objectification will allow building a consistent classification of emotions.

Dodonov B.I. offers its own special approach to solving this issue. The object of attention is the emotions in which the subject most often feels the need and which give value to the process of his activity. B. Dodonov's classification includes emotions that appear in the minds of people as "valuable" experiences.

1. Altruistic emotions. These experiences arise out of the need to help, help, and patronize other people.

2. Communicative emotions. These emotions arise from the need for communication.

3. Gloric emotions. These emotions are associated with the need for self-affirmation, for glory.

4. Praxical emotions are experiences that are caused by an activity, its change in the course of work, its success or failure.

5. Scarecrow emotions. Emotions stemming from the need to overcome the danger, on the basis of which later an interest in the struggle arises.

6. Romantic emotions. By romanticism we mean the desire for everything extraordinary, extraordinary, mysterious.

7. Gnostic emotions. We associate these emotions with the need for "cognitive harmony". Its essence is to find the familiar, familiar and understandable in the new and unknown.

8. Aesthetic emotions. In the question of the nature and composition of aesthetic experiences, much remains unclear to this day. There are two main views on this problem. According to the first, pure aesthetic emotions simply do not exist. According to the second view, aesthetic emotion is a reflection of a person's need for harmony with the environment, which is "correspondence, coincidence of human measures and measures of objects."This conformity is reflected in the sense of beauty.

9. Hedonistic emotions. These are emotions associated with satisfying the need for physical and mental comfort.

10. Acidic emotions. These emotions arise in connection with an interest in the accumulation, "collecting" things that go beyond the practical need for them.

This is the classification of emotions according to B.I.Dodonov.

VK Vilyunas distinguishes two groups of emotional phenomena: 1) leading emotional phenomena, 2) derivative emotional phenomena. Leading emotional phenomena induce activity and are responsible for its general direction. They are relevant to the overall activity. They largely determine the direction of emotional life. Derived emotional phenomena are phenomena that arise already in the presence of a leading motivation, that is, in the process of activity, and express a certain attitude of the subject to certain conditions that favor or impede its implementation (fear, anger), to specific achievements in it (joy, grief) , to current or possible situations, etc.

Division of emotions according to their subjective experience. Two categories are distinguished here: positive emotions, which are associated with the satisfaction of a person's vital needs and therefore giving us pleasure, and negative emotions, associated with the dissatisfaction of vital needs and giving displeasure.

All emotions can be classified according to their content. At the same time, simple and complex emotions are distinguished. The simpler ones include anger, fear, joy, grief, envy, jealousy. To more complex ones - moral feeling, aesthetic feeling, etc.

Finally, the following emotional processes are distinguished: sensory tone, mood, affect, emotions proper, stress, frustration, passion, higher feelings. This classification was proposed by E.I. Rogov.

Emotional states have their own history and development in a person. In this case, there is a change in their functions and their differentiation, so that they form significantly different levels and classes. These are affects that arise suddenly and involuntarily; further, these are emotions proper - predominantly situational states, object feelings are associated with them, that is, stable, “crystallized” emotional experiences in the subject; finally, these are moods - subjective phenomena that are very important in their “personal” function. These classes emotional states enter into complex relationships with each other.

Reid built the classification based on the relationship to the source of action. He divided all emotions into three groups: 1) emotions, which are characterized by a mechanical principle (instincts, habits); 2) emotions with an animal principle (appetite, desire, affectations); 3) emotions with a rational beginning (pride, duty).

I. Kant reduced all emotions to two groups, which were based on the cause of the emergence of emotions: sensual and intellectual. He attributed affects and passions to the volitional sphere.

A. Ben identified 12 classes of emotions. The founder of scientific psychology W. Wundt believed that the number of emotions is more than 50,000.

L.V. Kulikov divides emotions into activation ones, which include vigor, joy, passion; tension (tension emotions) - anger, fear, anxiety; and self-esteemed - sadness, guilt, confusion.

So, summing up the above, it should be noted that attempts to give universal classifications of emotions have been undertaken by many scientists, and each of them put forward its own basis for this. On the other hand, the theories of emotions help to explain the actions of a person in different situations... Emotions are considered as the main motive for the corresponding actions and deeds of a person.

2. EMOTIONAL PROCESSES. THEIR CHARACTERISTIC.

A person is born with a certain set of emotional reactions. These emotions are called primary. These include fear and anxiety as an expression of the need for self-preservation, joy arising from the satisfaction of vital needs, and anger as a result of limiting the need for movement.

At a later age, as a result of communication with people, as a result of the formation of their own "I", secondary emotions arise. They are not related to vital needs. But from this they do not become less significant, it is they who bring the greatest suffering and joy.

Emotional processes (phenomena) are divided into affects, stressful conditions, moods and actually emotions and feelings.

Affects almost always arise in the form of a reaction in which tension reacts. According to V. Vitvitsky, affect is a sensory state that “acquires a very significant force and becomes a general violent violation mental life". He attributed such emotional reactions as fear, horror, anger, etc. to affects. A.N. Leontiev wrote that affects arise in response to a situation that has actually come. Affect is nothing more than a strongly expressed emotion. Any emotion can reach the level of affect if it is caused by a strong or especially significant stimulus for a person.

Affect as a type of emotion is characterized by:

1) rapid occurrence;

2) a very high intensity of experience;

3) short duration;

4) violent expression (expression);

5) lack of accountability, i.e. a decrease in conscious control over their actions; in a state of passion, a person is not able to control himself. With affect, little thought is given to the consequences of what is being done, as a result of which a person's behavior becomes impulsive.

6) diffuseness; strong affects capture the entire personality, which is accompanied by a decrease in the ability to switch attention, a narrowing of the field of perception, control of attention focuses mainly on the object that caused.

Affective manifestations of positive emotions are delight, inspiration, enthusiasm, a fit of unbridled fun, and affective manifestations of negative emotions are rage, anger, horror, despair. After affect, there is often a breakdown and indifference to everything around him or repentance for what he did.

The frequent manifestation of affect in a normal environment indicates either a person's bad manners, or about a neuropsychiatric disease that he has.

However, this understanding of affect is not consistent with the use of the term "affect" to denote any emotional response, which is typical for Western psychology.

According to S.L. Rubinstein, affect is a rapidly and violently proceeding emotional process of an explosive nature, which can give release in action not subject to conscious volitional control. Precisely affects are mainly associated with shocks - shocks that are expressed in the disorganization of activity.

Affect arises as a reaction to an event that has already occurred, is, as it were, shifted to its end. For example, grief at loss loved one, anger with betrayal, joy with success - all this is experienced as if after what has already happened.

Any feeling can be experienced in an affective form. Affect speaks of a very strong experience.

There are two types of affect:

1) Pathological. Is a consequence of mental illness, occurs in the absence of consciousness

2) Physiological. Occurs in normal person... Physiological affect proceeds with intact consciousness.

There are two types of pathological affect:

1) holotimny

2) katatimny.

Affect, designated as holotimny, is a “pointless” emotional phenomenon that occurs as a result of physiological events.

Phenomenologically, katatimny affect is an emotional phenomenon associated with significant areas of a person's existence, with his values ​​and motives. Structurally, this affect is similar to normal emotion. The katatimny affect is non-dischargeable.

Genetically, holotim affect is associated with disorders at the biological level.

A correct understanding of affects has great importance for pedagogy and for the practice of forensic psychiatry. Violations mental activity with affects show how internally and mutually conditioned all mental processes.

Emotional tension, characterized by an increased level of activation, is distinguished among the emotional states.

The word stress has different meanings for different people... Therefore, it is very difficult to define it, although it has entered our everyday speech. As noted by Yu.G. Chirkov, stress is contradictory, elusive, vague. It hardly fits into the narrow framework of definitions. Its weakness lies in uncertainty, vagueness of boundaries.

G. Selye believes that the word "stress" came to English from Old French and medieval English and was first pronounced as "distress". Then the first syllable disappeared due to being smudged or "swallowed". There is a point of view that the word "stress" comes from the Latin "tighten".

G. Selye interprets the concept of "stress" in different ways. If in his first works stress was understood as the totality of all nonspecific changes that arise in the body under the influence of any strong influences and are accompanied by a restructuring of the body's defenses, then in later works stress is understood as a nonspecific reaction of the body to any demand presented to it, that is, there was a simplification this phenomenon and concept.

He was the first to try to distinguish between physiological and psychological understanding stress G. Lazarus. He put forward the concept that distinguishes between physiological stress associated with the impact of a real physical stimulus, and mental (emotional) stress associated with a person's assessment of the upcoming situation as threatening, difficult.

At the final stage of developing his skill, G. Selye speaks of two types of stress - distress, which is associated with negative emotional reactions, eustress, associated with positive emotional reactions. This led to the fact that all physiological phenomena, including sleep, entered the scope of concepts.

That is, stress (from the English word stress - tension) is an emotional state that occurs in case of danger, great physical, mental overload, that is, in an unusually difficult situation. It is experienced with great inner tension. Often such experiences arise when it is necessary to make quick and responsible decisions, etc. Extreme life experiences - resentment, threats, disappointment, betrayal, unexpected danger, catastrophe - require a person to mobilize his neuropsychic forces. Experiencing these situations causes an acute form of emotional state, that is, stress.

Stress disorganizes human activity and disrupts the normal course of his behavior. Stress has a negative impact not only on the psychological state, but also on the physical health of a person.

Currently, depending on the results of stress, scientists distinguish between eustress (positive stress that combines with a desired effect and mobilizes the body) and distress (negative stress with an unwanted harmful effect).

Depending on the stressor, one can distinguish different kinds stress, which can be reduced to physiological and mental stress.

G. Selye identified three stages in the development of stress. The first stage is the anxiety reaction - the phase of mobilization of the body's defenses, which increases resistance to a specific traumatic effect. The second stage is the stage of stabilization, at which all parameters, unbalanced in the first phase, are fixed at a new level. If the stressful situation continues to persist, the third stage begins - the stage of exhaustion, accompanied by a breakdown, deterioration of health and even death.

Thus, affect and stress are emotional processes that differ from each other in their specific form of flow. But in the emotional sphere of a person, such emotional processes as mood and actually emotions and feelings are also distinguished.

Of all the emotional phenomena, mood is the most vague, hazy, and almost mystical.

Most psychology textbooks describe mood as an independent emotional phenomenon, distinct from emotions.

According to L.S.Rubinstein, “Mood is not a special experience confined to some particular event, but a diffuse general state. The mood is partly more complex and, most importantly, more iridescent - varied and mostly vague, richer in subtle shades than a well-defined feeling. " Rubinstein emphasizes that mood, unlike other emotional experiences, is personal.

The mood in most Russian textbooks on psychology is characterized by:

1) low intensity;

2) significant duration - the mood can last for hours, or even days;

3) sometimes unclear reasons for it; experiencing a particular mood, a person, as a rule, is poorly aware of the reasons that caused it, does not associate it with certain people, phenomena or events.

4) influence on human activity; impermanently present in a person as emotional background, it increases or decreases his activity in communication or work.

Speaking about the types of mood, we can say that it can be good (sthenic) and bad (asthenic). In the first case, with its stable manifestation, they speak of hyperthymia, that is, an increased mood. It is characterized by elation, gaiety, optimism.

The second manifestation of a good mood is euphoria, which is characterized by carelessness, serenity, carelessness and at the same time indifference to the serious aspects of life.

That is, mood is a general emotional state that colors all human behavior for a considerable time. The mood is joyful or sad, cheerful or sluggish, etc.

People differ in the outward expression of their mood. In some people, their mood can always be read on their face, while other people mask their mood well, which is difficult to guess from a person's appearance.

Emotions are long-term states, sometimes only weakly manifested in external behavior. They have a distinctly situational character, express an evaluative personal attitude to emerging or possible situations. Emotions proper are of a clearly expressed ideational character. This means that they are able to anticipate situations and events that have not really occurred yet, and arise in connection with ideas about experienced or imagined situations. Their the most important feature consists in their ability to generalize and communicate; therefore, the emotional experience of a person is much broader than the experience of his individual experiences. The very expression of emotions takes on the features of a socially evolving, historically changeable "emotional language." Emotions proper are in a different relation to personality and consciousness than affects, the former are perceived by the subject as states of my “I”. the second, as states occurring “in me”. This difference stands out clearly in cases where emotions arise as a reaction to affect; so, for example, the appearance of an emotion of fear of the appearance of an affect of fear or an emotion caused by an experienced affect, for example, the affect of acute anger, is possible. Special kind emotions are aesthetic emotions that perform essential function in development semantic sphere personality.

Emotions proper are a long-term emotional state that arises not only on the events that have taken place, but mainly on the alleged or remembered ones. Emotions reflect an event in the form of a generalized subjective assessment.

Another feature of feelings is that they form a number of levels, ranging from direct feelings to a specific object and ending with higher social feelings related to social values ​​and ideals. Feelings are personal. They reflect the significance of objects and phenomena for a given person in specific situation... As a rule, objects that we dealt with in a joyful, emotional environment will continue to cause us a positive reaction. And unpleasant or sad events and later are unlikely to cause joy. In this regard, feelings can be considered as the most important characteristic of a person.

Feelings reflect a person's attitude to objects and carry information about them. In this sense, we can talk about the cognitive component of emotions. Even the first time we meet this or that object, this or that person, we experience some feelings for him.

Feelings are closely related to the needs of the individual. There is a specific need behind every human emotion. That is, feelings are generated by two reasons. On the one hand, the needs of a person, and on the other, his ability to reflect and understand certain properties of this object.

Feelings are characterized by directionality. The same feelings can have different directions.

Emotions are elementary experiences that arise in a person under the influence of the general state of the body and the course of the process of satisfying urgent needs.

Emotional processes include a wide class of processes of internal regulation of activity. They perform this function, reflecting the meaning that objects and situations that affect the subject have.

In the course of their development, emotions are differentiated and form in humans various types, differing in their psychological characteristics and the patterns of its course.

Emotions are subdivided into actual emotions, feelings, mood, affect and stress. Parameters by which emotional processes and states are characterized: intensity, duration, depth, awareness, conditions of emergence and disappearance, direction, dynamics of development.

Some researchers argue that emotions cannot develop, since they are associated with the functioning of the body and with such features that are innate. Another point of view expresses the opposite opinion - that the emotional sphere of a person is developing.

In fact, these positions are completely compatible with each other and there are no insoluble contradictions between them. Elementary emotions, which act as subjective manifestations of organic states, do change little. But even in relation to affects and even more so feelings, such a statement is incorrect. These emotions develop. That is why knowledge of emotional processes will help you learn how to manage emotions, and psychologists will do the right thing. psychological selection persons for activities in extreme conditions, to create a favorable psychological climate in the team, which is so necessary at the present time.

Glossary

P / p No.	Concept	Definition
	Affect	strong, rapidly emerging and vigorous mental condition, characterized by a strong and deep experience, a vivid external manifestation, a narrowing of consciousness and a decrease in self-control.
	Feeling	The emotional process of a person, reflecting a subjective evaluative attitude towards real or abstract objects.
	Fear	an inner state of impending disaster or perceived disaster
	Passion	it is a strong emotional feeling, focusing on itself the thoughts, emotions, desires of a person
	Mental illness	mental state, other than normal, healthy.
	Emotion	an emotional process of medium duration, reflecting a subjective evaluative attitude towards existing or possible situations.
	Expression	expressiveness, the power of manifestation of feelings, experiences.
	Mood	the predominant emotional state (cheerful, sad, anxious, etc.), affecting the state of mental activity and physical activity.
	Dream	it's natural physiological process being in a state with a minimum level of brain activity and decreased response to the outside world
	Distress	a destructive process that worsens the course of psychophysiological functions.

In psychology, there is no single theory that would give an exhaustive answer to what the emotions and feelings of a person are. It is considered generally accepted only that emotions (from Lat. emoveo - excite, excite) is a mental reflection in the form of a direct biased experience of the vital meaning of phenomena and situations, conditioned by the relation of their objective properties to the needs of the subject. In the process of evolution, emotions arose as a means of allowing living beings to determine the biological significance of the states of the organism and external influences. Simplest form emotions - the so-called emotional tone of sensations - direct experiences accompanying individual vital influences (for example, taste, temperature) and prompting the subject to preserve or eliminate them.

Emotions by origin are a form of species experience: focusing on it, the individual performs the necessary actions, the expediency of which remains hidden for him. Emotions are also important for individual experiences. In this case, they are caused by situations and signals that precede direct (evoking emotions) influences, which allows the subject to prepare for them in advance.

Emotions motivate and energize a person, causing him the desire or tendency to perform certain actions. The level of energy mobilization (activation) of the organism, necessary for the emotional functions carried out, is provided by the autonomic nervous system in its interaction with the structures of the brain, which make up the central nervous substrate of emotions.

I. Izard believes that emotion consists of three interrelated components: 1) neural activity of the brain and somatic nervous system; 2) the activity of striated muscles or mimic and pantomimic expression; 3) subjective experience.

In total, according to I. Izard, there are ten fundamental emotions: interest - excitement; pleasure is joy; astonishment; grief - suffering; anger is rage; disgust - disgust; contempt - neglect; fear - horror; shame is shyness; guilt is remorse.

These emotions form the main motivational system. Each fundamental emotion has unique motivational and phenomenological properties. Fundamental emotions lead to different internal experiences and different external expressions of these experiences. Emotions interact with each other - one emotion can activate, strengthen or weaken another. Emotional processes interact with impulses and with prospective, cognitive and motor processes and influence them.

There are four main types of motivation according to I. Izard:

1. Motivation - hunger, thirst, fatigue, pain, sex.

2. Emotions - ten fundamental emotions listed above.

3. Affective-cognitive interaction (emotions are combined with thought, representation): emotion - emotion (grief-anger, fear-shame-guilt); emotion - motivation (interest - sex; pain - fear - shame - anger); emotion - affective-cognitive structures (interest - introversion; surprise - interest - pleasure - egoism).

4. Affective-cognitive structures: introversion - extraversion; skepticism; selfishness; determination; equanimity.

Human emotions are a product of socio-historical development. They refer to the processes of internal regulation of behavior. As a subjective form of expressing needs, emotions precede activities to satisfy them, prompting and directing it. Domestic psychologist S.L. Rubinstein pointed out that a person experiences only what happens to him and what happens to him. A person relates in a certain way to what surrounds him. The experience of this relationship of a person to the environment is the sphere of feelings and emotions.

S.L. Rubinstein identified the signs of emotion:

1) emotions express the state of the subject and attitude to the object;

2) emotions differ in polarity, i.e. have a positive or negative sign.

The starting point that determines the nature and function of emotions is that, on the one hand, a connection is established, the relationship between the course of events occurring in accordance with or contrary to the needs of the individual, the course of activities aimed at satisfying these needs, and on the other hand, with the flow of internal organic processes that capture the main vital functions on which the life of the organism as a whole depends. As a result, the individual is tuned in for the appropriate action or reaction.

Feeling, according to S.L. Rubinstein, is the attitude of a person to the world, to what he experiences and does, in the form of direct experience. S.L. Rubinstein distinguishes three levels of the emotional sphere:

1. The level of organic emotional-affective sensitivity. This includes elementary physical feelings - pleasures, displeases, associated mainly with organic needs (color, tone of an individual sensation) or the expression of various organic well-being of the body (pointless longing).

2. Objective feelings corresponding to objective action. There is a higher level of awareness of feeling. Conscious experience of a person's relationship to the world. Classification of these feelings: intellectual, aesthetic, moral.

3. Generalized feelings: a sense of humor, irony, a sense of the sublime, tragic. They express the general more or less stable ideological attitudes of the individual.

In addition to feelings, S.L. Rubinstein describes affects and passions that are different from feelings, but are related to them. Affect by S.L. Rubinstein - a rapidly and violently proceeding emotional process of an explosive nature, which can give detente in action, not subject to conscious volitional control. The affective state is expressed in the inhibition of conscious activity. Passion by S.L. Rubinstein - a strong, persistent, long-term feeling, which, having taken root in a person, captures him and owns him. Passion is always expressed in concentration, concentration of thoughts and forces, their focus on a single goal. The strong-willed moment of striving is clearly expressed in passion; passion is a unity of emotional and volitional moments; aspirations prevail in him over feelings.

Mood- the general emotional state of the personality, expressed in the structure of all its manifestations. The mood is not substantive, but personal (he is happy!), It is a diffuse general state. Unconscious emotional assessment personality of how the circumstances are currently developing for her (does not know the reason).

Another Russian psychologist A.N. Leontiev defines emotional processes as processes of internal regulation of activity. They reflect the meaning that objects and situations that affect the subject have, their significance for the implementation of his life.

It is customary to refer to emotional processes as affects, in fact, emotions and feelings.

Affects according to AN Leontiev - these are strong and relatively short-term emotional experiences, accompanied by pronounced motor and visceral manifestations. They arise in response to an already actual situation, and in this sense are, as it were, shifted towards the end of the event. The regulatory function consists in the formation of a specific experience - affective traces that determine the selectivity of subsequent behavior in relation to situations and their elements that previously caused affect.

Actually emotions, according to AN Leontiev, - longer states, manifested in external behavior. They are clearly situational in nature, i.e. express an evaluative personal attitude to emerging or possible situations, to their activities and their manifestations in them. They are also ideological in nature - i.e. are able to anticipate situations and events that have not really occurred yet, and arise in connection with ideas about experienced or imagined situations.

The senses, according to A.N. Leontiev, they have an objective character arising as a result of a specific generalization of emotions associated with the idea or idea of ​​some object. The mismatch of feelings and emotions is a mismatch of a stable emotional attitude to an object and an emotional reaction to the current transient situation.

Comparative characteristics of emotions and feelings

Emotions and feelings may not coincide and even contradict each other (for example, a deeply loved person may, in a certain situation, cause a transient emotion of displeasure and even anger). In addition, the same emotion can "serve" different feelings. For example, you can celebrate the success of a loved one and the failure of a person you hate.

Emotions are not always realized, but feelings, on the contrary, are outwardly very noticeable. Emotions are mostly associated with the area of ​​the unconscious, and feelings are maximally represented in our consciousness. Emotions are short-term, and feelings are long-term, and reflect a stable attitude towards any specific objects.

Feelings are expressed through certain emotions, depending on the situation in which the object to which the person is feeling is.

Thus, there is no direct correspondence between feelings and emotions: the same emotion can express different feelings, and the same feeling can be expressed in different emotions. Without externally showing emotions, a person hides his feelings from others.

Characterization of various emotions

Emotions of expectation and prediction:

1. Excitement - in the psychology of emotions, excitement is not considered as an independent category. It is rather an everyday concept that reflects the state of anxiety, anxiety, fear. It is about the excitement shown by a person in front of an activity or meeting that is significant for him, as well as about the emotional mood for this. Excitement in this case is understood as an increased level of emotional arousal.

2. Anxiety - the concept of "anxiety" was introduced into psychology by Freud and is currently considered by many scientists as a kind of fear. Anxiety is the result of the activity of the imagination, the fantasy of the future. Anxiety appears in a person due to the presence of unfinished situations, blocked activity, which makes it impossible to discharge excitement. Anxiety is understood as an emotional state of acute internal painful empty anxiety associated in a person's mind with predicting failure, danger or expectation of something important, significant for a person in conditions of uncertainty.

3. Fear is an emotional state that reflects the protective biological response of a person or animal when it experiences a real or perceived danger to their health and well-being. Consequently, for a person as a biological being, the emergence of fear is not only expedient, but also beneficial. However, for a person as a social being, fear often becomes an obstacle to the achievement of his goals.

4. Despair is a state of utter hopelessness. The specific reasons that can lead a person to despair are varied, but all of them should give a person the impression that the danger threatening him is insurmountable.

Satisfaction and joy:

1. Satisfaction - a feeling of pleasure experienced by the one whose aspirations, desires, needs are fulfilled and satisfied. This is an exclusively mental pleasure, the main thing in which is the achievement of the goal.

2. Joy is active positive emotion, expressed in a good mood and a feeling of pleasure, is accompanied by the experience of strong satisfaction with oneself and the world around.

Frustrated emotions(frustration - frustration, collapse of plans, plans, hopes)

1. Resentment - as an emotional reaction to an unfair attitude towards oneself, appears when a person's self-esteem is hurt, when a person realizes that he is being undeservedly humiliated. This happens in the case of insult, deception, unjustified accusations and reproaches.

2. Disappointment - if the expected or promised event does not come true, then there is dissatisfaction, displeasure. The more was promised and the more important the expected event was, the more disappointment a person experiences if his expectations were not met.

3. Annoyance is irritation, discontent due to your own failure or the failure of a loved one, your favorite sports team, etc. This regret is often mixed with anger at the circumstances, the person that prevented the achievement of the plan. Anger when annoyed is often expressed ("discharged") with the help of strong expressions, including mat.

4. Anger - the concept of anger is synonymous with the concepts of indignation, indignation, anger. According to E. Shostrom, resentment is a blocked or incomplete, as well as a deceitful emotion. He believes that resentment is unnatural and stifled expresses fear. Many of us express anger when we actually feel hurt and hurt. This is because anger is a more predictable emotion. It's easy to guess what might happen after one person speaks up in anger: the other side will get angry as well. When one person admits to another that he is offended, anything can happen, and the reaction of the other side is unpredictable.

5. Frenzy is an extreme degree of excitement with loss of self-control, most often arising from frustration and manifested in this case as a state of impotent anger.

6. Sadness is a state of mental bitterness, which is caused by separation, a feeling of loneliness, failure to achieve a goal, disappointment, unfulfilled hope. The main reason is the loss of something meaningful to a person.

7. Despondency - the main component of this emotion is the assessment of the hopelessness of the situation associated with the satisfaction of a need, attraction, with the achievement of what was conceived and desired. Despondency is associated with an unfavorable prognosis for the outcome of a process that has not yet ended, when there are still some chances of success.

8. Grief is deep sorrow for someone or anything of value or need. The reasons can be: long-term separation or loss of a person to whom there is attachment; serious illness or injury to oneself or a loved one; loss of valuable property, loss of a source of livelihood - this means the loss of a source of pleasure, joy, well-being.

Communicative emotions:

1. Fun - is defined as a carefree, joyful mood, expressed in a propensity for fun, laughter, in general excitement, leading to exclamations, clapping hands, aimless movements.

2. Embarrassment - or a state of shyness is defined as confusion, a feeling of awkwardness. Typical of embarrassment is having an easy a smile running across a person's face.

3. Confusion - panic confusion in a state of anxiety.

4. Shame is one of the manifestations of embarrassment, it is the awareness of one's own ineptitude, inadequacy or inadequacy in a certain situation or in the performance of a certain task, accompanied by negative experiences - upset, anxiety or anxiety.

5. Guilt as a reflection of conscience - the experience of guilt is caused by self-condemnation, accompanied by repentance and a decrease in self-esteem. Sometimes the feeling of guilt is unfounded and exaggerated, harming a person: it causes chronic fatigue, frigidity, and can even lead to suicide

6. Contempt - This emotion is considered as one of the manifestations of feelings of hostility. This is a social aversion to a person who has committed an unworthy offense. The specificity of this emotion is that, having arisen situationally, it does not disappear without a trace at the end of the situation, but turns into a persistent negative attitude towards this person, i.e. in a sense.

Intellectual emotions:

1. Surprise - a feeling of surprise, to which is added the consciousness of the difficulty of reconciling a phenomenon new to us with those ideas that a person already has.

2. Interest is a feeling of successfully satisfied need, pleasure from any process.

3. A sense of humor - its essence is not to see and understand the comic where it is, but to perceive as comic that which pretends to be serious.

4. The emotion of guessing is an assessment of some new, yet unconscious result of solving a problem. The emotion of guessing is experienced very vividly, as an insight, i.e. a sudden clarification of something in consciousness, understanding.

5. Confidence-uncertainty (doubt) is an intellectual process of probabilistic forecasting of this or that event, achievement or non-achievement of a goal, it is a belief in oneself or a loss of this belief.

Emotions and feelings are something without which our life would not be so interesting and full of impressions. The functions of feelings in psychology are very diverse, and in order to understand them in more detail, one can turn to simple classifications.

Emotions are specific sensations that a person experiences here and now. These sensations are associated with a person's positive or negative attitude towards various objects. Emotions have their main functions:

1. Signal. We experience emotions in those moments when we have any need.
2. Regulatory. Emotions allow a person to behave in accordance with the situation, based on the norms inherent in the society in which the person lives. In addition, emotions allow us to evaluate situations.
3. Motivational. For a person to start acting, he needs emotions. We are all inherently inclined to experience as many different sensations as possible, both negative and positive.

Despite the fact that emotions play a very important role in human life, few of us know how, or at least strive to learn to understand other people's impressions. In addition, not every person knows how to manage even their own feelings and emotions.

Psychology distinguishes between emotions, feelings and will. And each of these directions receives a lot of its separate types and branches. For example, there are several types of emotions:

1. Excitement - tranquility.
2. Pleasure is displeasure.
3. Voltage is resolution.
4. Stenic (activity) and asthenic (despondency, impotence).

So gradually we got to the definition of feelings in psychology, because these are nothing more than stable emotional reactions to objects. Feelings can be regarded as a property of character, and indicates certain addictions and.

Properties of feelings in psychology

As in the case of emotions, the concept of feeling in psychology allows you to create a certain classification. They may be:

1. Intellectual senses. They are associated with knowledge and arise in the course of scientific or educational work- this is surprise, confidence, curiosity, uncertainty, doubt, curiosity, bewilderment.
2. Moral feelings. They are associated with a person's attitude to public morality. This includes duty, conscience, respect and contempt, sympathy and antipathy, patriotism, and so on.
3. Aesthetic feelings. They are related to aesthetic needs. These are the feelings of the beautiful, the sublime, the ugly, the base, etc.
4. Feelings of justice. People react painfully to any injustice, and strive to look dignified and independent in any, even the most oppressive, situation.

Human psychology distinguishes between feelings by strength, speed of occurrence and duration. Some arise quickly and disappear just as quickly, others are slow and stable. Depending on how strong and long-lasting feelings are, they can be attributed to different types emotional states of a person.