Scientists’ interest in the nature of emotions has been increasing in recent decades and it is today one of the most productive research topics. This is due to the very important role they play in all aspects of human existence: adaptation, survival, learning, communication, consciousness, identity, social interaction. Show In this article, we review the concept and analyse what its components are and how an emotional event takes place. This will allow us to better understand the role that emotions play in language and learning. AuthorAna Blanco CanalesKey words Emotion, feeling, dimensions, componentsRecommended readings Damasio, A. (2005). En busca de Spinoza. Neurobiología de la emoción y los sentimientos. Barcelona: Crítica. Scherer, K. R. (2005). What are emotions? And how can they be measured? Social Science Information 44, (4), 695–729. SíguenosRSS Feed.
Emotion: a set of physiological, cognitive and motor changes that arise from the conscious or unconscious assessment of a stimulus, in a given context and in relation to the objectives of an individual at a specific moment in their life.Concept of emotionEmotions play a fundamental role in survival, conservation of the species, social relations and communication. They also have a motivational function that predisposes us to repeat behaviours linked to positive emotions over and over again. This definition is in line with the vision advocated by Scherer in numerous works of emotion as componential process: an episode of interrelated, synchronized changes in the states of all or most of the five organismic subsystems in response to the evaluation of an external or internal stimulus event as relevant to major concerns of the organism (2005: 697). Emotion is produced as an organised response to an external event or internal occurrence (a thought, an image, a behaviour, etc.). The perceptual process of the event takes place first, followed by an assessment. The result is a neuropsychological, behavioural or cognitive reaction. If it leads to a behaviour, it causes a propensity for action (Bisquerra 2003). Emotion denotes movement and interaction with the world. This is a behaviour that includes all the changes that occur in the body triggered by a wide range of stimuli that come from all that surrounds the individual (or that can also occur from the reminiscence of such stimuli) and that indicate reward (pleasure) or punishment (pain). (Mora 2017: 65)F. Mora points out that our emotions are our identity and that nothing that happens in the cerebral cortex is produced aseptically, without the emotional filter. Emotions are intimately linked to our cognitive and learning processes. Everything that is perceived by the senses is first analysed in the specific areas of the cerebral cortex. From there, it passes to the filter of the emotional system, where these sensory perceptions are labelled as good or bad, attractive or unattractive, interesting or neutral. The information, now tinged with emotional meaning, then passes to the association areas of the cerebral cortex, where mental, reasoning and thought processes are built up and complex executive functions are elaborated. It then reaches the hippocampus, where the trace of what has been perceived and learned is recorded (Mora 2017: 42). Emotion and feelingEmotion is closely linked to feelings, but they are different brain realities. According to Damasio (2005), emotions precede feelings. Emotion is the organism’s response to an emotionally competent stimulus, i.e. an object or event with biological significance. Feelings, on the other hand, are the subjective, stable and more or less lasting experience of emotion, devoid of somatic symptoms. When the results of emotions are mapped in the brain, feelings occur. They are the images or representations of emotions and their results in the organism. Feelings are also linked to a bodily sensation generated by nerve activation, but their mental component focuses on the reprocessing of the images, experiences, facts and thoughts that feed and sustain an emotion, rather than on the assessment of the stimulus. Thus, it can be stated that a feeling is a mentalisation – conscious and reasoned – of the emotion. As a result, emotions are relatively short-lived, but feelings can persist for a long time.Dimensions and categoriesAll emotional states can be described along two fundamental continuous dimensions: 1. the value (either positive or negative) of the emotion (valence), which is distributed along the pleasant-unpleasant axis; and 2. the strength of the emotion (intensity of arousal). Complementary dimensions can be added to these, such as the degree of control, compatibility with social norms of reference, and the novelty or familiarity of the eliciting events. Anger, for example, would be an emotional state characterised by a negative valence and a moderate level of activation; rage, on the other hand, would also have a negative valence but a higher degree of activation. Any emotion could be ordered along these two axes. Cognitive attribution (or, in other words, the association with what we know from our experiences or predictions) makes it possible to integrate the different dimensions with the associated physiological experience. As for the types of emotions, we can differentiate between primary or basic emotions and secondary (mixed or complex) emotions, which are the result of a combination of several primary emotions.  Primary emotions are described as “complex and largely automatic programmes of action, established by evolution; […] they are a universe of actions performed in the body, ranging from facial expressions and different postures to modifications affecting the viscera and the internal environment” (Damasio 2005). Paul Ekman’s experiments on facial expressions associated with emotions led to the conclusion that the six basic emotions (anger, joy, fear, surprise, disgust and sadness) are universally recognised regardless of age, gender and cultural background. On the other hand, secondary emotions are behavioural or social. They arise from the combination of primary emotions and develop with the growth of the individual and with social interaction. Envy, shame, yearning, resignation, jealousy, hope, nostalgia, remorse and disappointment are some of the secondary emotions. Emotion componentsEach emotion is associated with the presence of some physiological, cognitive and/or motor modification in the subject experiencing it. Therefore, three organ systems are involved in the emotional experience in a synergic and integrated manner. Stimuli that are likely to provoke these reactions have what is known as ’emotional competence’ (Damasio 2005). When the brain detects emotionally competent stimuli, it sends specific commands to the endocrine system – which is responsible for the release and regulation of hormones in the bloodstream -, to the autonomic nervous system – which acts on the body’s physiological control systems, homeostasis in general, but also on the cardiovascular system and visceral organs – and to the musculoskeletal system – which is responsible for some typically emotional responses, such as freezing in fear, running away, or emotion-related facial expressions. Scherer (2001) identifies five components based on the systems involved, as well as on the development of processes and functions:
Nowadays, a significant amount of emotion research is being carried out thanks to technological advances that make it possible to examine the brain and its functioning. However, it is also possible to conduct experimental research on the basis of detailed analysis of the dimensions of emotion and the components involved in the processes. Their analysis and measurement provides insight into how emotions affect mental processing and provides very relevant information in various fields of cognitive psychology and linguistics. Language and emotionAll the elements of language are intimately linked to the cognitive and emotional development of the individual, as well as to their experiences in the environment. When we learn words, in addition to the networks responsible for the phonological and articulatory structure, we activate other areas responsible for sensory and motor information from our experiences with the referenced object. This almost simultaneous coactivation would lead to the creation of lexical networks or neural networks, which incorporate these sensory-motor components as part of the meaning (González Barros et al. 2006). Language is embodied, and, based on this fact, we can affirm that it is doubly emotional: on the one hand, because in its acquisition process each word enters the neural networks sifted by emotion and, on the other, because during its use (words are stimuli) there are areas activated that resonate those emotional features constituting its meaning. Language is a corporeal and emotional construction.ReferencesBisquerra, R. (2003). Educación emocional y competencias básicas para la vida. Revista de Investigación Educativa 21(1), 7-43 Damasio, A. (2005). En busca de Spinoza. Neurobiología de la emoción y los sentimientos. Barcelona: Crítica. González J.; Barros-Loscertales A.; Pulvermüller F.; Meseguer V.; Sanjuán A.; Belloch V. y Ávila C. Reading cinnamon activates olfactory brain regions. Neuroimage 32, 906-912. Mora, F. (2017). Neuroeducación. Solo se puede aprender aquello que se ama. Madrid: Alianza Editorial. Scherer, K. R. (2001). Appraisal Considered as a Process of Multi-Level Sequential Checking. En K.R. Scherer, A. Schorr y T. Johnstone (eds.), Appraisal Processes in Emotion: Theory, Methods, Research. New York and Oxford: Oxford University Press, 92–120. Scherer, K. R. (2005). Scherer, Klaus R. (2005): What are emotions? And how can they be measured? Social Science Information 44, (4), 695–729. Back to Top “Las pasiones sobre cuyo origen se engaña son las que más tiranizan. Los motivos que mejor se conocen tienen mucha menos fuerza”. Oscar Wilde “Lo que pasa es que uno proyecta un montón de emociones desagradables en una persona y te encuentras odiando a alguien o algo”. Patricia Highsmith “Nuestros pensamientos son las sombras de nuestros sentimientos, siempre más oscuros, más vanos, más sencillos que éstos”. Friedrich Nietzche “Cada cual gobierna todo según su afecto”. Spinoza “Nada grande se ha hecho nunca sin entusiasmo”. Ralph W. Emerson “I prefer where truth is important to write fiction”. Virginia Wolf “Es nuestra actitud al comienzo de una tarea difícil la que, más que cualquier otra cosa, afecta a su resultado exitoso”. William James “Los hábitos de pensamiento no tienen por qué persistir para siempre. Uno de los hallazgos más significativos de la psicología en los últimos veinte años es que los individuos eligen su forma de pensar”. M. E. Seligman “Un pesimista ve la dificultad en cada oportunidad; un optimista ve la oportunidad en cada dificultad”. Winston S. Churchill “El éxito requiere de persistencia, la habilidad de no rendirse en la cara del fracaso. Creo que el estilo optimista es la llave a la persistencia”. M.E. Seligman “Los límites de mi lenguaje son los límites de mi mente”. Ludwig Wittgenstein “Cambia tu atención y cambiarás tus emociones. Cambia tu emoción y tu atención cambiará de lugar”. Frederick Dodson “Los sentimientos y las emociones son el lenguaje universal que debe ser honrado. Son la expresión auténtica de quiénes somos”. Judith Wright “We often use strong language not to express a powerful emotion but to evoke it in us”. Eric Hoffer “You can't show me a sentence, word, or phoneme that is meaningless; by its nature, language is packed with meaning and emotion”. Kenneth Goldsmith “I am fascinated by language in daily life: the way it can evoke an emotion, a visual image, a complex idea, or a simple truth”. Amy Tan “El lenguaje es una mezcla de declaración y evocación”. Elizabeth Bowen “Tener otro idioma es poseer una segunda alma”. Carlomagno “Aprender un idioma es tener una ventana más desde la que mirar el mundo”. Proverbio chino “Quien no conoce las lenguas extranjeras nada sabe de la suya propia”. J.W. von Goethe “El genio más íntimo de cada pueblo, su alma profunda, está sobre todo en la lengua”. Jules Michelet “El idioma es la sangre del alma, en el que los pensamientos corren, y de la que crecen”. Oliver Wendell Holmes “Words are the most powerful thing in the universe... Words are containers. They contain faith, or fear, and they produce after their kind”. Charles Capps “Mi tarea es, por el poder de la palabra escrita, hacerte oír, hacerte sentir — antes de todo, hacerte ver. Eso — y nada más; eso es todo”. Joseph Conrad “Las palabras: tan inocentes e indefensas como son en un diccionario y cuán potentes para el bien y el mal se convierten en las manos de quien sabe combinarlas”. What are the three components of emotion in psychology quizlet?The three components are physiological (arousal, autonomic nervous system kicking in), cognitive (perceptions/interpretations of stimulus/situation), and behavioral (gestures, facial expressions, body posture, tone of voice).
What are the 3 most common emotions?The most frequent emotion was joy, followed by love and anxiety. People experienced positive emotions 2.5 times more often than negative emotions, but also experienced positive and negative emotions simultaneously relatively frequently.
What are the 3 main purposes of emotions?Emotions – even those that feel unpleasant or seem negative – have a few important uses: Emotions drive our actions – for example, a fight, flight or freeze response. Emotions tell others that we're dealing with stressors and may need support. Emotions have wisdom.
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