UNDERSTANDING HUMAN EMOTIONS

Approaches to Understanding Emotions, Evolution of Emotions

Approaches to Understanding Emotions, Evolution of Emotions

Understanding Emotions

Emotion is multifaceted, and the word has different definitions. Emotions are mental states that arise impulsively, rather than through conscious attempt. It is indistinct whether animals or all human beings experience emotion. Emotions are physical expressions, often involuntary, related to feelings, perceptions or beliefs about elements, objects or relations between them, in reality or in the imagination. The study of emotions is part of psychology, neuroscience, and, more recently, artificial intelligence. According to Miller & Attig (1979), emotions are cognitive processes. Some authors emphasize the difference between human emotions and the affective behavior of animals. (Miller & Attig, 1979)

Miller & Attig (1979) in the first chapter of their book indicates that the emotional experiences determine how we look at the world in turn. Experiences are a part of our daily life and we come across different things and different types of people every now and then. Every person is entitled to his/her own kind of emotion and that is the reason why we have the emotional quotients for the people to measure how do they react to different emotional situation. For me the most emotionally charged experience was when I had my first break up. I was fully charged with emotion and the predominant factor was that of pure rage and anger. It was disappointing as well as embarrassing but more than anything else. It was a real frenzy that had my mind blocked off completely and I could not think straight for a long while. The rage was not directed towards the other person for letting go off me or because she ditched me but because I felt that I gave her that much of leverage to do so. I felt that I should not have done that.

We all make mistakes and nobody likes to think that he/she is wrong. Even then why on earth would someone just decide to walk out on someone after making all kinds of promises? After taking all the vows they can do so just because they had the stroke of realization two years down the road that she could not handle it anymore. It is always much easier said than done and that was the kind of fix I was in.

The emotional charge was that of disappointment, embarrassment, frustration, sadness, regret, shock, loss of love and more than anything I could not face myself because I could not figure out what had I done wrong and the person on the other end did not even have the common courtesy to tell me that much. I thought I at least deserved that much at the end of all of that.

It was a sad episode and it took months to come to terms with that. I had lost but did I do something to lose at all? What was my fault? These were the main questions that kept haunting me and I became kind of a suicidal ...