A New Theory Of Emotions

2024 Author: Harry Day | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 15:43

Emotion construction theory is the result of a wealth of modern research. It refutes the ingrained theory of the existence of basic emotions in psychology and the popular idea of the triune brain. I tried to tell everything as simply as possible, and, anyway, the information, in some places, can be difficult. But the path will be mastered by the walking one.

So let's get started.

The essence of the theory of the construction of emotions

Every millisecond of time, our brain makes predictions by analyzing the incoming data (physical condition, energy reserves, stress intensity). He "assumes" what can happen next, and what the body needs to survive.

Emotions and physical sensations help the body deal with these predictions. For example, upon seeing something, and considering it as scary, the brain gives the command to select a certain cocktail of hormones and neurotransmitters and strain the muscles. This helps to respond to the trigger in a way that is optimal for survival and energy conservation.

Therefore, by learning to make more objective predictions and feel safe, we can reduce the emotional response to reality - less anxiety, fear and worry.

There is an important point. When you feel something without knowing the reason, you are more inclined to interpret it as information about the world, rather than how you perceive it. Although, in fact, it is perception that plays a decisive role.

It seems that what you see and hear affects how you feel, but basically the opposite is true: what you feel changes your vision and hearing. Internal sensations influence perception and how you act more than the external world does.

Your body changes throughout the day in your heart rate, blood pressure, breathing rate, temperature, and cortisol levels. These changes regulate the functioning of the body, but also, they "give rise" to your emotions.

Emotions arise from the excitation of neurons, but there are no neurons dedicated exclusively to emotions. The same neurons are responsible for emotions, thinking, and other physiological and cognitive processes.

Now it will be difficult - pay special attention to the next paragraph. Ready?

Basically, emotions are the movement of your muscles plus changes in the levels of hormones and neurotransmitters in your body that you CALL emotions. (Yes, yes, there is no slip of the tongue). It turns out that you categorize physiological processes accordingly, attributing to them the functions of experience and perception.

Why does a person need emotions

Then why does a person need emotions at all? In fact, they perform several important functions:

Make sense

Prescribe an action

Manage our body's resources

Have a social impact

This new view of emotions (in contrast to the outdated concept of the triune brain) proves that man is an animal that does not respond to a stimulus, adapted only to respond to events in the world. Man can regulate his emotions, he can predict, construct and act, and is the creator of his own experience.

And now the important thing. Actually, why do psychotherapists pay so much attention to the emotional state of clients?

On the connection between emotional literacy and psychosomatics

The more your vocabulary of emotions and the more subtle you can define them, the more accurately your brain can predict the required body budget (how much energy and what chemical cocktail is needed to cope with the situation). The more accurately the brain predicts, the better the body functions. It turns out that the more accurate a person's predictions, the less often he will go to doctors, take medications and spend fewer days in hospitals.

How it works is easier to understand with an example. Intense excitement before an upcoming event can be categorized as dangerous anxiety ("Damn! I can't do it!"), But it can also be assessed as a useful anticipation ("I'm energetic and ready to act!). Do you feel the difference? What do you think, will the emotional state of people differ in the first and second cases?

Or a more complicated example. There is a neurotransmitter called cortisol. It regulates carbohydrate metabolism in the body, takes part in the development of stress reactions and helps conserve energy resources. The more cortisol, the more glucose is produced, and the more it accumulates. In the long term, high cortisol levels can lead to obesity and other negative effects on the body.

That is, increased cortisol is super, in situations where it is needed. If you are in real danger - war, hunger - you will need additional resources to survive. Consequently, the delayed glucose will be used up in the business and will not lead to obesity. In such a situation, a person may feel, for example, "the fear that I might die of hunger."

Now suppose that the person categorizes emotions poorly, or does not think about it at all. This can play a bad joke, because the brain cannot accurately determine how many resources are needed to optimally cope with reality. Accordingly, if a person feels “I feel bad,” his brain can start the process of producing a chemical cocktail, in the amount necessary to survive in a situation of hunger. Although he does not need so much cortisol, and this excess, as a result, can lead to obesity, heart problems, joints, etc.

But you get a different picture if you clarify this “I feel bad” and break it down, for example, into: “I am upset and feel guilty because I quarreled with a loved one. But at the same time, I am angry with him because he was wrong. When there is a clear understanding of what is happening and a more accurate description of emotions, the brain makes its prediction more correctly what and in what volume needs to be done in order to cope with the situation. Accordingly, less cortisol is produced, it is not deposited, there is no risk of obesity, etc.

The examples given above are as simplified as possible, for a schematic understanding of how emotional literacy and granularity are related to the functioning of the body and psychosomatics. It is not linear, that is, cortisol is not equal to obesity in 100% of cases, and a million more parallel processes occur in the body.

Psychotherapy and a new theory of emotion construction

All of this explains how psychotherapy works. Analyzing these or those incidents, we verbalize and re-categorize our experience. As a result, the tension becomes less. We can redefine our attitude to a situation and categorize discomfort as helpful. For example, anxiety can be seen as arousal, and physical symptoms are a signal that the body is coping.

So the next time you're overwhelmed by fear and anxiety, ask yourself: are you really in danger? Or does this problem threaten the social reality of your self? And if you find that the sensations are purely physiological, you will notice how anxiety, anxiety and depression begin to decrease.

Post scriptum

I emphasize again that all examples in the text are as simplified as possible and are provided to explain the concept. In fact, everything is more complicated. Also, these examples invite the reader to think that the way we interpret certain situations is not the only possible option.

I do not in any way support the idea of "pretending that everything is fine" and create a "beautiful facade". But I'm talking about the fact that a more attentive attitude to sensations and emotions can be beneficial for the mental and physical state of the body.

If you are interested in the concept and have a desire to delve into the ideas presented in the text, you can start with the book by Lisa Feldman Barrett, Ph. D. in Psychology, "How Emotions Are Born", or watch the course of neuroendocrinologist Robert Sapolsky "The Biology of Human Behavior."