Behavioural Science - Emotions 1

Moumita Mukherjee

Emotions

Definition: The word emotion comes from the Latin ‘Emovere’, meaning to “move through

or out. It may be defined as the subjective feeling or state which can influence perception,

thinking and behaviour; usually accompanied by facial and bodily expression.

Need and Importance of Emotion (Positive and negative): Emotions are central

components of people’s lives, both interpersonally and intra-personally, and emotional

experiences can have powerful impacts on people’s functioning, both positive and negative.

In working to improve our mental health and self-concept, one of the most important things

to identify is the difference between a healthy and unhealthy emotional response. If an

emotion is healthy, we can do the following:

• We can simply accept the feeling.

• We can express it in a respectful way.

• We can act on the feeling in a constructive way.

If an emotional response is unhealthy, we can work to alter the emotion by re-examining

thoughts and beliefs we have about ourselves, others, or the situation. On the other hand, if

we have a tendency to act impulsively, it is important to be careful about acting out on

unhealthy feelings.

The emotions expressed by humans can be divided into two broad categories. We can call

the two types of emotions Negative and Positive. Positive emotions express an attempt or

an intention to Include. Positive emotions are triggered by an underlying desire for

enjoyment and unity. Negative emotions express an attempt or intention to Exclude.

Negative emotions are fuelled by an underlying fear of the unknown, a fear of the actions of

others, and a need to control them or stop them to avoid being harmed. Below is a list of

some common healthy vs. unhealthy emotions:

Positive Emotions Negative Emotions

Healthy Unhealthy Healthy Unhealthy

Self-Esteem

Love

Happiness

Interest

Desire

Serenity / Calmness

Arrogance

Mania

Obsession

Addiction

Passivity

Sadness

Concern

Anger

Remorse

Awareness

Depression

Rage

Shame / Guilt

Paranoia

Irritation

Some emotions camouflage as positive or negative, but really are the opposite of what they

pretend. There is a type of pity which appears as genuine concern for others, but which is

rather taking comfort in that somebody else is worse off than you. There is a covert hostility

that masks as friendliness, which can often be difficult to assess at first. Likewise, some

kinds of anger or tears might look negative, but might really be an expression of

involvement and care for the whole.

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Moumita Mukherjee

Positive and negative emotions are polarities. We can't get rid of one and just keep the

other. Ultimately they need to be integrated. The negative emotions are useful as

motivation for moving away from what one doesn't want. The positive emotions are useful

as motivation for moving towards what one does want. People might express all sorts of

combinations of these emotions. Some people will be fairly chronically stuck in a negative

emotion, such as grief. Others might be stuck in a positive one, like contentment, and won't

be able to experience negative emotions, even when appropriate.

The ultimate aim of studying and training people in emotional regulation is to make people

more flexible about their emotions so that they can use appropriate emotion and being able

to integrate and use the full range as and when necessary.

Characteristics of Healthy and Unhealthy Expression of Emotions

Characteristics of Healthy Feelings Characteristics of Unhealthy Feelings

You continue to be productively involved

with your life and solving problems.

You lose interest in important areas of your

life or stop trying to solve problems.

You do not incur a loss of worth or self-

esteem.

You lose self-esteem or feel worthless.

You feelings allow you to have a healthy

enjoyment of your life.

Your feelings cause you to participate in

behaviours that are self-destructive and

harmful to you.

Your feelings are in reasonable proportion to

the event that triggered them.

Your feelings are far out of proportion to the

event that triggered them.

You do not feel discouraged about the

future.

You feel demoralized and convinced that

things will never get better.

You can express your feeling in a respectful

way.

You cannot express your feeling in a way

that is respectful of others.

You believe that both you and the other

person have valid ideas and feelings that

deserve to be understood.

You feel that your way of seeing things is the

only right way.

Your emotions help you to learn from the

situation so you can be wiser in the future.

Your emotions cause you to become

overwhelmed and avoid all similar situations

even when the new situation isn’t actually

dangerous.

You emotions help you to build positive

relationships with other people.

Your emotions make it difficult to have

healthy relationships with other people.

You look for a solution in which neither you

nor anyone else has to lose.

You feel like you are in a battle or a

competition where you or someone else has

to lose.

There are no hidden motives that are driving

the emotion such as wanting to avoid a

problem or feeling that you do not like.

Your emotion is serving to help you avoid

emotions or problems that you do not want

to confront.

Behavioural Science - Emotions 3

Moumita Mukherjee

Understanding Anger

All of us may feel and express anger. For many people, because of its association with

aggression and violence, it is a frightening emotion. Anger can be controlled and it can be

used effectively. Although many of us perceive anger as a primary emotion, Faupel, Herrick

and Sharp (1998) argue that it should be viewed as a secondary emotion arising from a

primary emotion such as fear.

Although anger and aggression seem to go together, they are in fact distinct concepts.

Anger does not necessarily include a desire to destroy or cause personal harm. Most anger

is of brief duration and low intensity. An angry person’s threshold for aggression is lowered,

however, and this may increase the desire to inflict harm on the person annoying them.

Anger Cycle

There are notable physiological responses associated with anger. Physiological arousal of

the sympathetic division of the autonomic nervous system produces the classical fight or

flight response experienced when a person is angry. The diagram below shows the anger

assault cycle and demonstrates what happens to our bodies when we become angry.

There are 5 phases in the assault cycle (Breakwell, 1997). These are as follows:

1. The Trigger Phase

2. The Escalation Phase

3. The Crisis Phase

4. The Plateau or Recovery Phase

5. The Post Crisis Depression Phase.

The trigger stage is the event which sets off the anger reaction. This event is seen as

threatening to the individual and starts off the chain of angry responses. At this stage it is

still possible to intervene to calm the person down or for the person to calm himself or

herself down. Once the escalation phase is reached there is less chance of calming down, as

this is the phase where the body prepares for fight or flight. The next stage is the crisis

phase. Here the individual may be unable to respond to calming techniques and may find it

very difficult to respond to others once this phase has been reached. The recovery phase

lasts for about 45 minutes (though it can be as long as 90 minutes after a serious outburst)

for it takes some time for the body to return to normal. It is possible for the anger to be re-

ignited during this phase and this may result if an inappropriate intervention is attempted.

Finally, the post-crisis phase is one of resting and recovering from the high state of arousal

that the body has just experienced. The ability to think clearly begins to return at this stage

and the person may feel guilty about what has happened.

Positive Aspects of Anger:

The outcome of anger depends to some extent on how the anger is being handled. It would

be wrong to suggest that anger is always inappropriate. Anger is not the same as aggression

and if it is handled properly, it can be useful. Anger can be used constructively when it helps

us be assertive and make our feelings known to others. Some people feel that the healthiest

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Moumita Mukherjee

response to anger is to acknowledge its presence, experience the physiological symptoms

and verbalise our own feelings. Even if we feel that it would not be appropriate to verbalise

our feelings to the offending party, we still need to recognise angry feelings and realise that

the awareness, along with experiencing the physical sensations, can help us to prevent more

destructive or aggressive expressions of anger.

Negative Aspects of Anger:

Anger can be expressed destructively in two ways: indirect expressions of anger (which have

ineffective outcomes) and expressions of anger that are out of all proportion to the event.

For example, one way of expressing anger indirectly is known as passive-aggressive

behaviour. Rather than say to someone that we are angry with them, we might show it by

our behaviour - coming late to a meeting, for instance. It is argued that destructive anger

comes from not acknowledging and handling angry responses immediately. Inappropriate

anger can not only affect individual and family but also overall society.

a. Effects on the Individual: Destructive anger can have an effect on our physical as well

as mental health. An angry person is very often an unhappy person and one whose self-

esteem is low.

b. Effects on the Family: It can lead to a tension-filled family with frequent fights. It can

lead to aggressive cycles of bullying and being bullied. It can lead to violence. The

effects of violence on children are considerable, affecting both psychological and

physical health. Children who witness violence may have emotional and behavioural

difficulties as a result. Peled et al (1995) noted a number of possible emotional and

behavioural outcomes for such children, including withdrawal, nightmares, aggressive

behaviour, and self-blame.

c. Effects on Relationship: the effect of anger on relationship can be devastating.

Research has shown that children who lack emotional controls when they are very

young can have difficulty in forming relationships as they get older, and can be at

greater risk of developing delinquent or anti-social behaviour.

d. Effects on Society: the effect of anger on society can also be significant. If a child has

difficulty in controlling his/her anger effectively, it may lead to difficulties with

education and consequently truancy, suspension and exclusion from school.

Conclusion: The mishandling of anger can have devastating effects on an individual’s life

and repercussions for both the family and society. So, anger needs to be addressed

properly.