Emotions are reactions that engage the mind and the body. Emotions are the result of a logical appraisal of the probability that a situation will effect a positive or negative change to our physical or psychological well being. There are consequently positive and negative emotions, depending upon the predicated change.
Emotions have physical and psychological affects on our bodily systems. In general, positive emotions stimulate thought, flexibility and creativity, offering optimism, risk-taking and confidence. Negative emotions promote more rigidity of thoughts, increase muscular tension, and can promote a pessimistic outlook.
Emotions result from the complex interactions among several components:
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Fate of Personal Goals - Emotions are aroused by a potential to gain or lose something important; there is the perception of personal harm or benefit that may be derived from a situation or event. The greater the harm or benefit, the stronger the emotion. |
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Perception of Self or Ego - At stake, in addition to physical well being, is our self-identity and ego. In the relative physical security of our society, most emotions stem from our self-concept and protection of our ego. |
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Appraisals - The process of evaluating whether an event will cause benefit or harm, and how it might do so. This is the means of reasoning upon which emotions depend. |
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Personal Meaning - Our individual goals and beliefs, and the demands, constraints, and opportunities each situation or event presents. |
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Provocation - The situation or event determined to be significant. Types of provocation include: (1) the outcome of a real event results in actual harm or benefit, (2) an event fails to remove a harm or sustain a benefit, (3) the event forecasts benefit or harm in the future |
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Action Tendency - the biological tendency to act in a particular way or behave in a specific manner |
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Coping - The mentally mediated process of reacting to our emotions |
Emotions reveal our personal goals, sense of self/ego, the way we appraise situations and events, what issues are important to us, what events provoke reactions, what our action tendencies are, and how we are able to cope. This is very powerful information for therapeutic encounters.
Reference
R.S. Lazarus and B.N. Lazarus, Passion & Reason: Making Sense of Our Emotions, Oxford University Press, New York, 1994.
© Rentschler, 2003