Emotional state of the main emotions and their evaluation. Emotional states of the individual
The concept of "emotional states"
Emotional states are mental states that arise in the process of the subject's life and determine not only the level of information and energy exchange, but also the direction of behavior.
Emotions control a person much more than it seems at first glance. Even the absence of emotion is an emotion, or rather a whole emotional state, which is characterized by large quantity features in human behavior.
His life, his health, his family, work, his entire environment depend on the emotional state of a person, and a change in the emotional state of a person leads to fundamental changes in his life.
The main emotional states distinguished in psychology:
- 1. Joy (satisfaction, fun);
- 2. Sadness (sadness, depression);
- 3. Anger (aggression, anger);
- 4. Fear (anxiety, fear);
- 5. Surprise (curiosity);
- 6. Disgust (contempt, disgust).
Usually a person is well aware of his emotional state and carries out a transfer to other people and for life. The higher the emotional state of a person, the easier it is for him to achieve his goals in life. Such a person is rational, reasonable, therefore he is happier, more alive, more confident. The lower his emotional state, the more a person's behavior is under the control of his momentary reactions, despite his education or intelligence.
Emotional states include: mood, affect, stress, frustration and passion.
Mood is the longest emotional state. This is the backdrop against which all the rest flow. mental processes. It is very diverse and can be joyful or sad, cheerful or depressed, cheerful or depressed, calm or irritated, etc. The mood can arise slowly, gradually, or it can take over a person quickly and suddenly.
Mood is an emotional reaction not to the direct consequences of certain events, but to their significance for a person's life in the context of his general life plans, interests and expectations.
A positive mood makes a person energetic, cheerful and active. Any business with good mood everything is going well, everything is working out, the products of activity have high quality. In a bad mood, everything falls out of hand, work is sluggish, mistakes and defects are made, products are of poor quality.
The mood has personal character. In some subjects, the mood is most often good, in others - bad. Has a positive effect on the mood big influence temperament.
In sanguine people, the mood is always cheerful, major. In choleric people, the mood often changes, a good mood suddenly changes to a bad one. In phlegmatic people, the mood is always even, they are cold-blooded, self-confident, calm. Melancholic people are often characterized by a negative discord, they are always afraid and afraid. Any change in life unsettles them and causes depressive experiences.
Any mood has its own reason, although sometimes it seems that it arises by itself. The reason for the mood can be the position of a person in society, the results of activities, events in his personal life, health status, etc.
The mood experienced by one person can be transmitted to other people (A.I. Kravchenko "Psychology and Pedagogy" textbook).
Affect - is a rapidly and violently flowing emotional process of an explosive nature, which can give a relaxation in actions that is not subject to conscious volitional control. It is affects that are predominantly associated with shocks - shocks associated with the disorganization of activity, which is expressed in the disorganization of motor reactions and inhibition of conscious activity (E.V. Ostrovsky, L.I. Chernyshova "Psychology and Pedagogy" textbook).
In a state of passion, a person cannot reasonably control his behavior.
Overwhelmed by affect, he sometimes commits such actions, which he later bitterly regrets.
It is impossible to eliminate or slow down the affect.
However, the state of affect does not release a person from responsibility for his actions, since each person must learn to control his behavior in a given situation. To do this, it is necessary at the initial stage of affect to switch attention from the object that caused it to something else, neutral.
Since in most cases the affect manifests itself in speech reactions directed at its source, instead of external speech actions, one should perform internal ones, for example, count slowly to 20. Since the affect manifests itself for a short time, by the end of this action its intensity decreases and the person will come to a calmer condition.
The affect is predominantly manifested in people of the choleric type of temperament, as well as in ill-mannered, hysterical subjects who do not know how to control their feelings and actions.
Stress is an emotional state that suddenly arises in a person under the influence of extreme situation associated with a danger to life or activities requiring high voltage.
Stress, like affect, is the same strong and short-term emotional experience. Therefore, some psychologists consider stress as one of the types of affect. But this is far from being the case, since they have their own distinctive features. Stress, first of all, occurs only in the presence of an extreme situation, while affect can arise for any reason.
The second difference is that affect disorganizes the psyche and behavior, while stress not only disorganizes, but also mobilizes the organization's defenses to get out of an extreme situation.
Stress can have both positive and negative effects on personality.
A positive role is played by stress, performing a mobilization function, a negative role is having a harmful effect on the nervous system, causing mental disorders and various diseases of the body.
Stress conditions affect people's behavior in different ways. Some, under the influence of stress, show complete helplessness and are unable to withstand stressful influences, while others, on the contrary, are stress-resistant individuals and show themselves best in moments of danger and in activities that require the exertion of all forces.
Frustration is a deeply experienced emotional state that arose under the influence of failures that took place with an overestimated level of personality claims. It can manifest itself in the form of negative experiences, such as: anger, annoyance, apathy, etc.
There are two ways to get out of frustration. Either a person develops vigorous activity and achieves success, or reduces the level of claims and is content with the results that he can achieve to the maximum.
Passion is a deep, intense and very stable emotional state that captures a person completely and completely and determines all his thoughts, aspirations and actions. Passion can be associated with the satisfaction of material and spiritual needs. The object of passion can be various types of things, objects, phenomena, people that a person seeks to possess at all costs (RS Nemov "General Foundations of Psychology" textbook).
Depending on the need that caused passion, and on the object through which it is satisfied, it can be characterized either as positive or negative.
A positive or sublime passion is associated with highly moral motives and has not only a personal but also a social character. Passion for science, art, social activities, protection of nature, etc., makes human life meaningful and intense. All great things were done under the influence of great passion.
Negative or base passion has an egoistic orientation and when it is satisfied, a person does not consider anything and often commits antisocial immoral acts.
Emotional states can manifest themselves in a person in any kind of his activity and become his character trait. Emotional processes cause changes in the human body: in the nervous system, cardiovascular activity, respiratory organs, and digestion. Emotional states cause changes in pulse, pressure, dilated pupils, increased sweating, discoloration of the skin, increased blood flow to human organs.
Conducting electrophysiological studies showed the importance of special formations of the nervous system for emotional states, which are determined by the functions of the thalamus, hypothalamus and limbic system.
There are found centers of positive and negative emotions. From the state of the reticular formation, this set of nerve structures located in the central parts of the brain stem (medulla oblongata and midbrain, visual tubercles) depends on the emotional tone of a person, his reactions to stimuli.
One of the forms of violation of the normal life of a person is the tension caused by the emotional state of a person. Often, increased tension is accompanied by fears, anxiety, fears and develops into a stable state of anxiety.
Emotional states are mental states that arise in the process of the subject's life and determine not only the level of information and energy exchange, but also the direction of behavior. Emotions control a person much more than it seems at first glance. Even the absence of emotions is an emotion, or rather a whole emotional state, which is characterized by a large number of features in human behavior.
According to the impact on human life, emotions can be divided into two groups:
sthenic - increasing the vital activity of the body and
asthenic - lowering them.
An emotional state in which sthenic or asthenic emotions predominate can manifest itself in a person in any kind of his activity and become his character trait.
His life, his health, his family, work, his entire environment depend on the emotional state of a person, and a change in the emotional state of a person leads to fundamental changes in his life.
AT Everyday life people are stratified according to close emotional states into groups. Miscellaneous groups they do not understand each other well, communication is worse, but inside the group things are somewhat better. As a rule, an integral, formed group belongs to one emotional state.
Each person is unique and holds his own personal opinion about life, but his point of view is not due to reasoning or education, but to his emotional state.
There is a set of invariable reactions corresponding to each emotional state. In all people, emotions change in a strictly defined order. This pattern is applicable to all people without exception, one and the same and unchanged in appearance for all.
The sequence of emotional states of a person is as follows:
1. Zone of active life:
a) Enthusiasm.
b) Fun.
c) Strong interest.
2. Zone of conservatism:
a) Conservatism.
Medium interest, moderate interest.
Satisfaction, satisfied, weak interest.
Lack of interest.
Monotony, uniformity.
3. Zone of antagonism:
a) Antagonism, open hostility.
Hostility, enmity, strong dislike.
4. Anger Zone:
a) Anger (anger, rage).
Hatred.
Indignation.
5. Zone of fear:
a) Lack of emotion.
b) Hidden hostility.
Despair.
Numbness.
d) Sympathy.
d) Coaxing, the need to propitiate (reconciliation).
6. Zone of grief and apathy:
a) Grief (sadness).
b) Making amends, atonement for guilt.
c) Victim.
d) Apathy.
Briefly, the main emotional states distinguished in psychology:
1) Joy (satisfaction, fun)
2) Sadness (apathy, sadness, depression), 3) Anger (aggression, anger),
4) Fear (anxiety, fear),
5) Surprise (curiosity),
6) Disgust (contempt, disgust).
Usually a person is well aware of his emotional state and carries out a transfer to other people and for life. The higher the emotional state of a person, the easier it is for him to achieve his goals in life. Such a person is rational, reasonable, therefore he is happier, more alive, more confident. The lower his emotional state, the more a person's behavior is under the control of his momentary reactions, despite his education or intelligence.
In the course of life, each of us has certain emotional states. They determine both the level of information and energy exchange of a person, and the direction of his behavior. Emotions can control us very much. Their absence is no exception. After all, this is such an emotional state that allows us to describe human behavior as special.
Theoretical basis
The term "emotions" was introduced in late XIX century. The appearance of this concept is associated with the names of the Danish physician and anatomist G. Lange and the American psychologist and philosopher W. James. The authors did not know each other. However, independently of each other, they came to the same conclusions.
According to the developed concept, human emotions can be caused by the following:
Transformations of the motor sphere;
- external influences;
- changes in the field of involuntary acts.
Emotional states are those sensations that arise at the same time. According to the James-Lange theory, we are frightened because we begin to tremble, and our tears become the cause of sadness.
Physiologist W. Cannon put forward his own theory of emotions. Criticizing the James-Lange concept, he drew attention to the fact that emotional experiences are primary. Only after their occurrence do physical changes occur. In addition, when nerve connections are interrupted human body the disappearance of emotions does not occur. According to Cannon, physiological phenomena are designed to set a person up for those situations that will require large energy expenditures from him.
There are also theories that explain the emergence of emotions by cognitive factors. They were developed by L. Festinger and V. Simonov. According to these concepts, a person, consciously or not, compares the information he has received about the subject that he needs to satisfy his needs with the information that he has. At the same time, certain emotional states arise in him.
well-being
The emotional states of a person are directly dependent on the nature of his personality. mental activity. There is also feedback. A person who is in good condition is able to activate his cognitive and volitional activity.
However, the emotional states of a person depend not only on the type of activity performed by her. They are commensurate with well-being. And here you can also see feedback. After all, even a patient who is in a very serious condition, during a spiritual upsurge, is able to feel completely healthy.
Classification of emotions
Everything that a person encounters in his daily life evokes a certain attitude in him. Some phenomena or objects contribute to the appearance of sympathy in him, while others - disgust. In this case, a person has a variety of reactions. It can be a violent outburst of passion and barely restrained anger.
Emotions are mental processes that reflect the personal significance of a person and are expressed in the form of experiences. They are an assessment of internal and external situations that an individual gives in the course of his life. Based on this, it can be argued that emotions are a subjective concept. They are a complex mental phenomenon.
Exist different kinds emotional states in the form of their course. These include:
affects;
- feelings;
- actually emotions;
- moods;
- emotional stress.
Affect
This is the strongest type of human reaction to a particular event. Affect is understood as a rapidly flowing, intense, but at the same time short-term emotional state. Such emotional outbursts include rage and intense anger, violent joy and horror, despair and deep grief. These reactions, as a rule, are able to completely capture the human psyche and determine its reaction to the situation as a whole.
The main feature of affect is that such an emotional state literally imposes the performance of an action. In such a situation, people lose their sense of reality. They lose control over themselves and are not aware of their actions. These emotional processes and states change some physiological functions. Thus, a person's attention span decreases. Only the object that is directly connected with experiences gets into the field of his perception. Attention on this subject is concentrated so much that a person is simply not able to switch to something else. In addition, in such an emotional state it is impossible to predict the consequences of the acts committed. That is why a person behaves inappropriately.
Emotions
Their main difference from affect is that this phenomenon may be lengthy. In addition, emotions do not only arise as a reaction to current events. They also appear during flashbacks.
Emotional experiences are various colors. It can be dissatisfaction and pleasure. There are situations when, on the one hand, there is a feeling of tension, and on the other, relief in resolving the issue. Another manifestation of emotional states is sedation and excitement. The first of these is associated with a decrease in activity. Excitation is, as a rule, stormy in nature, it occurs during the performance of any work or during preparation for it.
There is a classification of emotions that distributes them according to the impact on the activity that a person conducts. These are two categories including:
1. Stenic emotions. Their appearance has a beneficial effect on human activity. Sthenic emotions give additional strength and energy. They also contribute to the courage needed to make statements or actions. Such an emotional state of a person induces him to many accomplishments. Moreover, to fulfill his plan, he uses the internal reserves of the body.
2. Asthenic emotions. They are characterized by stiffness and passivity.
Feelings
In the list, which includes various types of emotional states, there are also feelings. Their main difference from emotions lies in the fact that they are, as a rule, specific and objective. Sometimes there is such a thing as a "vague feeling." In this case, this process is considered as transitional from emotions. In addition, feelings will certainly manifest outwardly. Emotions, as a rule, are a hidden phenomenon.
Feelings reflect the attitude towards any particular object (real or imaginary). And this happens for a long time. A person will not have feelings at all if they do not relate to a particular subject. For example, there is no love if there is no object of affection.
Passion is the highest manifestation of feeling. This is a very complex emotional state. It is considered an alloy of motives, emotions and feelings that are concentrated around a particular subject or activity.
Mood
Emotional states are different. However, they certainly reflect those individual characteristics that are inherent in the personality. So, in a melancholic, the mood is often minor, and in a choleric, it is excited. However, the bulk of people, regardless of belonging to one category or another, have average mixed indicators of activity. The emotional state of a person depends on his state of health and mood. The latter factor gives a certain color to the experiences and activities of people. At the same time, the mood always has its own reason, although this is not always realized by the person. It can change under the impression that has arisen in connection with various events, facts. People around you, nature, health, work or study can affect your mood.
emotional stress
This is special kind states. It is characterized by pronounced psycho-emotional experiences of various conflict situations that carry a long-term limitation of the satisfaction of biological and social needs.
Emotional stresses are mainly of social origin. Moreover, their manifestation becomes more frequent with the development of scientific and technological progress. A person is affected by the accelerated pace of life, information overload, ecological problems and increasing urbanization. It should be borne in mind that emotional stress negatively affects the body, causing various pathological changes in it.
Emotional states in children
It is easy to see that babies are usually impulsive and spontaneous. The emerging emotional state of the child is changeable and uncertain. However, as the baby grows, everything changes. Emotions become more durable, stable and strong. This is due to the changes that general character child's activities. In addition, the increasingly complex attitude of the preschooler to the outside world plays an important role here. This reveals a certain interdependence and relationship between cognitive and emotional processes, which are the two most important aspects. mental development personality.
Emotions play a significant role in shaping the moral behavior of a person. But it should be borne in mind that any motives will acquire motivating force only under the influence of emotional experience, which a child can receive only with the active participation of an adult. Parents and teachers should be aware that negative emotional states caused by negative experiences contribute to the emergence of various deviations in the child's behavior. This must be taken into account in the process of education.
Emotional states of adolescents
Children from 13-14 years old have a special trait. It is characterized by the intensity and severity of emotional states. A teenager is able to literally bathe in his own grief, guilt or anger for a long time. Children of this age have an increased need for sensations. Moreover, all experienced feelings should be not only strong, but also new. Often this is expressed in love for loud music or leads to the first acquaintance with drugs.
This or that emotional state of adolescents is characterized by ease of occurrence. However, in the process of becoming a personality, its connections with the outside world become more complex and ambiguous. With an ever-increasing level of organization of a person, his emotional sensitivity increases. And the circle of those factors that caused a feeling of excitement in a teenager does not narrow with age, but, on the contrary, expands.
Diagnostics of emotional states
Various reactions of a person to certain phenomena are closely related to his physiological indicators. That is why the diagnosis of emotional states relies on the heart rate, blood pressure, galvanic skin reactions.
Electromyographic methods for diagnosing emotions have been developed and are being used. They are carried out by measuring facial expression (facial expression).
Diagnostics of the emotional state is also carried out with the help of speech analysis. This takes into account the tone frequency of the speaker for the entire period and for the selected segment; the interval in which the tone frequency changes; jaggedness of the tone line. Analysis of these indicators will determine the degree of emotional reaction of a person.
Diagnostics of a person's attitudes to certain events can also be carried out by psychological methods. Among them are:
1. Shmishek's questionnaire (character accentuations).
2. A person's perceived guilt index.
3. Aggressive behavior.
4. Diagnostics of hostility.
5. Life style index.
6. Diagnosis of self-esteem.
Emotional mental states are determined with the help of many other methods.
Self-regulation during arousal
Intense emotional states in all people lead to a change in facial expressions, an increase in the tone of skeletal muscles and the rate of speech. A person becomes fussy, makes mistakes in orientation. Not only does his breathing and pulse change, but also his complexion.
Regulation of emotional states allows you to calm down and take control of your state. The simplest, but very effective way is relaxation of the facial muscles. Such self-regulation of emotional states is needed to manage reactions that arise in unforeseen situations.
So, reflexively (automatically) at the moment of anger, the facial expression changes, teeth clench. To eliminate this phenomenon, you need to ask yourself the questions: “Are my teeth clenched?”, “How does my face look from the outside?”. This allows the facial muscles to relax.
Another important reserve of self-regulation is the improvement of breathing. It differs in different situations. A person who sleeps and works, who is merry and angry, frightened and sad, breathes differently. Everything depends on our inner state.
Influence on breathing is considered one of the ways of self-regulation of the emotional state. In this case, it is necessary to perform breathing exercises, the meaning of which lies in controlling the frequency, rhythm and depth of inhalations and exhalations. To do this, you will have to hold your breath at different intervals.
You can also regulate your emotional state with the help of visualization. Thanks to it, the imagination is activated, as well as visual, auditory, olfactory, gustatory and tactile sensations. This allows you to escape from the tension that has arisen and restore peace of mind.
Depending on the depth, intensity, duration and degree of differentiation, the following types of emotional states can be distinguished: sensual tone, emotions proper, affect, passion, mood.
1. Sensual or emotional tone- This simplest form emotions, an elementary manifestation of organic sensitivity that accompanies certain vital influences and prompts the subject to eliminate or preserve them. Sensual tone is perceived as an emotional coloring.
2. Actually emotions- mental reflection in the form of direct biased experience life meaning phenomena and situations, due to the relationship of their objective properties to the needs of the subject. Emotions arise with excessive motivation in relation to the real adaptive capabilities of the individual.
The division of emotions into positive and negative is traditionally considered. Popular is the classification of emotions in relation to activities and, accordingly, their division into sthenic(inciting to action, causing tension) and asthenic(inhibitory action, depressing). Emotion classifications are also known: by origin from groups of needs - biological, social and ideal emotions; according to the nature of the action on which the probability of meeting the need depends - contact and distant.
3. Affect- a rapidly and violently flowing emotional process of an explosive nature, which can give a discharge in action that is not subject to conscious volitional control. The main thing in affect is an unexpectedly coming, sharply experienced by a person shock, characterized by a change in consciousness, a violation of volitional control over actions. Affect has a disorganizing effect on activity, sequence and quality of performance, with maximum disintegration - stupor or chaotic non-purposeful motor reactions. Distinguish between normal and pathological effects. The main signs of pathological affect: altered consciousness (disorientation in time and space); inadequacy of the intensity of the response to the intensity of the stimulus that caused the reaction; presence of post-affective amnesia.
4. Passion- an intense, generalized and prolonged experience that dominates other human motives and leads to a focus on the subject of passion. The reasons that cause passion can be different - ranging from bodily attraction and
to conscious ideological convictions.
5. Mood- a relatively long, stable mental state of moderate or low intensity. The reasons that cause mood are numerous - from organic well-being (vitality of life) to the nuances of relationships
with those around you. The mood has a subjective orientation, in comparison with the sensual tone, it is perceived not as a property of the object, but as a property of the subject (for example, regarding a piece of music, emotional accompaniment in the form of a sensual background will sound like “beautiful music”, and in the form of a mood - “I have
good mood(from music). A certain role is played by individual personality traits (for example, hyperthymia - a tendency to high spirits, dysthymia - a tendency to low mood).
With positive emotions, muscle innervation increases, small arteries expand, and blood flow to the skin increases. She blushes, warms up. Accelerated blood circulation begins, which improves tissue nutrition. All physiological functions are performed better. A person is happy, in a good mood optimal conditions for the life of the whole organism. Joy “colors a person” (T.N. Lange), makes him more beautiful, more confident, more cheerful.
In grief and sadness, the action of the muscles is paralyzed. They become weaker. There is a feeling of fatigue, overstrain. A person becomes more sensitive to cold, feels a lack of air, sighs, "withdraws into himself", willingly remains in the same position. The person appears to be older.
The following main emotional states can be distinguished ( according to K. Izard - "fundamental emotions"), each of which has its own range of psychological characteristics and external manifestations.
Interest(as an emotion) - a positive emotional state that promotes the development of skills and abilities, the acquisition of knowledge and motivating learning.
Joy- a positive emotional state associated with the ability to sufficiently fully satisfy the actual need, the probability of which up to this point was small or at least uncertain.
Astonishment - an emotional reaction that does not have a clearly expressed positive or negative sign to sudden circumstances. Surprise inhibits all previous emotions, directing attention to the object that caused it, and can turn into interest.
Suffering - a negative emotional state associated with the received reliable or apparent information about the impossibility of satisfying the most important vital needs, which up to this point seemed more or less likely, most often occurs in the form of emotional stress. Suffering has the character of an asthenic (weakening a person) emotion.
Anger - an emotional state, negative in sign, as a rule, proceeding in the form of an affect and caused by the sudden appearance of a serious obstacle to satisfying an extremely important need for the subject. Unlike suffering, anger has a sthenic character (that is, it causes an increase, albeit a short-term one, of vitality).
Disgust- a negative emotional state caused by objects (objects, people, circumstances, etc.), contact with which (physical interaction, communication in communication, etc.) comes into sharp conflict with the ideological, moral or aesthetic principles and attitudes of the subject. Disgust, when combined with anger, can motivate in interpersonal relationships aggressive behavior, where the attack is motivated by anger and disgust is motivated by the desire to "get rid of someone or something".
Contempt - a negative emotional state that occurs in interpersonal relationships and is generated by a mismatch of life positions, views and behavior of the subject with life positions, views and behavior of the object of feeling. The latter are presented to the subject as base, not corresponding to the accepted moral standards and aesthetic criteria.
One of the consequences of contempt is the depersonalization of the individual or group to which it refers.
Fear - a negative emotional state that appears when the subject receives information about the possible damage to his life well-being, about the real or imagined danger that threatens him. Unlike the emotion of suffering caused by direct blocking of the most important needs, a person experiencing the emotion of fear has only a probabilistic forecast of possible trouble and acts on the basis of this (often insufficiently reliable or exaggerated) forecast. Can be recalled folk saying: "Fear has big eyes".
Shame- a negative state, expressed in the awareness of the inconsistency of one's own thoughts, actions and appearance not only with the expectations of others, but also with one's own ideas about appropriate behavior and appearance.
According to tradition domestic psychology, it is customary to single out feelings as a special subclass emotional processes. Feeling is experienced and found in specific emotions. However, in contrast to the actual emotions and affects associated with specific situations, feelings distinguish phenomena in the surrounding reality that have a stable need-motivational significance. The content of the dominant feelings of a person expresses his attitudes, ideals, interests, etc.
So, feelings - these are stable emotional relations, acting as a kind of "attachment" to a certain range of phenomena of reality, as a persistent focus on them, as a certain "capture" by them. In the process of regulating behavior, feelings are assigned the role of the leading emotional and semantic formations of the personality.
One of the human conditions is stress. Stress- a state of emotional and behavioral disorder, which is associated with the inability of a person to act expediently in non-standard situations for him. It is a state of excessively strong and prolonged psychological stress that occurs in a person when his nervous system receives an emotional overload (G. Selye, 1963).
Stress occurs in three phases:
Anxiety phase (feeling of danger, difficulties);
The phase of resistance (when all the body's defenses are mobilized);
Phase of exhaustion (when a person feels that his strength is running out).
Stress, if it is frequent and prolonged, has a negative impact not only on psychological condition, but also on physical health person. Stress is compared to a serious illness. Frequent stressful situations"repress" the emotional apparatus of a person, specific "diseases of social adaptation" develop. These include a number of so-called psychosomatic diseases - primarily hypertension, gastric ulcer, etc. Overstrain in one area and underload
in the other, they lead to distortions in the system of self-regulation, which, in turn, leads to
diseases, premature aging. “Stress is not what happened to you, but how you perceive it,” says Hans Selye - father of stress theory. Many people themselves are the culprits of stress, allowing extreme disorder in their work (and, as a rule, blaming others for this). They are constantly nervous, not finding the things they need, they panic, suddenly remembering what they have not done, they waste their energy, clutching at one thing after another, they are chronically late.
Prevention of stress among employees should take an important place in the activity
manager at any level. Each of us has our own first aid kit for the soul. Experts believe that an effective antistressor is a strong social environment. However, as a rule, people, having got into a difficult situation, avoid those who can help them, close themselves, preferring to cope with the difficulties themselves. The prevention of distress can include the ability to change, loads of rest and exercise. The stress of lost hope is heavier than the stress of hard muscle work. Especially important positive communication with people we love and trust, who have a sense of empathy (an emotional response to the experiences of others).
In addition to all this, you need to learn how to manage your emotions. After all, able
emotional arousal, a person sometimes loses his main property - to be
communication partner. It's best to start small: cultivate the ability to wait,
endurance and patience. It is also worth learning not to get into situations that piss us off, lead to irritation and rage.
Thus, improvement emotional sphere gives you the opportunity to better manage your behavior and effectively influence other people.
T. Holmes and R. Raz (T. Note, K. Cape, 1967) developed list of typical life situations that cause stress. The most stressful situation was the death of a spouse (100 points), but clearly negative situations such as imprisonment (63 points) and trauma (53 points) are followed by positive and even desirable situations, such as marriage (50 points) or the birth of a child (40 points).
The most important factor prosperous coping with stress is confidence in that the situation remains under control. In one experiment, two rats received painful electric shocks at the same time. One of them could not influence the situation in any way, while the other, by pulling the ring, "controlled" the pain effect. In fact, the strength and duration of the electric shock were identical for both participants in the experiment. However, the passive rat developed a stomach ulcer and decreased immunity, while the active rat remained resistant to the action of the stressor. Similar data were obtained for humans. For example, employees who were allowed to organize their office space as they saw fit experienced less of the ravages of distress than those who worked in a once-and-for-all created environment.
Theories of emotion
The concept of "emotion" appeared at the end of the 19th century and is associated with the names of W. James and G. Lange. According to their concept, emotions are caused by external influences, changes in the voluntary motor sphere and in the sphere of involuntary acts - the heart. The sensations appearing at the same time are emotional states, i.e. cause and effect are reversed.
W. Cannon noticed this discrepancy and, moreover, drew attention to the fact that the bodily reactions that occur with different emotions are similar and they cannot explain the diversity of human emotions. Cannon believed that bodily emotions tune the body to situations that require large energy expenditures.
The opinion of many psychologists is based on the fact that emotions are not a mental state, it is just the body's response to the situation.
There are theories that explain the nature of emotions through cognitive factors. This is L. Festinger's theory of cognitive dissonance, according to which dissonance is a negative emotional state that occurs when a person has psychologically contradictory information about one object.
Positive emotions will arise when the actual results are in line with the intended or expected. A person with dissonance experiences discomfort and tries to get rid of it, either by changing the expectation, or trying to get new information.
cognitive information theory emotions P.V. Simonov defines emotional states by the quality and intensity of an individual's need and the assessment that he gives of the probability of its satisfaction. This assessment of probability is made up of one's innate and acquired experience, while being compared with the means of time, necessary resources required to meet a need and with up-to-the-minute information.
It turns out that a person, conscious or not, constantly compares information about what is required to satisfy a need with what he has, and experiences the corresponding emotions.
Well-being, activity, mood
A person in the course of his activity experiences a number of emotions, both positive and negative. According to the law of K. Buhler, positive emotions during complex activities move from end to beginning (developing an action plan and implementing).
Emotions on the impact on human activity are divided into:
Stenic emotions that help a person in his activities, increasing his energy and strength, give courage in committing actions and statements. A person in this state is capable of many accomplishments.
Asthenic emotions are characterized by passivity, stiffness.
Emotional states depend on the nature of mental activity, at the same time exerting their influence on it. With a good mood, the cognitive and volitional activity of a person is activated.
The emotional state can depend not only on the activity performed, but also on the act, on the state of health, a piece of music, a movie, a performance, etc. A person's well-being, in turn, depends on his emotional state. After all, even a person who is in a serious condition, at the moment of emotional upsurge, can feel completely healthy.
Emotional states are transient, but they reflect individual personality traits: a melancholic person has a minor mood, a choleric person is excited. But basically, the vast majority of people, with any individual characteristics, have average, mixed indicators of activity, which directly depends on the person's well-being and mood.
Mood is an emotional state that gives color to the experiences and activities of a person; it has a reason that is not always realized by a person. The mood can change under the influence of any events, facts, people, surrounding nature, health, work, study. Mood management affects the development of personality.
Given the individual characteristics of a person and the impact of emotions on him, his mental state can be assessed using the "Health, activity, mood" test from the package psychological tests"State".
The greatest value is such an express analysis of the dynamics of the indicators of the current mental state depending on any significant events for the individual or the mode of study and work. To improve your well-being, increase activity, and hence efficiency, improve your mood, you can use the exercises from the Comfort complex.
situational anxiety
The main fundamental emotions according to K. Izard can be divided into positive and negative.
positive emotional states - interest and joy;
negative emotional states - suffering, anger, disgust, contempt, fear and shame;
surprise - does not have a clearly defined negative or positive sign emotional response to unexpected circumstances.
When connected fundamental emotions complex states such as anxiety, which combines fear, anger, guilt and interest, may appear. Emotional experiences are ambiguous, much depends on the character traits of a person, if a person is an introvert by nature, then anxiety is more inherent in him.
The state of constant anxiety can turn into stressful situations, and, therefore, can lead a person to neurosis and other diseases, so it is advisable to identify the presence in time high performance anxiety and take appropriate action. One of the ways to improve a person's condition can be exercises from the "Comfort" package, especially psychotechnical exercises.
The scale "Situational anxiety" from the package "State" allows you to quantitatively and qualitatively determine the state of anxiety that occurs as an emotional reaction to a stressful situation.
Self-assessment of emotional states
The problems of mental stress and anxiety occupy a special place in ensuring the normal functioning of a person. Before performing a responsible task or act, a person experiences excessive emotional arousal.
Most often, the concept of anxiety is used to describe an unpleasant emotional state or internal condition, which is characterized by subjective sensations of tension, anxiety, gloomy forebodings, and, on the physiological side, by the activation of the autonomic nervous system.
A person himself can assess his condition as calm, anxious or intermediate between them. After successful completion hard work or successfully passing the exam, the person calms down, his mood becomes upbeat, a feeling of self-confidence appears.
In case of failure, i.e. badly done work, or not passing the exam, a person emotionally experiences his failure, and he develops anxiety, fatigue, depression, helplessness, leading him to a painful state.