Hooked on a feeling!

 

 

 

One morning I waited for the light to change so that I could cross the street to school. As the light in my direction turned green, I stepped off the curb. Suddenly, I froze as a car shot right past me through the red light and crashed into a car in the intersection. The car that went through the red light was not that close to me, but I felt terrified, then weak and shaky. That morning at school, whenever I thought about the accident I felt nervous and shaky. Although I was not physically hurt, my mind and body experienced a strong emotional reaction to a dangerous situation.

Emotions, often called feelings, include experiences such as love, hate, anger, trust, joy, panic, fear, and grief. Emotions are related to, but different from, mood. Emotions are specific reactions to a particular event that are usually of fairly short duration. Mood is a more general feeling such as happiness, sadness, frustration, contentment, or anxiety that lasts for a longer time. Indeed, emotions are associated with mild to extreme changes in the physiological processes occurring within our bodies. In addition to the changes just listed, these processes may include metabolic changes, altered muscle tension, changes in activity of the salivary and sweat glands, modified digestive processes, and changes in the levels of certain neurotransmitters in the brain.

People have very similar internal responses to the same emotion. For example, regardless of age, race, or gender, when people are under stress, their bodies release adrenaline; this hormone helps prepare the body to either run away or fight, which is called the "fight or flight" reaction. Although the psychological part of emotions may be different for each feeling, several different emotions can produce the same physical reaction.

Physiologically, emotions aid in survival. For example, sudden fear often causes a person to freeze like a deer caught by a car's headlights. Because animals usually attack in response to motion, at its simplest level, fear reduces the chances of attack. When I froze in response to a car racing by me, this was an example of a physical response to an emotion that improved my chances of survival.

The video below explains what emotions are. Karen Ellis explains emotions, providing an elegant map for understanding what they are and their effect on performance. The video also explains what causes our high arousal and low arousal of emotions.