Question

Emotion remains the least understood area of psychology. Researchers continue to work very hard to figure it out. What is most understood is that we have basic and universal emotions. What is not fully understood is how we process these emotions.

While a layperson easily assumes they determine themselves to be happy or sad and then feel the visceral response of that emotion, the majority of researchers believe that it goes the other way. The first thing we feel is arousal (the body and mind are stirred up) and then we interpret why that might have happened. This is actually a lot like the question of free will. It’s hard for most of us to wrap our heads around the fact that the body feels the emotion first and then we label it after the fact.

What do you think about this? If this is the first time you’ve encountered these theories, you might have a hard time believing it. How does that make you feel about your own body and mind and your emotional experience? Which aspects of the empirical research do you find especially compelling?

Answer 1

There are two different explanations to emotions ,either they are felt in the physical state or in the psychologial state.The fact is both   are combined feeling of emotions.An emotion can have a physiological response,behavioural or congnitive.Emotions can be of two types,negative and the positive.When one encounters a negative response the physiological reactions to the body surface up.Once we feel the emotions the body automatically responds to the emotion whether its a positive or a negative emotion.Many theories and studies are now working on the positive mind to maintain good health.We are what we think,if we chose to have a positive emotion we remain happy ,it is the mental state that determines our bodily responses.