Emotional states. Emotional states: typology and characteristics

Emotional condition- This is the direct experience of a feeling.

Depending on the satisfaction of needs, the states experienced by a person can be positive, negative or ambivalent(duality of experiences). Taking into account the nature of the impact on human activity, emotions are sthenic(encourage active activity, mobilize forces, for example, inspiration) and asthenic(they relax a person, paralyze his strength, for example, sadness). Some emotions can be both sthenic and asthenic at the same time. The different impact of the same feeling on the activities of different people is due to individual characteristics personality and its volitional qualities. For example, fear can disorganize a cowardly person, but mobilize a courageous one.

According to the dynamics of the course, emotional states are long-term and short-term, according to intensity - intense and weakly expressed, according to stability - stable and changeable. Depending on the form of the course, emotional states are divided into mood, affect, stress, passion, frustration, higher feelings.

The simplest form of emotional experience is emotional tone, i.e. emotional coloring, a peculiar qualitative shade of the mental process, prompting a person to preserve or eliminate them. The emotional tone accumulates a reflection of the most common and frequently occurring signs of beneficial and harmful factors in the surrounding reality and allows one to accept fast decision about the meaning of a new stimulus ( beautiful landscape, unpleasant interlocutor). The emotional tone is determined by the personal characteristics of a person, the process of his activity, etc. The purposeful use of emotional tone allows one to influence the mood of the team and the productivity of its activities.

Mood- these are relatively long-term, stable mental states of moderate or weak intensity, manifesting themselves as a positive or negative emotional background of mental life. Mood depends on social activities, worldview, orientation of a person, his state of health, time of year, environment.

Depression- This is a depressed mood associated with a weakening of excitement.

Apathy characterized by loss of strength and is a psychological state caused by fatigue.

Affect- this is a short-term, violent emotion that has the character of an emotional explosion. The experience of affect is stage-specific. At the first stage, a person, seized by a flash of rage or wild delight, thinks only about the object of his feelings. His movements become uncontrollable, his breathing rhythm changes, and small movements are disrupted. At the same time, at this stage, every mentally normal person can slow down the development of affect, for example, by switching to another type of activity. In the second stage, a person loses the ability to control his actions. As a result, he can commit actions that he would not have committed in his normal state. At the third stage, relaxation occurs, the person experiences states of fatigue and emptiness, and sometimes he is not able to remember episodes of events.

When analyzing an affective act, it is necessary to remember that the structure of this act does not have a goal, and the motive is the experienced emotions. To prevent the formation of an affective personality, it is necessary to teach schoolchildren methods of self-regulation and take into account their type of temperament in the process of education. Students with choleric and melancholic temperaments (the latter in a state of fatigue) are prone to affect.

The concept of “stress” was introduced into science by G. Selye. The scientist determined stress as a nonspecific reaction of the human (animal) body to any demand. Depending on the stress factor, physiological and mental stress are distinguished. The latter, in turn, is divided into informational(the emergency worker does not have time to make the right decision at the required pace in a situation of high responsibility) and emotional(occurs in situations of threat, danger, for example, during an exam). The body's response to stress is called general adaptation syndrome. This reaction includes three stages: the alarm reaction, the resistance phase and the exhaustion phase.

From the point of view of G. Selye, stress is not just nervous tension, this is not always the result of damage. The scientist identified two types of stress: distress and eustress. Distress occurs in difficult situations, under great physical and mental overload, if necessary, to make quick and responsible decisions and is experienced with great internal tension. The reaction that occurs during distress resembles affect. Distress negatively affects the results of a person’s activities and has a detrimental effect on his health. Eustress, on the contrary, is positive stress that accompanies creativity and love, which has a positive impact on a person and contributes to the mobilization of his spiritual and physical strength.

Ways to adapt to stressful situation are rejection of it on a personal level (psychological protection of the individual), complete or partial disconnection from the situation, “activity shift”, the use of new ways to solve a problem problem, the ability to carry out complex look activities despite tension. To overcome distress, a person needs physical movements, promoting the activation of the parasympathetic department of the higher nervous activity, music therapy, bibliotherapy (listening to excerpts from works of art), occupational therapy, play therapy, as well as mastering self-regulation techniques.

Passion- a strong, stable, all-encompassing feeling, which is the dominant motive of activity, leads to the concentration of all forces on the subject of passion. Passion can be determined by a person's worldview, beliefs, or needs. In its direction, this emotional manifestation can be positive or negative (passion for science, passion for hoarding). When we talk about children, we mean hobbies. Truly positive hobbies unite a child with others and expand his sphere of knowledge. If a positive hobby isolates a child from his peers, then perhaps it compensates for the feeling of inferiority experienced by him in other areas of activity (in studies, sports) that are not related to his interests, which indicates a dysfunctional personality.

Frustration is a mental state caused by the appearance of insurmountable obstacles (real or imaginary) when trying to satisfy a need that is significant to the individual. Frustration is accompanied by disappointment, annoyance, irritation, anxiety, depression, and devaluation of the goal or task. For some people, this condition manifests itself in aggressive behavior or is accompanied by withdrawal into the world of dreams and fantasies. Frustration can be caused by a lack of abilities and skills necessary to achieve a goal, as well as by experiencing one of three types of internal conflicts (K. Levin). This is: a) conflict of equal positive opportunities, which arises when it is necessary to choose in favor of one of two equally attractive prospects; b) conflict of equal negative possibilities, arising from a forced choice in favor of one of two equally undesirable prospects; V) conflict of positive-negative possibilities, arising from the need to accept not only the positive, but also the negative aspects of the same perspective.

The dynamics and forms of manifestation of states of frustration vary from person to person. Research shows that intelligence plays a special role in shaping the direction of emotional reactions. The higher a person’s intelligence, the more likely it is to expect an externally accusatory form of emotional reaction from him. People with less high intelligence are more likely to take the blame in situations of frustration.

Higher feelings of a person arise in connection with the satisfaction or dissatisfaction of his spiritual needs, with the fulfillment or violation of the norms of life and social behavior he has learned, the course and results of his activities. Depending on the subject area to which they relate, higher feelings can be intellectual, moral and aesthetic.

TO intellectual feelings include experiences that arise in the process cognitive activity person (surprise, interest, doubt, confidence, feeling of something new, etc.). Intellectual feelings can be determined by the content, problematic nature of the activity, and the degree of complexity of the tasks being solved. Intellectual feelings, in turn, stimulate activity, accompany it, influence the course and results of a person’s mental activity, acting as its regulator.

Moral feelings include a moral assessment of an object, phenomenon, and other people. The group of moral feelings includes patriotism, love for the profession, duty, collectivism, etc. The formation of these feelings presupposes a person’s assimilation of moral rules and norms that apply historical character and depend on the level of development of society, customs, religion, etc. The basis for the emergence of moral feelings are social interpersonal relationships, defining their content. Once formed, moral feelings encourage a person to perform moral actions. Violation moral standards fraught with feelings of shame and guilt.

Aesthetic feelings represent a person’s emotional attitude to beauty. Aesthetic feelings include a sense of the tragic, comic, ironic, sarcastic, and are manifested in assessments, tastes, and external reactions. They intensify activities and help to better understand art (music, literature, painting, theater).

Many psychologists believe that there are only three basic emotions: anger, fear and joy.

Anger is a negative emotion caused by frustration. The most common way to express anger is aggression- an intentional action intended to cause harm or pain. Ways of expressing anger include: direct expression of feelings, indirect expression of feelings (transferring anger from the person who caused the frustration to another person or object) and containing anger. Optimal options overcoming anger: thinking about the situation, finding something comic in it, listening to your opponent, identifying yourself with the person who caused anger, forgetting old grievances and strife, striving to feel love and respect for the enemy, awareness of your condition.

Joy is an active positive emotion that is expressed in good mood and a feeling of pleasure. A lasting feeling of joy is called happiness. According to J. Friedman, a person is happy if he simultaneously feels satisfaction with life and peace of mind. Research shows that people who have families, have active religious beliefs, and have good relationships with others are happier.

Fear is a negative emotion that arises in situations of real or perceived danger. Justified fears play an important adaptive role and contribute to survival. Anxiety- this is a specific experience caused by a premonition of danger and threat, and characterized by tension and concern. The state of anxiety depends on the problem situation (exam, performance) and on personal anxiety. If situational anxiety is a state associated with a specific external situation, then personal anxiety- stable personality trait constant an individual's tendency to experience anxiety. People with low personal anxiety are always calmer, regardless of the situation. Required relatively high level stress in order to trigger a stress response in them.

Glossary

Emotions, feelings, emotional state, positive emotional state, negative emotional state, ambivalent emotional state, sthenic emotional state, asthenic emotional state, emotional tone, mood, depression, apathy, affect, stress, information stress, emotional stress, general adaptation syndrome, distress, eustress, passion, frustration, higher feelings, intellectual feelings, aesthetic feelings, moral feelings, anger, aggression, joy, fear, anxiety, situational anxiety, personal anxiety.

Questions for self-control

1. Compare emotions and feelings. What are their similarities? What are the differences?

2. How does Charles Darwin explain the emergence of emotions?

3. What is the essence of the theory of cognitive dissonance?

4. Name emotional states depending on the form of their occurrence.

5. What is the specificity of affect?

6. How are stress and affect similar? What are the differences?

7. Is passion a feeling or an emotion?

8. What causes the experience of frustration?

Which occurs in a person as a result of a reaction to some object or situation. They are not static and have different strengths of expression. Such states are determined and depend on the data of his character and psychotype.

Basic emotional states: characteristics

Emotions are characterized by three parameters:

1. Valence. This is the so-called tone of emotions: they can be negative and positive. An interesting fact is that there are much more negative emotions than positive ones.
2. Intensity. Here the strength of the emotional experience is assessed. External physiological manifestations are more pronounced, the stronger the emotion. This parameter is closely related to the central nervous system.
3. the parameter affects the activity of human behavior. It is presented in two variants: sthenic and emotions contribute to the paralysis of actions: the person is lethargic and apathetic. Stenic ones, on the contrary, encourage action.

Kinds

Emotional states a person is divided into 5 categories, which are identified by the strength, quality and duration of manifestation:

1. Mood. One of the longest lasting emotional states. It affects human activity and can occur either gradually or suddenly. Moods can be positive, negative, temporary and permanent.
2. Affective emotional states. This is a group of short-term emotions that suddenly grip a person and are characterized by a vivid manifestation in behavior. Despite the short duration, the influence of affects on the psyche is very great and is destructive, reducing its ability to organize and adequately assess reality. This state can only be controlled by individuals with developed will.
3. Stressful emotional states. They arise when a person falls into a subjective point of view. Severe stress may be accompanied by affect if great emotional damage has been suffered. On the one hand, stress is a negative phenomenon that has a detrimental effect on nervous system, and on the other hand, it mobilizes a person, which sometimes allows him to save his life.
4. Frustration. It is characterized by a feeling of difficulties and obstacles, putting the person in a depressed state. The behavior is characterized by anger, sometimes aggressiveness, as well as a negative reaction to ongoing events, regardless of their nature.
5. Emotional states of passion. This category of emotions is caused by a person’s reaction to material and spiritual needs: for example, a strong desire for something causes in him a desire for an object, which is difficult to overcome. Activity is observed in behavior, the person feels an increase in strength and most often becomes more impulsive and proactive.

Along with this classification, there is also a more detailed one, which divides all emotions into 2 categories.

Psychologists identify 7 main emotions:

• joy;
• anger;
• contempt;
• astonishment;
• fear;
• disgust;
• sadness.

The essence of basic emotions is that they are experienced by all people who have had a harmonious development without pathologies from the nervous system. They appear equally (albeit in varying degrees and quantities) in representatives different cultures And social environment.

This is due to the presence of certain brain structures that are responsible for a particular emotion. Thus, a certain set of probable emotional experiences is inherent in a person from the very beginning.

Human emotions and feelings are determined by the social conditions of existence and are of a personal nature. Emotions are subjective experiences that signal a favorable or unfavorable state of the body and psyche. Feelings have not only subjective, but also objective objective content. They are caused by objects that have personal value and are addressed to them.

The quality of the experiences contained in feelings depends on the personal meaning and significance that the object has for a person. Hence, feelings are connected not only with the external, directly perceived properties of an object, but also with the knowledge and concepts that a person has about it. Feelings are effective; they either stimulate or inhibit human activity. Feelings that stimulate activity are called sthenic, feelings that inhibit it are called asthenic.

Emotions and feelings are unique mental states that leave an imprint on a person’s life, activities, actions and behavior. If emotional states are determined mainly outside behavior and mental activity, then feelings influence the content and inner essence of experiences caused by the spiritual needs of a person.

Emotional states include: moods, affects, stress, frustration and passion.

Mood is the most general emotional state that affects a person over a certain period of time and has a significant impact on his psyche, behavior and activity. The mood can arise slowly, gradually, or it can overwhelm a person quickly and suddenly. It can be positive or negative, stable or temporary.

A positive mood makes a person energetic, cheerful and active. Any business in a good mood goes well, everything works out, the products of the activity have high quality. When you are in a bad mood, everything falls out of hand, work progresses sluggishly, mistakes and defects are made, and the products are of poor quality.

Mood is personal. Some subjects are often in a good mood, while others are in a bad mood. Temperament has a big influence on mood. Sanguine people are always in a cheerful, positive mood. Choleric people often change their mood, good location spirit suddenly changes to bad. Phlegmatic people are always in an even mood, they are cool-blooded, self-confident, and calm. Melancholic people are often characterized by a negative mood; they are afraid and afraid of everything. Any change in life unsettles them and causes depression.

Every mood has its cause, although sometimes it seems that it arises by itself. The reason for the mood can be a person’s position in society, performance results, events in his personal life, health status, etc. The mood experienced by one person can be transmitted to other people.

Affect is a quickly arising and rapidly occurring short-term emotional state that negatively affects the psyche and behavior of a person. If mood is a relatively calm emotional state, then affect is an emotional storm that suddenly swooped in and destroyed the normal state of mind person.

Affect can arise suddenly, but it can also be prepared gradually based on the accumulation of accumulated experiences when they begin to overwhelm a person’s soul.

In a state of passion, a person cannot rationally control his behavior. Overwhelmed by passion, he sometimes commits actions that he later bitterly regrets. It is impossible to eliminate or inhibit affect. However, the state of passion does not free a person from responsibility for his actions, since each person must learn to manage his behavior in a given situation. To do this, it is necessary, in the initial stage of affect, to switch attention from the object that caused it to something else, neutral. Since in most cases affect manifests itself in speech reactions aimed at its source, instead of external speech actions one should perform internal ones, for example, count slowly to 20. Since affect manifests itself for a short time, by the end of this action its intensity decreases and the person will come to a calmer state. state.

Affect predominantly manifests itself 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 an extreme situation associated with a danger to life or an activity requiring great stress. Stress, like affect, is the same strong and short-term emotional experience. Therefore, some psychologists consider stress as a type of affect. But this is far from true, 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 overcome an extreme situation.

Stress can have both positive and bad influence to the individual. Stress has a positive role, performing a mobilization function, and a negative role - having a harmful effect on the nervous system, causing mental disorders and various kinds of diseases of the body.

Stressful conditions influence people's behavior differently. Some, under the influence of stress, show complete helplessness and are unable to withstand the effects of stress, others, on the contrary, are stress-resistant individuals and perform best in moments of danger and in activities that require the exertion of all forces.

Frustration is a deeply felt emotional state that arose under the influence of failures that occurred when the level of a person’s aspirations was inflated. It can manifest itself in the form of negative experiences, such as anger, frustration, apathy, etc.

There are two ways out of frustration. Either a person develops active activity and achieves success, or reduces the level of aspirations and is content with the results that he can achieve as much as possible.

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 things, objects, phenomena, people that a person strives to possess at any cost.

Depending on the need that caused the passion and on the object through which it is satisfied, it can be characterized either as positive or negative. Positive or sublime passion is associated with highly moral motives and has not only a personal, but also a social character. A passion for science, art, social activities, nature protection, etc. makes a person’s life meaningful and interesting. All great deeds were accomplished under the influence of great passion.

Negative or base passion has an egoistic orientation and when it is satisfied, a person does not take anything into account and often commits antisocial, immoral acts.

A person’s experiences can manifest themselves not only in the form of emotions and emotional states, but also in the form of a variety of feelings. Feelings, unlike emotions, not only have a more complex structure, but are also characterized, as already indicated, by a certain substantive content. Depending on their content, feelings are: moral or moral, intellectual or cognitive and aesthetic. Feelings reveal a person’s selective attitude towards objects and phenomena of the surrounding world.

Moral feelings represent a person’s experiences of his attitude towards people and himself, depending on whether their behavior and their own actions correspond or do not correspond to the moral principles and ethical standards that exist in society.

Moral feelings are effective. They manifest themselves not only in experiences, but also in actions and deeds. Feelings of love, friendship, affection, gratitude, solidarity, etc. encourage a person to perform highly moral actions towards other people. Feelings of duty, responsibility, honor, conscience, shame, regret, etc. manifest the experience of attitude towards one’s own actions. They force a person to correct mistakes made in his behavior, apologize for what he has done, and prevent their repetition in the future.

Intellectual feelings manifest the experience of one’s relationship to cognitive activity and the results of mental actions. Surprise, curiosity, inquisitiveness, interest, bewilderment, doubt, confidence, triumph - feelings that encourage a person to study the world, explore the secrets of nature and existence, learn the truth, discover the new, the unknown.

Intellectual experiences also include feelings of satire, irony and humor. A satirical feeling arises in a person when he notices vices, shortcomings in people and in public life and mercilessly denounces them. Highest form A person’s satirical attitude to reality is a feeling of sarcasm, which manifests itself in the form of undisguised disgust for individuals and social phenomena.

The sense of irony, like satire, is aimed at castigating shortcomings, but an ironic remark is not as evil in nature as in satire. It most often manifests itself in the form of a dismissive and disrespectful attitude towards the object.

Humor is the most wonderful feeling inherent in a person. Without humor, life would seem, in some cases, simply unbearable. Humor allows a person to find, even in difficult moments of life, something that can cause a smile, laughter through tears and overcome the feeling of hopelessness. Most often they try to evoke a sense of humor in loved one when he experiences any difficulties in life and is in a depressed state. So one of the friends of the famous German poet Heinrich Heine, having learned that he had already long time is in a bad mood, I decided to make him laugh. One day Heine received a parcel in the mail in the form of a large plywood box. When he opened it, there was another box, and in it another box, etc. When he finally got to the smallest box, he saw a note in it that said: “Dear Heinrich! I'm alive, healthy and happy! Which I am glad to tell you about. Your friend (followed the signature).” Heine was amused by this, his mood improved and he in turn sent a parcel to a friend. His friend also received the parcel in the form of a large heavy box, opened it and saw in it a huge cobblestone, to which was attached a note: “Dear friend! This stone fell from my heart when I found out that you are alive, healthy and happy. Yours, Henry."

Aesthetic feelings arise in the process of perceiving nature and works of art. They manifest themselves in the perception of the beautiful, the sublime, the base, the tragic and the comic. When we see something beautiful, we admire it, admire it, and are delighted; when something ugly is in front of us, we are indignant and indignant.

Emotions and feelings have a great influence on personality. They make a person spiritually rich and interesting. A person capable of emotional experiences can better understand other people, respond to their feelings, and show compassion and responsiveness.

Feelings enable a person to better know himself, to realize his positive and negative qualities, arouse the desire to overcome one’s shortcomings, help to refrain from unseemly actions.

Experienced emotions and feelings leave an imprint on the external and internal appearance of the individual. People prone to experiencing negative emotions have a sad facial expression, while people with a predominance of positive emotions have a cheerful facial expression.

A person can not only be at the mercy of his feelings, but he himself is capable of influencing them. The personality approves and encourages some feelings, condemns and rejects others. A person cannot stop the feeling that has arisen, but he is able to overcome it. However, this can only be done by a person engaged in self-education and self-regulation of his emotions and feelings.

The education of feelings begins with the development of the ability to control their external expression. Well-mannered man knows how to restrain his feelings, appear calm and calm, although an emotional storm is raging inside him. Each person can get rid of any unwanted feeling themselves. Of course, this is not achieved through self-command, but offers indirect elimination through autogenic training.

If the feeling has not yet taken root, then you can get rid of it by turning off yourself, directing your thoughts and actions to objects that have nothing in common with the object that caused the feeling. Self-distraction can be reinforced by a prohibition on remembering and thinking about the feeling that has arisen. So, if a person has been offended, then when meeting the offender, the feeling can arise with the same intensity. In order to get rid of this feeling, you need to be in a calm state, imagine your offender for a short time, and then forget about him. After repeatedly associating the image of this person with your calm state, his image, and the person himself, will no longer cause feelings of resentment. When you meet him, you will calmly pass by.

An entrenched feeling can only be overcome through another strong feeling. Such a feeling could be, for example, a feeling of shame, under the influence of which a person can cope with a feeling condemned by society and the person himself.

Emotions and feelings, often repeated, can become one of the characteristic features of a personality, one of its properties. Moreover, some of them may arise on the basis of the experience of emotions and emotional states, others may be associated with the experience of moral, aesthetic and intellectual feelings.

The most common emotional personality traits are: sentimentality, passion, affectivity, and stress.

Sentimental people are characterized by great emotional sensitivity and sensitivity. Every minor event or phenomenon evokes in them a range of experiences that determine their relationship to the world around them and to themselves. Their emotions are closed to their own personality and do not cause active activity and behavior.

Passionate subjects are characterized by strong and deep feelings, ebullient energy, and undivided devotion to the object of their passion.

Affective individuals are prone to strong and violent emotional experiences. They often lose control of themselves, behave irresponsibly and hysterically. Affectivity is most often characteristic of ill-mannered, cheeky and dissolute people who are not used to restraining themselves and managing their actions.

Stressful people get into an upset emotional state even in the presence of the most insignificant extreme situation. They lose self-control and the ability to respond correctly to stressful influences, under the influence of which they often fall into a passive, inactive state.

Based on the highest feelings associated with the spiritual world of a person, such emotional qualities of a person can manifest themselves: modesty, conscientiousness, responsibility, gullibility, compassion, goodwill, enthusiasm, anxiety, curiosity, etc.

Emotions and feelings are unique mental states that leave an imprint on a person’s life, activities, actions and behavior. If emotional states mainly determine the external side of behavior and mental activity, then feelings influence the content and internal essence of experiences caused by a person’s spiritual needs.

Emotional states include: moods, affects, stress, frustration and passion.

Mood- the most general emotional state that affects a person over a certain period of time and has a significant impact on his psyche, behavior and activity. The mood can arise slowly, gradually, or it can overwhelm a person quickly and suddenly. It can be positive or negative, stable or temporary.

Affect- a quickly arising and rapidly occurring short-term emotional state that negatively affects the psyche and behavior of a person. If mood is a relatively calm emotional state, then affect is an emotional storm that suddenly swooped in and destroyed a person’s normal state of mind. Affect can arise suddenly, but it can also be prepared gradually based on the accumulation of accumulated experiences when they begin to overwhelm a person’s soul. In a state of passion, a person cannot rationally control his behavior. Overwhelmed by passion, he sometimes commits actions that he later bitterly regrets. It is impossible to eliminate or inhibit affect. However, the state of passion does not free a person from responsibility for his actions, since each person must learn to manage his behavior in a given situation. To do this, it is necessary, in the initial stage of affect, to switch attention from the object that caused it to something else, neutral. Since in most cases affect manifests itself in speech reactions aimed at its source, instead of external speech actions one should perform internal ones, for example, count slowly to 20. Since affect manifests itself for a short time, by the end of this action its intensity decreases and the person will come to a calmer state. state. Affect predominantly manifests itself 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- an emotional state that suddenly arises in a person under the influence of an extreme situation associated with a danger to life or an activity requiring great stress. Stress, like affect, is the same strong and short-term emotional experience. Therefore, some psychologists consider stress as a type of affect. But this is far from true, 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 the individual. Stress has a positive role, performing a mobilization function, and a negative role - having a harmful effect on the nervous system, causing mental disorders and various kinds of diseases of the body. Stressful conditions affect people's behavior in different ways. Some, under the influence of stress, show complete helplessness and are unable to withstand the effects of stress, others, on the contrary, are stress-resistant individuals and perform best in moments of danger and in activities that require the exertion of all forces.

Frustration- a deeply felt emotional state that arose under the influence of failures that occurred when the level of a person’s aspirations was inflated. It can manifest itself in the form of negative experiences, such as anger, frustration, apathy, etc. There are two ways out of frustration. Either a person develops active activity and achieves success, or reduces the level of aspirations and is content with the results that he can achieve as much as possible.

Passion- 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 strives to possess at any cost. Depending on the need that caused the passion and on the object through which it is satisfied, it can be characterized either as positive or negative. Positive or sublime passion is associated with highly moral motives and has not only a personal, but also a social character. A passion for science, art, social activities, nature protection, etc. makes a person’s life meaningful and interesting. All great deeds were accomplished under the influence of great passion. Negative or base passion has an egoistic orientation and when it is satisfied, a person does not take anything into account and often commits antisocial, immoral acts.

Depending on the depth, intensity, duration and degree of differentiation, we can distinguish the following types emotional states: feeling tone, actual emotions, affect, passion, mood.

A sensual or emotional tone is the simplest form of emotion, an elementary manifestation of organic sensitivity that accompanies certain vital influences and encourages the subject to eliminate or preserve them. Can be compared with primitive mental tropisms (approaching a pleasant stimulus of low intensity and moving away from a stimulus of higher intensity). Often, such experiences, due to their weak differentiation, cannot be expressed verbally (for example, “you feel something wrong here”). They are recognized as an emotional coloring, a unique qualitative shade of a mental process, as a property of a perceived object, phenomenon, action, etc. (for example, “a pleasant conversationalist”, “a boring book”).

Emotions themselves are a mental reflection in the form of a direct biased experience of the life meaning of phenomena and situations, conditioned by the relationship of their objective properties to the needs of the subject. These are subject specific mental processes and conditions that arise in a specific situation and are of a narrowly focused nature.

Emotions arise when there is excessive motivation in relation to the real adaptive capabilities of the individual. Depending on which of the two factors in the balance of the subject’s motivation and capabilities the discrepancy occurs faster, two categories of reasons causing the emergence of emotions can be distinguished: insufficient adaptive capabilities, excessive motivation. In the first case, emotion arises due to the fact that the subject cannot or does not know how to give an adequate response to stimulation (situations characterized by novelty, unusualness or suddenness). In the second case, there is excess motivation that does not find application (before action, after action), and excess motivation in social behavior (socially significant, socially undesirable, socially incomprehensible behavior).

It is traditional to divide emotions into positive and negative. Although this very general classification of emotions is generally correct and useful, the concepts of positivity and negativity as applied to emotions require some clarification. For example, emotions such as anger, fear, shame cannot be unconditionally classified as negative or negative. Anger is sometimes directly correlated with adaptive behavior and even more often with defense and affirmation of personal integrity. Fear is also associated with survival and, along with shame, contributes to the regulation of permissive aggressiveness and the establishment of social order. Rather than talking about negative and positive emotions, it would be more accurate to think that there are emotions that promote psychological entropy and those that facilitate constructive behavior. In this sense, whether a given emotion will be positive or negative depends on the intra-individual processes of interaction between the subject and his environment, as well as on more general ethological and environmental factors.

No less popular is the classification of emotions in relation to activity and, accordingly, their division into sthenic (inducing action, causing tension) and asthenic (inhibiting action, depressing).

Classifications of emotions are also known: by origin from groups of needs - biological, social and ideal emotions, by the nature of actions on which the likelihood of satisfying a need depends - contact and distant.

Affect is a rapidly and violently occurring emotional process of an explosive nature, which can provide a release in action that is not subject to conscious volitional control. The main thing in affect is an unexpected shock, sharply experienced by a person, characterized by a change in consciousness, a violation of volitional control over actions. In affect, the parameters of attention sharply change: its switchability decreases, concentration and memory are impaired, up to partial or complete amnesia. Affect has a disorganizing effect on activity, consistency and quality of performance, with maximum disintegration - stupor or chaotic, unfocused motor reactions. There are normal and pathological affects. 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; the presence of post-affective amnesia.

Suprasty is an intense, generalized and prolonged experience that dominates other human impulses and leads to concentration on the object of passion. The reasons that cause passion can be different - from bodily inclinations to conscious ideological beliefs. It can be accepted, sanctioned by the individual, or it can be experienced as something unwanted and intrusive. Characteristics passions are the strength of feeling, expressed in the appropriate direction of all thoughts of the individual, stability, unity of emotional and volitional moments, a peculiar combination of activity and passivity.

Mood is a relatively long-lasting, stable mental state of moderate or weak intensity. The reasons for mood are numerous - from organic well-being (vital tone) to the nuances of relationships with others. Mood has a subjective orientation; in comparison with a sensual tone, it is recognized not as a property of an 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 great mood"(from music). Individual personal characteristics play a certain role (for example, personal accentuations, hyperthymia - a tendency to high mood, dysthymia - a tendency to low mood and a depressive reaction, emotiveness - high emotional sensitivity and depth of emotional reactions, etc.).

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