Emotion

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The role of the brain in emotion processing, including the amygdala and other structures involved in emotional responses.

Emotion definition: Understanding the definition of the term emotion and what it comprises.
Emotion theories: A detailed examination of the different theories that explain the nature of emotions, such as James-Lange Theory, Cannon-Bard Theory, and Schachter-Singer Theory.
Emotions and the Brain: An exploration of how emotions are processed in the brain and how different parts of the brain are activated by different emotions.
Limbic System: This system controls different emotions such as anxiety, anger, and pleasure.
Neuroscience: The study of the nervous system and how it functions, focusing on the role of neurotransmitters, hormones, and other chemicals that regulate emotion.
Autonomic Nervous System: The branch of the nervous system that controls unconscious and automatic functions such as heartbeat and breath, and also exerts significant influence on emotions.
Behavioural and Cognitive Psychology: Studies how emotion influences behaviour and cognitive processes such as memory, perception and attention.
Emotion regulation: Strategies and techniques individuals use to modify their emotions, including cognitive and behavioural techniques, mindfulness, and expression of emotions.
Cultural and Social Factors: A look at how culture, socialization, language, and gender can shape emotional expression.
Emotional Dysfunction and Psychopathology: The impact of emotional dysfunction or disorders such as depression or anxiety on an individual’s emotion regulation, cognition, and behaviour.
Developmental Psychology: The study investigating how emotions develop and change throughout life, such as baby's recognition of facial expressions.
Positive Psychology: A branch of psychology focused on studying positive emotions and how they can improve well-being.
Sensation and Perception: Understanding how we experience emotions using the sensory organs and how understanding the environment around us can change emotional responses.
Evolutionary Psychology: Exploring how emotions have evolved over time and why they play an essential role in human survival.
Emotion and Learning: Investigating the relationship between emotions, motivation, and learning, including how positive and negative emotions can influence memory and decision-making.
Emotion and Health: Identifying how emotional well-being affects physical health, including stress, anxiety, and coping strategies like resilience.
Social Neuroscience: A budding interdisciplinary field studying how social factors and neurobiological processes are intertwined in shaping our experiences of emotions in relation to the social environment.
Emotion and Creativity: A focus on how emotions can inspire the creative process in art and literature.
Computational Psychology: Examining how computer simulations of emotion and how researchers build models of the emotional response system can unlock new indications for treatment of mental health disorders.
Sports Psychology: Studies about relationship between emotions and athletic performance, focusing on ways to manage emotions during intense competition.
Basic emotions: These are nine emotions that are considered universal across all cultures and include happiness, sadness, anger, fear, surprise, disgust, contempt, shame, and guilt.
Positive emotions: These include joy, excitement, love, gratitude, pride, and contentment.
Negative emotions: These include sadness, anger, fear, envy, disgust, and guilt.
Primary emotions: These are basic emotions that are not derived from other emotions, such as happiness or anger.
Secondary emotions: These are complex emotions that are derived from a combination of primary emotions, such as jealousy or frustration.
Social emotions: These include empathy, compassion, and guilt, which relate to social interactions and relationships with others.
Complex emotions: These emotions are layered and complicated and may involve mixed feelings or contradictory reactions.
Somatic emotions: These are physical sensations that are associated with emotions, such as a racing heart or sweating palms.
Mood states: These are long-term emotional states that can be positive, negative, or neutral.
Affect: This refers to the overall emotional tone or feeling of a person, which can be positive or negative.
"Theorizing about the evolutionary origin and possible purpose of emotion dates back to Charles Darwin."
"Research on emotion has increased over the past two decades, with many fields contributing, including psychology, medicine, history, sociology of emotions, and computer science."
"There is no scientific consensus on a definition."
"Emotions are complex, involving multiple different components, such as subjective experience, cognitive processes, expressive behavior, psychophysiological changes, and instrumental behavior."
"At one time, academics attempted to identify the emotion with one of the components: William James with a subjective experience, behaviorists with instrumental behavior, psychophysiologists with physiological changes, and so on."
"In psychology and philosophy, emotion typically includes a subjective, conscious experience characterized primarily by psychophysiological expressions, biological reactions, and mental states."
"Peggy Thoits described emotions as involving physiological components, cultural or emotional labels (anger, surprise, etc.), expressive body actions, and the appraisal of situations and contexts."
"Cognitive processes, like reasoning and decision-making, are often regarded as separate from emotional processes, making a division between 'thinking' and 'feeling'. However, not all theories of emotion regard this separation as valid."
"Nowadays, most research into emotions in the clinical and well-being context focuses on emotion dynamics in daily life, predominantly the intensity of specific emotions and their variability, instability, inertia, and differentiation."
"Using tools like PET and fMRI scans to study the affective picture processes in the brain."
"Theorizing about the evolutionary origin and possible purpose of emotion dates back to Charles Darwin."
"The numerous attempts to explain the origin, function, and other aspects of emotions have fostered intense research on this topic."
"...psychology, medicine, history, sociology of emotions, and computer science."
"...the intensity of specific emotions and their variability, instability, inertia, and differentiation..."
"Emotions are often intertwined with mood, temperament, personality, disposition, or creativity."
"A similar multi-componential description of emotion is found in sociology."
"...subjective experience, cognitive processes, expressive behavior, psychophysiological changes, and instrumental behavior."
"...whether and how emotions augment or blunt each other over time and differences in these dynamics between people and along the lifespan."
"Research on emotion has increased over the past two decades..."
"Research on emotion has increased over the past two decades, with many fields contributing, including... computer science. The numerous attempts to explain the origin, function, and other aspects of emotions have fostered intense research on this topic."