| | One of the most difficult problems in studying emotion is deciding what an emotion is. Though it may seem obvious at first, what is it that exactly makes emotion different from thought?
The clearest difference may be that we feel emotions in our body, but don't really feel thoughts.
William James, the father of western psychology, thus made the somewhat radical suggestion that emotions are different from thoughts in that they are perceived directly from the organs.
(If this were the case, we would expect people to lack emotions altogether if the sensory nerves to their organs were severed. This is not the case, but interestingly some of these people report that they do not experience emotions as strongly.)
Click the graphic to see further developments of this model.
This model, though incomplete, continues to steer the study of emotions. For example, the most direct way we have of measuring someone's emotions in the lab is through their bodily changes (i.e. the polygraph).
All of this leaves one feeling like something about emotions has been lost in trying to separate them from thought. Emotions do result in bodily changes, but bodily changes don't seem to capture the essence of emotions.
Tibetans don't separate emotions from other mental factors, and have no direct translation for the term. Perhaps starting from the perspective of the mind, we can better understand what it is that makes emotions special.
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| | Posted 11/16/2004 10:10 PM - 39 Views - 6 eProps - 3 comments
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