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How
does it feel to be in love?
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Benedict de Spinoza in the 17th century described emotions as bodily changes that result in the amplification or attenuation of action and as processes that can facilitate or impede action. For Spinoza, emotion also included the ideas, or mental representations, of the bodily changes in emotion.
Today, there continue to be researchers who define emotions in different ways. At the extremes, emotions can be seen as biological responses to situations over which we have little control. Plutchiks theory of emotions is one that stems from the biological perspective. At the other extreme, there are psychologists who define emotions more by the conscious experience rather than by the biological response. One of these is Schachter.
Most researchers today accept that emotions operate on a number of levels. A common view is that emotions consist of:
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Subjective
feeling
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That is how the individual interprets what they are feeling at any point. These are inner personal experiences. How one individual interprets "being in love" will often be different to the next person. Subjective feelings in response to an emotion cannot be readily observed. As a result, the self-report method is often used to collect data in this area. |
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Expressive
behaviour
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This refers to the outward signs that an emotion is being experienced. Such behaviour can be intentional or unintentional and includes facial expressions as well as body language. |
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Physiological
responses
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This involves bodily changes which occur when we experience an emotion. This involves the operation of the brain as well as the Autonomic Nervous system and research by Candace Pert suggests that it also involves the cells in our body. It is often our awareness of the arousal that makes us suddenly aware that we are experiencing an emotion. |
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