Feeling

Feeling is a psychological term which has undergone many attempts at interpretation. It represents a generic term for a variety of experiences and reactions, and includes, inter alia, fear, anger, humor, irony and compassion, joy and love. Although there are diverse neurophysiological approaches to measurement of feelings, they are not to accept as valid uniformly and individually. This in turn determines the interpretation of feelings close as an individual or subjective qualities of consciousness or Ichzustände.

Etymological word tokens

"Feel" The origin of the word is unclear. There is a relationship with English. "To feel ". The basic meaning is probably " keys". She was transferred to all the physical and in the German since the 18th century on mental sensations. Therefore, originally sense of touch and the resulting emotional mood (17th century) is understood. A similar word formation such as " feel-ing " is the word " taste ", but which is formed from a different sensory modality. Again, there is a figurative meaning to the Aesthetic and Cultural, see also next to the formally similar word combinations like sense of hearing, sense of sight with the prefix " Ge-" as a generic term; see mountain - Mountain / bush - bushes. Since sensations can always give only excerpts from the physical realities, each sensory modality is also a specific psychological quality comes to each, see → abstraction theory.

Interestingly appear in the language of comparative context, the change of meaning of German " keys" to Engl. " To taste " = cost, taste, try, enjoy, experience and English. " Tasteful " = tasteful. A likely other word root is the ancient Greek πάσχω [pas -cho ] = 1) receive an impression, learn, experience, happened to me, happens to me, hits me, it's me, I do it myself, it reminds me, I will mute I'm the mood, desire; Learn something ( evil ), suffer, endure, stand, inflict suffering, toil; : 2) in the evil sense 3) in a good sense: received or the good suffer, get well, enjoy good deeds reap rewards, receive services. In Latin, so is the verb " pati " = suffer in the same context to mention. In ancient Greek the word brings the Ichqualität the respective impressions and experiences as well as the German verb feel clearly expressed. In addition, the active and passive emotions in the definition of πάσχω be included.

History of Science

The term feeling is usually used interchangeably with the older term mind. The concept of body-hugging feelings ( Zönästhesien ) goes back to the French school of vitalists. The experimental psychological research approach to measure feelings about going back to Wilhelm Wundt ( 1832-1920 ). Wundt different feelings in the dimensions of a) the pleasure-pain, b ) voltage solution and c ) excitation -depressant. The dimension a) would be described as a subjective proportion of feelings, b ) as an energetic aspect and c) as a motor or action component. This action component is the term emotion own and should not be confused with the energetic aspect. The measurement of emotions must be limited, in part on the energy, neurophysiological aspect of emotions, see ECG, EEG and HGR, partly psychological test methods ( questionnaires, scales, etc. ) be taken into consideration. Wundt went on to state that every sensation been joined an emotional tone. With the question of " feeling feelings " also Carl Stumpf deals. The electroencephalogram (EEG ) sprang German ingenuity and continued thoughts of German metaphysics, philosophy and science of the 19th century. Hans Berger (1873-1941) should be mentioned as the founder of this examination technique. Berger was originally intended to make the EEG can be used as fruitful method to investigate the mind-body relationship. Of which today is often only the objectified page of this investigation retarded and has thus predominantly located in neurology, psychiatry during this process so far was rather little abgewinnen. In recent times as a cause of emotional factors EEG abnormalities of Pateisky (1957) have been described and can be used as a so-called activation methods for the derivation of the brain waves. Hans Berger came to him for quite disappointing finding that the EEG has no specific response patterns in psychosis. Only a " shortening of alpha waves " was found by him similar to that of healthy individuals in the event of an anxious tense arousal ( 3rd and 12th release).

Clarifying the concepts

Some authors distinguish certain basic emotions, in turn, give back to other secondary emotions occasion. It is also a psychological individual and a phylogenetic point of view can be distinguished, see → psychogenetic Basic Law. C. G. Jung distinguishes between feeling and affect, even though he refers transitions between the two as fluent. Affect he holds as synonymous with emotion. Both must be determined rather neurophysiologically definable or measurable by Körperinnervationen while emotions are caused by rather minimal Körperinnervationen, see → psychogalvanic skin reaction. While emotions can handle on and off the will, emotions are an "arbitrary disponible function". Therefore, Jung distinguishes emotions directed, such as loved ones of undirected feelings of being in love. He calls emotions directed active, non-directional passive. Such passive feelings are irrational because they are more likely to come about by interaction with the intuition such as empathy, active emotions, however, are rational feelings, but this review is due not to thinking, but of subjectivity as a specific property of feeling. This view is not universally shared guys. Theodor Lipps represents together with Hans Walter Gruhle the view that undirected feelings represent a situation, which is based in itself. For any other condition to be set to anything in particular. In undirected feeling but you have to deal with it ( Ichqualität ). This distinction is a light, if you lead in mind that although I can feel something, but just feel ( subject- object split ). But being in love usually contains two components, the general personal being seized and the object relationship. As a result of psychoanalysis, it can be seen that non-directional, diffuse emotions such as free floating anxiety neurotic can conditionally be. This means that of avoided specific fears as a result of regression and repression again produced a diffuse, non-directional form of fear, as they must be regarded as a normal stage of development in childhood. The child is not yet able to provide to specific hazards through appropriate response and action patterns as an adult. The development of such patterns, the child learns a rule only to overcome such hazards and manage change.

To return taken at the beginning of this chapter Clarifying the concepts differentiation of basic emotions and secondary emotions, thus, for example, feelings of shame would be assessed as a secondary that forms in the course of socialization feelings that are associated with a complex, each individual value system. Meanwhile, collective and individual aspects are responsible for the separation in different ego states. For example, only by identification of an individual with, for example, a particular cultural superego, the corresponding counter-tendencies are rejected and have been classified into a corresponding value system. Against the differentiation of basic emotions is argued that each conceptual category formation is the essence of feelings detrimental in terms of feelings. Feelings are ultimately neither conceptually nor objectively definable in general, but can be at most circumscribed externally in individual cases. Thinking and feeling are different cognitive categories and therefore distinguishing emotions in a conceptual language is an incommensurable, that is, the feeling is not appropriate classification.

Feel as elementary mental function, according to Jung

Feel is by C. G. Jung to the four basic psychological functions calculated in addition to thinking, feeling, and intuiting. These basic functions can not be derived from other functions, according to Jung. Feel is considered an entirely subjective process that occurs between the ego and a given mental content, but can also be independent in every sense of external stimuli. Nevertheless 'll caused with every sensation, a feeling of association. Therefore, the sense of Jung is also described as a rational attitude, that is, as a phylogenetically and ontogenetically late ability. Here comes the young, from the fact that sensation and intuition must be regarded as primitive irrational skills. The essence of emotions yet can not be detected by intellectual explanations (see also: Chapter prominent Clarifying the concepts ). They built on the phylogenetic and ontogenetic functions of the early Intuierens and feeling. - Nevertheless, feelings seem to be the ontogenetically primary expressions of infants whose mind functions are not yet developed (see also: Facial Action Coding System). According to Jung, include feelings and intuition to the unconscious psychic life as opposed to thinking and feeling. Combining the aspects of the early less differentiated unconscious and later differentiated conscious features with the Jungian classification of the early irrational and the subsequent rational functions, then the following series: intuiting → ​​feeling → ​​Feel → thinking. Through this series is indicated that the strength of the physiological influence in the arrow direction by the ontogenetic predisposition appears to be larger than in the reverse direction. Thought can thus, for example, take less influence on the feelings, as the feelings on thinking. This assumption has recently been confirmed by neurobiological research results in which the afferents and efferents of the amygdala (as ontogenetically early feeling center ) especially with respect to afferents from the cerebrum (as later differentiated organ of thought processes ) were compared.

The " subjective process " of feeling brings about a very specific assessment eg in the sense of accepting or rejecting. Such emotional assessment was the mood as an isolated, prolonged state of consciousness that is independent of current sensations is (see: the pleasure principle - reality principle; primary process - secondary process). The function of feeling could also influence the character of a person. If it is the main function of a human being, thus saith young of a " feeling type ". This raises the question of relatedness or Affiziertseins. The function of feeling may be individually or collectively, according to Jung. Individual relatedness leads to private contacts. Collective relatedness lead to general feelings or to moral consciousness. In cases where there is no distinctive individuality and vorliege identity with the persona as a collective relatedness, will the "soul ," anima or animus, largely off with themselves or unconsciously and laid the image of the soul in another real person. There were a culture of participation mystique comparable condition. This identity expressed itself in a compulsive addiction to the projected in a real person complementary idea. Will this idea does not project, so including the adaptation and suffering it resultiere a relative irrelevance by the conditional character will removed from the object. Sometimes will thereby favoring homosexuality.

Functions of emotion

Feelings give the respective content feeling certain values. They are therefore considered by Jung as rational functions. You rate this content already unconsciously as personally acceptable to repel or. Indifferent regarding the conscious confrontation possibly required later Have feelings through their inherent relationship to a non-discursive, experiential value system close relations to action or to a person's ethical behavior ( see Figure ). A criterion of self-awareness is the activity feeling. Summing up feelings as the sum of " elementary factors " that result from external sense data coming from the object world reward and punishment experiences and from security experiences that are also due to internal stresses arising from the instinctual structure, so must their influence on the I - structure under the fixed- action schemas correspond them.

Also, the energetic aspect comes in emotional reviews to fruition. Deep feelings may cover the whole life of the soul, so that hardly any energy left for other things. Such an attitude of the whole organism to a specific responsiveness is also called deployment. The different dynamic character of emotions is to be observed in many different responses (see the reactions of guilt and in doing frequent I - Anachorese ).

Emotions serve further to the rapid and non-verbal interpersonal orientation. They often ask a fellow human beings expression function dar. example, one can not be angry with a stovetop, where you got burned. The interpersonal communication, however, contains many intuitive factors that do not require verbal communication.