Cognitive Psychology: What Is Emotion?

What is emotion? A question that has been asked by many and been answered in many different ways. Cognitive psychologists may define this as an explanation of how emotional occurrences are realized in patterns of activity in the brain and nervous system. In other words, how emotions influence the way in which we think and act. It is because this can be tested by an experiment and it can be assessed in the light of established theories about how the brain works and how people behave and think. Basically, in science it describes and explains the way in which the world works. A philosophical person may answer this in a different manner since their job is to analyze and to criticize the assumptions that lie beneath our everyday beliefs and

When we feel joy or see others who are experiencing a great moment of joy we may get emotional just like them. For instance, the newest rage has been mob proposals where people start dancing and a group gathers around to watch them until either the boyfriend jumps in or they pull in the girlfriend for the proposal. When something like this happens the first reaction from everyone is surprise which makes everyone start to look around as others join in with the dancing. The next emotion that usually stems from this is joy at the liveliness of the group and the dancers. When the girlfriend is usually pulled in to the mix of the group you can see the surprise which causes a hesitation from her and a hesitant step. The normal reaction is that this has nothing to do with her. The emotions play across her face and can be seen in the manner that she moves usually covering her mouth or shedding tears. The emotion that she is feeling and displaying in her body language and gestures can cause those around her to feel emotional as well. They may feel the happiness and enjoyment bringing a smile to their faces even though they do not know who the people are. Other emotions such as anger, fear, sadness and disgust can also cause a person to behave in a certain way. For example, anger can make a person react

Emotion-linked behavior can be linked to how we feel about ourselves or certain situations that will make us either do something or avoid something to make us either feel better or satisfied. For example, if an individual saw an attack happen on the certain street, let’s say close to an alley, then they may choose to avoid it. The experience of having witnessed that attack put the fear of being attacked themselves so at all costs they will try to avoid it. Thus the individual may choose to either take a longer route in order to avoid that alley way. Another example may be of an individual who is on a diet and whose co-worker(s) have given a piece of cake to for a birthday or congratulations for something they have done. The individual may feel obligated to eat the piece of cake and because they do may label themselves as a failure and feel disappointed and disgusted with themselves. Thus, they may believe that they are a failure and cannot do any type of