Emotions and the learning process. The role of feelings and emotions in the educational and cognitive activity of the student
The role of emotions and feelings in the work of a teacher
in the process of preparing a specialist
The soul in us is formed not by the body,
And sincerity and righteousness of the deed.
The more active the soul, the younger
In fact, it looks like the sun.
Z. Brazhnikova
Today's graduate of any educational institution should be a specialist with a high intellectual culture, planetary thinking, professionally and technologically prepared for the performance of his duties. The renewal processes taking place in the social sphere, education, and production require a modern specialist to have a humanistic orientation, culture, spiritual wealth, and moral stability.
The relevance of this topic isthat mental and practical activity, life and life of people cannot function without the participation of emotions and feelings, as well as experiences. Summarizing the concept of “emotions”, K.D. Ushinsky characterized them as follows: “Nothing - neither words, nor thoughts, nor even our actions express ourselves so clearly, our attitudes to the world, as our feelings; one hears in them the character of not a separate thought, not a separate attitude, but the whole content of our soul, its structure” (op. vol. 9, pp. 117-118). In all its diversity, people's feelings for the surrounding reality are manifested and characterize the characteristics of each person, his attitude, morality, habits, his inner world. Emotions and feelings have a strong, even decisive influence on the excitation and inhibition of all spheres of human life. Therefore, in order to carry out his activities, a teacher must possess such qualities as professional duty, discipline, citizenship, tolerance, responsibility, etc.
The emotional state of one is the heartache or joy of the other.
The mental state of one echoes the other, and the process of communication, its dynamics (movement, change) directly depend on the mental state of the other. Nothing gives a person so much joy, delight, admiration as communication with a spiritually rich person. Just as a flower reaches out to the sun, so does a person reach out to a person if this other brings joy.
Nothing has such a strong impact on the student as the emotional state of the teacher.Imagine different situations in your life:For example, if the teacher is outraged; then the student begins to resent; if one is oppressed, depressed, crying, then the other comes to the same state; if one laughs, the other does the same. Pedagogical work is a special areasocial life, which has relative independence, it performs important specific functions.
The education of feelings is the education of man in man. Without developing a sense of memory, nobility, a person destroys himself. Without feeling, ideas are cold, they shine, but do not warm, they are deprived of vitality and energy, unable to go into action. Thus, the fullness of life and the perfection of human nature lies in the organic unity of reason and feeling.
Emotions are a special class of subjective psychological states, reflected in the form of direct experiences of a pleasant and unpleasant process and the results of practical activities aimed at meeting urgent needs. Any manifestations of student activity are accompanied by emotional experiences. Emotions act as internal signals. The peculiarity of emotions is that they directly reflect the relationship between motives and the implementation of activities that correspond to these motives.
Emotions are one of the most ancient mental states and processes. Emotions, Charles Darwin argued, arose in the process of evolution as a means by which living beings establish the significance of certain conditions for meeting actual needs. Emotions also perform an important mobilization, integrative-protective function. They support the life process within its optimal limits and warn of the destructive nature of the lack or excess of any factors. They destroy the situation in various ways:
1) flight
2) daze
3) aggression, etc. (on the example of students of the TV-101d group)
Emotional states regulate the course of mental and organic processes. This is their regulatory function. Emotions, in fact, were the first “language” for a person, which he began to use in communicating with his own kind. Another function of emotions is obvious -communicative.
According to scientists, the "language of emotions" is quite accessible to higher animals.
Feelings are unique to humans. The most ancient in origin, the simplest and most common form of emotional experience among living beings is the pleasure derived from the satisfaction of needs and dissatisfaction. For example, the teacher enjoys the students if they are well prepared for the lesson, and the students from good grades. The main emotional states that a person experiences are divided into emotions, feelings and affects. Research scientists have shown that negative emotions reduce performance in the morning by 10% - in the evening by 64%.
Can we move away from negative emotions? Let us turn to self-analysis of the elements of emotional technique, i.e. ways to get out of a bad mood. For example, you need to set a goal: “When I am in a bad mood, I go to the forest or read a book, do laundry,” etc.
Similarly, one can conduct introspection using the method of an unfinished sentence: “When I am in a joyful mood, I listen to music,” etc. This technique allows everyone to get out of a negative emotion or deliver a joyful mood to themselves and others. Emotions and feelings are personal formations.
They characterize the personality socially - mentally. An emotional event can cause the formation of new emotional attitudes to different circumstances. The object of love - hatred is everything that is known by the subject as the cause of pleasure - not pleasure.
Emotions of experience and various mental states, if they are constantly experienced, have a direct impact on the formation of a stable attitude to learning, on the formation of learning motivation.
With positive emotions, curiosity and the need for emotional well-being are satisfied. With negative emotions, there is a departure from educational activities, since none of the vital needs is satisfied. The desired goal does not create a real perspective of the individual. And positive motivation is not formed, but motives for avoiding troubles are formed. For example, this can be observed in any educational institution: if a teacher, on the basis of emotions, expressed his attitude towards a student (for example, a truant, an underachiever, etc.).
IN Emotions and feelings play a socializing role in the individual development of a person. They act as a significant factor in the formation of personality, especially its motivational sphere.
On the basis of positive emotional experiences, interests and needs appear and are fixed.
Feelings are the highest product of a person's cultural and emotional development. Feelings play a motivating role in human life, in communication. In relation to the surrounding world, a person acts in such a way as to reinforce, strengthen positive feelings. Feelings are connected with the work of consciousness. Stable feelings that act for a long time are called mood.
Feelings, emotions, emotional states are contagious. The experiences of one are involuntarily perceived by others and can lead this other to a stronger emotional state. There is a so-called "chain reaction" model. Students sometimes find themselves in this state., when the laughter of one "infects all." According to the “chain reaction” model, mass psychoses, panic, and applause begin.
When communicating with students, a personal example of a teacher plays a huge role, which plays the role of an emotional mechanism. So if the teacher enters the class with a smile, then a pleasant, calm atmosphere is established in the class. And vice versa, if the teacher came in an excited state, then a corresponding emotional reaction arises among the students in the group. Affects are a reaction arising as a result of a committed action or deed and expressing the subjective emotional coloring of the nature of achieving the goal and meeting the needs.
One of the most common types of affects is stress. Stress is a state of intense psychological stress, when the nervous system receives an emotional overload.
The teacher cannot be neutral to the social assessments of his behavior. Recognition, praise or condemnation of actions by others affect the well-being and self-esteem of the individual. It is they who force the individual to be especially sensitive to the attitude of others, to conform to their opinion.
Understanding the importance of feelings helps the teacher to correctly determine the line of his own behavior, as well as to influence the emotional and sensual sphere of pupils.
In the behavior of a person, feelings perform certain functions: regulatory, evaluative, prognostic, incentive.Education of feelings is a long, multifactorial process. So, emotions and feelings in the work of a teacher play a big role in the process of preparing a specialist. Based on this, the following recommendations can be made:
1. Hold back negative emotions.
2. Create optimal conditions for the development of moral feelings, in which sympathy, empathy, joy are elementary structures that form highly moral relations, in which a moral norm turns into a law, and actions into moral activity.
3. Know how to manage your feelings and emotions, and the feelings of students.
4. To implement all this, refer to the methodology of A.S. Makarenko and V.A. Sukhomlinsky “I give my heart to children”, “Pedagogical poem”, “How to raise a real person” K.D. Ushinsky, "How to win friends and influence people" by D. Carnegie, "Communication - Feelings - Fate" by K.T. Kuznechikova.
Each teacher has his own pedagogical piggy bank of rational spiritual actions, colored emotionally. May there be more seeds of the reasonable, the good, the eternal in it.
Introduction
Educators, teachers, social educators in their educational work often encounter factors that cause them difficulties and bewilderment when communicating with students and observing them.
Some of these factors relate to the characteristics of the emotional sphere of a particular student.
I'll give an example:
The student, always disciplined, cheerful, fit, for some reason began to cry often, she could hardly hold back her tears when she was reprimanded.
Teachers are often faced with the facts of "breakdowns" in the behavior of a student. It happens that the student is “as if changed”, his address, previously calm, changes, he comes into conflict with his classmates, he can scold the teacher, he begins to relate to school and teaching differently.
Where are the roots of these emerging changes? Behind all this, it seems to me, lie certain changes in the psyche of the individual, which manifest themselves very clearly precisely in the emotional sphere of the child.
But teachers have serious reflections not only when observing individual students, but also when observing their actions, the actions of entire groups of students. Teachers are concerned about why the indifference of students has appeared where they need to show emotional responsiveness and a certain emotional attitude.
In order to find ways for the educational impact on schoolchildren, teachers need to know a lot about the emotional sphere of the student.
A problem arises - to learn how to understand the emotional life of a schoolchild in order to find the most fruitful ways of influencing it.
What determines, most often, the effectiveness of the educational impact of the teacher? From the fact that he did not understand the emotional response that arose in the student in connection with his influence. And the response could be different, despite the outward similarity of its manifestation. The impact of the teacher could leave the student simply indifferent; it could only cause him annoyance, irritation masked by an incomprehensible air; it generates both the experience of one's act and the readiness to change, although outwardly this may look like indifference.
All of these are possible types of emotional responses that are not always correctly "read by teachers."
“Sometimes the lack of ability to “transfer” to the sphere of feelings and emotional states of the child interferes with correct understanding. We notice in a schoolchild a sign of some kind of emotional state and an experienced feeling - in them this can be seen quite clearly - but we are not always aware of the significance of these experiences of such intensity and sharpness.
What determines the specific content of a schoolchild's emotional life?
It is determined by the objective life relationships in which the child is with others. Therefore, it is important to find out what is the position of the student in the family; observe and find out what is his position in the class, what is his relationship with his comrades, etc. The nature of these objective relations, depending on their nature, creates in the student an appropriate sense of well-being, which is the cause of various emotional reactions and experiences.
However, this is not enough, because we do not yet know the next, very essential element: how the student himself subjectively perceives the emerging relationships, i.e. how he evaluates them, to what extent they satisfy him, to what extent he strives and in what way to modify them. To learn this, based on individual statements of the student, from a conversation with him, observation, from a conversation with peers, parents is very important.
But even taking this into account is not enough. After all, every student - a child or a teenager - has gone through a certain life path.
He already has relatively stable personality traits that are formed on emotional reactions. The child also formed some more, some less stable attitudes towards people.
Thus, a deeper understanding of the emotions and feelings of the child will help to raise the child more effectively and influence their emotional sphere in each case.
The hypothesis of the study: the peculiarities of the relationship with the teacher affect the specifics of the emotional reactions of schoolchildren in educational activities.
The purpose of the study: to find the relationship between the relationship of schoolchildren with a teacher and emotional reactions.
To study the problem of the emotional life of the student.
Identify the factors influencing the emotional life of the student.
Highlight the levels of relationships with the teacher and the specific emotional reactions of the student.
The object of the study is the pupils of a mixed-type orphanage - students with whom the experiment of this thesis was conducted.
The subject of the study is the emotional sphere of school-age children.
Chapter 1. The problem of emotions in the psychology of learning
The word emotion comes from the Latin emovere, which means to excite, excite. Over time, the meaning of this word has changed somewhat, and now we can say that emotions are generalized sensory reactions that arise in response to various exogenous (coming from one's own organs and tissues) signals, which necessarily entail certain changes in the physiological state of the body.
Emotions, like thoughts, are an objectively existing phenomenon; - characterizes extremely wide range of various forms and shades. Joy and sadness, pleasure and disgust, anger and fear, melancholy and contentment, anxiety and disappointment are all different emotional states. These and other emotions, many of which are so peculiar that the name can only partially reveal their true essence and depth, are well known to everyone.
Emotions are closely related to motivation (attraction, motivation), or, as I.P. Pavlov with the "goal reflex".
Higher motivations in people, thanks to a highly developed intellect and the ability to think abstractly, are extremely diverse. This is not only the desire to satisfy the needs necessary for existence in these conditions, but also the thirst for knowledge, as well as motives of a social, aesthetic and moral nature.
Elementary emotions are inherent in a person from early childhood. In fact, the first cry of a child can be seen as the beginning of his emotional life.
If during the first year of a child's life only simple emotions are characteristic, then in the future his emotional reactions begin to acquire a certain relationship with the norms of social behavior. The emotional world of the child is gradually enriched. The stability and strength of emotions increase, their character becomes more complicated. Over time, the formation of complex, higher, social emotions or feelings peculiar only to a person takes place.
Without underestimating the significance of works on the psychology of emotions currently available, one cannot but admit that their number is undeservedly small.
Emotions, like a number of other phenomena, become the subject of a person's attention, primarily when they are hindered in some way. In an effort to control the world around him more and more effectively, a person does not want to put up with the fact that something can exist in him that nullifies the efforts made. And when emotions take over, very often everything happens that way.
Emotions are not only the protagonist of great dramas; they are a daily companion of a person, exerting a constant influence on all his deeds and thoughts.
But, despite daily communication with them, we do not know when they will appear, and when they will leave us, whether they will help us or become a hindrance.
And how often in the factors of an emotional nature we see the causes of difficulties in establishing normal relations between the disabled person and the group.
When teachers or parents are dissatisfied with the behavior or learning of their children, sometimes it also turns out that the difficulties are caused by the fact that the child has not learned to control his emotions (anger, resentment, fear) or is not able to experience the same emotions that are expected of him (shame, pride , sympathy).
Analyzing the reasons for our failures or mistakes, we often come to the conclusion that it was emotions that prevented us from coping with the task.
With particular force or distinctness, emotional problems manifest themselves in people with an impaired or weakened ability to effectively control themselves.
In modern civilized society, the number of people suffering from neuroses is constantly growing. Having gone beyond the control of consciousness, the emotions of these people interfere with the implementation of intentions, violate interpersonal relationships, do not allow proper implementation of the instructions of the teacher, make it difficult to rest and disrupt health. Neurotic disorders can have varying degrees of severity.
What can a person do to overcome this kind of difficulty? First of all, to know those phenomena that cause difficulties, to establish the laws of their development. These problems are of such great practical and social significance that the work to solve them is justified even if it requires considerable effort.
When it comes to emotions, we are faced with a special case: these are deeply human, deeply intimate phenomena. Can they be studied systematically at all?
Today, after several years of research, reasoning about whether emotions are accessible to scientific study does not have any practical value. “Doubts have been dispelled by many successful attempts made in this area. However, this does not mean that these doubts were also dispelled in the mind of a person for whom evolutionary phenomena are a world of inner experiences, and not a subject of systematic study. Therefore, discussions about the value of scientific methods in relation to the study of emotions continue to be relevant.
Chapter 2
Understanding the emotional sphere will be incomplete if you do not reveal the types of relationships that exist between it and the personality as a complex and holistic formation.
We cannot lose sight of such an essential situation: not just the emotional sphere is brought up, but the feelings inherent in a real person are brought up.
As new qualities are formed in the personality, the emotional sphere also acquires new features, and the process of changing feelings is certainly associated with changes in the personality itself.
Feelings, like all psychological processes of a person, are a reflection of reality. However, this reflection differs from reflection in the processes of perception, thinking, etc.
The reflection of reality in feelings is subjective. A bad grade plunges one student into a long-term despondency, while another leads to a state of readiness to achieve success.
In the specific features of experiences and emotional states, a kind of “individuality” of reflection or reality is preserved, which gives it the quality of subjectivity. That is why in the feelings that arise in different people about events, life circumstances that equally acutely affect them, at the same time, there are significant differences and shades. This happens because a person perceives external influences that affect him emotionally through the "prism" of his own personality.
A person perceives relationships with people, people's behavior through the system of his beliefs, attitudes, and his usual approaches to the phenomena and events of life. It would be a mistake to think that this applies only to an adult, already fully formed person. And a child who has just come to school is already formed to a certain extent as a person. This also applies to some emotional traits of his character: He may be characterized by responsiveness, good emotional susceptibility, or, conversely, indifference to peers and insufficient emotional susceptibility.
Just as a person can characterize his personality traits, he can evaluate his feelings. A person always takes a certain position in relation to his feelings. In some cases, the feeling that has arisen does not cause any opposition in a person: without hesitation, he surrenders to the experience of such a feeling. In other cases, a person takes a different position in relation to his feelings. He does not approve of the feeling that has arisen and begins to oppose it.
A person can not only disapprove of the feeling that has arisen in him and oppose it, he can keenly experience the very fact that such a feeling is inherent in him; he feels anger at himself, a feeling of dissatisfaction with the fact that he experienced it.
A sense of shame, indignation at oneself helps a person overcome feelings that he considers unworthy.
It is very important for the teacher to know what feelings the student experiences satisfaction, self-satisfaction, and what feelings the experiences of shame evoke in him. And at the same time, not what he can say about himself, wanting to “show off”, but what he really experiences: whether he is ashamed of what causes pity, compassion, tenderness, or what he showed cruelty, heartlessness, fear, selfishness.
The significance of the emotional sphere in the structure of personality is also reflected in the fact that different emotions occupy an unequal place in it.
There are feelings, especially episodic experiences, which, figuratively speaking, are on the periphery of a person's inner world.
Episodic experiences have little effect on the essence of a person, do not force his conscience to speak, do not cause a crisis, tense well-being, although at the same time they are sometimes experienced with quite a lot of force. Such feelings pass without a trace.
But a person also experiences deep feelings associated with the essential aspirations of the individual, his convictions, with the circle of ideals, dreams of the future. It can also be experiences that come into conflict with the basic aspirations of the individual, cause sharp moral conflicts, pangs of conscience. They leave a serious memory of themselves, lead to a change in the personality of attitudes.
If the feelings experienced by a person deeply affected him, then they affect not only his well-being, but change his behavior. Experienced shame about the cowardice shown makes a person behave differently in the future, under similar circumstances.
The transformation of a feeling into a motivating force leading to action, the transition of an experience into an act acquires a new quality - it is fixed in behavior.
Frequent experiences of asocial feelings also change the moral character of a person for the worse. If the experience of anger, anger, irritation, envy has led a person more than once to rude manifestations in behavior, then he himself becomes more rude, cruel, less accessible to good impulses.
Feelings play a big role in a person's self-knowledge. Self-knowledge as an understanding of one's own qualities, as the formation of an idea about the traits of one's character and the properties of nature, arises not only on the basis of comprehension of experienced feelings. And the process of such self-knowledge is the more intense, the more significant the emotional life of a person.
The fact that feelings often arise unexpectedly for the person himself makes their role for self-knowledge especially palpable.
So, thanks to the experienced emotional states, feelings, a person opens up not only the opportunity to experience the corresponding experiences, but also some aspects of himself are revealed, as being able to have such feelings.
That is why we say that in the character and content of a person's emotional life, his personal appearance is revealed. This explains the importance in the upbringing of the schoolchild of the task of forming his higher feelings.
Feelings are also conditionally divided into ethical (moral, moral), intellectual (cognitive). Ethical feelings are formed in a person in the process of education. They are based on knowledge of the norms of behavior, the requirements of morality, accepted in a given society.
Ethical feelings constantly correct a person's behavior, and if he behaves in accordance with his ideas about the norms of behavior, he experiences self-satisfaction. Ethical feelings include: a sense of camaraderie, friendship, remorse, duty, etc. Ethical feelings make a person strive to harmonize his actions with the morality of society.
Cognitive feelings can be regarded as the engine of the progress of human society.
The first stage of knowledge is the desire for sensory research in order to identify pleasant or unpleasant. Over time, cognitive feelings become more complex, among them appear such as a feeling of conjecture, bewilderment, doubt, surprise, a feeling of thirst, knowledge, search, including scientific search.
Feelings as motives for the behavior of a schoolchild occupy a large place in his life and, in doing so, acquire a different form than that of preschool children. The experience of anger, anger, irritation can cause a student to act aggressively towards a comrade who has offended him, however, fights in children of this age occur only when the experience reaches such a great strength that the restraining moments caused by the conscious rules of behavior are discarded.
The motives for action based on positive experiences: sympathy, disposition, affection, which have become more stable in school-age children, become more effective and manifest themselves in more and more diverse forms.
In social aspirations, which are fixed in actions, moral feelings are formed, which acquire a more stable character.
But this takes place if such cases are carried out by schoolchildren with an appropriate emotional attitude, i.e. as actions motivated by social experiences. If these things are carried out by schoolchildren without a clearly expressed emotional attitude, then their implementation does not make changes in the inner world of the schoolchild and turns into an action that is only formally good, good, but essentially indifferent, and then it does not affect the spiritual image of the student.
Chapter 3
Signs of a change in the emotional life of the student should be noticed by the teacher. They will give him an idea of the extent to which the educational influences planned and carried out by him lead to the corresponding result. But upbringing will be more effective if the conditions that affect the change in the emotions and feelings of the child are also taken into account.
The content of emotions and feelings is formed as a result of those shifts that are associated with the age stages of the child's development, as well as as a result of the attitudes that he creates towards people, towards communication with them, towards himself. This is how a “landscape” of a person’s emotional sphere arises at a certain period of his life, on it one can notice traces of the features of his individual development with his character and temperament and the seal of those typical social feelings that are characteristic of our society.
Sometimes they say that in order to ensure the necessary educational impact of the school, it is necessary to change the situation of the student at home, in his family.
As observations show, the emotional life of a schoolchild does not seriously change from the mere fact that, for example, certain events have taken place at home, in his family. They can be reflected in a change in the child's mood, but they do not immediately affect the structure of his emotional life.
It should be taken into account, however, that a radical change in the schoolchild's way of life, and consequently the emergence of a new system of relations with people around him, noticeably changes his emotional responses to influence. But this change does not come at all immediately, and the old emotional attitude may manifest itself more than once, even if there are no grounds for it in the new conditions.
A child in school has already developed some features of his emotional life. He developed primary emotional reactions to forms of communication with elders, an expectation that his requests would be satisfied in the course of communication with them in the form of encouraging a positive assessment.
The schoolchild has developed more or less stable life attitudes regarding what he can afford in relation to others, and what to expect from them. All this leaves its mark on the nature of his emotional life. Therefore, it is not so easy to carry out a restructuring.
To help the teacher to study well the conditions of the child's life in the family, which influence the formation of his feelings, nourish his emotional attitudes and forms of emotional behavior, the student himself, parents, visiting the student at home can to a certain extent. All these data must be compared in order to find out where the main thing is and where the secondary is.
It is necessary to find out what is the relationship between the parents. It is important to identify the situation in the family.
So, the teacher gets an idea of what the student “lives” with: the interests of the family, or he is completely indifferent to them, and if he is indifferent, then where is he looking for an “outlet”. However, not every positive environment and not every negative environment directly affects the moral foundations and moral feelings of the child.
This is connected only with how certain objective conditions of a student's life, i.e. requests, expectations, aspirations were refracted through his personality. And depending on how they affect him and to what extent, enter into his life as something significant or very insignificant, they have either a greater or a lesser influence on his emotional world. Everything is determined by what is the main thing, what is secondary in the aspirations, requests, expectations of the student.
Adult relationships affect children differently. A child is often scolded at home, treated with disdain, and he may have a favorite pastime, a favorite subject to which he seeks to give his energy, his time.
It is a completely different matter if he does not have anything that would really attract him, and therefore is especially susceptible to how he is treated in the family.
From this it follows that among the conditions that affect the change in the emotional life of a student in the process of education, one has to first of all talk about such moments that are quite complex and affect the emotions and feelings of the individual in such a way as his general well-being, attitude towards himself and their abilities and their relationship with others.
When a teacher sets himself the task of making changes in the emotional sphere of a student, then it is not about changing his emotional attitude to a certain specific phenomenon, but about changing the complex of his feelings, the nature of his emotional attitudes to the essential aspects of life. For a schoolchild, this is his emotional attitude to learning, to work, to relations with the team and its requirements, to people, to moral precepts, as the future in his life, i.e. this is something that significantly affects the definition of the entire moral character of a person.
To change the emotional life of a schoolchild means to change the essential tendencies of a developing personality.
A change in life position, a restructuring of the level of claims, a change in life prospects - can be a "lever" for changing the emotional life of a student in the process of education.
We must not forget that the restructuring of feelings is a lengthy process, since it involves both the established forms of emotional regulation and the emotional attitudes and addictions that are not always clearly realized by the child. But it is important that in the process of education, feelings and emotions change. Sometimes such shifts appear in a more convex, and sometimes in a more "blurred" form.
Children who for some reason have ceased to feel like members of the class team do not find meaning in schoolwork, they are looking for a different team, a different content of life and activity.
The necessary changes in the features of the student's emotional life arise with reasonable changes in the organization of his life - at home, at school, in the class team, as well as in those teams with which he is associated.
An important role in the restructuring of the formed emotional attitude to some aspects of life is played by the student's involvement in activities that meet the public approval of the team that he values, and at the same time he has success in this activity.
If a student is fond of some activity, a certain field of knowledge and begins to achieve success in it, he develops a calmer and more confident emotional state of health. True, this happens if he does not “get carried away” and he does not develop unreasonable and exaggerated claims to success, which “gnaw” him and create an incorrect emotional attitude towards comrades who have achieved greater success than he.
Always the appearance of an activity that is socially valuable and takes the student seriously becomes a fact favorable for the development of his emotional life in the right direction. Finding an activity that will captivate the student, bring him awareness of moving forward, experiencing success is the primary task of the teacher.
Chapter 4
.1 Changes taking place in general development
Primary school age covers the period of a child's life from 7-8 to 11-12 years. These are the years of the child's education in elementary school. At this time, there is an intensive biological development of the child's body. The shifts that occur during this period are changes in the central nervous system, in the development of the skeletal and muscular systems, as well as in the activity of internal organs.
The student is very active. Student mobility is normal. If such activity is restrained in every possible way, it causes changes in the emotional well-being of the child, sometimes leading to "explosive" emotional reactions. If, however, such activity is properly organized, when calm activity alternates with various games, walks, physical exercises, then this leads to an improvement in the emotional tone of the student, makes his emotional well-being and behavior more even. It must be remembered that restraint in movements can be demanded from a child of school age, to achieve their proportionality and dexterity. And such actions (cause a positive emotional reaction in him.
Significant changes occur throughout the mental life of the child.
The development of the processes of perception, thinking, memory, attention, improvement of speech allows a child of school age to perform more complex mental operations. And most importantly - a school-age child begins to vigorously carry out this type of activity, moreover, in a systematic form that the preschooler did not perform - he is learning!
A preschool child can already control his behavior - he can sometimes hold back tears, not get into a fight, but most often he shows great impulsiveness and restraint.
A child at school age masters his behavior differently. All this is due to the fact that the student more accurately, differentiates comprehends the norms of behavior developed by society. The child learns what can be said to others and what is unacceptable, what actions at home, in public places, in relation to comrades are permitted and unlawful, etc.
There is a recognition by the schoolchild of such norms of behavior, which, in some part, turn into his internal demand on himself.
Significant changes caused by the course of the general development of the student, a change in his lifestyle, some of the goals that arise before him, lead to the fact that his emotional life becomes different. New experiences appear, new tasks and goals arise that attract to themselves, a new emotional attitude is born to a number of phenomena and aspects of reality that left the preschooler completely indifferent.
4.2 Dynamics of mental experiences of schoolchildren in educational activities
Undoubtedly, there are serious differences in the mental make-up of a schoolboy in the first and fourth grades. If there are differences between them, one can see with sufficient clarity what is generally characteristic of the emotional life of the child.
For a first-grade child, new, very significant social ties arise: first of all with the teacher, and then with the class team. The emergence of new requirements for his behavior in the classroom, during changes, the emergence of requirements for his educational activities - to study, complete assignments together with the whole class, prepare lessons at home, be attentive to the teacher's explanation and the answers of his comrades, changes his well-being and becomes a powerful factor, influencing his experience.
These new responsibilities - good performance, poor performance, non-fulfillment of the teacher's tasks, entailing an appropriate assessment of the teacher, the class team, as well as the assessment of home - causes a number of experiences:
satisfaction, joy from praise, from the consciousness that everything turned out well for him and feelings of grief, dissatisfaction with himself, the experience of his inferiority in comparison with successfully working comrades. Failures arising from the poor performance of one's duties may give rise to a feeling of irritation towards others who make demands on him, feelings of envy and ill will towards comrades who deserve praise, may give rise to a desire to annoy the teacher or class. However, usually, if such failures are not of a long-term nature and the child is not alienated from the team, they lead to an acute desire to take a worthy place in the classroom and at home, and motivate him to study better in order to succeed.
In this case, any advancement in the course of completing educational tasks becomes the basis of acute feelings, excitement, self-doubt, feelings of joy at the emerging success, anxiety that nothing will work out further, satisfaction and reassurance that nevertheless managed to complete the task.
If the process of learning and the failures arising from poor performance of duties do not cause any special feelings in the child, then the teacher should as soon as possible find out the reason for such an attitude towards learning.
An indifferent attitude to learning can be caused by temporary circumstances, severe strife in the family, which traumatizes him, etc. and so on. But it can be caused by more stable circumstances.
So, constant failures in studies, condemnation of adults that have become habitual, reconciliation with the fact that “it won’t work anyway” - all this creates, as a defensive reaction from the expected troubles, failures in studies, indifference to grades. However, this indifference is largely apparent: it can be easily shaken by success in the performance of work, unexpected praise and a good assessment, giving rise to a keen desire to have it again and again.
The student, especially the primary school student, to a large extent retains the ability to react violently to individual phenomena that affect him.
The ability to control your feelings is getting better year by year. The schoolboy shows his anger and irritation not so much in a motor form - he climbs to fight, pulls out of his hands, etc., but in a verbal form he swears, teases, is rude.
So, during school age, organization in the emotional behavior of the child increases.
The development of expressiveness in the student goes hand in hand with the growth of his understanding of the feelings of other people and the ability to empathize with the emotional state of peers and adults. However, at the level of such emotional understanding, there is a distinct difference between first graders and third graders, and especially fourth graders.
The liveliness of the direct manifestation of feelings by a schoolchild - social and asocial - is for the teacher not only a sign that characterizes the emotional sphere of the student, but also symptoms that indicate which qualities of the student's emotional sphere need to be developed and which ones should be eradicated.
However, we must not forget that the range of emotional susceptibility and the scope of empathy for a child of this age is limited. A number of emotional states and experiences of people are of no interest to him, inaccessible not only for empathy, but also for understanding.
Interesting material is provided by experiments that determine the degree of understanding by children of different ages of a fairly clearly expressed emotion of a particular nature depicted in a photograph. If the expression of laughter is correctly captured by children as early as 3-4 years old, then surprise and contempt are not correctly captured by children even at 5-6 years old. According to Gates's research, children at the age of seven correctly qualify anger, and at 9-10 years old - fear and horror. But it should be noted that all this concerns mainly "accepted" forms of expression of emotion.
A characteristic feature of school-age children is their impressionability, their emotional responsiveness to everything bright, large, colorful. Monotonous, boring lessons quickly reduce the cognitive interest of the first grader, lead to the emergence of a negative, emotional attitude to learning.
In this period of development, moral feelings are intensively formed: a sense of comradeship, responsibility for the class, sympathy for the grief of others, indignation at injustice, etc. At the same time, they are formed under the influence of specific influences of the seen example and their own actions when fulfilling the assignment, the impression of the words of the teacher. But it is important to remember that when a student learns about the norms of behavior, he perceives the words of the teacher only when they emotionally hurt him, when he directly feels the need to do this and not otherwise.
4.3 Dynamics of emotional reactions of schoolchildren in a team
A new moment leading to the emergence of various experiences in a student of school age is not only teaching, but also the class team with which new social ties arise. These connections are formed on the basis of various types of communication, which are caused by business relations in the performance of class assignments, shared responsibility for the actions carried out by the class, mutual sympathy, etc.
Serious attention must be paid to the differences that arise in this regard between first-graders and fourth-graders. Formally, first-grade students are a team of children bound by common tasks, but in essence it is not yet a team, especially at the beginning of the year, since it is not characterized by unity of moods, aspirations, and the presence of public opinion. Of course, first grade students feel genuine indignation if the teacher talks about how badly their friend did, but their indignation is not an experience inherent in the class as a team. It is typical that a first grader can say that his neighbor does not work well in the lesson, and none of the students will perceive his words as bad, not meeting some rules.
But if this happens in the 4th grade, then his words will be perceived as snitching, as a violation of the principles of class life.
By the fourth grade, the child becomes a truly member of the class team, with its rules of life, with its emerging traditions. And it is very important to send this team to certain goals in time and form the necessary traditions, which turn into emotionally colored impulses. The connections of the fourth-grader with the class not only become richer than those of the first-grader, but he also cares very much about the public opinion of the class or its most active group. A deviation from the principles of behavior accepted in the class is already perceived and experienced by the fourth-grader as apostasy.
Participating in experiences common to the whole class, when a team of children condemns, approves, welcomes something, a fourth-grader begins to experience in a new way the connection with the team, as well as dependence on it. For example, a feeling of mutual responsibility is born in a good and bad sense, a sense of pride in the team or opposing one team to another - fights with guys from another school. All this brings about a new type of experience.
The nature of these experiences depends on the spirit of the team, which is sometimes created under the skillful influence of the teacher, and sometimes, in addition to his will and aspirations.
The so-called "emotional contagion" also occurs in a group of schoolchildren, but it is largely determined by the nature of the formed public opinion of the class as a certain type of emotional attitude to the facts of school life, which is quite stable and not indifferent to its participants.
4.4 Aesthetic and moral experiences
Along with "personal" themes - thoughts about oneself, about comrades and their attitude towards him, dreams of the future, excitement, joy, resentment and satisfaction arising from the nature of ties with a peer-comrade - the student also develops a variety of aesthetic experiences.
The impression from poems and stories performed in an expressive artistic form can be deep and persistent in children of 8-10 years of age. Feelings of pity, sympathy, indignation, excitement for the well-being of the beloved hero can reach great intensity.
A child of 10-11 years old in his fantasies "finishes" individual pictures from the life of his beloved hero. Basically, primary school students are more fond of poetry than students of other classes, and this applied to poems that were memorized by children at school.
It is characteristic that in stories-compositions dedicated to the hero of the read story, children, both of the second and fourth grades, strive to develop the best qualities of the hero and often correct his shortcomings.
All this indicates the great role that works of fiction can play in schoolchildren's perception of the moral side of people's actions.
Love for the beautiful is also manifested in the desire of children to decorate their lives, decorate notebooks, make albums for postcards, embroider a bookmark for a book, etc.
Social experiences that arise in schoolchildren as they become more aware of the moral requirements for the actions of people and their behavior can be quite strong, cause impulses in children, striving to do a good deed:
“At the same time, antisocial actions of children may also appear during these years. If a preschooler is naughty, pugnacious, can be mischievous, does not know how to take care of toys, etc., then a child of 10-11 years old, with improper upbringing, harmful environmental influences, can do even more serious things. So he can, driven by ill-will, an evil mood, commit serious offenses.
At the same time, facts are known when, under the influence of the school collective, the student's unfavorable life attitudes change, sufficiently strong moral aspirations arise, which are manifested and consolidated in actions by great moral force.
We have reason to say that under conditions of normal upbringing, the moral feelings of schoolchildren are sufficiently moral and can determine his actions. However, one more characteristic feature of the feelings of children of this age should be noted.
A schoolchild can do a good deed, show sympathy for someone's grief, feel pity for a sick animal, show readiness to give something dear to him to another. He can, when offended by his comrade, rush to help, despite the threat of older children.
And at the same time, in similar situations, he may not show these feelings, but, on the contrary, laugh at the failure of a comrade, not feel pity, treat misfortune with indifference, etc. Of course, having heard the condemnations of adults, it is possible that he will quickly change his attitude and, at the same time, not formally, but in essence, will again turn out to be good.
“The fluctuation of the moral character of a schoolchild, expressed in the inconstancy of his moral experiences, inconstant attitude to the same events, depends on various reasons:
First, moral actions, provisions that determine the actions of the child, do not have a sufficiently generalized character.
Secondly, the moral propositions that have entered the consciousness of the little schoolboy have not yet become his stable property, fixed in the sense that they immediately begin to be expressed and involuntarily applied as soon as a situation arises that requires a moral attitude.
At primary school age, moral feelings are characterized by the fact that the child does not always clearly enough realize the moral principle by which one should act, but at the same time, his direct experience tells him what is good and what is bad.
Chapter 5. Description of the experiment
Starting an experimental study of the dynamic features of the schoolchild's emotional reactions in learning activities, we put forward the following hypothesis: the features of relationships with the teacher affect the specifics of the schoolchild's emotional reactions in learning activities.
In our study, we used the most common methods. Basically, it is a method of conversation and (partially) a method of observation.
The purpose of our study is to find the relationship between the relationship of schoolchildren with the teacher and emotional reactions and preparation. In preparation for the study, we selected the following situation for a conversation with children:
Situation - "The holiday is coming soon. There will be a concert in the class. The guys decorate the hall and prepare the rooms. Do you think the teacher will give you the role of leader?”
Situation - “Imagine: the teacher enters the classroom and holds a bunny carnival mask in his hand. Do you think he would have given it to you or to someone else?”
Situation - “The lesson begins, and the children left scattered notebooks and books on the table. The teacher is angry with the children, he is dissatisfied with them. Do you think the teacher would be angry with you for that?”
Then comes the research. Situations are offered to children. Conduct individual interviews with children.
Data processing. The children's responses are recorded.
And, based on data processing, we came to the conclusion that schoolchildren can be divided into 3 groups according to the nature of the emotional orientation towards the educator (teacher).
Characteristics of groups.
group - emotionally receptive children. This is the group that gave an affirmative answer. The biggest. They are characterized by a pronounced positive orientation towards the teacher, confidence in the teacher's love. They adequately assess his attitude towards themselves, are very sensitive to changes in his behavior. The tone of the teacher, gesture, posture serve as a source of emotional experiences.
group - emotionally unreceptive children. These are the ones who answered in the negative. They are also characterized by a negative attitude towards the teacher's pedagogical influences. These students often violate discipline and order, do not comply with established norms. Having adopted a blaming attitude towards themselves, children respond to it with negativism and indifference.
They do not experience and do not expect pleasure from communicating with a teacher.
group - children with an indifferent attitude to the teacher and his requirements. They do not show activity and initiative in communicating with the teacher, they play a passive role in the life of the class. It is difficult to determine the nature of experiences by their external manifestations. When the teacher praises them, they do not express joy, just as when condemning - grief or embarrassment. This indicates their lack of experience in external expression of their emotions. Thus, based on this conversation and data processing, we can say that the class was divided into:
a group with trust in the teacher, and therefore with a stable emotional life. Such children quickly get to know each other, get used to a new team, work together;
a group who are distrustful of the teacher, and therefore with an unstable emotional life. Such children cannot get close to their classmates for a long time, they feel lonely, uncomfortable, they play on the sidelines at recess or, on the contrary, interfere with other children's play.
But it seems to us that the division into groups largely depends on the personality of the teacher himself, because very often we have to deal with a noisy, irritable teacher who does not want to restrain himself. Such a teacher has a negative impact on the mental well-being and performance of children, causes them emotionally negative experiences, a state of anxiety, expectation, uncertainty, a sense of fear and insecurity. With such a teacher, children are intimidated, depressed, loud and rude in relation to each other. Consequently, here the students complain of headaches, feeling unwell, fatigue. And here the student has a reciprocal feeling of antipathy, fear and often leads to the development of neurosis.
Children perceive information differently, analyze it differently, they have different working capacity, attention, memory.
Different children require a different approach to learning, i.e. individual, differentiated approach.
From the first days of training, the teacher needs to determine the so-called "risk contingent", those children with whom it will be most difficult and pay special attention to them. With these students, it is important not to be late and not miss the time for pedagogical correction, not to hope for a miracle, because. difficulties will not go away on their own. The task of the teacher, according to the famous hygienist M.S. Grombach is to make "difficult - habitual, habitual - easy, easy - pleasant" and then studying at school will bring joy to children.
Conclusion
experience student learning
It is necessary to know the peculiarities of the emotional reactions of schoolchildren in order to correctly form their emotional world from the very beginning of communication. To do this, you need to solve the following tasks:
as a result of educational activity in general, the student must learn to emotionally respond correctly to the influences that he experiences at school during educational, educational work.
it is important that in the process of upbringing a schoolchild develops a good emotional responsiveness to the essential and important phenomena of our life. There should be one emotional response to positive phenomena, and another to negative ones, but it is a lively response, and not indifference and indifference.
it is important that students develop the right balance of different feelings and emotions so that they grow up with a harmoniously developing system of emotional responses. In this regard, the correct joint influence of the school and the family, the ability to build a unified system of influence on the child, plays an important role.
And, finally, when it comes to the full moral development of the individual, it is very important to ensure that the student becomes a person with emotional maturity, emotional culture. Emotional culture involves a lot. First of all, it is responsiveness to a fairly wide range of objects. The emotional culture of a person is characterized by: the ability to appreciate and respect the feelings of another person, to treat them with attention, as well as the ability to empathize with the feelings of other people.
Bibliography
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Bezrukikh M.M., Efimova S.P. Do you know your student? Ed.» Enlightenment”, M., 1991.
Vilyunas V.K. Psychology of emotional phenomena. M., 1996.
The question of the psychology of the student's personality / Ed. L.I. Bozhovich, L.V. Blagonadezhina. M., 1991.
Zaporozhets A.V. Selected psychological works. M., 1996.
Zaporozhets A.V., Niverovich Ya.Z. To the question of the genesis, function and structure of emotional processes in a child // Questions of Psychology, 1974 No. 6.
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Introduction
“Man, as a subject of practical and theoretical activity, who cognizes and changes the world, is neither a dispassionate contemplator of what is happening around him, nor the same impassive automaton that performs certain actions like a well-coordinated machine. Acting, he not only produces certain changes in nature, in the objective world, but also influences other people and himself experiences influences coming from them and from his own actions and deeds that change his relationship with others; he experiences what happens to him and happens to him; he relates in a certain way to what surrounds him. The experience of this relationship of a person to the environment is the sphere of feelings or emotions.
We call emotions a person's experiences, accompanied by feelings of pleasant and unpleasant, pleasure and displeasure, as well as their various shades and combinations. Pleasure and displeasure are the simplest emotions. The class of emotions includes moods, feelings, affects, passions, stresses. Their more complex variants are represented by such feelings as joy, sadness, sadness, fear, anger.
Emotions reflect the physical and psychological state of a person and his body. A healthy person, who has all the basic needs of life satisfied, feels satisfaction, a sick person, as well as a person whose needs are chronically not satisfied, feels dissatisfaction. A well-executed action, a well-done deed give rise to pleasant emotions, and failures are accompanied by unpleasant emotional experiences. Whatever mental or organic process, whatever behavioral act is considered everywhere and everywhere, you can find its close connection with emotions. Therefore, emotions are a necessary attribute of any manifestations of life.
Emotions
Emotions are a special class of subjective psychological states, reflecting in the form of direct experiences, sensations of pleasant or unpleasant, a person’s attitude to the world and people, the process and results of his practical activity. The class of emotions includes moods, feelings, affects, passions, stresses. They are included in all mental processes and human states. Any manifestations of his activity are accompanied by emotional experiences. In humans, the main function of emotions is that thanks to emotions we better understand each other, we can, without using speech, judge each other's states and better tune in to joint activities and communication.
Feelings and emotions are interrelated, but different phenomena of the emotional sphere of a person. A feeling is more complex than emotions, a constant, well-established attitude of a person to what she knows and does, to the object of her needs. Feelings are characterized by stability and duration, measured in months and years of the life of their subject. The complexity of a feeling is manifested in the fact that it includes a whole range of emotions and is often difficult to describe in words. Feeling determines the dynamics and content of emotions that are situational in nature. Often, only a specific form of the flow of an experienced feeling is called an emotion.
Some types of emotions are similar in humans and animals. Feelings are peculiar only to a person, they are socially conditioned and represent the highest product of the cultural and emotional development of a person. A sense of duty, dignity, shame, pride are exclusively human feelings.
Emotions differ from sensations in that sensations are usually not accompanied by any specific subjective experiences such as pleasure or displeasure, pleasant or unpleasant. They give a person objective information about what is happening in him and outside him. Emotions express the subjective states of a person associated with his needs and motives.
Nature and theories of emotion
emotion motivation yerkes dodson
The fact of the close connection of emotions with life processes indicates the natural origin of at least the simplest emotions. In all those cases when the life of a living being freezes, is partially or completely lost, it is first of all discovered that its external, emotional manifestations have disappeared. A skin area temporarily deprived of blood supply ceases to be sensitive, a physically ill person becomes apathetic, indifferent to what is happening around him, i.e. insensitive. He loses the ability to emotionally respond to external influences in the same way as in the normal course of life.
This is explained by the fact that all higher animals and humans have structures in the brain that are closely related to emotional life. This is the so-called limbic system, which includes clusters of nerve cells located under the cerebral cortex, in close proximity to its center, which controls the main organic processes: blood circulation, digestion, endocrine glands. Hence the close connection of emotions both with the consciousness of a person and with the states of his body.
Bearing in mind the vital importance of emotions, Charles Darwin proposed a theory explaining the origin and purpose of those organic changes and movements that usually accompany pronounced emotions. This theory is called evolutionary. In it, the great naturalist drew attention to the fact that pleasure and displeasure, joy, fear, anger, sadness are manifested in approximately the same way both in humans and in anthropoid apes. C. Darwin was interested in the vital meaning of those changes in the body that accompany the corresponding emotions. Comparing the facts, Darwin came to the following conclusions about the nature and role of emotions in life:
1. Internal (organic) and external (motor) manifestations of emotions play an important adaptive role in human life. They set him up for certain actions and, in addition, this is a signal for him about how the other living being is set up and what he intends to do.
2. Sometime in the process of evolution of living beings, those organic and motor reactions that they currently have were components of full-fledged, detailed practical adaptive actions. Subsequently, their external components were reduced, but the vital function remained the same. For example, a person or animal bares his teeth in anger, tense his muscles, as if preparing for an attack, their breathing and pulse quicken. This is a signal: a living being is ready to commit an act of aggression.
The physiological basis of emotions and feelings is primarily the processes occurring in the cerebral cortex. The cerebral cortex regulates the strength and stability of feelings. Experiences cause excitation processes, which, spreading through the cerebral cortex, capture the subcortical centers. In the parts of the brain that lie below the cerebral cortex, there are various centers of the physiological activity of the body: respiratory, cardiovascular, digestive and secretory. That is why the excitation of the subcortical centers causes increased activity of a number of internal organs. In this regard, the experience of feelings is accompanied by a change in the rhythm of breathing and cardiac activity, the functioning of the secretory glands is disturbed (tears from grief, sweat from excitement). Thus, when experiencing feelings, in emotional states, there is either an increase or decrease in the intensity of various aspects of human life. In some emotional states, we experience a surge of energy, we feel vigorous, efficient, while in others there is a decline in strength, stiffness of muscle movements. When studying the functional asymmetry of the brain, it turned out that the left hemisphere is more associated with the emergence and maintenance of positive emotions, and the right - with negative emotions. The inextricable connection between the cerebral cortex and the subcortical region allows a person to control the physiological processes occurring in the body, to consciously manage their emotions.
All studies of the physiological foundations of emotions clearly show their polar nature: pleasure - displeasure, pleasure - suffering, pleasant - unpleasant, and so on.
The role of peripheral reactions in the emotional process was of particular interest to W. James and K. Lange, who as a result constructed their psychological theory of emotions, which was also called the James-Lange theory. James states his theory in the following way: “Bodily excitement follows immediately the perception of the fact that caused it: our awareness of this excitement is emotion.” The essence of the theory is that emotions are the perception of sensations caused by changes in the body due to external irritation. External irritation, which is the cause of the affect, causes reflex changes in the activity of the heart, respiration, blood circulation, and muscle tone. As a result, different sensations are experienced in the whole body during emotions, from which the experience of emotions is composed. According to the James-Lange theory, we experience fear because we tremble, and not tremble because we are afraid; we are sad because tears came to our eyes, and we do not cry because we are sad. If bodily manifestations did not immediately follow perception, then, in their opinion, there would be no emotion. If we imagine some emotion and mentally subtract from it one by one all the bodily sensations associated with it, then in the end nothing will remain of it. Thus, if fear is eliminated from the emotion of heartbeat, shortness of breath, trembling in the arms and legs, weakness in the body, etc., then there will be no fear. Those. human emotion, devoid of any bodily lining, is nothing but an empty sound.
The James-Lange theory correctly noted the essential role that these organic changes of a peripheral nature play in emotions, but it was a mistake to reduce emotions exclusively to peripheral reactions and, in connection with this, turn conscious processes of a central nature only into a secondary one, following the emotion, but not included in her and her non-defining act. Modern physiology has shown that emotions cannot be reduced to mere peripheral reactions. Both peripheral and central factors participate in the closest interaction in emotional processes.
The sources of emotions are, on the one hand, the surrounding reality displayed in our minds, and on the other hand, our needs. Those objects and phenomena that are not related to our needs and interests do not cause noticeable emotions in us. This view of the nature and origin of emotions was called the informational concept of emotions (P.V. Simonov). Conscious or unconscious, a person compares information about what is required to satisfy a need with what he has at the time of its occurrence.
Emotion = Information that is needed to satisfy a need - - Information that can be used (what is known)
This formula makes it possible to understand that negative emotions arise when the subject has insufficient information, and positive emotions arise when there is an excess of information. Negative emotions are generated by the real or imagined impossibility of satisfying the need, more or less realized by the subject, or by the drop in its probability compared to the forecast that the subject gave earlier.
The informational concept of emotions has undoubted evidence, although it does not cover the entire diverse and rich emotional sphere of the personality with an explanation. Not all emotions by their origin fit into this scheme. So, for example, the emotion of surprise cannot be attributed to either positive or negative emotional states.
Classification of emotions
There are three pairs of the simplest emotional experiences (W. Wundt).
"Pleasure - displeasure." Satisfaction of the physiological, spiritual and intellectual needs of a person is reflected as pleasure, and dissatisfaction - as displeasure. These simple emotions are based on unconditioned reflexes. More complex experiences of “pleasant” and “unpleasant” develop in a person according to the mechanism of conditioned reflexes, i.e. already like feelings.
"Tension - resolution." The emotion of stress is associated with creating a new or breaking old way of life and activity. The completion of this process is experienced as an emotion of resolution (relief).
"Excitation - calm." The emotion of excitement is determined by impulses going to the cerebral cortex from the subcortex. The emotional centers located here activate the activity of the cortex. The inhibition by the cortex of impulses coming from the subcortex is experienced as calming.
The American researcher of emotions K. Izard shares fundamental and derivative emotions. The fundamental ones are:
1) interest, excitement
2) joy
3) surprise
4) grief, suffering
5) anger, rage
6) disgust, disgust
7) contempt, neglect
The rest are derivatives. From the combination of fundamental emotions arise, for example, such complex emotional states as anxiety, which can combine fear, anger, guilt, and interest. Complex (complex) emotional experiences also include love and hostility.
There are also sthenic (Greek "stenos" - strength) and asthenic (Greek "asthenos" - weakness, impotence) emotions (Kant). Sthenic emotions increase activity, energy and cause uplift, excitement, cheerfulness (joy, combat excitement, anger, hatred). With sthenic emotions, it is difficult for a person to remain silent, it is difficult not to act actively. Experiencing sympathy for a friend, a person is looking for a way to help him. Asthenic emotions reduce the activity, energy of a person, reduce vital activity (sadness, melancholy, despondency, depression). Asthenic emotions are characterized by passivity, contemplation, relax a person. Empathy remains a good but fruitless emotional experience.
Depending on the combination of speed, strength and duration of feelings, there are types of emotional states, the main of which are mood, passion, affect, inspiration, stress and frustration.
Mood is an emotional state that is characterized by weak or medium strength and significant stability. This or that mood can last for whole days, weeks, months. This is not a special experience about any particular event, but a “spilled” general state. The mood usually "colors" all other emotional experiences of a person, is reflected in his activity, aspirations. actions and behaviour. Usually, according to the mood prevailing in a given person, we call him cheerful, cheerful, or, conversely, sad, apathetic. This kind of prevailing mood is a character trait. The reason for a certain mood can be any significant event in personal or social life, the state of the human nervous system and the general state of his health.
Passion is also a long-lasting and stable emotional state. But, unlike mood, passion is characterized by a strong emotional intensity. Passion arises with a strong desire for certain actions, to achieve a goal and helps this achievement. Positive passions serve as a stimulus for great creative activity of man. Passion is a long-lasting, stable and deep feeling that has become a characteristic of a person.
Affects are called extremely strong, rapidly emerging and rapidly flowing short-term emotional states (affects of despair, rage, horror). Human actions during affect occur in the form of an "explosion". Strong emotional arousal is manifested in violent movements, in disordered speech. Sometimes the affect manifests itself in tense stiffness of movements, posture or speech (for example, it may be confusion with pleasant but unexpected news). Affects have a negative impact on human activity, sharply reducing the level of its organization. In a state of passion, a person may experience a temporary loss of volitional control over his behavior, he can commit rash acts. Any feeling can be experienced in an affective form. Affect is no longer joy, but delight, not grief, but despair, not fear, but horror, not anger, but rage. Affects arise when the will is weakened and are indicators of incontinence, a person's inability to self-control.
Inspiration as an emotional state is manifested in various activities. It is characterized by great strength and aspiration to a certain activity. Inspiration arises in those cases when the purpose of the activity is clear and the results are clearly presented, while being necessary and valuable. Inspiration is often experienced as a collective feeling, and the more people are embraced by the feeling of inspiration, the stronger this feeling is experienced by each person individually. Especially often and most clearly this emotional state is manifested in the creative activity of people. Inspiration is a kind of mobilization of all the best spiritual forces of a person.
Stress (English stress - tension) is a state of excessively strong and prolonged psychological stress that occurs in a person when his nervous system receives an emotional overload. For the first time the word "stress" was used by the Canadian biologist G. Selye. He also introduced the concept of "phases of stress", highlighting the stages of anxiety (mobilization of protective forces), resistance (adaptation to a difficult situation) and exhaustion (the consequences of prolonged exposure to stress). Stress is caused by extreme conditions for a given person and is experienced with great internal tension. Stress can be caused by dangerous conditions for life and health, great physical and mental overload, the need to make quick and responsible decisions. With severe stress, heartbeat and breathing become more frequent, blood pressure rises, a general excitation reaction occurs, expressed in varying degrees of disorganization of behavior (erratic, uncoordinated movements and gestures, incoherent, incoherent speech), confusion is observed, difficulties in switching attention, perception errors are possible , memory, thinking. Stress disorganizes human activity, disrupts the normal course of his behavior. Frequent and prolonged stress has a negative impact on the physical and mental health of a person. However, with mild stress, general physical composure, increased activity, clarity and clarity of thought, quick wits appear. Behavior in stressful conditions significantly depends on the type of human nervous system, the strength or weakness of its nervous processes. The exam situation usually reveals a person's resistance to stressful influences well. Some of the examinees get lost, find memory lapses, cannot concentrate on the content of the question, others on the exam are more collected and active than in everyday circumstances.
Frustration is a mental state of disorganization of the consciousness and activity of the individual, caused by objectively insurmountable (or subjectively so understood and experienced) obstacles on the way to a very desirable goal. This is an internal conflict between the orientation of the personality and objective possibilities with which the personality does not agree. Frustration manifests itself when the degree of dissatisfaction is higher than what a person can endure, i.e. above the frustration threshold. In a state of frustration, a person experiences a particularly strong neuropsychic shock. It can manifest itself as extreme annoyance, anger, depression, complete indifference to the environment, unlimited self-flagellation.
A feeling is more complex than an emotion, a constant, established attitude of a person to what she knows and does, to the object of her needs. Feelings are characterized by stability and duration, measured in months and years of the life of their subject. Feeling includes a whole range of emotions, feeling determines the dynamics and content of emotions.
Feelings are usually classified by content. It is customary to distinguish the following types of feelings: moral, intellectual and aesthetic.
Moral or moral feelings are feelings in which a person’s attitude to people’s behavior and his own is manifested (feelings of sympathy and antipathy, respect and contempt, as well as feelings of camaraderie, duty, conscience and patriotism). Moral feelings are experienced by people in connection with the fulfillment or violation of the moral principles accepted in a given society, which determine what should be considered good and bad, fair and unfair in human relationships.
Intellectual feelings arise in the process of mental activity and are associated with cognitive processes. They reflect and express the attitude of a person to his thoughts, to the process of cognition, its success and failure, to the results of intellectual activity. Intellectual feelings include curiosity, curiosity, surprise, confidence, uncertainty, doubt, bewilderment, a sense of the new.
Aesthetic feelings are experienced in connection with the perception of objects, phenomena and the attitude of the surrounding world and reflect the attitude of the subject to various facts of life and their reflection in art. In aesthetic feelings, a person experiences beauty and harmony (or, conversely, disharmony) in nature, in works of art, in relations between people. These feelings are manifested in the corresponding assessments and are experienced as emotions of aesthetic pleasure, delight or contempt, disgust. This is a sense of the beautiful and the ugly, of the rough, a sense of grandeur or, conversely, baseness, vulgarity, a sense of the tragic and the comic.
Functions of emotions and feelings, their significance in human life
Emotions and feelings perform the following functions:
- The signal (communicative) function is expressed in the fact that emotions and feelings are accompanied by expressive movements: mimic (movement of the muscles of the face), pantomime (movement of the muscles of the body, gestures), voice changes, vegetative changes (sweating, redness or blanching of the skin). These manifestations of emotions and feelings signal to other people what emotions and feelings a person is experiencing. They allow him to convey his experiences to other people, to inform them about his attitude to objects and phenomena of the surrounding reality.
– Regulatory function is expressed in the fact that persistent experiences direct our behavior, support it, force us to overcome obstacles encountered on the way. Regulatory mechanisms of emotions relieve excess emotional arousal. When emotions reach extreme tension, they are transformed into processes such as the release of lacrimal fluid, contraction of facial and respiratory muscles (crying).
– The reflective (evaluative) function is expressed in a generalized assessment of phenomena and events. Feelings cover the whole organism and make it possible to determine the usefulness or harmfulness of the factors affecting them and to react before the harmful effect itself is determined.
- Incentive (stimulating) function. Feelings, as it were, determine the direction of the search, capable of providing a solution to the problem. Emotional experience contains the image of an object that satisfies needs, and its biased attitude towards it, which prompts a person to act.
- The reinforcing function is expressed in the fact that significant events that cause a strong emotional reaction are quickly and permanently imprinted in memory. Thus, the emotions of "success - failure" have the ability to instill love for any type of activity or extinguish it.
- The switching function is found in the competition of motives, as a result of which the dominant need is determined (the struggle between fear and a sense of duty). The attractiveness of the motive, its proximity to personal attitudes directs the activity of the individual in one direction or another.
- adaptive function. Emotions arise as a means by which living beings establish the significance of certain conditions in order to satisfy their actual needs. Thanks to the feeling that has arisen in time, the body has the ability to effectively adapt to environmental conditions.
Motivation and emotions
The highest emotions of a person are the motives of behavior, i.e. they are able to induce and direct a person, stimulate him to perform certain actions and deeds.
There are similarities and differences between motivation and emotion. In order to adapt to the tasks that arise before us, sufficient motivation is necessary. However, if the motivation is too strong, we are deprived of some of our capabilities, and adaptation becomes less adequate to reality. Then signs of emotions appear in activity, and sometimes adaptive behavior is disturbed, completely replaced by emotional reactions.
There is an optimum of motivation beyond which emotional behavior occurs. The concept of optimum motivation is associated with the adequacy or inadequacy of the reactions of the situation. This relationship corresponds to the relationship between the intensity of motivation and the real possibilities of the subject in a particular situation.
Optimum motivation
Psychologists around the world have recognized that intense stimulation has a negative effect on our effectiveness, more precisely, on our adaptation to the tasks that the environment constantly sets before us. Lindsley showed that when activation becomes excessive, a person's performance deteriorates, showing signs of disorganization and loss of control. However, experimental proof of the existence of an optimum motivation was obtained much later due to the difficulties of experimental study of emotions. The first works in which this optimum was revealed did not concern the emotion itself, but they established a relationship between the activation index and the quality of performance. Yerkes and Dodson were the first to discover the optimum of motivation in animals. However, their work was not immediately recognized.
Yerkes–Dodson laws
The laws of Yerkes and Dodson are empirical patterns that link motivation and performance quality. The first law determines that the ratio of motivation and quality of activity is expressed by a bell-shaped graph: with an increase in motivation to a certain level, the quality of activity also increases, but a further increase in motivation, after reaching a plateau, leads to a decrease in productivity. The second law determines that for a more complex task, a lower level of motivation is more optimal.
Emotions and learning activities
The condition for successful learning activity is a combination of optimal motivation and an appropriate level of emotional arousal.
Emotions can facilitate and vice versa hinder the learning process. So, for example, positive emotions contribute to better memorization of educational material, improve attention. Emotional and mental outbursts, as a rule, cause an increase in motor speech activity.
The success of studies is influenced by the emotional properties of the individual: what he loves, what he hates, what he is indifferent to.
The emotional and moral development of a person is a long process that depends on external and internal factors. Emotional and moral relations are created on the basis of the interaction between the teacher and the student, where the most important component is understanding the emotional state of the partner. In the learning situation, there is psychological comfort for its participants, when the teacher responds flexibly to the behavior of the student, tries to observe his own and his interests, and stimulates the processes of independent activity.
In the learning situation, three states of the student are manifested:
- the task is solved easily, the person feels comfortable
- the proposed task is resolved with some help from the teacher or other participants in the situation, the person is in relative balance
- there is a situational inability to cope with the requirements of a particular task, as a person shows an imbalance in interaction.
At the same time, emotional and moral development and the behavior corresponding to it is the result of a personal assessment of external and internal factors by the student. Most vividly emotional reactions are observed in critical situations.
Today, ethical, or emotional, culture is not yet the core element of the student's personality culture. The moral and ethical attitude in reality should be universal and projected onto the entire system of relationships. When designing learning situations, the teacher must build the learning material in such a way that communication for the student becomes socially, professionally and personally significant. An interestingly constructed training session leads to the rapid development of thinking and the creative potential of the individual, therefore, educational situations of a creative nature should be more actively introduced into the educational process. Such situational learning models contribute to the harmonious development of the personality and provide emotional relaxation in the classroom, as well as emotional stimulation.
Conclusion
Human behavior is largely dependent on his emotions, and different emotions affect behavior in different ways. The totality of moods, affects, feelings and passions of a person form his emotional life and such an individual quality as emotionality.
This quality can be defined as a person's tendency to emotionally respond to various life circumstances that affect him, as his ability to experience emotions of different strength and quality, from moods to passions. Emotionality also refers to the strength of the influence of emotions on thinking and behavior.
Feelings occupy a special place in our mental life. A variety of emotional moments are included in the content of all mental processes - perception, memory, thinking, etc.
Feelings and emotions determine the brightness and completeness of our perceptions, they affect the speed and strength of memorization. Emotionally colored facts are remembered faster and stronger. Feelings and emotions involuntarily activate or, conversely, inhibit the processes of thinking. They stimulate the activity of our imagination, give our speech persuasiveness, brightness and liveliness. Feelings evoke and stimulate our actions. The strength and perseverance of volitional actions is largely determined by feelings. They enrich the content of human life. People with poor and weak emotional experiences become dry, petty pedants. Positive emotions and feelings increase our energy and ability to work.
Unique individual manifestations of the emotional appearance of a person develop throughout his life and are associated with the development of the personality as a whole. At different stages of development, a person's needs and motives repeatedly change.
The most important directions in the development of emotions and feelings are the formation of higher positive, moral, intellectual and aesthetic feelings and the formation of the ability to control one's emotions.
The ability to control one's emotions presupposes a culture of feelings. Any person is able to regulate his emotional state, to be the master of his emotions.
An increase in the general level of development and its breadth, which takes place in the process of mental, moral and aesthetic education, is also of essential importance in the education of emotions.
Practical part Psychological personality map
The manifestation of emotions depends on the characteristics of temperament, Rubinstein said: “The emotional sphere in the personality structure of different people can have a different share. It will be more or less depending partly on the temperament of the person and especially on how deep his experiences ... "So the first thing I will determine my temperament.
Features of temperament (Eysenck method)
1. Do you often feel a craving for new experiences, to shake things up, to experience excitement? (No)
2. Do you often need friends who understand you, who can encourage and console you? (Yes 1
3. Are you a careless person? (No)
4. Do you find it difficult to say "no" to you? (Yes 1
5. Do you think before doing anything? (Yes)
6. If you promised to do something, will you always keep your word? (Yes 1
7. Do you often have ups and downs in your mood? (Yes 1
8. Do you usually act and speak quickly without thinking? (No)
9. Do you often feel like an unhappy person for no good reason? (Yes 1
10. Would you do anything for a bet? (No)
11. Do you feel shy or embarrassed when you want to start a conversation with a nice stranger? (Yes 1
12. Do you sometimes lose your temper, get angry? (Yes)
13. Do you often act under the influence of a momentary mood? (Yes 1
14. Do you often worry about doing or saying something that you shouldn't have done or said? (Yes 1
15. Do you prefer books to meeting people? (Yes)
16. Are you easily offended? (Yes 1
17. Do you like to be in companies often? (No)
18. Do you have thoughts that you would like to hide from others? (Yes)
19. Is it true that sometimes you are full of energy, so that everything burns in your hands, and sometimes you are completely lethargic? (Yes 1
20. Do you prefer to have fewer friends, but especially those close to you? (Yes)
21. Do you often daydream? (Yes 1
22. When someone yells at you, do you respond in kind? (No)
23. Do you often feel guilty? (Yes 1
24. Are all your habits good and desirable? (No)
25. Are you able to give free rein to your feelings and have fun in the company with might and main? (No)
26. Do you consider yourself an excitable and sensitive person? (Yes 1
27. Do they also consider you a nice and cheerful person? (No)
28. After doing something important, do you often feel that you could do it better? (Yes 1
29. Do you often keep silent when you are in the company of other people? (Yes)
30. Do you gossip sometimes? (Yes)
31. Does it happen that you can’t sleep because different thoughts come into your head? (Yes 1
32. If you want to know about something, do you prefer to read about it in a book than to ask? (Yes)
33. Do you have palpitations? (Yes 1
34. Do you like work that requires constant attention? (Yes 1
35. Do you have bouts of trembling? (Yes 1
36. Would you always pay for baggage if you weren't afraid of being checked? (Yes 1
37. Do you find it unpleasant to be in a society where they make fun of each other? (Yes)
38. Are you annoyed? (Yes 1
39. Do you like work that requires quick action? (Yes 1
40. Do you worry about any unpleasant events that might happen? (Yes 1
41. Do you walk slowly and leisurely? (no) 1
42. Have you ever been late for work or a date? (Yes)
43. Do you often have nightmares? (No)
44. Is it true that you love to talk so much that you never miss an opportunity to talk with a stranger? (No)
45. Do you suffer from any pain? (Yes 1
46. Would you feel unhappy if you were deprived of wide communication with people for a long time? (Yes 1
47. Can you call yourself a nervous person? (Yes 1
48. If there are people among your acquaintances that you clearly do not like? (Yes)
49. Can you say that you are a very confident person? (No)
50. Are you easily offended when people point out your mistakes in your work or your mistakes? (No)
51. Do you find it hard to really enjoy a party? (no) 1
52. Are you worried about the feeling that you are somehow worse than others? (Yes 1
53. Is it easy for you to spice up a boring company? (No)
54. Do you sometimes talk about things you don't understand? (Yes)
55. Are you worried about your health? (Yes 1
56. Do you like to play pranks on others? (Yes 1
57. Do you suffer from insomnia? (Yes 1
Results:
Corrective scale "reticence-frankness" (L): 2 points
Scale "introversion-extroversion" (E): 7 points
Scale "emotional stability-neuroticism" (N): 22 points
neuroticism
Melancholic Choleric
Introversion Extraversion
Phlegmatic Sanguine
Emotional stability
According to the test results, my temperament corresponds to a melancholic, respectively, I am an introvert and a neurotic.
Introversion means that I am one of those people who are most interested in the phenomena of their own world. I tend to introspection, unsociable, withdrawn. I experience difficulties in social adaptation. Accurate, pedantic.
Neurotics are people who are emotionally unstable. This means that I am very sensitive, anxious, I can worry about small things for a very long time and experience failures painfully.
Since I am a melancholic, I am characterized by emotional sensitivity, but restraint in expressing my feelings. In stressful situations, such as an exam, I can get confused. I get tired quickly and need a long rest.
Scale for assessing the significance of emotions
To determine those emotions and states that can give pleasure, a scale for assessing the significance of emotions is used. This is determined by ranking emotional preferences, i.e. by arranging what you like firstly, secondly ... tenthly.
Results in the table:
| Description of feelings | Rank |
| 1. Feeling of the unusual, mysterious, unknown, appearing in an unfamiliar area, environment | 9 |
| 2. Joyful excitement, impatience when acquiring new things, collectibles, pleasure at the thought that soon there will be even more of them | 8 |
| 3. Joyful excitement, enthusiasm, enthusiasm when the work is going well, when you see that you are achieving good results | 1 |
| 4. Satisfaction, pride, elation, when you can prove your worth or superiority over rivals, when you are sincerely admired | 3 |
| 5. Fun, carefree, physical well-being, enjoying delicious food, relaxation, relaxed atmosphere, safety and serenity of life | 4 |
| 6. The feeling of joy and satisfaction when you manage to do something good for people you love. | 7 |
| 7. Hot interest, pleasure in learning new things, in getting to know amazing scientific facts. Joy and deep satisfaction in understanding the essence of phenomena, confirmation of your guesses and suggestions | 5 |
| 8. Combat excitement, a sense of risk, rapture, excitement, thrill in the moment of struggle, danger | 10 |
| 9. Joy, good mood, sympathy, gratitude when you communicate with people whom you respect and love, when you see friendship and mutual understanding, when you yourself receive help and approval from other people | 2 |
| 10. A peculiar sweet and beautiful feeling arising from the perception of nature or music, paintings, poems and other works of art | 6 |
Based on these results, we can conclude that the emotions and states that give me the greatest pleasure are when my work goes well, everything works out when I and everyone are satisfied with me and my activities. Below the rank are emotions and states associated with something new, with some changes in life. And the least of all gives me pleasure is the feeling of risk, excitement, the state of danger.
Bibliography
1. Psychology and Pedagogy: Textbook / Nikolaenko V.M., Zalesov G.M. and others - M .: Infra-M, 1998.
2. Rubinstein S.L. Fundamentals of General Psychology. - St. Petersburg: Peter, 2006.
3. General psychology: Proc. for students ped. int-ov/A.V. Petrovsky, V.P. Zinchenko and others - M .: Education, 1986.
4. Nemov R.S. Psychology: A guide for students: 10-11 cells. – M.: Enlightenment, 1995.
5. Psychology of personality / J. Caprara, D. Servon. - St. Petersburg: Peter, 2003.
6. Workshop on psychology for 1st year students of the general economic faculty of distance learning, studying the discipline "Psychology and Pedagogy". – SPb.: SPbGUEF, 1999.
7. Big encyclopedia of psychological tests. – M.: Eksmo, 2005.
Rubinshtein S.L. Fundamentals of General Psychology. - St. Petersburg: Peter, 2006. - P.551.
Nemov R.S. Psychology: A guide for students: 10-11 cells. - M.: Enlightenment, 1995. - S.76-77.
Rubinshtein S.L. Fundamentals of General Psychology. - St. Petersburg: Peter, 2006. - P.565.
Rubinshtein S.L. Fundamentals of General Psychology. - St. Petersburg: Peter, 2006. - P.572.
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Emotions, their role in training and education.
Emotions (from Latin emovere - to excite, excite) are states associated with the assessment of the significance for the individual of the factors acting on him and are expressed primarily in the form of direct experiences of satisfaction or dissatisfaction of his actual needs.
Emotion is understood as either an inner feeling of a person or a manifestation of this feeling. Often the strongest, but short-term emotions are called affect (a relatively short-term, strong and violently flowing emotional experience: rage, horror, despair, anger, etc.), and deep and stable emotions are called feelings (experience of one’s attitude to the surrounding reality (to people, their actions). , to some phenomena) and to itself.
Emotions arose as a result of evolution for better adaptation of the organism.
There are two types of emotional manifestations:
Long-term states (general emotional background);
Short-term response associated with certain situations and ongoing activities (emotional reactions).
By sign they distinguish:
Positive emotions (satisfaction, joy)
Negative (dissatisfaction, grief, anger, fear).
Separate vital properties of objects and situations, causing emotions, tune the body to the appropriate behavior. This is a mechanism for direct assessment of the level of well-being of the organism's interaction with the environment. With the help of emotions, a person's personal attitude to the world around him and to himself is determined. Emotional states are realized in certain behavioral reactions. Emotions arise at the stage of assessing the probability of satisfaction or dissatisfaction of the needs that have arisen, as well as when these needs are met.
The biological significance of emotions consists in their performance of signaling and regulatory functions.
The signaling function of emotions lies in the fact that they signal the usefulness or harmfulness of this impact, the success or failure of the action being performed.
The adaptive role of this mechanism consists in an immediate reaction to a sudden impact of external irritation, since the emotional state instantly leads to a rapid mobilization of all body systems. The emergence of emotional experiences gives a general qualitative characteristic of the influencing factor, ahead of its fuller, more detailed perception.
Regulatory function of emotions manifests itself in the formation of activity aimed at strengthening or stopping the action of stimuli. Unmet needs are usually accompanied by negative emotions. Satisfaction of the need, as a rule, is accompanied by a pleasant emotional experience and leads to the cessation of further search activity.
Emotions are also divided into lower and higher. Inferior associated with organic needs and are divided into two types:
Homeostatic, aimed at maintaining homeostasis,
Instinctive, associated with the sexual instinct, the instinct for the preservation of the family and other behavioral reactions.
higher emotions arise only in a person in connection with the satisfaction of social and ideal needs (intellectual, moral, aesthetic, etc.). These more complex emotions have developed on the basis of consciousness and have a controlling and inhibitory effect on the lower emotions.
Currently, it is generally accepted that the nervous substrate of emotions is the limbic-hypothalamic complex. The inclusion of the hypothalamus in this system is due to the fact that the multiple connections of the hypothalamus with various structures of the brain create a physiological and anatomical basis for the emergence of emotions. The new cortex, on the basis of interaction with other structures, especially the hypothalamus, limbic and reticular systems, plays an important role in the subjective assessment of emotional states.
The essence of the biological theory of emotions (P.K. Anokhin) is that positive emotions, when a need is satisfied, arise only if the parameters of the actually obtained result coincide with the parameters of the intended result programmed in the acceptor of the results of the action. In this case, there is a feeling of satisfaction, positive emotions. If the parameters of the result obtained do not match the programmed ones, this is accompanied by negative emotions, which leads to the formation of a new combination of excitations necessary to organize a new behavioral act that will provide a result whose parameters match those programmed in the acceptor of the results of the action.
Emotions are associated with the activity of the cerebral cortex, primarily with the function of the right hemisphere. Impulses from external influences enter the brain in two streams. One of them is sent to the corresponding areas of the cerebral cortex, where the meaning and significance of these impulses are realized and they are deciphered in the form of sensations and perceptions. Another stream comes to the subcortical formations (hypothalamus, etc.), where a direct relation of these influences to the needs of the organism, subjectively experienced in the form of emotions, is established. It was found that in the region of the subcortex (in the hypothalamus) there are special nervous structures that are centers of suffering, pleasure, aggression, calm.
Being directly related to the endocrine and autonomic systems, emotions can turn on the energy mechanisms of behavior. Thus, the emotion of fear, arising in a situation dangerous for the body, provides a reaction aimed at overcoming the danger - the orienting reflex is activated, the activity of all currently secondary systems is inhibited: the muscles necessary for the fight are tensed, breathing quickens, the heartbeat increases, the composition of the blood changes and so on.
Emotions are directly related to instincts. So, in a state of anger, a person has a grin of teeth, narrowing of the eyelids, clenching of fists, a rush of blood to the face, assuming threatening postures, etc. All basic emotions are innate. Proof of this is the fact that all peoples, regardless of their cultural development, have the same facial expressions when expressing certain emotions. Even in higher animals (primates, cats, dogs, and others), we can observe the same facial expressions as in humans. However, not all external manifestations of emotions are innate; some are acquired as a result of training and education (for example, special gestures as a sign of a particular emotion).
Any manifestations of human activity are accompanied by emotional experiences. Thanks to them, a person can feel the state of another person, empathize with him. Even other higher animals can assess each other's emotional states.
The more complex a living being is organized, the richer the gamut of experienced emotional states. But some smoothing of manifestations of emotions in a person is observed as a result of an increase in the role of volitional regulation.
All living organisms initially strive for that which corresponds to their needs and for that through which these needs can be satisfied. A person acts only when his actions make sense. Emotions are innate, spontaneous signalers of these meanings. Cognitive processes form a mental image, representations, and emotional processes provide selectivity of behavior. A person tends to do what causes positive emotions. Positive emotions, constantly combined with the satisfaction of needs, themselves become a need. A person begins to need positive emotions and is looking for them. Then, replacing the needs, the emotions themselves become an incentive to action.
In a variety of emotional manifestations, several basic emotions are distinguished: joy (pleasure), sadness (displeasure), fear, anger, surprise, disgust. The same need in different situations can cause different emotions. Thus, the need for self-preservation in the face of a threat from the strong can cause fear, and from the weak - anger.
The main emotional states that a person experiences are divided into emotions and feelings proper.
Feelings- experiencing one's attitude to the surrounding reality (to people, their actions, to any phenomena) and to oneself.
Short-term experiences (joy, sadness, etc.) are sometimes called emotions in the narrow sense of the word, in contrast to feelings - as more stable, long-term experiences (love, hate, etc.).
Mood- the longest emotional state that colors human behavior. Mood determines the general tone of a person's life. The mood depends on those influences that affect the personal aspects of the subject, his core values. The reason for this or that mood is not always realized, but it is always there. Mood, like all other emotional states, can be positive and negative, have a certain intensity, severity, tension, stability. The highest level of mental activity is called enthusiasm, the lowest - apathy.
If a person knows the techniques of self-regulation, then he can block a bad mood, consciously make it better. Low mood can be caused even by the simplest biochemical processes in our body, adverse atmospheric phenomena, etc.
The emotional stability of a person in various situations is manifested in the stability of his behavior. Resistance to difficulties, tolerance for the behavior of other people is called tolerance. Depending on the predominance of positive or negative emotions in a person's experience, the corresponding mood becomes stable, characteristic of him. Good mood can be cultivated.
The main points in the development of feelings at school age are that: feelings become more and more conscious and motivated; there is an evolution of the content of feelings, due to both a change in the lifestyle and the nature of the student's activity; the form of manifestations of emotions and feelings, their expression in behavior, in the inner life of the student changes; the importance of the emerging system of feelings and experiences in the development of the student's personality increases.
During the period of study, the cognitive activity of students, carried out from day to day, is a source of development of cognitive feelings and cognitive interests. The formation of the moral feelings of the student is due to his life in the class team.
The experience of moral behavior becomes the determining factor in the formation of moral feelings.
The aesthetic feelings of the student develop on the material of the lessons and outside them - during excursions, hiking, visiting museums, concerts, watching performances.
A school student is very energetic, his energy is not completely absorbed by educational work. Excess energy is manifested in the games and various activities of the child.
The student's activity, diverse in content, generates a whole range of feelings and experiences that enrich him, is a prerequisite for the formation of inclinations and abilities on its basis.
The main age-related features of emotional reactions, states and feelings of a student are as follows:
a) in comparison with preschool children, emotional excitability decreases, and this does not occur to the detriment of the content side of emotions and feelings;
b) such a feeling as a sense of duty begins to form;
c) the range of ideas and good knowledge is expanding, and there is a corresponding shift in the content of feelings - they are caused not only by the immediate environment;
d) interest in the objective world and in certain types of activity increases.
Typical for adolescents is that with the period of puberty, their emotional excitability, emotional instability, and impulsivity significantly increase.
A characteristic of a teenager is that he often performs actions and deeds under the direct influence of feelings and experiences that capture him completely.
Typically for adolescence, the desire of a teenager for acute experiences, the experience of dangerous situations. It is no coincidence that they are so drawn to adventure literature and books about heroes, reading which they empathize. This empathy is also an essential manifestation of a teenager's emotions and feelings: empathy contributes to their further development.
During adolescence, a sense of camaraderie develops strongly, often developing into a feeling of friendship, expressed in such a system of relations in which everything - joys and sorrows, successes and failures - are experienced together.
The peculiarity of the development of feelings in adolescence is represented by the following aspects and manifestations:
a) especially intensive development of moral, ethical and aesthetic feelings;
b) strengthening the meaning of feelings and experience in the formation of beliefs;
c) the formation of feelings in conditions of socially useful and productive labor;
d) stability and depth of feelings, principles of relationships and assessments.
The formation of feelings, their upbringing is one of the most difficult educational tasks.
A healthy, full-blooded life of a child in its content is the basis for the formation of his feelings and emotions, which is one of the very strong internal incentives-motives of his volitional activity.
The formation of feelings occurs inextricably linked with the development of the personality, which is improved in the process of activity.
