This week we learned about emotions, more specifically how emotions are constructed. Whilst watching both “Inside out”, one of my favorite movies, and the episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation “Man of the People” I really payed attention to whether or not the emotions of the characters were created or happened to them. I think both pieces of media display examples of both. I have to say I enjoyed both of these. Star Trek is growing on me, from the few episodes we’ve watched I’ve been so invested in what is going to happen to the characters.
Emotions are wildly complex and I think the film “Inside Out” does a rather good job at portraying that. Riley has five emotions, Joy, Sadness, Anger, Disgust, and Fear. Each of which have a large impact on Riley’s body and mind. Without emotions humans just like Riley would lack what it mean to experience life. It would be great for humans to always be happy just like Joy wants Riley to be, however this would be terrible for the world. If everyone was happy all of the time no one would be able to experience life for what it is. In order to survive humans have to feel every emotion, with anger or fear a human grows into a stronger and more intelligent person. While watching the film we see Riley become a more well rounded human when Joy comes to realize how important the other 4 emotions are to Riley’s human experience. The same goes for the other characters in the film like Riley’s mom and dad. With a look into her parents emotions we see they have the same emotions but are controlled by sadness and anger in the same way Riley is controlled by Joy for the most part.
The Star Trek episode confused me a bit at first. After digesting the episode though I think the episode highlights an idea that the relationship between ones emotions and body is very strong. As Troi is succumbed by the negative emotions of Alkars “mother” she becomes more and more unwell. I suffer from really bad anxiety and I sort of related to Troi becoming so sick. Whenever I have a really bad anxiety or panic attack my body feels like its falling apart. I really think emotions play a huge part into ones body. In this episode emotions could be transferred which I think is true to some extent in real life. When I see someone is hurting or sad I feel sadness with them especially when it’s someone you love. I think emotions are universal. Across the world we may all speak different languages or wear different clothes but we all can share the same emotions. When something tragic happens in the world everyone hurts together regardless of how far away it happened.
4 thoughts on “Emotions: What Doesn’t Kill You Makes You Stronger”
Hi Ceili!
“Inside Out” is also one of my favorite Disney movies! I love how it’s intended for kids, yet even grown adults can watch it and learn from it. You mentioned that Riley’s emotions helped her become a well rounded individual and I never realized that it actually did that. If the lead emotions would’ve been the only emotion people had, the world would be very different and odd because for Riley is was joy, but for the mom it was sadness and for the dad it was anger. A world where people only had one emotion at all times regardless of context would be very very strange. I understood the Star Trek episode for the most part, but I do have to say that the mother did freak me out a bit. She was kind of creepy, and in the end her emotions were too powerful for her body.
alnunez
Hi Alex,
Emotions are constructed, in part, on our context. That’s why we might feel the same physical stimuli (racing heart, sweating palms, chest constricting, etc), and understand it as excitement in one context and fear in another.
Jessica Hautsch
Hi Ceili,
I am delighted to hear that Star Trek is growing on you. Next week we are going to watch one of the most beloved episodes ever, so I am excited to see what you think of that one!
You make a great point about how, though we might want to just be happy all the time, that would be disastrous. In fact a number of evolutionary psychologists have posited that we developed fear because it is evolutionarily necessary. Fear is what keeps us alive and out of danger. Likewise, disgust, they argue, evolved in order to protect us from eating poison foods. In addition, as you note, it is important for us to experience sadness and anger—no matter how unpleasant our experience of them might end up being.
As you note, our emotions are deeply embodied. In fact, the body plays an important role in how we construct an experience of emotions. How can we feel anger or sadness or joy if we don’t have a body to feel with. And we can certainly feel the physical effects of emotion on our body—consider how tired we are after a marathon cry or a fear-induced adrenaline rush. Or as you note, a panic attack. You point about empathy is also important—and relates to some of what we learned in module #3. Can you say a bit more about empathy and the body?
Also, an interesting aspect of Barrett’s theory of constructed emotion is that emotions are not universal, but rather, are culturally specific. We learn emotion concepts from the cultures in which we are embedded.
Jessica Hautsch
Hi Ceili!
I think “Inside Out” is tied with “Soul” as my favorite PIXAR movie. Both make me cry when I watch them and the stories are equally as good. I think “Inside Out”, as Alex said, is intended for younger audiences but adults tend to watch it and resonate with it more. I agree that emotions are wildly complex and the film does a good job of spotlight how complex each emotion is. I liked how the film touched on how each person has this one main emotion that they use. For instance, Riley’s main emotion is joy, her mother’s main emotion is patience, and her father’s is anger (or some type of masculine energy version of joy lol). I agree that the Star Trek episode confused me a bit at first–that usually happens with me while watching Star Trek, it’s confusing in the beginning but then it starts to get more clear what’s going on as the story goes on. I thought, in relation to the voice threads, that the Star Trek episode did a good job at highlighting what happens when one or more major emotions take over someone. They change and most times not for the better.
tpenske