DECISIONS AND EMOTIONSWhat are emotions?
Imagine a man receives a call to say that he has become a father. His face
lights up in a smile, his pulse quickens and adrenaline rushes through
his body. The man’s interpretation of the news, his facial and bodily reac-
tion, how he prepares to respond, and how he feels – all these are what
makes an emotion, each element influencing the others. The words we
use to describe emotions – happy, sad, afraid – generally capture only the
feeling aspect of emotion. Contemporary psychologists recognize that
the emotional process in fact begins as soon as we start appraising a situ-
ation. But imagine if the man’s newborn child is the product of an illicit
affair. The information reaching his brain is the same, but it may well
have a different effect: on this occasion he bows his head in shame as his
body braces for the awkwardness of telling the news to – or concealing
it from – his wife. Neither spontaneous like a reflex, nor prolonged like
a mood, emotion is the unfolding of these interconnected processes of
interpretation, bodily reaction and expression.
Without emotions, our reactions would be spontaneous and robotic.
Emotions imbue situations with meaning. There is a lull as new infor-
mation is assessed and evaluated in relation to our past experiences,
our ambitions and desires. Positive emotions motivate us toward
Let joy be unconfined. Happy and relieved Londoners celebrate the Allied victory
that ended World War II in Europe.