Feeling (psychology)

Sensibility is a human emotional process that reflects a subjective evaluative attitude toward real or abstract objects. Feelings are distinguished from affects, emotions, and moods^.

The word "feeling" is already used in the "Izbornik of 1073". Due to the fact that the Izbornik of 1073 is a copy of an early Bulgarian collection ("Simeon Collection"), the word was used at the beginning of the 10th century.

Meaning of the term

Feelings are the processes of internal regulation of human activity, reflecting the meaning (significance for the process of his vital activity) that real or abstract, concrete or generalized objects have for him, or, in other words, the subject's attitude to them.

Feelings do not reflect an objective but a subjective, usually unconscious, evaluation of an object. The emergence and development of feelings expresses the formation of stable emotional relations (in other words, "emotional constants") and is based on the experience of interaction with the object. Due to the fact that these experiences can be contradictory (have both positive and negative episodes), feelings towards many objects are contradictory (ambivalent).

Feelings can have different levels of concreteness, ranging from immediate feelings about a real object to feelings about social values and ideals. These different levels are related to generalizations of the object of the senses in different forms. A significant role in the formation and development of the most generalized feelings is played by social institutions, social symbolism that supports their stability, and certain rituals and social acts. As emotional processes, feelings develop and, although they have their biologically determined foundations, are a product of a person's life in society, communication and upbringing.

Conceptual boundaries

Experts distinguish between the concept of "feeling" and the concepts of "emotion", "affect", "mood", "experience" and "sensation".

In contrast to emotions and moods, the emotional processes described by the concept of "feeling" are tied to objects: they arise in relation to someone or something, not to the situation as a whole. "I'm scared of this person" is a feeling, and "I'm scared" is an emotion^.

Feelings differ from passions in the same way as they do from emotions. In addition, affects, unlike feelings, almost always have obvious external manifestations^.

Experiences are understood exclusively as the subjective and mental side of emotional processes, not including physiological components.

Sensation is a psychic reflection of the properties and states of the external environment, which arises from a direct impact on the sense organs.

Concept in psychology

Feelings, unlike emotions, are more complex and do not always play an adaptive or motivational role in a person's life.

Higher senses are inherent only in man ^{[source not specified 1892 days]}. They are closely related to his personality, to his attitude to life, to people, to his beliefs and views.

Structurally, feelings consist of two or more fundamental emotions and a logical algorithm that binds them together. For example, the feeling of envy consists of the emotions of anger, resentment, and contempt, and the binding algorithm is a comparison with a person who has achieved success in values that are significant to the envious person (material or spiritual), the desire to be in his place. At the same time, envy should not be confused with a sense of healthy competition – the so-called white envy.

The same feeling can be experienced and manifested in different ways, depending on what emotional state a person is in at the moment. For example, feelings of friendship can be accompanied at different times by emotions of joy, interest, resentment, shame, and irritation.

Feelings manifest differently in people because each person has their own set of individual traits and personality traits that influence feelings.

In science, all feelings are conventionally divided into 4 main types: moral, intellectual, aesthetic, and social.

Characteristics

Valence 

Feelings are characterized by valence (or tone) – that is, they can be pleasant (positive), unpleasant (negative), or ambivalent (ambivalent, contradictory).

Intensity

Feelings can vary in intensity (strength). The stronger the feeling, the stronger its physiological manifestations and influence on human behavior.

Shyness

Depending on the influence on activity, the senses are divided into sthenic (from Ancient Greek). σθένος — strength) and asthenic (from Ancient Greek. ἀσθένεια — impotence). Sthenic feelings encourage active activity, mobilize human forces (love, hatred, etc.). Asthenic feelings relax or paralyze forces (e.g., fear, in some forms, or contempt).