Work experience Topic: “Development of the emotional-volitional sphere of a preschooler as a factor in the formation of the child’s personality”

Emotions, their functions and types

Definition 1
The emotional sphere is a reflection of the subjective attitude towards objects and phenomena that are significant to a person.

An essential characteristic of emotions is their subjectivity. Any human activity is accompanied by emotional experience.

Translated from Latin, “emotion” means to excite, shock, excite. By satisfying his needs, a person receives positive emotions, and if it is impossible to satisfy them, he receives negative ones. For a long time, scientists considered emotions to be a phenomenon that man inherited from his distant animal ancestors.

Today it is well known that the structure of emotions includes subjective and cognitive components, therefore the conditioning of emotions is twofold - human needs, on the one hand, determining his attitude towards the object of emotions and the ability to reflect and understand the properties of this object, on the other hand.

Human emotions are very diverse and each of them is unique in its sources, experiences, external manifestations, and methods of regulation.

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Emotions can be divided into positive and negative.

According to the criterion of mobilizing the resources of the human body, sthenic and asthenic emotions are distinguished, which act in the opposite way. If sthenic emotions cause a surge of energy, lifting and activity, then asthenic ones cause the opposite feelings.

Emotions also differ according to needs - lower emotions that cause general sensations, for example, hunger, thirst, a feeling of cold or warmth, and higher emotions associated with social relations.

Scientists are divided on the role of emotions in human life processes.

Emotions have their own characteristics:

a person reacts to a situation by the emergence of an emotion, and not by a stimulus;
early reaction to the situation and its assessment;
differentiated assessment of different situations;
a mechanism for adequate and advance preparation for the situation;
a mechanism for consolidating negative and positive experiences.

In addition to signs, emotions have their own functions - motivational-regulatory, communicative, signaling, protective, which arises instantly and allows you to protect yourself from dangers.

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The depth of a person’s inner life is expressed in emotional manifestations, and the same stimuli cause different and dissimilar reactions in different people.

Interaction between people cannot do without emotional manifestations, therefore the communicative function of emotions is one of the most important. Through emotions, a person shows his attitude to reality, to other people.

Human emotional sphere

1. The concept of the emotional sphere and its functions

Cognizing reality, a person relates in one way or another to objects, phenomena, events, to other people, to his personality. Some phenomena of reality make him happy, others sadden him, others outrage him, etc. Joy, sadness, admiration, indignation, anger, fear, etc. - all these are different types of a person’s subjective attitude to reality. In psychology, emotions are processes that reflect personal significance and assessment of external and internal situations for a person’s life in the form of experiences. Emotions and feelings serve to reflect a person’s subjective attitude towards himself and the world around him.

The emotional sphere (or in a more general concept - emotions) is a reflection of the subjective attitude towards objects and phenomena that are significant to a person. Therefore, the most essential characteristic of emotions is their subjectivity.

Emotions are a special class of subjective psychological states that reflect, in the form of direct experiences (pleasant or unpleasant), the process and results of practical activities aimed at satisfying its current needs. Since everything that a person does ultimately serves the purpose of satisfying his various needs, any manifestations of human activity are accompanied by emotional experiences.

Emotions, Charles Darwin argued, arose in the process of evolution as a means by which living beings establish the significance of certain conditions to satisfy their actual needs.

The oldest in origin, the simplest and most common form of emotional experiences among living beings is the pleasure obtained from satisfying organic needs, and the displeasure associated with the inability to do this when the corresponding need intensifies.

Thanks to emotions, a person becomes aware of his needs and the objects to which they are directed. Another universal feature of emotions that needs to be mentioned is their assistance in realizing needs and achieving certain goals. Since any emotion is positive or negative, a person can judge whether a goal has been achieved. Thus, a positive emotion is always associated with obtaining the desired result, and a negative emotion, on the contrary, with failure to achieve the goal. Thus, we can conclude that emotions are most directly related to the regulation of human activity.

Most emotional states are reflected in the characteristics of human behavior, and therefore they can be studied using not only subjective, but also objective methods. For example, redness or paleness of a person's skin in a certain situation may indicate his emotional state. The emotional state can also be indicated by changes in the level of adrenaline in the blood and much more.

Functions of the emotional sphere

Communication function.

Thanks to emotions and their external manifestation, people understand each other better. Emotions allow you to convey experiences and feelings without using speech (with the help of facial expressions, pantomimes, gestures). Emotions can also serve as an influence on others. So a five-year-old child declares that he will cry until his parents fulfill his wish.

Signal function.

It is expressed in the ability of emotions to motivate a person to take any action, being a signal of a favorable or unfavorable development of events, therefore, focusing on his emotions, a person performs any actions, avoids danger, satisfies needs, etc. (emotion of fear - a person runs away, emotion of joy - the desire to repeat an action that caused positive emotions, etc.)

Protective function.

Its essence is that an emotion that arises at the right time makes it possible to adapt very quickly and correctly to the current situation (for example, a feeling of fear helps not to get hit by a car when crossing the road)

Evaluation function.

Emotions express a person’s evaluative attitude towards individual events and conditions that promote or hinder the implementation of his activities. Emotions allow you to evaluate the situation as positive or negative, without the help of thinking. More often than not, emotions arise before understanding the situation. The emotional assessment of events is formed not so much on the basis of individual experience, but on the basis of communication with other people and upbringing.

Reinforcing function.

Significant events that cause strong emotional reactions are better remembered and are permanently fixed in memory.

Thus, emotions play a vital role in our lives. If a person is deprived of the opportunity to experience emotions, the so-called “emotional hunger” sets in, which the person seeks to remove and reduce by listening to his favorite music, watching action-packed detective stories, visiting breathtaking attractions, reading romance novels, etc.

Emotions are closely related to the functioning of the human body. For example, during emotional experiences, blood circulation changes: the heartbeat quickens or slows down, the tone of blood vessels changes, blood pressure increases or decreases, etc. As a result, during some emotional experiences a person blushes, during others he turns pale. The heart reacts so sensitively to all changes in emotional life that people have always considered it a container, a sensory organ, despite the fact that changes occur in the respiratory, digestive and secretory systems.

Emotions are present not only in people, but also in many animals, which recognize and convey them very well (with anger - baring teeth, with joy - wagging the tail, with fear - turning away the head). Apes have the widest range of emotions.

Some human emotions are innate. This is proven by the fact that children who are blind from birth exhibit the same emotions as sighted children, but in sighted children the range of expression of emotions expands over time, and in blind children it is the opposite.

People of different cultures, who have never interacted and speak different languages, are able to accurately perceive many emotions from facial expressions.

A larger number of emotions and reactions to them were inherited from our ancestors - apes and, according to Charles Darwin, are rudimentary actions of attack and defense. (so, with strong anger, our fists clench, with strong fear, our hair stands on end, our palms become wet, etc. But not all emotions are innate. Many of them are acquired during life as a result of training and education in the process of communication and interaction with others people.

The diverse manifestations of a person’s emotional sphere include: affects, emotions themselves, feelings, moods, passion, stress, frustration.

Structure of the emotional sphere

1.Affect.

Affect is a strong, violent and relatively short-term emotional experience associated with a sharp change in important life circumstances for a person and accompanied by pronounced motor manifestations and changes in the functions of internal organs.

Examples of affect include intense anger, rage, horror, intense joy, deep grief, and despair. This emotional reaction completely captures the human psyche, connecting the main influencing stimulus with all adjacent ones, forming a single affective complex that predetermines a single reaction to the situation as a whole.

One of the main features of affect is that this emotional reaction irresistibly imposes on a person the need to perform some action, but at the same time the person loses his sense of reality. He loses control of himself and may not even be aware of what he is doing. That. affect can manifest itself either in the form of motor excitement (in the event of a fire, people in a state of passion can jump from the 18th floor), or in the form of stiffness, stupor (for example, when reporting the death of a loved one).

Affect occurs in the form of a flash, an impulse, and internal control of behavior is lost. A person loses power over himself and gives himself over entirely to experiences. (in a rage they can destroy furniture, hit, kill)

Usually, after a state of passion, relaxation occurs. A person becomes lethargic, depressed and may even fall asleep, after which the events that occurred during the period of passion are forgotten.

However, affect can be controlled. If at the final stages, when a person completely loses control over himself, it is almost impossible to stop, then at the beginning any normal person can do this. This requires willpower and self-control.

2.Emotions

Emotions themselves, unlike affects, are longer lasting states. They are a reaction not only to events that have happened, but also to probable or remembered ones. Emotions are closely related to human needs and arise as a result of their satisfaction or dissatisfaction.

Emotions can be caused by both real and imagined situations.

From the point of view of influence on human activity, emotions are divided into sthenic and asthenic. Stenic emotions stimulate activity, increase a person’s energy and tension, and encourage him to act and speak. In this case, the person is ready for “mountains to be turned upside down.” And vice versa, sometimes experiences lead to stiffness and passivity, then they talk about asthenic emotions. Therefore, depending on the situation and individual characteristics, emotions can influence behavior differently. Thus, a person experiencing a feeling of fear may experience an increase in muscle strength, and he may rush towards danger. The same feeling of fear can cause a complete loss of strength; fear can make one’s knees buckle.

It should be noted that attempts have been made repeatedly to identify the main, “fundamental” emotions. In particular, it is customary to highlight the following emotions:

Joy is a positive emotional state associated with the ability to sufficiently fully satisfy an actual need.

Surprise is an emotional reaction to sudden circumstances that does not have a clearly defined positive or negative sign.

Suffering is a negative emotional state associated with received reliable or apparent information about the impossibility of satisfying the most important needs of life.

Anger is an emotional state, negative in sign, usually occurring in the form of affect and caused by the sudden emergence of a serious obstacle to the satisfaction of a need that is extremely important for the subject.

Disgust is a negative emotional state caused by objects (objects, people, circumstances, etc.), contact with which comes into sharp conflict with the ideological, moral or aesthetic principles and attitudes of the subject.

Contempt is a negative emotional state that arises in interpersonal relationships and is generated by a mismatch in the life positions, views and behavior of the subject with the life positions, views and behavior of the object of feeling.

Fear is a negative emotional state that appears when the subject receives information about a real or imagined danger. Sometimes, once a strong fear has been experienced, it becomes fixed and becomes chronic and obsessive. This fear is called a phobia (agoraphobia, claustrophobia, dysmorphophobia, etc.)

Shame is a negative state, expressed in the awareness of the inconsistency of one’s own thoughts, actions and appearance not only with the expectations of others, but also with one’s own ideas about appropriate behavior and appearance.

3. Feelings

Feelings are even longer lasting than emotions, mental states that have a clearly defined objective character. They reflect a stable attitude towards any specific objects (real or imaginary). A person cannot experience feelings at all if they are not related to someone or something. For example, a person is unable to experience the feeling of love if he does not have an object of affection. In the same way, he cannot experience hatred if he does not have what he hates.

Feelings arose and were formed in the process of cultural and historical development of man. Methods of expressing feelings changed depending on the historical era. In the individual development of a person, feelings act as a significant factor in the formation of the motivational sphere. A person always strives to engage in the type of activity and work that he likes and evokes positive feelings in him.

Emotional personality traits

The emotional response manifested in a person is an emotional property that determines his emotionality - this is a set of human properties that characterize the content, quality and dynamics of emotions and feelings.

The substantive aspects of emotionality are associated with the core parameters of the personality - motivational orientation, worldview, value system, basic ideas, etc. The dynamic properties of emotionality are the features of the emergence, course, cessation of emotional processes and their external expression.

I.P. Pavlov believed that emotionality depends on the type of nervous system. Many psychologists agree that emotionality must be considered as a component of temperament, which means that they confirm the idea that emotionality is determined by hereditary, congenital, genetically fixed prerequisites.

The structure of emotionality is quite complex, and its main components are emotional excitability, the strength of emotions, emotional stability, which is determined by two factors - the time of appearance of the emotional state (the later emotions appear, the higher the emotional stability will be) and the strength of the emotional impact (the greater it is, the higher emotional stability).

Different people most often experience one of the main emotions, therefore, depending on the severity of emotionality, they distinguish between emotional types of people who belong to different types of temperament.

Emotional types of people are distinguished by a combination of emotionality (E+ and E-), activity (A+ and A-), and by primacy and secondaryness (P and V).

Based on this, eight character types are distinguished:

nervous type E+, A-, P;
sentimental type E+, A-, B;
very active, stormy type E+, A+, P;
passionate type E+, A+, B;
sanguine E-, A-, P;
phlegmatic E-, A-, B;
careless, amorphous type E-, A+, P;
apathetic type E-, A+, B.

The emotional type of personality is characterized by the ease of occurrence of the emotional state and its intensity.

Activity reflects the need for some action, the need to implement the plan. A person with high activity cannot tolerate idleness and downtime, while others think for a long time before starting something; he always looks for and finds something to do.

Another side of emotionality is primacy - the speed of disappearance of emotion. Such a person will not remain impressed by the experience for long, and will constantly discharge his emotions. Experts called such people “primary”, but most likely they will be emotionally labile people.

The complete opposite of the “primary” ones are the “secondary” ones, most often having an even mood. However, if their cup of patience is overflowing, they will be greatly offended, angry, and remain under the impression of what they have experienced for a long time.

The concept of the emotional-volitional sphere

Emotions are a special type of psychological states of a person, manifested as moods, feelings, sensations, experiences. They also reflect the psychological state of the individual in relation to himself, to the surrounding reality, as well as to what is happening around him. The development of emotional intelligence is the key to a harmonious upbringing of a child.

The emotional-volitional sphere is not only emotions and their manifestations. It examines the content of emotions, their dynamic development, depth, and quality of manifested states. Emotions influence the baby’s worldview, how the baby will see the world, how he will perceive the environment, and build personal relationships.

This area is divided into the following components:

Emotions. The child shows his reaction to the surrounding reality. Emotions can be positive, positive - for example, laughter, joy, or negative, negative - fear, crying. The baby can also demonstrate neutral ones, such as surprise.
Feelings arise later and are a reaction to the baby’s attitude towards specific people or events or objects. The manifestation of the same feeling is possible in several emotional actions.
Mood is a stable emotional state of a child, depending on the environment, the health of the baby, and the success of activities. Mood can be variable or stable in duration. The temperament and character of the baby also have a significant influence on the mood. A good, positive mood stimulates the fool to perform productive activities. A bad mood negatively affects the psycho-emotional state of a child.
Will is the child’s ability to consciously control his actions when achieving a planned goal. Even just a baby, he demonstrates his will and determination, persistently assembling a tower from cubes that constantly fall.