Affective void: do people without feelings really exist?

Are there people without feelings? Many of us have asked ourselves this question on more than one occasion. We do it, especially, when we meet someone who seems cold to us, lacking empathy and emotional connection. We usually call them hearts of ice, cold men and women who not only attract our attention because of how they act, but sometimes even cause us some concern.

On the other hand also It is common to associate this type of profile with psychopathic personalities.. It is very easy to fall into that idea, to think that someone who is not able to understand the emotional realities of others has a problem or that people capable of harming others in some way, whether physically or psychologically, are empty of emotions.

Now, to truly assume that there may be someone who is hollow in terms of feelings and incapable of experiencing love, fear, sadness, excitement, shame or happiness is terrifying to say the least. Because If there really were a being with these traits, it would not be human. We could possibly be facing a prototype of a sophisticated robot equipped with artificial intelligence.

Therefore, although the classic phrase is very popular “You just don’t have feelings!” We must assume that, in reality, we all have feelings, we all have emotions. However, Whether we are able to understand them, express them or use them correctly is another very different issue.

Let’s delve a little deeper into this topic.

People without feelings

If there is something that any psychologist is familiar with, it is reading other people’s emotions. Dimensions such as anger, rage, disappointment or frustration are contained in many faces that apparently say they are fine. Every person has desires and any desire, whether with good or bad intentions, hides an emotion behind it.

With that, We want to say something obvious: there are no people without feelings. We all have them because it is those psychophysiological states that orchestrate what we are, that facilitate learning, our development, our daily interaction and, in essence, everything we are. There is no brain in which these processes are not present. However, the fact that they are present, that we have these mechanisms to experience them, does not mean that they “work” in the correct way.

We analyze it.

Antisocial personalities: the emotional void and instrumental emotions

When we ask ourselves if there are people without feelings, it is common to think almost instantly of psychopaths. Today we do not talk about “psychopaths” as such, but rather people with an antisocial personality disorder, a condition that would affect 1% of the population.

In these cases, what we appreciate in emotional matters is the following:

They are not capable of creating solid emotional bonds.They are motivated only by instrumental ends: They seek to experience sensations and obtain what they want. Beyond what is popularly believed, psychopaths do have empathy. But there are nuances.Studies such as those carried out at the University of Rotterdam (Netherlands) show us that they have cognitive empathy (they understand what the other person is feeling). Nevertheless, They lack emotional empathy (they do not connect emotionally with others). This makes it easier for them to manipulate and deceive.

There are no people without feelings, but you can meet an alexithymic

They will tell you that they love you, but they will not show it to you in the way you want or need. They are distant, cold, without a sense of humor, boring at times, taciturn most of the time and without that spark that facilitates and ignites the emotional connection… Alexithymics are for many the clear example that there are people without feelings. However, assuming this would again be a mistake.

Alexithymia is caused by an emotional learning disorder or a neurological alteration.. The symptoms of this condition are:

Difficulties identifying feelings. Problems distinguishing between emotions and bodily sensations. Inability to communicate or express emotions. Difficulties recognizing and responding to the emotions of others. Logical and rigid thinking style. Problems dealing with stress. Unselfish behavior. .Absence of sense of humor.Dissatisfaction with life.

Be that as it may, the result is the same: alexithymics are people incapable of understanding their own emotional states, of understanding those of others, and of putting a name to what they feel.

Despite this, they do love, if they experience happiness, fear, excitement, longing, anguish, hope… They have emotions, but they experience them in a distorted way and are incapable of expressing them.

Do they exist or not?

There are no people without feelings. There are no human beings without the ability to experience emotions, just as there is no brain without a limbic system. This region is what orchestrates (in large part) every process, every sensation, every impulse that makes us laugh, cry, get excited, remember a moment or want to forget it.

People are not rational beings, we are emotional beings who reason. Emotions (understood as those neurochemical and hormonal responses that cause sensations in us) and feelings (defined as the mental representations of emotions) are constant processes in each of us. There is no day or moment in which we are not experiencing something, even if it is calm, even if it is peace.

Every human being feels, but not all of us do it in the same way. It’s more, Not everyone uses emotions as an instrument to promote coexistence, to generate enriching connections.

And that is, possibly, our biggest current problem and challenge…

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