Do you know the main functions of emotions?

Johnmarshall Reeve is one of the authors who has contributed the most in recent decades to the study and knowledge of motivation and emotion. Specifically, this professor considers that The main functions of emotions are three: adaptive, social and motivational.. Let’s take a closer look at what each of them consists of and how, sometimes, inhibiting an emotional reaction can even be useful.

An emotion is an internally generated state that guides our behavior in order to guarantee our survival, well-being or adaptation to the environment. Thus, we cannot consider the existence of positive or negative emotions per se, since they are all very useful to us.

Yes we can, however, distinguish between primary and secondary emotions. The first are innate, common to all human beings and allow us to react in a certain way to certain stimuli. The second, for their part, derive from primary emotions and enrich them; They present greater variation between individuals as a result of each person’s personal learning. (For example, this is the case of jealousy, insecurity and guilt)

Pride, fear, joy, anger or shame are types of emotions that produce a triple effect on people. On the one hand, they generate subjective consequences that we manifest in the form of feelings or emotional states. On the other hand, physiological effects, which refer to the alterations that these experiences cause in our cells, tissues, organs or organism in general. Finally, we can talk about emotions as motivators of behavior.

Emotions: Where do they come from?

Emotions are influenced by a network of interconnected structures in the brain known as the limbic system. This system includes the hypothalamus, hippocampus, amygdala, and limbic cortex, all of which play a critical role in emotions and behavioral responses.

Components of emotion

To understand emotions, it is important to know the three critical components of an emotion. Each of them has a central function:

Subjective or cognitive component: is how we experience emotion.physiological component: it is the reaction of our body as a result of the emotion that is being triggered.expressive component: are the behavioral patterns that are activated in response to emotion.

Thus, emotions are a multidimensional affective response of short duration. which involves a series of triggering conditions (stimuli)subjective experiences (interpretations), various levels of cognitive processing (evaluative processes)physiological changes (activation), expressive and communication patterns (emotional expression)which has motivating effects (mobilization for action) and a purpose: adaptation to an environment in continuous change (Fernández-Abascal, et al., 2010).

adaptive function

Prepare the body for action It is one of the most important functions of emotions. And, in this sense, each of them, regardless of their valence or hedonic tone, has its own usefulness.

Thanks to this adaptive capacity that we are provided with, we can effectively execute actions.. It allows us to mobilize and use sufficient and necessary energy to get closer or further away from the objective or goal we have. For example, the emotions aroused in us by seeing someone close to us crying make us approach and become interested in what happens to them.

This relevance of emotions as an adaptive mechanism was already pointed out by Charles Darwin himself, who considered emotions as facilitators of appropriate behaviors. Particularly, the adaptive functions of each of the primary emotions (P. Ekman) are:

Primary emotionAdaptive function (utility)JoyAffiliationDisgustRejectionAngerSelf-DefenseFearProtectionSurpriseExplorationSadnessReintegration

Social function

“I feel ashamed”, “I am buoyant” or “that makes me apprehensive”. Emotions communicate our emotional states and express our mood. In addition, they facilitate social interaction and help other people predict our behavior, as well as us theirs. Therefore, its value when it comes to interpersonal relationships is undoubted.

Sometimes emotions are difficult to define verbally. Therefore, we must keep in mind that we cannot only express how we feel orally. If we want to know what state of mind someone is in, sometimes it is better to observe. The body posture we adopt or our facial expression are, on many occasions, much more informative than “I’m sad.”

However, the lack of communication or inhibition of emotions can exert, in a certain way and only on rare occasions, a social function. Specifically, in those situations in which Hiding and not showing certain reactions ensures that we keep the friendship relationship with the other person alive.. That is, when “the remedy is worse than the disease.”

In general terms, Emotional inhibition produces misunderstandings and additional physiological burden. This, in addition to being avoidable, can be very harmful. On the contrary, being able to express feelings and bring out emotional experiences in a controlled manner is very healthy and beneficial. And, in addition, it strengthens the social support network.

Its social contagion

The strong social contagion component of emotions may be one of the reasons why positive people seem to be more attractive than negative ones. We are all genetically predisposed to get carried away by this emotional contagion. But there are people with greater capacity, both to transmit and capture emotions.

Motivational function

Finally, motivation is another of the functions of emotions considered most relevant. The relationship established between motivation and emotion is bidirectional.because both constantly feed each other.

On the one hand, all motivated behavior produces an emotional reaction. And, on the other hand, Emotions are the fuel of motivation. They determine the appearance of this type of behavior, give it greater or lesser intensity and guide it in one direction or another.

For example, if we feel joy and have fun having coffee with another person, we will feel more motivated to see them next time.. On the contrary, a bad experience with her will give us a negative feeling that will make us think twice about meeting her again.

To close, we already know what the main functions of emotions are. So we can now be more aware of the physiological changes we experience throughout the day. How many emotions can we have in 24 hours? Now… Imagine the number of cellular alterations that occur as a consequence of our emotions!

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