Human Emotions and Cognition

The human emotion of expressions has three major functions. They contribute to the opening and ruling of emotion experiences; they communicate something about internal states and intentions to others; and they activate emotions in others, a process that can account for angry, aggressive and violent behaviour (Macropaedia 1992: 18: 248). This essay will consider the meaning of anger, aggression and violence in terms of emotion and the activation, structure and functions of them culturally, environmentally and socially. Anger, aggression and violence are three intense sources of emotion and emotional expression, which psychologically are defined as a state of feeling. These feelings often include action tendencies and tend to trigger certain perceptual and cognitive processes. Some find that intense emotions such as anger, aggression and violence are casual factors or influences of thought, actions, personalities, and social relationships according to the Macropaedia on Human Emotion (1992: 18: 248).

Anger is seen as a strong emotional reaction to a situation. Mostly stemming from stress in any individual life and resulting from an escalation of conflict. There are two general types of anger. The first is a general irritation, which most people carry around in their day-to-day lives. To have 1 level of irritation the human instinct proves it much easier to fly off the handle over a simple matter. And for those with an external locus of control conflict is very hard to avoid when it rises from instinct. The other case is anger being a secondary emotion when it is built up such emotion from circumstance of disappointment, hurt, frustration, pain, unmet expectations, and so on. This is also seen as a tool for self-protection in situations where an angry personality may feel vulnerable from admitting hurt or disappointment. Anger not only changes the emotional state but the physical too. When you become angry the body creates stress forcing an increased heart rate, perspiration, an increased breath rate and tension in the muscles. Along side the two types of anger are two types of controlling anger: Anger-ins, which labels people who have a hard time even admitting they are angry and anger-out for people who express their anger, often quiet vocally. There are however suggestions in how to control your anger either way in four easy steps: take time out, relaxatio...

... middle of paper ...

...magery, and memory are important causes of these intense emotions. They also agree that once these emotions have been activated, the emotion and cognition influence each other. How people feel affects what they perceive, think and do, and vice versa.

References

Bandara. A. 1973. Aggression: A Social Learning Analysis. Englewood Cliffs. NJ: Prentice Hall

Cameron. H & Killen. E. 2004. Communication for Human Services: Course Handbook and Readings: Readings 3(a) & 3(b)

Cox. D, Bruckner. R. H., & Stabb. D. S. 2003. The Anger Advantage: The surprising benefits of anger and how it can change a woman’s life. Pages 249 – 281.

Donovan. F. 1999. Dealing With Anger – Self Help Solution for Men: ‘Anger is not about control; Anger is about loss of control.’ page 1-15.

Lerner. H. G. 1985. The Dance of Anger, Harper & Row, New York.

Luloffs. R & Cahn. D. 2000. Conflict from Theory to Action, Chapter 14: ‘The Escalation of Conflict: Anger & Stress’, Allyn & Bacon, Boston.

The New Encyclopaedia Britannica. 1992. Human Emotion: Volume 18 pages 248 – 256.

The New Encyclopaedia Britannica. 1992. Social Structure and Change: Volume 27. page 414 – 420.