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MOTH
Wild Woman
Registered: 06/06/03
Posts: 23,431
Loc: In the jungle
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Emotions: where do they come from, why do we have them, and is it all chemical?
#4488549 - 08/03/05 02:37 AM (18 years, 7 months ago) |
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I'm a pretty emotional person. Recently I've been thinking about emotions and decided to start a topic in here about it. I realized that even though I am often dominated by my emotions I know very little about them.
Does anyone have any insight, thoughts or comments to share about the topic of emotions? Is there any sort of link you could provide or a book you might suggest that will help me understand my own emotions better? I'd like to experience them, just not let them overwelm me.
I was wondering if someone could try and respond to these three questions to start with:
1. Where do they come from? Are emotions part of the soul or part of the brain, or both? Where do emotions originate within us?
2. Why do we have them? Animals don't seem to be nearly as distraught about what they feel as humans get. Is having emotions just a casuality of being human? Why do we have them? What's the evolutionary advantage?
3. Are emotions all chemical? Is happiness really a chemical reaction? Is depression just an imbalance in your brain? I know nobody can probably answer this question for certain. Myself, I suspect the body-mind matrix are intricately linked. Like, emotions are a blend of mental and physical effects, if that makes any sense.
Any help you could give would be appreciated.
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redgreenvines
irregular verb
Registered: 04/08/04
Posts: 38,007
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Re: Emotions: where do they come from, why do we have them, and is it all chemical? [Re: MOTH]
#4488559 - 08/03/05 02:53 AM (18 years, 7 months ago) |
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1.brain 2.memories with body sensations and feelings (pleasure/pain) 3.chemicals are released for feedback (secondary)
emotions are from associative memory with much body content animals have it too
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MOTH
Wild Woman
Registered: 06/06/03
Posts: 23,431
Loc: In the jungle
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Re: Emotions: where do they come from, why do we have them, and is it all chemical? [Re: redgreenvines]
#4488594 - 08/03/05 03:13 AM (18 years, 7 months ago) |
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Quote:
redgreenvines said:
animals have it too
Yes, I believe animals experience emotions. Do you think that if they were sentient that they'd experience their emotions in the same way that humans do? (very intensely?)
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redgreenvines
irregular verb
Registered: 04/08/04
Posts: 38,007
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Re: Emotions: where do they come from, why do we have them, and is it all chemical? [Re: MOTH]
#4488637 - 08/03/05 04:03 AM (18 years, 7 months ago) |
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why are they not sentient?
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MOTH
Wild Woman
Registered: 06/06/03
Posts: 23,431
Loc: In the jungle
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Re: Emotions: where do they come from, why do we have them, and is it all chemical? [Re: redgreenvines]
#4488653 - 08/03/05 04:42 AM (18 years, 7 months ago) |
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I don't know either way. What I mean is that it SEEMS like animals handle emotions differently then humans. Humans are seldom at peace with how they feel at any given moment, especially if the emotion is unpleasant. Now I'm not an animal, so I can't imagine what it's like from an animal's perspective (although I suspect I've been an animal in the past) but you seldom see animal's go nuts over an emotion in such destructive ways like humans do. I've seen the occasional feather plucker/hair puller/self multilator among animals, but it seems to happen in much lower frequency then humans, and so if animals feel emotions like we do I was wondering why this is.
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Diploid
Cuban
Registered: 01/09/03
Posts: 19,274
Loc: Rabbit Hole
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Re: Emotions: where do they come from, why do we have them, and is it all chemical? [Re: MOTH]
#4488656 - 08/03/05 04:51 AM (18 years, 7 months ago) |
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Is happiness really a chemical reaction?
You seem skeptical of this. Why should you be when chemical reactions can make a human out of a few million molecules of sperm and egg? A 500 ton tree out of a seed? A cheescake out of milk, eggs, and cream?
-------------------- Republican Values: 1) You can't get married to your spouse who is the same sex as you. 2) You can't have an abortion no matter how much you don't want a child. 3) You can't have a certain plant in your possession or you'll get locked up with a rapist and a murderer. 4) We need a smaller, less-intrusive government.
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Swami
Eggshell Walker
Registered: 01/18/00
Posts: 15,413
Loc: In the hen house
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Re: Emotions: where do they come from, why do we have them, and is it all chemical? [Re: Diploid]
#4488659 - 08/03/05 04:54 AM (18 years, 7 months ago) |
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Strawberry or blueberry cheesecake?
-------------------- The proof is in the pudding.
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Diploid
Cuban
Registered: 01/09/03
Posts: 19,274
Loc: Rabbit Hole
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Re: Emotions: where do they come from, why do we have them, and is it all chemical? [Re: redgreenvines]
#4488662 - 08/03/05 04:59 AM (18 years, 7 months ago) |
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why are they not sentient?
The available evidence from experimental psychology and other fields is says that some animals are sentient, others are not.
Take a cat or dog and paint a big blotch on their side with a grease pencil, then put them in front of a mirror. They will either hiss or bark at their reflection or ignore it all-together.
In either case, it's apparent that they don't have the intellectual ability to form the concept of "me". To them, the reflection is either another animal or, when ignored, isn't even seen as that.
Do the same with a dolphin or a primate and they will actively turn sideways to get a better view. The primate (who has hands) will pick at the paint. This shows that the animal made the intellectual connection from the mirror image to themselves (or they would not turn to examine themselves better) and to do that they must have the concept "me" available to them. They are sentient.
-------------------- Republican Values: 1) You can't get married to your spouse who is the same sex as you. 2) You can't have an abortion no matter how much you don't want a child. 3) You can't have a certain plant in your possession or you'll get locked up with a rapist and a murderer. 4) We need a smaller, less-intrusive government.
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MOTH
Wild Woman
Registered: 06/06/03
Posts: 23,431
Loc: In the jungle
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Re: Emotions: where do they come from, why do we have them, and is it all chemical? [Re: Diploid]
#4488665 - 08/03/05 05:05 AM (18 years, 7 months ago) |
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Quote:
Diploid said: Is happiness really a chemical reaction?
You seem skeptical of this. Why should you be when chemical reactions can make a human out of a few million molecules of sperm and egg? A 500 ton tree out of a seed? A cheescake out of milk, eggs, and cream?
I'm not skeptical. I'm simply ignorant. I don't know that much about the chemistry of the human body. Which is why I'm making this post. I see your point...chemistry is happening all around us, all the time. It was pretty self-evident when you gave the cheesecake example. The same thing is happening in our brains whenever experiences and thoughts collide, they cook, and you get an emotion, a chemical response caused by external and internal factors.
Is that what you are saying?
I think I just had a click moment.
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Arp
roving mycophagist
Registered: 04/20/98
Posts: 2,191
Loc: in a van by the river
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Re: Emotions: where do they come from, why do we have them, and is it all chemical? [Re: MOTH]
#4488672 - 08/03/05 05:18 AM (18 years, 7 months ago) |
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Take a cat or dog and paint a big blotch on their side with a grease pencil, then put them in front of a mirror. They will either hiss or bark at their reflection or ignore it all-together.
I think that experiment could be carried out on humans as well, and if sophisticated enough you could have somebody scared or simply ignore it
Edited by Arp (08/03/05 05:26 AM)
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redgreenvines
irregular verb
Registered: 04/08/04
Posts: 38,007
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Re: Emotions: where do they come from, why do we have them, and is it all chemical? [Re: Arp]
#4488744 - 08/03/05 06:25 AM (18 years, 7 months ago) |
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many experiments are inane
also beware of oversimplifying: when you have cells and tissues, you can't effectively say that anything is just chemical, though you can't deny the influence that chemicals have on cells and tissues as well.
there is a lot more going on than chemistry when complex organized systems are involved.
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crunchytoast
oppositional
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Loc: aporia
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Re: Emotions: where do they come from, why do we have them, and is it all chemical? [Re: MOTH]
#4503596 - 08/06/05 11:11 AM (18 years, 7 months ago) |
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"1. Where do they come from? Are emotions part of the soul or part of the brain, or both? Where do emotions originate within us? "
brain=soul IMO
"2. Why do we have them? Animals don't seem to be nearly as distraught about what they feel as humans get. Is having emotions just a casuality of being human? Why do we have them? What's the evolutionary advantage? "
methinks animals have emotions, they just don't display them as easily as humans. humans have evolved so that it's very hard to hide one's emotions- it's part of the evolutionary advantage of being the supreme social animal.
"3. Are emotions all chemical? Is happiness really a chemical reaction? Is depression just an imbalance in your brain? I know nobody can probably answer this question for certain. Myself, I suspect the body-mind matrix are intricately linked. Like, emotions are a blend of mental and physical effects, if that makes any sense. "
i would go further with this idea and say that body-mind are the same thing. feelings are chemicals. yet that doesn't mean there's no reason for them.
like say i am depressed, i have low serotonin levels. i have no friends, no job, my parents just died, and traumas from the past haunt me. it's like low serotonin levels can happen as a result of these things.
also if say i take a drug that depletes my serotonin- the next day i'll be depressed. i'll start looking at all the things wrong with my life- 'my friendships are phony, i hate my job, i'm damaged by my past, my parents are dead'
Quote:
but you seldom see animal's go nuts over an emotion in such destructive ways like humans do.
i wonder if self-destructiveness is so rare in animals since sentience is.
i imagine torturing a dog would make it become very aggressive however.
-------------------- "consensus on the nature of equilibrium is usually established by periodic conflict." -henry kissinger
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Huehuecoyotl
Fading Slowly
Registered: 06/13/04
Posts: 10,689
Loc: On the Border
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Re: Emotions: where do they come from, why do we have them, and is it all chemical? [Re: MOTH]
#4504041 - 08/06/05 02:36 PM (18 years, 7 months ago) |
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All human experiences are chemical in nature. Chemicals are how we interface with our environment.
-------------------- "A warrior is a hunter. He calculates everything. That's control. Once his calculations are over, he acts. He lets go. That's abandon. A warrior is not a leaf at the mercy of the wind. No one can push him; no one can make him do things against himself or against his better judgment. A warrior is tuned to survive, and he survives in the best of all possible fashions." ― Carlos Castaneda
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OldWoodSpecter
waiting
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Re: Emotions: where do they come from, why do we have them, and is it all chemical? [Re: MOTH]
#4504066 - 08/06/05 02:45 PM (18 years, 7 months ago) |
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Quote:
EllemyshShade said: I'm a pretty emotional person. Recently I've been thinking about emotions and decided to start a topic in here about it. I realized that even though I am often dominated by my emotions I know very little about them.
Does anyone have any insight, thoughts or comments to share about the topic of emotions? Is there any sort of link you could provide or a book you might suggest that will help me understand my own emotions better? I'd like to experience them, just not let them overwelm me.
I was wondering if someone could try and respond to these three questions to start with:
1. Where do they come from? Are emotions part of the soul or part of the brain, or both? Where do emotions originate within us?
2. Why do we have them? Animals don't seem to be nearly as distraught about what they feel as humans get. Is having emotions just a casuality of being human? Why do we have them? What's the evolutionary advantage?
3. Are emotions all chemical? Is happiness really a chemical reaction? Is depression just an imbalance in your brain? I know nobody can probably answer this question for certain. Myself, I suspect the body-mind matrix are intricately linked. Like, emotions are a blend of mental and physical effects, if that makes any sense.
Any help you could give would be appreciated.
3. Are you suggesting it's mechanical?
-------------------- I descend upon your earth from the skies I command your very souls you unbelievers Bring before me what is mine
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