In the process of evolution of the animal world there appeared a special form of manifestation of the reflective function of the brain - emotions (from Latin moves - excite, wave). They reflect the personal significance of external and internal stimuli, situations, events for a person, that is, what worries him, and are expressed in the form of experiences.
The psychology of emotion is defined as a person's current experience of his attitude to something (to the present or future situation, to other people, to himself, etc.).
The concept of "emotion" is also used in a broad sense, when it means an integral emotional reaction of a person, including not only a mental component - experience, but also specific physiological changes in the body, accompanying this experience. Emotions are also available in animals, but in humans, they acquire a special depth, have many shades and combinations.
German philosopher I. Kant divided emotions into wall emotions (from Greek stenos - power), increasing the vital activity of the organism and asthenic - weakening it.
Emotions are also divided into positive and negative, that is, pleasant and unpleasant. Phylogenetically, the most ancient is the experiences of pleasure and displeasure (the so-called emotional tone of sensations), which direct the behavior of people and animals to approach the source of pleasure or to avoid the source of displeasure.
Other positive (joy, delight) and negative (anger, grief, fear) emotions are more complex. P.V. Simonov singles out mixed emotions when both positive and negative shades are combined in the same experience (for example, enjoying fear in the "horror room").
Depending on the personal (tastes, interests, morals, experiences) and temperamental characteristics of people, as well as the situation in which they are, the same reason can cause them to have different emotions. Emotions differ in intensity and duration, as well as in the degree of awareness of the reason for their appearance. In this regard, highlight on-structures, actual emotions, and effects. The mood is a weakly expressed stable emotional state, the reason for which a person may not be clear. It is constantly present in the person as an emotional tone, increasing or decreasing their activity in communication or work.
Emotions are more short-term but rather pronounced experiences of joy, grief, fear, etc. They arise from the satisfaction or dissatisfaction of needs and have a well-recognized cause of appearance.
Affect is a very intense and short-term emotional state, which is caused by a strong or particularly important stimulus for a person. Most often, affect is a consequence of conflict. It is always violent and accompanied by a decrease in the ability to shift attention, a narrowing of the field of perception (the focus is mainly on the object that caused the effect). Affect does not give much thought to the consequences of what is happening so that human behavior becomes impulsive. It is said about such a person that he does not remember himself, was in the oblivion. After effect, there is often a loss of strength, indifference to everything around you, or remorse for what you have done. Frequent displays of effect in a normal environment indicate either a person's poor upbringing or a nervous-psychiatric condition.
Emotions help to assess not only past and current actions and events, but also future ones, including in the process of probabilistic prediction (anticipation of pleasure when a person goes to the theater, or anticipation of unpleasant experiences after the exam, when the student has not had time to prepare for it).
Academician P.K. Anokhin emphasized that emotions are important for the consolidation and stabilization of the rational behavior of animals and people. Positive emotions arising in achieving the goal are remembered and can be extracted from the memory to get the same useful result. Negative emotions, extracted from memory, on the contrary, warn against repeated mistakes. From Anokhin, emotional experiences have fixed in evolution as the mechanism which keeps vital processes in optimum borders and prevents destructive character of a lack or surplus of vital factors.